MITSUGIRLY's ENCORE pictorial and extensive REVIEW

[mitsugirly]

Saturday December 16th: Another one of those things they call a Sea Day.

 

We were up by 7am and I went to go check on the weather outside...it was a dreary looking day and all my hopes of having a miraculous change in weather and hearing an anticipated announcement that NCL had changed their minds about going to GSC, it just wasn't going to happen. I'm allowed (and did) pout that day! Just saying...

 

It was a little "wavy" out in the ocean and by no means would be have been able to tender at any port, so thanks for keeping us safe NCL. You could also tell there was some rain off in the distance, so it probably wouldn't have been a good snorkel beach day either.

 

 

Whelp, might as well make the best of it...and food always makes things better right? We headed off to The Local for breakfast. 

 

 

The hubby got the Ham and Cheese Omelet and had them load it with EVERYTHING but the kitchen spoon. Sakari ordered the French Toast. I ordered a fruit salad and the English Breakfast. I just always love their sauteed mushrooms!

 

 

 

 

 

I believe I only had one last duck to hide so I decided that I would place it over in the bar area of The Local before we left. 

 

 

With our bellies full, what better way to burn off those calories than a little wind ping pong right? Sakari insisted, daddy declined, that left me. A simple game of ping pong became an endurance game of chase the ball because of the wind. Yep, plenty of laughs along the way as each time the wind took the ball as if there was a baseball pitcher throwing us a curved ball...it would land on the floor and the wind would whip it quickly toward the chairs along the side. Sakari would chase it, thinking it was coming out in the direction it was headed, only for the wind to whip it the opposite way. So she would head back that way and whatdayaknow...it would whip back the other way. Of course I stood back watching this hilarious game of chase. I mean she didn't think I was chasing that thing did she? The ball won every time. Let the not-so-munchkin chase the ball and wear herself out. That meant I wouldn't have to play too long today, therefore saving my arm.

 

[mitsugirly]

The game didn't last too long and Sakari finally gave up. We decided to head inside where we wouldn't have to eat our hair from the wind any longer and see what might be going on. 

 

"Hey, there's a fruit and vegetable carving demonstration going on in the atrium. Let's do that! Sounds EXCITING!"

 

Actually we sat back in amazement while we watched the chef chop chop chop and within minutes he had created a master piece and went on to the next one. He made it look so easy to do. I heard multiple people say they were going to try this at home. If I ever decide to throw a fancy schmancy party at my house in the future...I will hire the passengers who claimed they would be able to do this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the carving was over, they had a game of "Know your dog breed" and we stood around watching it for a little bit and was kinda shocked they didn't have one husky on their list. 😞 

 

We decided to go up to the photography shop to check out our pictures and purchased 5 of them for the price of $104.30 (that was with my Platinum 30% discount). I'm not sure how they decide which pictures to give you as 5x7 and which 8x10, but they give you a variety. plus an usb loaded with your pictures on it and 2 pictures of the ship. 

 

 

 

 

We ended up finding one that a photographer had taken of us when we were out on the Waterfront walking around when we first boarded the ship. They had added the "Welcome Aboard" signage to it so I guess that was going to be our picture that they should have taken before we boarded that they usually do. I wonder how many people missed out on the Welcome Aboard picture because they didn't do this in the port building. 

 

 

We also located our Los Lobos dining picture and I forgot to post it on that part of the review. 

 

 

 

I found the cutest little NCL anchor ornament and just knew I had to have it. (Cost was $14.95 and you do not get a discount on that)

 

 

As we continued to walk around, they were now having a talk in the Atrium about all the places that NCL cruises to. So, I wanted to check it out (although we got there late) because I wanted to see what they had to say about Alaska. They had pictures of the different ports and the hubby and I stood there in amazement with all the beautiful places we have not experienced. At that point, we both said "We gotta live a little more and expand our horizons".  Honestly, the Caribbean is getting kinda "old" with the same old ports and we have been wanting to go to Alaska, Hawaii and the Mexican Riviera but after seeing all these other places too... we were wanting to book everything!!!

 

 

 

I picked up their packets of cruises and I'm going to day dream and read them all after I finally get to finish this review. #excitementisbuilding

[mitsugirly]

Walking around the 678 area I had to take more pictures of the Christmas display...so pretty! Just look at the detail that went into this. I just love cruising during Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

As we walked around, I spotted a large round chair up a few stairs and in an area I would notice the photographers would use during some of their nightly elegant pictures for passengers. We decided to have our own photoshoot with Sakari playing photographer. 

 

 

She kept shooting and shooting and then the jokes started flying, then I noticed my shirt had creeped up and I was not satisfied so the hubby started playing jokes on me and grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled it so tight and said "look how skinny you look now babe" and I was cracking up...to the point that I actually started crying I was laughing so hard and couldn't stop! The more I tried to control myself, the worse things got. I was literally crying!

 

 

It took me quite some time to recover and continue with the pictures because he wouldn't stop. Like seriously where did I find this family at???

 

 

As I was sitting there, I remembered that this is the exact place that I have placed ducks at on previous cruises. I glanced up at the picture behind us...and GUESS WHAT!! I found another duck. It was like the other Christmas duck I had found before (that Sakari was completely convinced that a little kid had lost) and it didn't have a tag. So now I knew for sure that someone was actually hiding these ducks without tags. 

 

 

Well it was time for some lunch now and we went up to the buffet. I loaded myself up with carbs and Sakari loved the miso soup and had to have a few bowls. They have a station there that you create your own and can do a vegetable as well and you tell them what ingredients to put in it. 

 

We sat down by the window to eat. It was now raining outside and the weather was looking nasty. 

 

 

 

Living the luxury life I tell ya...

 

 

Back at the room now and I wanted to start packing. We found that our clean clothes had been returned to us and everything was there...including a sock that didn't belong to us. Someone on this ship is now missing one of their favorite socks!

 

They always clean them and press them as if they use some kind of vacuum packed contraption to get them that small (if only I could do that with the dirty clothes when packing the laundry bag, I'd have most of my clothes washed on the cruise). Then they put them in a cute little weaved basket with tissue paper. 

 

Funny thing is, it's usually just laying on the bed all nice and neat but Christopher must have laid it on Sakari's couch bed and threw our (brought from home) blanket over on her bed while making ours and completely forgot to put our blanket on the bed along with the basket of clothes like they normally do. LOL I almost didn't notice it. 

 

 

As I started packing our things into the luggage, we were busy watching ourselves on the tv from all of the previous parties onboard. I decided to finish up the bottle of wine from the other night...ya know, to help me enjoy the packing right?

 

 

Then I heard a crash...and then looked down. Oopsy! At that point Sakari cut my drinking off and I had a mess to clean up now. #IWasNotDrunkIPromise! (Actually what happened was I threw my purse across the bed and the purse handle went around the glass and when I picked up my purse, it took the glass with it). 

 

I quietly placed the broken glass into the trash can so that the neighbors would not hear and rat me out. I looked into the hall to see if Christopher was around to vacuum the floor...and he wasn't. We would just have to lay a towel over it as a reminder not to step in that area. It was on the hubby's side of the bed so I guess HE would have to remember. 

 

 

 

Edited January 6 by mitsugirly

[mitsugirly]

I packed all that I could, or wanted to...however you want to look at it, and I felt the need to go to the casino to see if I could win any money to pay for the glass I broke in the room. There's no telling how much this is going to cost me so I had better have some luck!

 

I'll take that $24.00 win, which doubled my $20 I had originally put in the machine.

 

 

I'll also take this $29.05 win, which also doubled my money.

 

 

 

Yep, I'll take this $25.00 win as well. I had effectively won enough to pay for the broken glass they were probably going to charge me for.

 

 

I decided to give up while I was ahead and left another duck on the machine because I had found two sitting in my luggage still that I didn't see when I had unpacked in the beginning of the cruise. 

 

 

On the way back to the room...I offed another one of these quackers on top of a picture in the hallway. 

 

[mitsugirly]

Oh, before leaving the casino, they had an area that now had snacks in them which included some cookies and some type of shortbread cake that was so delicious. I noticed they had macadamia nut cookies, which are Sakari's favorite, and I grabbed a few for her. She was so excited when I got back to the room and presented them to her. She felt the need to be greedy and headed up to the casino to see if they had anymore. They were all gone by that time.

 

For those of you wanting the Freestyle Daily for today...

 

 

 

We decided to go to the Customer Service area to pick up our luggage tags. Since we are Platinum, we have the option of Priority VIP disembarkation times (which is 7:45-8:15am). For some reason, they do not provide you with these tags in your room (I swear they used to). I'm honestly not sure WHERE you get them from. They are not out in the open for you to just grab with the rest of the tags. I assume you might have to go to the Cruise Next or Customer Service desk to ask for them?

 

So here was my dilemma...what time to pick. We had a late flight out of Miami (4:55pm) and would be in no hurry to get off the ship. Why pick an early time if others could use it more than us right? I decided to go with the latest time possible...GRAY!

 

 

 

Oh, I forgot...if you are a latitude member...

 

We received a message in our room (on the phone) that stated that we could go to the Latitudes desk (Cruise Next) to pick up a Latitude Pin. I used to collect the latitude ship pins of each ship they used to pass out (and they left them in your room back then) but they stopped doing that. I guess now they are passing out latitude pins instead. 

 

This is what they look like:

 

 

Notice how they now had the barf bags hanging in the hallways. I honestly didn't feel the ship rocking too much. 

 

 

 

By the time we got back to our room, there was a "ding dong" in the room...it was an announcement from the Capitan that no one could hear follow up by another lady with a loud voice thank goodness. "At this time, due to bad weather, for the safety of the passengers, we will be heading into the port of Miami later tonight. We will remain in the port until tomorrow morning and will disembark during your normal times. No one will be permitted to get off the ship early and we will be spending the night here."   Alrighty then. I guess we are going into the port. 

 

Ding Dong "Since we will be headed back early and will dock around 7:30pm tonight, all shops will close for purchases and the Casino will also close. If you have any casino chips or slot vouchers, you will need to cash them in before 7:30pm as we are not permitted to have the casino open while docked."

 

Oh my...I grabbed my voucher from today:

 

 

 

Then we took out the vouchers, from the rest of the cruise, out of the safe and headed up to cash them in. We were about the 5th person in line. By the time we cashed our vouchers in (almost $700) and turned around the line was incredibly long at this point. Oh wow! I'm so glad we went when we did. Otherwise, we probably would have been waiting hours.

 

We decided for our last meal we would head to the main dining room at Taste. We got dressed up and  Sakari wore a dress and put stickers all over her face to take a picture (just kidding, it's just a filter she CONSTANTLY uses and I just scratch my head every time wondering what kids see in using this smiley face stickers all over the head thing kinda picture...but it's her thing). 

 

 

There was no wait and I honestly love not having to actually book ANYTHING on the ship this time around. I'm not sure if they've changed things but I've been on a lot of bigger ships that you have to book everything you do...shows and all. It's so much better this way.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

What was on the menu tonight:

 

 

 

I HAD to order the French Onion Soup. It's always so good no matter what cruise line we get this on. If you haven't tried it, do so!

 

 

Hubby had a Caesar Salad

 

 

 

Sakari ordered the Shrimp Fettucini Alfredo  (why is it spelled like this on their menu?)

 

 

I ordered the Grilled Lemon-Pepper Shrimp

 

 

And the hubby ordered the Carved Whole-Roasted Beef Sirloin

 

 

It was all very good and filling. 

 

For desert (like we had room, but I made room just because...) I ask the waiter what they offered. He started mentioning all the goodies they had. I pointed at the table next to us (these people had already left) and said "What were they having? It looked good". He said "Oh, you don't want that. It's not very good. It's a sugar free desert" WAIT WHAT??? That's EXACTLY what I want. He looked shocked and said "Coming right up" and went to get us some.

 

It was yummy!!!

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

After returning back to our room, we would have a look at the "Weather/Travel" channel onboard and see that we had headed to Miami and then turned back. 

 

 

 

Hmmm, something wasn't right. Why are we headed away from the port now? We could see Miami off in the distance and we could also see that the waves had gotten slightly larger now. 

 

 

 

 

The channel said we had went 2184.0 miles and were 16.8 miles from Miami. The air temp was 75.7 with 88% humidity. Wind speed was 50.8 knots (which is around 58 mph??? Really???) and the waves said 8.2'.

 

Standing out on our balcony didn't last long for us because the salt water was splashing in our eyes and burning.

 

Ding Dong*  The captain came on with an announcement you couldn't hear followed by a loud speaking lady who said we would not be docking early tonight after all stating that the Port of Miami is now officially closed due to the weather. CASINO'S ARE OPEN AGAIN she said with enthusiasm. But we weren't falling for that statement. We had cashed out and was taking our winnings home with us NCL! 

 

I finished my packing and set my luggage out by the door...hoping that I hadn't forgot to leave anything out we would need in the morning and reminding myself of the time I completely forgot to leave Sakari clothes out to wear and she almost had to disembark in her underwear only the next day. Oopsy

 

 

We watched a little bit of tv and then headed off to bed for an early wake up to get off the ship the next day. 

[Closet Beach Lover]

Hi Mitsugirly,

I am coming out of lurk mode for the very first time to tell you that you can snorkel in Alaska! I did it on a cruise with Royal Caribbean in 2008 in Ketchikan. No, it was not cold because they gave us wet suits (okay fine it was cold for about 20 seconds until our bodies warmed the water in the suits.) You can see sea life, Sakari will love all the amazing animals and the scenery is stunning. You get some of everything. Book it and you will not be sorry. P.S. You can play with Husky pups that are raised to be sled dogs too. I also read your website. 🙂

[purpleally]

Kim, you and your hubby look terrific!! I’ve got to take a look at keto, but, love my carbs.

thank you for doing this review💜

[MoCruiseFan]

On 1/4/2024 at 7:59 PM, SenatorsFan said:

Ha, ha! 😁🏒

Hey you guys have the absolute best logo of any team in the league!

[SenatorsFan]

36 minutes ago, MoCruiseFan said:

Hey you guys have the absolute best logo of any team in the league!

Thanks. Too bad we're not living up to that opinion these days. 😁

[medicalma'am]

You will have to do Alaska!  We have been 3 times and I am not tired of it.  7 night in 2007 on the new NCP Pearl, 7 night in 2009 again on the Pearl, and 9 night in 2018 on the Jewel.  We finished that one in the city of Vancouver for a few days and drove back to Seattle.  The scenery was the most beautiful when we went in May.  I preferred the beauty of that over the one we did in September.

[mitsugirly]

13 hours ago, Closet Beach Lover said:

Hi Mitsugirly,

I am coming out of lurk mode for the very first time to tell you that you can snorkel in Alaska! I did it on a cruise with Royal Caribbean in 2008 in Ketchikan. No, it was not cold because they gave us wet suits (okay fine it was cold for about 20 seconds until our bodies warmed the water in the suits.) You can see sea life, Sakari will love all the amazing animals and the scenery is stunning. You get some of everything. Book it and you will not be sorry. P.S. You can play with Husky pups that are raised to be sled dogs too. I also read your website. 🙂

 

Aww, thanks for coming out of "lurk mode" 😄  Snorkel in Alaska?!? 😶😬 Wow I guess I never thought of that before. What kind of sea life do you see in cold water? I may have to look into that. I'm a cold natured person and hate the cold (Why do I live in a Northern state again????), which is why I've always decided against Alaska or places the weather could even be remotely chilly. But I'm going to give it a try. Man they are expensive!!!

 

Husky puppies!!!!! YES! It would be so cool to go on a sled dog ride even. Sakari would love that. Although our pack takes us for one heck of a ride just when we walk them. 😄 

 

11 hours ago, purpleally said:

Kim, you and your hubby look terrific!! I’ve got to take a look at keto, but, love my carbs.

thank you for doing this review💜

 

Thanks so much. It's definitely a lifestyle change for sure and I've never felt healthier with so much energy in my life...even when I was thinner than what I am now. I'm still a work in progress and not where I want to be yet, but I'm living life to the fullest now! No more lack of energy, carb crashing or getting hangry.

 

8 hours ago, medicalma'am said:

You will have to do Alaska!  We have been 3 times and I am not tired of it.  7 night in 2007 on the new NCP Pearl, 7 night in 2009 again on the Pearl, and 9 night in 2018 on the Jewel.  We finished that one in the city of Vancouver for a few days and drove back to Seattle.  The scenery was the most beautiful when we went in May.  I preferred the beauty of that over the one we did in September.

 

We are definitely going to give it a try. We've been talking about it for years and just never pulled the plug. I feel like it's going to take a lot of research on things to do and places to go since I'm unfamiliar with that type of cruise.

[mitsugirly]

Sunday December 17: Our last and final day on board and making our way back home. 

 

 

Ok, time to get this review wrapped up.

 

Since we were unable to dock last night as they had wanted to, I totally expected to wake up and be at the port like always. They always want you out of your room by 8am so I sat the alarm for 7am. However, I just couldn't sleep and I was bright eyed and bushy tailed by 5am today. They family was still sound asleep so I decided to try to take a quick glance at the tv weather/route channel and seen that we were doing circles out in the ocean and not docked yet. Did our captain get a little tipsy last night? I just wanna know if he broke any glasses like I did.

 

 

I decided to take a shower. That always helps relax me. I mean I still had 2 hours before the family wakes up and I really didn't know what to do with myself sitting there in the dark. After my shower I did end up relaxing and falling back to sleep until the alarm abruptly woke us all up at 7am. 

 

I went to go look outside and we still were not in port. Oh yikes! What is going on??

 

 

I mean the weather didn't look THAT bad out, but I'm not an expert in weather and sea conditions. It looked as though the sun was trying to come out. The waves were a little high but the weird thing was in didn't feel windy out on the balcony. Like no wind at all. Maybe the other side was the windy side.

 

 

 

One last glance at the tv weather channel would seem as though we were heading in now.

 

 

 

Well, I guess it was time to go up and get something to eat. Since we were not in port yet, we decided to leave behind our one packed bag instead of lugging it around with us. 

 

Just like the first day of the cruise, this day the buffet would be PACKED with wall to wall people and no place to sit. I'm pretty sure we circled the entire place three times before we found a table. 

 

 

There's also another thing that I seem to notice on the last day of cruises we've been on, the eggs never seem to be cooked all the way. Are they just trying to roll out the food as quick as they can on that last day or is it because they can't keep up with the amount of people that are all eating at the same time? I opted for boiled eggs this morning instead. I figured it was a safe option. 

 

After the fiasco of a breakfast, we headed back to the room. It's times like this I'm glad we had a balcony, instead of an interior, to keep an eye on what was going on outside. 

 

It was now 8am and we could see other ships out in the distance as well. I guess no one was docked at this point. 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We were told that we would take on the pilot by 8am to head into the Port of Miami. 

 

There was some rain off in the distance but it was not raining on us. I guess that was a plus at this point. 

 

 

Bing bong* the captain came on and made an announcement, which of course no one could hear. It was followed up by our trusty loud speaking lady:

 

 

 

 

Well alrighty then, I guess that's not happening now. 

 

 

As we sat in our rooms waiting for further announcements and watching the tv screen, like it was a movie you just couldn't walk away from, each time we seen the ship turn and head away from the port... we heard a knock on the door. It was Christopher with a piece of paper. They had now changed the debarkation times for everyone. Our 9:45am Gray tags had now been changed to 12:15pm.

 

 

 

If this doesn't show people one of the scenarios that could happen when cruising and the reason you should never book an early flight then I don't know what does. I honestly felt really bad for those that had early flights. I usually try to book anything after 12 noon after a cruise just to give us plenty of time to get off the ship, ride to the airport, check in and wait around for a flight. I don't like to be rushed and I'm always a prompt person when it comes to anything I do...ask the family who watches me stress if we cut things too close. 

 

It was starting to look really icky out now. 

 

 

 

 

[Daruma]

"We'll keep you updated on the updates" 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

 

"We don't have an estimate on the ETA" 😂🤣

 

Uh... ETA = "Estimated Time of Arrival" So... "We don't have an estimate on the Estimated Time of Arrival."

 

She could have, SHOULD have, just said, "We don't have an ETA yet."

 

Sheeeshhh <SMDH>

 

I'm like you about feeling rushed when traveling... I HATE it. I also drive my family nuts with my need to arrive at airports really early, (I don't mean early morning, I mean 2 -3 hours before takeoff.), and chill.

[mitsugirly]

Then another announcement came to say that we had to turn back again and the weather was too bad for the pilot to take on the ship. They would keep us updated when they knew more. 

 

The seas were rough and fog was starting to set in. You could see 5 other ships out here waiting with us in the distance. All cruising in circles in limbo. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was now 9:40am and Sakari decided she would head back up to the buffet to see if there were any snacks available. She's a boredom eater and we were definitely bored at this point. 

 

When she returned, it looked like she was having breakfast #2 because that was all that was out still. 

 

 

Sometimes it would get so foggy we couldn't even see the other ships that was sailing with us. 

 

 

They started making announcements that they had put together activities for everyone to do in the atrium and other places. We decided to stay in the room because we didn't know how long this was going to take and I wanted to be able to go out on the balcony to assess the situation a little better with each announcement. I also wanted to watch the tv screen to see where we were at. I noticed a lot of other people had opted to do the same because everyone was on their balconies at this point. 

 

As I updated the fine people here on cruise critic about our situation, they also kept me informed. I was told the weather in Miami last night was almost like a hurricane with high winds and rain. I was informed that there were actually 8 ships that were scheduled in the Port of Miami, so this was affecting a lot of people. Also, all the ships had requested tug assistance to be able to port. 

 

The sun started to come out and things were clearing up some and I was informed that the Oasis had made it in and two tugs were headed back out for another ship assist. 

 

 

Then we started to see Miami again. Where we next to come in?

 

 

The water started to turn a lighter shade of blue and I knew at that point that we were heading in, which was confirmed by someone on here watching the webcams. 

 

 

Oceania Insignia was coming in right after us. 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Yep, we were getting closer! 

 

 

 

 

The water seemed pretty calm in the channel as we pulled in. 

 

 

We watched the tug go by us. Hmm, I guess we were doing ok on our own?

 

 

 

We turned and headed into the docking area. 

 

 

 

 

[graphicguy]

22 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

The game didn't last too long and Sakari finally gave up. We decided to head inside where we wouldn't have to eat our hair from the wind any longer and see what might be going on. 

 

"Hey, there's a fruit and vegetable carving demonstration going on in the atrium. Let's do that! Sounds EXCITING!"

 

Actually we sat back in amazement while we watched the chef chop chop chop and within minutes he had created a master piece and went on to the next one. He made it look so easy to do. I heard multiple people say they were going to try this at home. If I ever decide to throw a fancy schmancy party at my house in the future...I will hire the passengers who claimed they would be able to do this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the carving was over, they had a game of "Know your dog breed" and we stood around watching it for a little bit and was kinda shocked they didn't have one husky on their list. 😞 

 

We decided to go up to the photography shop to check out our pictures and purchased 5 of them for the price of $104.30 (that was with my Platinum 30% discount). I'm not sure how they decide which pictures to give you as 5x7 and which 8x10, but they give you a variety. plus an usb loaded with your pictures on it and 2 pictures of the ship. 

 

 

 

 

We ended up finding one that a photographer had taken of us when we were out on the Waterfront walking around when we first boarded the ship. They had added the "Welcome Aboard" signage to it so I guess that was going to be our picture that they should have taken before we boarded that they usually do. I wonder how many people missed out on the Welcome Aboard picture because they didn't do this in the port building. 

 

 

We also located our Los Lobos dining picture and I forgot to post it on that part of the review. 

 

 

 

I found the cutest little NCL anchor ornament and just knew I had to have it. (Cost was $14.95 and you do not get a discount on that)

 

 

As we continued to walk around, they were now having a talk in the Atrium about all the places that NCL cruises to. So, I wanted to check it out (although we got there late) because I wanted to see what they had to say about Alaska. They had pictures of the different ports and the hubby and I stood there in amazement with all the beautiful places we have not experienced. At that point, we both said "We gotta live a little more and expand our horizons".  Honestly, the Caribbean is getting kinda "old" with the same old ports and we have been wanting to go to Alaska, Hawaii and the Mexican Riviera but after seeing all these other places too... we were wanting to book everything!!!

 

 

 

I picked up their packets of cruises and I'm going to day dream and read them all after I finally get to finish this review. #excitementisbuilding

Kim....Alaska is a "must do" for any cruising fan!  

[mitsugirly]

 Coming into port, look at all the brightly colored shipping containers. It was a rainbow of colors as we pulled in. The hubby threw out the correct name to me "Those are intermodal shipping containers babe"...Oh, ok then. Thanks for the lesson my little trucker. 

 

 

I'm still watching the tv screen and seen that the Oasis was docked and within site of us. 

 

 

Passing by this pretty new building for MSC under construction. 

 

 

They were hard at work on a Sunday and digging their way to China by the water. 

 

 

The beautiful Oasis already docked. 

 

 

Maybe one of these days we'll make it on her after our booked cruise was cancelled due to covid that year. 

 

 

 

NCL was in site and we had safely made it. It was now 11am

 

 

 

MSC Divina was already docked as well. 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We were the third ship to dock today and ended up being the first to do so without tug assist. One of the cruisers made a comment "I guess your Captain pulled a hold my beer and watch this" move and I'm pretty sure I spit my pop out at this point when I read it. 😄 

 

 

 

I then noticed that Oceania was coming in but they had turned to the left to dock on the other side of the port. I guess I didn't realize there was a dock over there??

 

 

 

 

 

Does anyone notice anything in the picture above?

 

I HAVE MY OWN DOCKING SPOT!!!!

 

 

I feel so honored NCL! Thank you! I think they done this especially for me. You want to know why I think that? BECAUSE THIS CRUISE PUT ME AT SAPPHIRE STATUS WITH NCL! Yep, I have officially moved up in the ranks. 

 

This is the welcoming committee and they were very vocal. I'm pretty sure they were congratulating me.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Well since we came in so late, I'm pretty sure at this point that we would not be getting off at our last scheduled time of 12:15pm. They still had to clear customs and get everyone else off the ship first. 

 

I figured this would be a safe time to head out of the room and bid our goodbyes to our balcony. I did one last sweep around the room to make sure we had everything and double checked the safe. I took one last picture of a surprise I left behind for the next cruiser:

 

 

Then we headed up to the buffet because they had made an announcement that they had prepared lunch for everyone. We might as well get something in our bellies one last time because from here on out it would be on our dime.

 

 

As we sat in the dining room, we had a table with a great view of the other ships making their way into port.

 

Carnival Celebration had safely made it back. 

 

 

Grandeur of the Seas was coming in at 1:20pm:

 

 

Before long, we had all made it into port safely. 

 

We sat in the buffet dining area as they started to announce the colors for people to get off. At this point I had a meeting with the hubby and we made the executive decision that no matter what the cruise is, no matter what time our flights were scheduled for, we would be getting our VIP Platinum/Sapphire tags from now on. We may not necessarily get off during those early bird times, but want to have the option if we needed to...in cases like this because we were now going to be the last ones off the ship, which was going to cut things close...in my eyes at least. 

 

I started going over the times they might announce when we could disembark, calculating how long it would take us to get an Uber, the ride to the airport, how crazy the airport was now going to be with everyone from every ship arriving at the same time, and the lines...oh the lines. Would we even make our flight?? I wasn't sure at this point. Our flight leaves at 4:55pm, which means we would be getting on the plane at 4:25pm. Remember, when flying with Southwest, there are no assigned seats. So, if we are running down the aisle to catch the plane after boarding has begun, we might not even get seats together. I started to prepare my family for this scenario while the calm hubby just reassured my anxiety driven self that it was going to be ok.

 

Around 1:30pm security started coming around and telling everyone that we needed to leave the buffet because they needed to start cleaning up and preparing for those getting on the ship today. We were told to head down to The Local. When we got there, there was a very small line of people getting off. We sat in some chairs as we watched people coming and forming lines. I started to panic again. Hmm, should we just get in the line? This line is getting really long now and backed up. We decided to go ahead and jump in line and hope for the best. Would they question us? Would our luggage be out there waiting on us? I didn't know and didn't care at this point. I was getting off this ship!

 

It was now 1:45pm.

 

 

We were following the line for about 5 minutes before they announced "Passengers with Gray luggage tags and anyone else on the ship may now disembark." Whew! I think we're safe.

 

The line kept moving at a good pace and by 1:55pm I could see the "bloop" guy at the stand to scan our key cards. There's hope in my eyes. I wiped the tears away and put a smile on my face. 

 

 

At 2:05pm we were entering the building:

 

 

However, the lines were backed up again and now moving slowly. I'm not sure what was going on and that worried look returned to my face. We had made it inside the glass building, but we weren't going anywhere. We stood there for what seemed like forever! 

 

When the line finally started moving and we were able to get our luggage, it was now 2:23pm. YIKES!

 

 

 

 

IMG_4097.HEIC

[mitsugirly]

It was easy to spot our luggage...I mean we were part of the last group off the ship so it wasn't like there was a sea of luggage in the building still. 

 

 

Yes, there was a long line here as well, but it moved quickly and before long we were out of the building. Whew!

 

Now to schedule an Uber. We have learned by previous mistakes to schedule an Uber XL and this time it was cost us $43.06 for the short ride to the Miami airport. This guy drove S-L-O-W and I was a little panicky at this point. We eventually arrived around 2:50pm and was surprised to see that the lines for Southwest wasn't all too bad. However, the kiosk machines only had a few working for some reason, but we swooped in and got our luggage tags and boarding passes and then into the line to drop off our luggage. By the time we were finished there, the line had become extremely long and I was grateful that we got there when we did.

 

I was never so happy to jump in the A boarding line and get on the plane in time...all sitting together!! 

 

I had to get that "boarding the plane good luck" picture and at this point I don't think Sakari was too thrilled about it. 

 

 

We watched the beautiful bright sun setting while we were in air during our 2 hour and 20 minute flight to Nashville. It looked like we were back out at sea again. 

 

 

 

We only had a short delay at Nashville and then we were headed home to Columbus. 

 

We arrived safely back at the Columbus airport at 9:50pm and it was good to be back home again. 

 

[mitsugirly]

I hope everyone enjoyed the review and found it informative, enjoyed the pictures, the things we did in ports and maybe even put a smile on your face and a little laughter in your hearts. 

 

Who knows where we will head off to next. It's time to do some research and planning I guess. 

 

May all of you have safe travels and happy cruising in your future! 🛳️🌴

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 7 by mitsugirly