After taking two cruises to Alaska during the summer we decided that we should take a cruise in the winter to some place warm. So we booked a 2019 Caribbean Cruise.
It has been our practice to fly out the day before the cruise departure date and stay one night in the departure port. That proved to be a very good idea for this trip. The day we left Rosemount it was snowing. We had scheduled a Lyft for 4:30 AM which would get us to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Except, the Lyft driver canceled at the last minute. We scrambled and got another driver and made it to the airport without much cushion. Our first flight was to Chicago and it left a little late but we were still okay to catch the flight to Fort Lauderdale, or so we thought.
Once in Chicago we realized that it was snowing heavier than back home. They announced that our flight was delayed because the plane couldn’t land and had been diverted to Minneapolis. Turns out another plane had slide off a runway and had blocked one of two working runways. After several delays they finally canceled the flight about 7:30 PM.
Jae jumped into action and after 30-45 minutes managed to get us booked onto a flight into Fort Meyers, arriving about 2:00 AM. For Meyers was on the west side of the state and we needed to be on the east. We reserved a car in For Meyers for a one way trip to Miami. Another couple in the same predicament overheard what we were doing and asked to join us and share the rental cost.
So we flew into For Meyers without incident. Then we had to wait until about 5:30 AM for the rental office to open. We got our SUV, loaded up and started driving. The drive was uneventful and we dropped the other couple off with some friends.
Our luggage had flown out ahead of us and was at Miami. So we drove to the Miami airport and managed to get our luggage. Then we had to go back to Fort Lauderdale to get on the ship, except we couldn’t board for several hours.
We found a local restaurant and had breakfast and a drug store to pick up some last minute items. The next step was to go to the Fort Lauderdale airport to drop off the SUV. From there we took a Lyft to the dock.
As we were on the gangway, within 20 feet of getting on the ship, we were stopped again. The gangway had shifted and there was a tiny gap that they had to fix before they could let anyone on board. That took 15-20 minutes to fix and we finally made it to the cabin.
The cruise itself was pretty uneventful. The other passengers were older than the Alaskan cruises and not as interesting. There was a different feeling on the ship . Not bad but not as good as the other cruises.
For excursions we did Jet Skiis, deep sea fishing, a submarine trip and a couple motor tours. The weather was generally good. The staff and food was excellent as usual.
When we returned to port we were scheduled to fly into Philadelphia and then catch a connecting flight to Minneapolis. We made it to Philly okay but then our flight to Minneapolis was canceled because it was too cold. We ended up staying in a motel near the airport and eating pizza for dinner. We were able to catch an early flight out the following morning and arrived home a day late, but safe.
