Ships & Dip III

What a blast! We had a great vacation and are SO glad we decided to go again. Last year was special because it was the first, but we both agreed we enjoyed this year even more.

Sat 1/26/08
We flew into Fort Lauderdale because the flight to Miami was sold out. It was nice leaving in the afternoon, so we didn't have to rush around and get out of the house too early in the morning. We landed, picked up our rental car, and drove down to Miami. Took longer than it should since there was an accident that had the freeway backed up pretty good. We stayed at the La Quinta Miami Airrport East and it wasn't too bad. There wasn't too much around there, and we didn't feel like exploring the area after dark. So we just ate at the Bennigan's that was in the parking lot and had a pretty greasy dinner. Went back to the room and called it an early night.

Sun 1/27/08
We wanted to get the port early this year to try and avoid the LONG wait to board we had last year. We left the hotel around 11:00am and didn't get to the Hertz downtown until 12:00. It should have only taken about 20 minutes at the most. What a crazy drive! We had no problems until we got to the exit we needed to get off the freeway, where I missed the street I needed to turn onto. I couldn't get over and had to go the other way. Oh great! I'm in downtown Miami and have no idea where to go! So we eventually found the street we needed to go down, but guess what - there's a marathon being run the same morning and streets are closed off! And of course the street we needed to go down was closed off by a cop. I should have just told the cop I needed to get to Hertz down the street, but I turned and started following cars in front of me. We ended up going all the way around, making a BIG circle and finally ending up back on the same closed-off street by the same cop. So this time we told him we needed to get to Hertz and he let us through. Yeesh! All that already and it was only noon. So we dropped off the car, had to wait in another line to return the car, then join the crowd that was waiting on the street to catch a shuttle. There was no organized line and it was pretty much every person for him/herself. Mark got us on a shuttle pretty quick, though his suitcase took a pretty good hit when it fell out of the back of the shuttle while we were waiting and the door was still open.

We got to the port and jumped right in line and what a difference from last year! We were onboard and eating lunch by 2:00! We first went through security and then to get our room keys and concert wristbands. Steve and Tyler were in the terminal, greeting guests and making announcements, calling the different zone numbers. "Zone 5, please approach the counter with your pants off" (Tyler). It was also "Tacky Tourist" theme, and this guy was probably the craziest we saw. (It looked like a thong in the back too).



We did miss getting a photo with the Ladies this year (since last year's wasn't too great), but that's probably why we were able to get on board quicker this year. It was nice to be able to check out the ship, eat some lunch and take our time before the lifeboat drill.

At the lifeboat drill, I had some small talk with a girl and her dad in front of me. Turned out he was one of the New Odds (one of the bands onboard), and right after we got on the ship, we ran into Carol and Dana by the atrium bar, where they were talking to Steve's girlfriend, Christine. After the drill, we threw our life jackets in our room and ran up to the Lido deck to stake out a good spot for the sail away concert by the Ladies. We ended up in the hallway in front of the stage, though not real close. They were loading stage equipment on the ship with a crane and had the right side of the deck closed off. It took a while to open the rest of the deck up and start the show, but once it opened, most of the people in front of us headed over there, while we were able to end up right in front of the stage, probably about three people back. Awesome! Though of course I had the TALL German guy in front of me. But it was still a great concert, loved being outside on the deck, listening to great music. It was a classic moment as the ship horn sounded right during the middle of the song. The look on Ed's face... It went off a couple more times during the show even.