I am awake long before the 7:00 that I set on the alarm. A trip to the Windjammer for a glass of juice and a roll.
I wander to our decided upon meeting spot on deck 4 near the theater. Before 8:00 everyone has arrived. Shortly Raphael leaves with the suite guests, we follow behind as instructed.
I takes about 10 minutes to get to the luggage area, and we proceed towards the customs agents after we gather our luggage. Again Raphael is there to direct us into a special line, a very short one just for the priveledged.
Within 20 minutes of leaving the theater, we are standing waiting to board our shuttle bus. Just as the bus arrives, my son realizes he forgot to pick up Eliza's car seat from baggage claim.
If you think getting off a ship and thru customs can be cumbersome, don't even think about getting past customs to go back a get a piece of checked luggage. It can't be done!
The proper supersvisor must be found to retrieve the luggage and bring it thru customs to you. This process takes a little over an hour as the rest of us wait and watch bus after bus take passengers to the parking lot.
By the time Scott returns with car set in tow, there are a number of passengers waiting for the shuttle. All civility has been drained from their bodies. The last to arrive mange to push their way to the front of each line. It doesn't help that where the bus is going to stop is determined only by where he can find a space, not a designated slot. There is no organization.
Eventually we get a bus, and are returned to our awaiting cars.
I am not nearly as tired as I was 8 days ago. The drive home is mostly uneventful from this point on. My plan was to stop in Ft Pierce for fuel and a rest stop. Suddenly the "range" of remaining fuel drops about 30 miles. Why? If the car instrumentation is accurate I will have 27 drops of gas left in the tank when I reach Ft. Pierce. The prudent decsision is to stop at the next service area on the turnpike. Ultmately we determine the fuel price is within pennies per gallon of the price in Ft Pierce. Stopping was a wise choice.
Next stop is Alyssa's house where most of the luggage and passengers are left. I head to Clermont with 3 others.
Soon I am home. Water turned on, Hot water heater started. A command to Alexa to turn on some music. "....unable to connect..." I have no Internet. I reset the router. No better, the router is actually working. I call my provider. Unable to get past the "your next in line..." when I get disconnected.
Ok, deal with it later.
Finally at 9:30 PM I get to talk to a person. Sorry, everyone is gone for the day. Can I have someone call you when they come in? Yes! Even if it is 4:30, the phone call will awake me.
Of course I never get a call, but I do call them again at 7:00. He tells me that he is unable to reset or do anything from his end, a serviceman will have to come to my house. Fine. When will that be? The earliest is Thursday morning.
I didn't think that I would ever be writing to say that internet on a ship or most foreign countries is better than at home.
Unfortunately cell service in my home is almost non existant, and as a result I use the internet connection for my cell service also.
Thus the long delay in posting these last few days.
The laundry has been washed and hung up all ready for my next trip. Until then, Any day at sea is a good day. Certainly true this trip.
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