Here we go again - another Holland America cruise.
We'll drive to Fort Lauderdale to see D's niece and husband. Then we'll put the van into the cruise terminal garage, taxi to FLL and fly to AMS.
But first a word about hurricanes. We had Helene pass by last week. She tore up the Florida Big Bend and the next six states north, especially the North Carolina hills.
As I type this we are two days prior to driving to Fort Lauderdale. Another hurricane, Milton, has started in the western Gulf which will head toward the main part of Florida. We should get out of FLL before it arrives, but it's worrisome.
The ship this time will be the new Rotterdam, for us the third Rotterdam we've sailed - V (1995), VI (2017) & now VII.
20241007 We drove to Fort Lauderdale in mist and rain, pitying the poor folks stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic northbound, fleeing the Tampa area, where Milton is predicted to come ashore. Traffic was particularly bad where I-4 merges with I-95, and around St Augustine where there appeared to be an accident.
But we did all right, arriving at the Embassy Suites on SW 17th Street around 1500. We called D's niece Krista and arranged for dinner later. Then we loafed.
Krista and Nick picked us up at the Embassy and drove us the two blocks to Kelly's Landing, a seafood place that appears to have been moved here from New England. They even have scrod.
We chatted about family. They also told us of their two-month trip from Greece & Crete to Amsterdam. Nick's family comes from Greece, so they concentrated their stay there. We talked about places they went that we have visited. Nick generously picked up the tab. They drove us back to the hotel and went home.
We watched TV, especially updates on Milton, which is going to be a storm for the record. See graphic at left.
20241008 We got up and went to breakfast off the lobby. We hauled our luggage to the rear door and put it in the minivan. Then we drove to the port to park the car.
Port Security wasn't going to let us in, but we talked them into it - there were no ships in port so there was no visitor or cruise traffic but us. We parked the van on the second level of the Palm garage next to Terminal 26, where our cruise will end.
Simone came in response to our call to Lyft. We threw the luggage into the back of her Hyundai SUV. She took us to the FLL airport Terminal 2 for Delta. It looked like a madhouse to us but a TSA guy said it was light. I would not want to see.it busy.
We were early for our flight (by plan) so we had a while to sit and observe people dashing around. About 1300 boarding began with a dozen wheelchair occupants, then first class, then us. We had seats 15B&C in premium economy - first time we've seen 3x3 "premium economy". The plane was an elderly 757-200. We got one glass of wine during the two-hour hop that was uneventful.
At ATL we took the underground connecting train from B to F (the international part), found the gate and waited. The plane was already at the gate - it probably just runs one round trip per day.
The wheelchair brigade led the the stampede, then first, then us. We took up seats 22A&B in the premium economy section of the A330-300. The flight was the usual, nothing remarkable but there was no wifi.
We napped a little but we never get good sleep on an aircraft. We landed at AMS on the runway farthest from the terminal and taxied forever. Then the plane stopped, a stairway was wheeled up, and we exited to the buses. We picked up our luggage and went through immigration to the taxi stand.
This is a good place to split the monolog.
