We had two sea days before disembarkation in Fort Lauderdale at Port Everglades.
First some moon pictures. We started the trip with a tiny moon sliver and got to a full moon. Only Travis can take moon pictures, so here is my moon picture that looks like an eye. On the ship, the photo shop was selling iris photos; this picture reminded me of that. I love the illumination on the water, especially the partial illuminations due to the moon behind a cloud.
I finally decided that the bed looked so lumpy that I had to take a picture. Also, our trip map stopped showing the underlaid map maybe 5 days before the end of the cruise; they never fixed it.
More birds.
The culinary team held this event -- a cooking challenge between the Executive Chef and the Director of Restaurant Operations. See the handout under Culinary Galley Tour Handout. The Chef prepared things correctly and the Director just threw everything on a plate, so it was funny. At the end of the galley tour both preparations were on display (pictures below). This was in the theater. The TVs at the front was supposed to show a view down of what they were doing, but only showed this for a little bit and showed it head on like we were already seeing for most of the time. After show, we were allowed to meet at the MDR for a walk through tour of the galley. They did not talk about anything during the tour, just a single file line through the galley. It was cool that they let everyone see it.
Galley tour -- trays that they bring out all the covered plates, stacked high on, what the food is supposed to look like and what is being served each day, and wow, they had an escalator in the crew area.
Some food displays. The first one was on the buffet with the sushi one day.
The competition food results.
They advertised this event the night before on the last formal night. The last formal night food was so good, by far the best. Check out the food that we ate. The event and tour were both fun; though, during it, they asked for good survey reviews, so I guess that they determined that food most influenced after cruise survey scores and had the culinary team create a fun event to help with scores.
The Captains Farewell. A last look at the wake.
We arrived into Port Everglades where there was a pretty sunrise. We also saw a HAL and Royal Caribbean ships in port. There were lots of planes leaving from FLL airport, which is not too far west of the port. I took a picture of one because this was the first day that airlines were required to cancel 10% of flights due to the government shutdown, so it was good to see a lot of flights leaving Florida.
We did self walk off with our luggage. We went to breakfast in the MDR because we were not in a hurry for our flight and the last day the buffet is always so busy. There was already a line waiting to get off the ship that we walked by on the way to breakfast, and it was before they announced that the ship was cleared by customs to disembark. We brought our luggage to breakfast since we had to be out of the rooms by 8:30 am. After breakfast, we walked around the Lido deck a little to spot other ships. Then we got off. This was quick.
We flew out of MIA and wanted to be there at 1pm so had plenty of time. We were going to get an Uber from the cruise terminal to the FLL Tri-Rail train station, but the price kept going up. I checked first when we were still on the ship. In the same spot as shared rides pickup, outside the terminal, was a sign for an $11 per person shuttle to the FLL airport. We knew that there was a Tri-Rail station in the southwest corner of the airport (though runways in the way). The driver said that they could not take Venmo or a credit card charge. Maybe he offered CashApp. We decided to pay cash that he did not want it when he took our luggage. He waited for the shuttle to fill before we left. I saw one other person in shuttle holding cash on the ride, I did not see anyone pay, and the driver did not ask for payment but was just unloading luggage. I gave him the cash when we were given our luggage.
From FLL, we found a sign directing us to the Tri-Rail shuttle. It was not quick to come and a line was forming, but it was a big coach so was not a problem. At the station, you can buy a ticket from a human or machine. Unfortunately, we missed the previous train by about 10 minutes so had to wait for the next one. Travis found us a walk. There was a lake next to the station. Though when we got around to the entrance, it was closed for a private function. I did spot a school bus and kids in the fenced in area while we walked around. We did see several iguanas on the walk and could see the lake from walk, but it was also a hot walk.
The station had soda machines, but no restrooms. We waited, and our train arrived. We had our tickets, but no one asked to see them. There was also tap in and out card system for residents who could use it more often. We found a seat that had space for our luggage. The ride was nice; there were restrooms on the train. The tickets were $3.75 each. I saw $5 online, so I'm not sure why the discount. The ticket said adult; maybe non-rush hour price. From the train station, there was an elevator up to an airport train that took us into the airport terminals.
Kudos to the hero TSA agents and air traffic control working during the government shutdown. On the other hand, the toilets in the airport were disgusting and in disrepair. Someone had gone through and put paper towels in many of the toilets. Someone came out who was cleaning one, but I guess making sure that the toilet could flush was not a requirement of cleaning it. One flushed left the paper towels in place, which I guess is fine -- the flush happened, and it did not force the paper towels down to clog it. We are going back to MIA soon, and I'm not looking forward to the restrooms.
A sea racer at the airport. We luckily had no issues with our flight. We were on American to DFW; someone at dinner was telling us that they were less likely to cancel their hub flights. American has a hub in DFW. We have several maintenance delayed flights lately, which then ends in slow paperwork. But on this one, they kept announcing to get your butts in the seats (not in those words) because we have to leave on time. Otherwise, we will be backed up in the line to taxi and takeoff. There were also about 5 American employees on the flight; whereas, I would normally see 0 to maybe 2. I was speculating, but maybe they had to get their people back home after a future flights that they were supposed to have worked was cancelled, giving extra motivation to get home in time.
This concludes our Panama Canal cruise (see review, food, and daily schedules in the Next). We will soon be trying out Celebrity on an Edge class ship from Miami to the Eastern Caribbean; I will share that soon.