Pre-Cruise Visit to Florida

After many months of planning, our third Grand World Voyage is now under way.  We were very relieved that Chicago weather cooperated and didn’t provide us with any snow to add suspense to our scheduled departure on the morning of New Year’s Day.

We did have a late change in plans, though.  Along about mid-November we received an email from our cruise friends Sally & Angelo DiTomaso, who live in Hobe Sound, Florida (about 1½ hours north of Fort Lauderdale), inviting us to stay with them rather than sitting in a hotel for several days.  We gladly accepted with the understanding that they wouldn’t fuss because they were also taking the Grand World Voyage and would have much to do before leaving home for four months.

Early in the morning on New Year’s Day, our good friends from New Lenox, Pam & Paul Floyd, arrived to take us to O’Hare for our 8:00 flight to Florida.  We said our good-byes, knowing that we would be meeting in Fort Lauderdale on the 4^th.  After our check-in, I got a kick out of a brachiosaurus all decked out in holiday garb so I had to take a few pictures of the beast!  Our flight arrived ahead of schedule; we got our luggage and waited for Sally & Ange to pick us up.  All had gone just as planned until our trip north on I-95.  We were cruising along at the speed limit, when the traffic came to a very sudden stop.  Ange jammed on the brakes.  I could see it coming so I braced myself for probable impact.  We did touch the bumper of the car in front of us, but there was no damage – to the cars at least!  In the bracing, I damaged my right knee.  I’d developed tendonitis in that knee in November and had just finished physical therapy on the 29^th of December.  My knee was the best it had been in months, and I was feeling really great.  But all of a sudden, I could barely move my right leg without terrible pain!  I knew nothing was broken, but the pain was pretty bad. When we got to Sally & Ange’s, I immediately started icing it but the act of standing or sitting was difficult at best, and sometimes excruciating. 

On the morning of the 2^nd, Ange took me to a nearby urgent care center.  They took an x-ray, and it showed no broken bones or damage to the hardware in the knee.  I arrived there equipped with the sheet of exercises my wonderful Athletico PT Angie had given me to do on the trip.  They told me that these were excellent and that doing them should help me tremendously.  By icing, elevating, and keeping the knee moving, it improved quite a bit, and I found myself quoting our friend Conrad, saying “Every day better.” 

While visiting with Sally & Ange we were happy to reconnect with their friend Marge Buschhoff, whom we met on the Voyage of the Vikings in 2011.  We had really enjoyed her so we were pleased that we got to see here every day; also, she had a few medical devices that were invaluable to me for a quicker recovery. 

On January 2^nd, shortly after my trip to urgent care, Sally & Ange took us up to Stuart, FL, where we met cruise friends Dick & Jan Yetke from Naperville, IL whom we’d met on the 2012 cruise and had stayed in touch with, as well as our friend Al Vence from Goodyear, AZ, who, along with his wife Carol, had been our tablemate on the 2008 Mediterranean cruise.  Carol had died in 2010, and we had encouraged Al to do the 2012 voyage with us.  It was his first cruise since Carol had died so we were glad to get him back into doing something he loves to do.  In 2014 he had done a segment of the Grand World voyage and met a lady whom he married in November of 2014.  We had the chance to meet and get to know Linda, his new wife, as well as Al’s brother Bob and wife Karen, who live in Stuart.  Amazingly, Bob and Dick had been roommates at the Coast Guard Academy, so our lunch meeting gave them a chance to get caught up too.  (On the 2012 cruise, Dick’s wife Jan had sent a message out to CG friends asking if any of them knew a CG captain who had lectured on the ship.  Bob sent the reply: “No, but my brother Al is on the ship.”  Jan & Dick were only three doors down from Al, who was just a few doors down from us.  Small world!)

After a few wonderful days with Sally & Ange, they took us to Fort Lauderdale on the 4^th, where we had a complimentary hotel through AAA.  We were very relieved that Pam & Paul’s flight on that same day had gone out on schedule despite the threatening Chicago weather.   Once we were checked in, we called their room, and the four of us decided to take a trolley to a nearby beach where we could find supper at a reasonable price. We agreed upon a restaurant and had a nice “Farewell, USA” meal in preparation for our sailing the next day.  We made it an early evening as we all were tired and knew that Monday would be a very long and most likely challenging day. 

The big day, January 5^th, finally arrived!  We were up and had our luggage ready in plenty of time, and then headed down to the pre-cruise brunch at the hotel.  It was nice to be able to connect with other friends we’d met through AAA travel.

Back in 2013, we had left for the pier later in the day and as a result got caught in a massive line of fellow passengers who were all trying to get onto the ship as quickly as possible, resulting in a wait of somewhere in the vicinity of 1½ to 2 hours. So this time AAA moved the departure time to the pier up so we could get in earlier. The result was a much speedier check-in process.  While there was still a long line, we processed through much more quickly and were on the ship within a half hour. 

Our stateroom is much smaller than what we’re used to, so we have discovered that we needed to make some major adjustments to unpacking and storing things, but we eventually managed to establish some semblance of order to the chaos that ensued with the arrival of all the suitcases.  Now all of our suitcases are stored away either under our beds or in a storage location on the ship, and most of our things have found some kind of a home here in the stateroom.  Whether I easily find things or not is yet to be found out, but at least things are put away. I hope not so safely that I don’t find them again until April 29^th!

We headed upstairs to the Lido to get a small lunch to fill in the cracks until dinner, but we hadn’t gotten very far when we came across friends from previous cruises:  Bob & Nancy, whom we met on the 2012 cruise and got to know well on the 2013, and Mel & Helen, whom we got to know from playing trivia on the Grand Med last spring.  Then came a huge surprise! As we stood talking to people, I noticed a very familiar face in the distance.  It was Yohat, our dining steward in 2009 and 2012.  We were supposed to have him in 2013, but plans fell through, and this was his first return to Holland America since late in 2012.  We immediately ran down to the Assistant Dining Room Manager Presty, whom we also know quite well, and requested Yohat as our steward, but it couldn’t be worked out.  We can’t switch to his section as it’s filled, and someone in our section who is a Presidents’ Club member had requested the steward who services our section.  Oh, well, we tried, and at least we will get to see him in the Lido! 

Our second surprise came on our way to dinner when we saw another familiar face – a housekeeping  supervisor was speaking with our cabin steward, and when he turned to look at us, both he and I had the same reaction.  He said, “You look familiar!”  I said, “You do, too!”  It was our cabin steward from 2012, Evan.  He had received a well-deserved promotion – at least we think so!  He was about the best we’ve had!

Dinner meant a reunion with Alice, who dined with us on the Grand Med.  She and Pam had met back then so it makes for a nice table with the five of us.  Presty told us that because we are five at a round table for six, he would try to arrange for an officer to join us on occasion for formal night.  That will be very nice!

We ended the day in the Piano Bar with our favorite entertainer, Debby Bacon.  It was wonderful to be able to sit back and relax and enjoy the music she provided! 

                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                        BT      

P.S. For some reason we can't get pictures to upload.  We are hoping to resolve the issue quickly, but we don't want to spend all of our purchased minutes on the very first blog post!