Day 1 - Port Everglades - Ft Lauderdale
Taking a Princess Cruise to and from the Panama Canal. Departing out of Fort Lauderdale. Boat leaves at 4:00pm. We arrived around 10:15 to board. There are two lines to enter as we arrived. The Green line for people that ordered their Princess Medalions ahead of time and the Blue line for people that need to pick up their medalians. We had our medalions, so we went to the Green line. The Blue line was very short and was moving fast. As we approached the inside of the building, we found that both lines merged to go through security (why are there two lines!) After security, The Blue and Green lines resumed. This time we got through quickly and boarded the boat.
Once on the boat, we started with a Champane toast at the Wine Bar. We have the Princess Plus package that allowed us 15 drinks per day included in the price. However each drink had a $15 limit. The Champane was $17, so we had to pay the $2.00 difference. We were offered to upgrade to the next Princess Package that would cover the difference, but declined.
Since we still had cell service at the Port of Ft Lauderdale, we used our phones to connect with Amy, Sue, Steve and Irene. We all set up “What’s App” and our phones so we could connect with each other during the cruise. The phone plans on the boat are very expensive and we get free WiFi with our package. What’s App is free and as long as you have WiFi, you can connect.
Hung out in the hot tub and continued to work towards our 15-a-day drink limits. We had to wait until after 2:00 to go to our rooms. The bags we checked at the curb when we arrived were delivered to our room door. We unpacked and set up some of the cruise hacks we learned online. We brought magnetic hooks to create more hanging space. The entire ship is made of metal and these hooks will stick to any wall or door.
After a quick nap, off we went to the wine bar for some pre-dinner drinks. Princess canceled our dinner reservation that we had made months ago (did not inform us, in fact it was till showling up the day before) Went to the only restaurant that did not require reservations.
