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We did get up, and we did make it to church. So far so good. The ward we attended was bi-lingual (as apparently most wards in the Miami area are) and they provided translation for sacrament meeting. It was kind of fun actually. The songs alternated between English and Spanish, and the speakers were also a combination. I think there were two talks in Spanish and 1 in English, but it really doesn't matter. Anyway... it was an adventure and it was fun.
Since we had gotten an email from Carnival that they didn't want people showing up at the port until 1 - 1:30, we decided to get some lunch and stop at a store to pick up a few items we had forgotten to pack. We realized at some point, that Tim had left a pair of shoes back at the hotel, so we drove the 30 minutes back out to the hotel to pick them up. They didn't have them (they never did turn up, by the way, in case you are wondering, which is a mystery...) so we then headed back downtown to return the rental car.
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| On the way back downtown, we stopped to buy a new pair of sandals/slip on type shoes for Tim, and while I was waiting in the car, I took a picture of this mosaic that was across the street. I thought it was cool. (obviously not cool enough to get out of the car and walk far enough to get a picture without the tree right in the center of the mosaic, but cool enough to post it in my journal as part of the daily recap... |
We got to the Avis location, the one we picked because it was only 1 1/2 miles from the port, (a quick and easy $10 taxi ride) and surprise!!! SURPRISE!!!! that particular location closes at 1:00 pm on Sundays, and it was now after 2:00! (I had read this important information at some point in the trip planning process, but didn't deem it important enough to remember since we were going to be returning the car right after church, which ended at noon, so no worries right???
We called Avis and found another location that was open, over in South Beach. We drove the 30+ minutes that way, found the location and got the car returned. Now we had to get back to the port, so we flagged down a taxi to get us back over to pretty much where we started. (which cost us about 3 times more than we originally planned since the distance had increased by 25 minutes drive time - what a hassle) The driver was aware enough of cruise schedules that he knew we were running late, and he drove like a maniac to get us there. We got through the check in process in record time, since we were so late there was NO ONE ELSE checking in!!! We went through the various steps of check in, passed through security, and finally got onto the ship. We were told to hurry and put our bags in our room and get to our "muster stations" for the life jacket / emergency / safety briefing.
What a crazy mess. We were just glad we didn't miss the ship. Everyone was supposed to be checked in by 3:30ish so they could turn in their passenger lists to customs/homeland security/whoever else... by 4:00. - one hour before sailing. We got on the ship at 4:00. nothing like cutting it close eh? But at least we didn't have to wait in any lines... I suppose I will look on the bright side and be thankful for that!
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| we made it! here I am, as we are pulling away from the dock. ("ugly school marm" memories??? anyone??? - trouble with pictures on a ship, there is usually a pretty firm breeze blowing...) |
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| Tim on deck, as we sailed out of the Miami Port - (he always looks great in pictures, wind or no wind) |
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| Miami skyline (and the sunset) in the distance as we sail away... |
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| We found an empty double hammock swing, up on the Serenity deck and hung out (or maybe that should be "swung out") for a few minutes before dinner |
