MORTECH
COMPUTERS
"No matter how much you have, you can always use MOR"
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MORTECH
COMPUTERS
"No matter how much you have, you can always use MOR"
|
 The next morning, we started our 3-car convoy towards Ft. Lauderdale en route to the Port Everglades harbour to start our cruise. Angie, Livvie, Maddie and myself were in the lead car, my parents and Robbie in the second car and Joe, Wendy, Jim and Becca in the 3rd car. After a quick stop for a caffeine fix at the local donut shop, we were on our way. Again we had walkie-talkies to stay in constant contact with each other... About halfway through our 3 1/2 hour trek, we ran into more remnants of hurricane "Dennis" which at this time was not much more than a very bad thunderstorm, but did it ever rain! We had to slow right down because it was raining SO hard, we could barely see the road in front of us. As is the case with most rainstorms like that, it didn't last very long and since it was so hot outside, it dried up very quickly. When we finally did get to Ft. Lauderdale, we dropped off the luggage and most of our family at the Holland America terminal, and then Joe, Dad and myself returned the rental cars and took a shuttle back to the Port Everglades terminal. We then discovered that there was quite a delay in docking the ship that morning due to the bad weather, so the normal order of operations was greatly altered. Our luggage was whisked away before we even got back to the terminal and was replaced by all the luggage from the disembarking passengers from the previous week's cruise. Normally they would have already disembarked and cleared out of the area, but since it was 3-4 hours late in arriving, there were passengers still getting off when new passengers were arriving to get on! Needless to say, they were not prepared to handle all these people and their luggage simultaneously. To make matters worse, the terminal buildings were not air conditioned, because they were designed as a "pass through" buildings and not a "hurry up and wait" buildings. Everyone was starting to get a little cranky with all the waiting and Dad was getting tired from standing so long in such an uncomfortably hot and humid condition. There were very limited seats, and while we were waiting in line to check in, I asked one of the stewards if there was anywhere my father could sit and rest... he apologized and said he would find a solution... he came back about 2 minutes later and said, "how many people in your party?" We answered 11 and he said, "come with me"... He then escorted us passed all the throngs of people right to the first class "priority passenger" check in... Here they check all your documentation and give everyone a plastic card with your name and stateroom # and record your picture in the ship's onboard computer database. This card serves as your room key as well as a "credit card" since the ship is a "cashless" environment. These cards were also used for identification purposes when boarding and disembarking the ship. You have to carry it with you at all times and even the kids get one. We then went through security and up a set of escalators where the photographer's take your picture (they take your picture everywhere by the way... and try and sell you the pictures later of course), and then across the gang way to board the MS Zuiderdam. Here's a picture of our ship HAL's MS Zuiderdam:  |
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