The Phoenix Family: Getting to the Emerald Princess

We left Venice, FL a little later then planned (in saying farewell to our friends Chuck and Lori). As we made the drive over to Ft. Lauderdale we were anticipating the next 20's. We discussed tours, and food, and experiences we'd hope to have on the ship. The drive was wonderful, and seemed like it took twenty years. I kept looking for alligators, everyone had told me that if I saw a Florida gator it would be on the drive from the gulf side, to Miami/Ft. Lauderdale in an area they call Alligator Alley. I didn't see any Alligators, and I was furious that I had been lied to my entire life. There are no Alligators in Florida. I'm not convinced, there is no proof, and every Hollywood movie I have ever seen based in Florida has fibbed. (at least that's how I felt about it).

When we arrived to Ft. Lauderdale, there was a tremendous amount of traffic and construction. We watched and listened to the GPS guide us to the scheduled parking lot where we would leave our vehicle for three weeks. As we watched signs, we realized somehow something was mismarked/not clear and we missed the exit to our exit. Because of the construction, they divided the highway so that those getting off at an exit would be on the other side of the divide. Well, because we didn't know that, we watched our exit go right on by - and there was no way for us to get to it. As we tried to follow the GPS to reroute us, we ended up getting mixed up in more residential areas, and one way streets. This parking lot we were headed too was ridiculously hard to find. After about 45 minutes of detours we were REALLY running behind schedule. We finally arrived to the lot, and the lady told us to pull through, and park outside the gate and wait for the shuttle van to lead us over to the overflow lot. I was thinking, wait a minute, we reserved a spot, and now we have to go over to the overflow? This is crazy. So, we are waiting, and the time is ticking away. The cars in front of us were getting anxious to get to their ships as well, and watching this time tick, not knowing how far we are going, we started to get worried. The lady running the parking lot gave the first car in the line up the address to the overflow parking lot, and told them to lead the 5 of us to the other lot because the shuttle van was taking too long. As we started heading to the other lot, the lead car got turned around, and hit the same detour Brad and I had enjoyed earlier in the morning. We were getting really frustrated, and hoping we werent going to miss our ship! We only had about an hour left. Finally, we arrive at the gated secured lot, which was valet parking lot. It was in the back of a nightclub. Brad grabbed the mileage off the car, we unloaded our bags, and headed to wait for a shuttle van.

There was only one other couple in the other four cars, that were going to our ship. The rest were on either Carnival or Holland. The shuttle had several stops to make inside the terminal. He asked if we all had passports, we all nodded and off we went. As we drove, a couple behind us mentioned this cruise was a gift from his boss, and they didn't have passports. They were told by their boss and someone else that had done a cruise that you could get on with a marriage and birth certificate, that you didn't have to have a passport. I thought to myself, I thought due to high security, they eliminated the option to get onboard without a passport... We didn't want to be the ones to concern them, or be the bearers of bad news, so we just told them "Good luck!" We sure hope they were able to get on their ship. Once we arrived to ours, we filled out our health forms, checked in our luggage, tipped the shuttle driver, and it was straight to the terminal to board the ship. We actually didn't really have to wait in any lines, which was very convenient. They say that the later you arrive during check-in, the easier it is to get checked in. We had no glitches whatsoever. We had our picture taken by the Emerald Princess photographers, and headed through the glass gangway and onto the Emerald Princess. The beauty of the Piazza was breathtaking. We were in awe at the gorgeous stairways and beautiful lighting. It was a similar design to the other two Princess ships I have been on, but it was Brad's first Princess cruise ship so it was amazing to experience this beauty for the first time together. We found one of the booths selling a soda package, and signed up for me to have a kids drink package for each cruise portion (the twenty days was technically two ten day cruises since we came back to Ft. Lauderdale in the middle). The kids package would allow me milkshakes, soda, any virgin drinks, hot chocolate ect. Me having this sticker would be beneficial to the two of us, as we could each intermittently use it. It was well worth our money, and we thoroughly enjoyed having the sticker, its the best way to go, especially for the non-alcoholic drinks - virgin pina colada's, daiquiris, ect. We then headed to our room to see it's set up. Our room steward was not aware that we were married, because my passport is still under Noble, my booking name was different from Brad's. So our bed were not pushed together. The room steward told us that she would get them put together before bedtime. We dropped our carry on bags, and headed to get something to eat for lunch before our muster drill. Following the mandatory muster drill, we put our life jackets back, grabbed the camera, and went to find a place up on the decks for our embarkation! Brad found a pathway to the bow of the ship! It was a beautiful view of Ft. Lauderdale, and the harbor. We watched as cruise ship after cruise ship pulled out, anxiously awaiting our ship to untie and pull off our dock. There was 5 other ships in harbor that day, all waiting for their turn to leave port. As we watched others pull out, we took note of the ships condition, their amenities, and their clientele as they passed by. All the while, we hear the fork lifts and workers still loading luggage onto our ship, well after the time we were scheduled to leave. *we would later learn that there was a few late flights that Princess was waiting on*. Finally lucky number 6! It was our turn to go. We headed out of the port, beginning our first day on board ship! We were the last one on the bow. We had waited nearly 2 hours up there to leave, and continued to enjoy the view all the way until the sun went down. It was beautiful, and Brad's face had a per-ma-grin glued to it. We both were so happy, and so anxious for all the many adventures to come! After a long stressful day of getting to the ship, we were relieved our cruise had finally began!