Eurodam, more or less live, November 9 to 20, 2022

[rafinmd]

Sunday, November 20, 2022, Disembark Eurodam, Cocoa

 

Sorry, I did not use the camera a lot for the day, but I was up and on deck very early, just in time to catch the pilot boarding at 4:30.

I remained mostly on deck walking until we arrived at the dock and the first lines went out about 5:15.

HAL’s Lido Marketplace does not directly serve one of the things I love but rarely get at home, raisin bread toast.  I’ve found though that they do have raisin bread and if I just ask for a slice of raisin bread it’s at the ready and then I carry it 10 feet to the toaster they’re happy to take care of the other half.

Being EARLY to arrive has it’s advantages.  Self disembarkation was supposed to start at 7, but it was almost 7:30 when the first people left the gangway.  From there things moved quickly.  My Brown 2 was listed as 8AM but the first call actually came at 7:50.  Things moved quite quickly and in the terminal I found several porters at the ready.  I had one big bag and 2 wheelaboard bags; one had straps and I COULD have carried it as a back pack but it would have been a struggle.  

Passport control was by facial recognition and the porter took me all the way to my car at level 3 in the garage.  I hope my tip was sufficient and I left the garage at 8:15.  That was really nice as it started raining about 8:30.

I have 3 churches of interest in South Florida.  There is a church in Miramar where the Pastor grew up in my home church and they have an 8:30 service.  My usual church in Miami meets at 11 but is being rebuilt and they are worshiping at a sister church in Miami Beach.  I had hoped to get to the Miramar church (my GPS showed an arrival 20 minutes late which I was willing to live with) and then drive by the Miami location for a look at the church in progress, and finally get to Miami Beach.

My GPS asked if I wanted an alternative route to avoid tolls.  I made the mistake of saying “no” and ended up on the Florida Turnpike.  I encountered a series of accidents and ended up spending about 40 minutes crawling along for 4 miles.  Miramar church was out of the question now, and rains became torrential.  They did pause briefly when I got to the Miami church but I found no place to park and did not really see much of the project.

Torrential rains again as I arrived at St. Johns on the Lake in Miami Beach, now meeting jointly with the Miami church.  I visited First Church Miami a few times while on cruises from Miami, and I ended up on their email list and got a notice of online services while stranded in Perth after the termination of the QM2 due to Covid.  I’ve been following their online services most of the time since.

Traffic was quite slow up to Palm Beach but then opened up, still raining most of the time.  I arrived at the Holiday Inn Express Cocoa (I95&Fla520) a little after 4.  I left to meet Rogers widow at the Outback in Viera about 5, although I got lost on the way and kept her waiting quite a while.  We each had a very nice steak diner, winding things up about 6:30.

My home church offers both in person and livestream worship Sundays but has not yet restarted the fellowship hour after the service.  Instead we have a ZOOM fellowship hour Sunday Evenings at 7 and I got to my room just exactly in time to get started.  We had a nice chat for about 40 minutes.

It was a long day of driving and I tried to watch some of the late ship departures from Fort Lauderdale but it was a struggle.  My parting shot for today is weather related.  It’s been strange.  I can’t remember Port Everglades being closed for part of a day but it happened.  Strange indeed.

Roy

[rafinmd]

Major mess today with the Auto Train.  CSX difficulty’s had inbound train delayed 2 hours with spillover to us.  When I tried to check in at 1 told nothing would happen for over an hour and I stopped at Burger King for toilet and coffee.  Returning at 2:20 cars were backed up on the highway with a total 3/4 mile line that took over an hour.  Boarding delayed from 4to 5.

 

Roy

[DeeniEncinitas]

1 hour ago, rafinmd said:

Major mess today with the Auto Train.  CSX difficulty’s had inbound train delayed 2 hours with spillover to us.  When I tried to check in at 1 told nothing would happen for over an hour and I stopped at Burger King for toilet and coffee.  Returning at 2:20 cars were backed up on the highway with a total 3/4 mile line that took over an hour.  Boarding delayed from 4to 5.

 

Roy

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

@rafinmdOh Roy!!

OMGOSH 😱

Not what I wanted to hear from you. So so sorry!! I would be a mess! God bless you Roy and I pray you do ok with this situation! Not a way to end a great cruise. 
Be safe getting home Roy.

Sincerely,

🌺Denise ☺️

PS We are still in Maui at our home. Will be home after Thanksgiving. Still finishing painting so at this point I can not take a photo yet!

🌺Mahalo

[Pittypatbr]

Thanks for the trip report, Roy.  I am taking the same cruise in January, so was very eager to travel along with you and continue building my anticipation.  I enjoyed your observations and hope the rest of the trip home went well.

[rafinmd]

Monday/Tuesday, November 21-22, 2022, Auto Train home

 

I slept very well Sunday and woke about 5AM.  I will start with a couple of photos from the ship, the dock at Cartagena, and from the Panama Canal.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2022/11/atcartagena.jpg

 

Breakfast hours at the Holiday Inn were listed as 6:30 to 9:30.  I knew I could get coffee there at any hour and went down about 6 and they were virtually set up for breakfast.  I asked the staff and they said they tried to open early because they had a lot of work crews who left early.  It was also the nicest breakfast setup of the any of my hotels this trip.

The drive to the Auto Train in Sanford is about an hour and a half.  Hotel checkout was 11AM and I left about 10:30.  I had planned to spend a little time walking in downtown Sanford.  It felt a lot like a museum town with a lot of empty storefronts, and some things like antique shops and used book places but I did find what looked like an inviting restaurant and a nice ice cream parlor.  It just felt right to get lunch there with a grilled ham and cheese at the restaurant and a cup of blueberry cobbler ice cream at the ice cream place.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2022/11/lunch21.jpg

Checkin for the Auto Train is supposed to be 12:30 to 3, and I headed to the station a little after 1  Things were not moving with cars backed out onto the street.  After I sat for about 20 minutes someone said the incoming train was late and it would be at least another hour.  I pulled out of line, and after driving around a bit I pulled into a Burger King for coffee.  I returned about 2:15 and the line now went past the station’s side street and out onto the main highway, a total of about 3/4 mile. 

 

Fortunately, it did show signs of movement, quite slowly but it was about 3:15 when I finally got to the booth.

 

I am glad I did not sit in the car all that time but when I got checked in I was left stuck with the third dinner seating which was estimated at 10PM, essentially my planned bed time.  I also had a ZOOM finance meeting with my church scheduled for 4 to 6 PM.  I tried to keep up with it first on my IPAD in the crowded station, and later from my roomette on the train from my laptop but with the announcements in both the terminal and train that I could not ignore.

 

Boarding, normally at 4 did not take place until almost 5, and sleeping car passengers were among the first aboard.  I was in Roomette 2, very close to the toilets and central stairway.  When my attendant Eloy came by I asked if there was any alternative to the late meal.  “Sadly no”, but a bit later he came by with a ticket for the second seating.  Thank you!

 

Dinner came about as we were passing through Jacksonville.  I dined with a large family (spread across 2 tables) doing some sightseeing in the Baltimore/Washington area and returning with stops at other destinations along the way back to Tampa.  My choices for my final served dinner of the trip were Rigatoni Bolognese and Ultimate Mayer Lemon Cake.

I slept very well overnight and woke about 5.  The sun came up in the Rocky Mount area shining through the trees.

 

When the Conductor came on at 7 he estimated our arrival in Lorton at 11:30.  I grabbed a coffee cake to save for our arrival for lunch.  We actually beat that time and pulled into the station about 10:55.  Disembarkation for our passengers came at 11:05 just about the same time the first of the car carriers pulled up to the ramp.  

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2022/11/carscoming.jpg

The first car cars (30 “priority” vehicles) were announced at 11:15 and my car (274) arrived at 12:05.  The drive home was fairly routine except for a slow-down on the Washington beltway and I was home about 2.

 

Between restocking my fridge, sorting a pound of junk mail out of a handful of stuff I need to look at and a few other errands, and sleeping longer than usual, it has taken me back to get back to this but for now things are pretty close to back to normal.

 

Since it has taken me so long to get back to this my parting shot will be a wish for a great Thanksgiving for all who celebrate it.

 

Roy 

[BetsyS.]

Roy - Thanks for all your reports.  The HAL picture of you is great! Happy Thanksgiving! 😊

[oakridger]

Thanks Roy!  I always enjoy your trip blogs.  Happy Thanksgiving!

 

~Nancy