Day 7, Sunday May 1, 2016
I was correct. I woke to the engines turning the ship around about 4:30 am. I got up long enough to take a look around and be blinded by the lights on the Miami police boat before crawling back into bed for about another hour.
When the alarm went off, I had to get up. I checked in with the outside world and then finished packing my carry on and completed my customs form and that darn comment card.
Once it was late enough, I headed down to Shutters to get my photo CD and to Wavebands to get my contraband...I mean...rum. The pick up process for both was easy. I was very impressed by how securely they had taped that rum bag shut though. There was going to be no getting into that.
Back in the room, we watched the chaos below us at the port for a few more minutes.
Then it was time to head to breakfast. We entered the hallway just in time to say bye to Sentana, who was present as always, and to see the hazmat spacemen walk by. I’m talking full on zip up CDC uniforms and full ventilated facemasks. No messing around here!
As we walked down the hallway, we knew exactly which rooms had had reported stomach bug cases. There were checklists outside those doors to be completed with what time the linens were changed, what time the room was sanitized, and what time the room was FOGGED. Yeah, we’ll sail Disney again.
We had to be out of the rooms by 8 but breakfast didn’t start until 8:15. This made things a little awkward. We stood in line for a bit outside Parrot Cay before the line started moving and we were allowed in. While we were slowly moving toward the restaurant, we heard the announcements that the red Mickey luggage tags had cleared customs, so we knew we’d be all set when we finished eating.
Breakfast was lively with us finding each other on facebook and wrapping up conversations. We got to see the cutest, and saddest, menu ever.
I think Nick got the Route 66, which is scrambled eggs and a bunch of breakfast meats. I got pancakes. I can’t eat most breakfast meats, so this menu was a tricky one for me.
When breakfast was over, we said our goodbyes to our tablemates and to our serving team. What a wonderful few days it had been! Then we gathered our carry ons and headed for the exit...of the ship:(
We exited from deck 4 about 9:15, swiping those key to the world cards and hand sanitizing one last time. We then re-entered the upper level of the terminal building and...stopped. For a LONG time. Once in awhile we’d move a few feet, but mostly we just stopped. We did have a nice view of the ship and the signage.
Once I was home from the trip, I heard that this long pause was because some people had gotten sick in the customs line, so they’d stopped the line to allow for cleaning. Sadly, this wouldn’t surprise me.
Eventually we started moving again and Nick and I were the last group allowed on the escalator down before they held the line again (for a shorter amount of time, judging from when more people got in line behind us). The escalator dumped us into a warehouse like building with what felt like a million baggage carousels. The sections were well marked, and pretty soon Nick found our suitcases and rejoined me in the line moving toward customs. There was no doubt that the customs officers knew we were a “sick ship”; many were wearing masks and all were wearing gloves. I’ve never been through customs before, but I suspect this was not the norm. I also noticed certain families, who looked exhausted and pale, being escorted down one specific, generally empty line, to an official wearing a mask, so I wonder if they were trying to keep those who had been quarantined still separate from the masses.
It took a long time to get to customs (an hour from swiping our key cards off the ship), but once we did, the process was really quick, with the officer simply asking how much alcohol we had purchased and what else we had bought on the ship. Then it was time to leave.
Outside again, we passed the table for confiscated items and had a good laugh at what people had attempted to get on board. Knife block sets, immersion blenders...Really...with all the food (that you already paid for) on the ship, you need to bring your kitchen with you?!
The walk to the parking garage was subdued and soon enough we were repacking luggage at the rental car, and then hopping in the car toward Fort Lauderdale. The drive was easy, and we were back at the airport about 11:10. Good timing. The flight is at 1:20, and it’s a Sunday, with one of the big ships in port in Fort Lauderdale.
Rental car return was quick, there was no one in line at check-in, and pretty soon we discovered just what a good packer Nick is. His suitcase weighed in at exactly 50.0 pounds.
Once the bags were checked (don’t breathe on Nick’s!), we headed for security, which didn’t take long, and pretty soon we were attempting to find food, in an airport where food doesn’t really exist. For a decent sized airport, we were surprised by how limited the choices are.
I got a sandwich and Nick got pizza and we settled in to wait for the flight. We both had boarding passes in the mid B range, so Nick decided to go see if they had an upgraded boarding position available. He ended up with A7.
Boarding began eventually and Nick found a spot in the second row. I joined him when those of us slackers who bought EBCI close to the flight finally got on board. Apparently even more people use EBCI when flying from FLL than from MCO.
The plane was fully boarded 15 minutes early. Cool! Maybe they’ll let us off the plane in Baltimore for a few minutes. We pushed back from the gate about 7 minutes early and taxied to the runway. Then we stopped. And sat. Well...so much for stretching legs in Baltimore. After a few minutes the pilot came over the PA, and we could hear the annoyance in his voice as he told us that we would be returning to the gate. Seems that as we were taxiing, they rerouted our flight, adding an extra 500 miles to the trip to avoid some storms. So we needed additional fuel.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a plane drive that fast! We were back at the gate in no time and the doors were very rapidly disarmed and opened. But we sat. And they attempted to answer panicked questions that we knew all too well from last year’s little adventure where they had to take attendance by hand, delaying an already delayed flight even further. The pilot came out and talked to us, promising that he was getting us to BWI safely, because he had a wife that he was going home to tonight, safely. He did say it would be a pretty bumpy flight even with the reroute.
We left the gate again sometime after 2, and were cleared for departure immediately. I was just grateful that a) I wasn’t going to be racing for a connection this time and b) they didn’t have to do the safety spiel again.
It was a VERY bumpy flight to Baltimore, despite the reroute. The flight attendants were seated for probably 80% of it. I read a bit and listened to music, wishing that we hadn’t gotten one of the “classic” planes as they were calling it, with no WiFi. No flight tracking for me.
As we landed in Baltimore, the flight attendant called out gate numbers for connections and promised that flights were being held. We arrived at the gate and the mad rush ensued, complete with what was nearly a smackdown between a father and an elderly woman, when she cut off his 7 year old who wasn’t keeping up with him and that wasn’t making it known that she was with him. Good times!
We were staying on the same plane for the trip to Boston, so we got to watch all of the chaos unfolding. I hate the flights where you stop but don’t change planes, but today it was a good thing.
When everyone but us through passengers had deplaned, the crew finished tidying things up and then the next crew got on the plane, joking with us and the pilot about how we had traveled halfway across the country to fly up the coast. Yay?
Boarding was quick, and pretty soon we were on our way again. I expected the flight to Boston to be just as bumpy, but it was much smoother, overall. Yay! However, upon landing, we taxied around the whole flipping airport. Why does this matter? We really wanted to catch the 7:25 bus back to NH. By the time we arrived at our gate it was 7. The next bus was at 8:25. That one wouldn’t have us back to our house until almost 11 pm.
We deplaned quickly and walked about 5 miles to baggage claim. Nope, no way are we going to make that bus… Oddly enough about the same time I arrived at baggage claim, the bags started spilling out. I got really nervous realizing they were coming down a chute and landing hard, knowing that there were 2 bottles of rum in Nick’s suitcase. Hey, if it can survive the turbulent flight it can survive that too right? Of course...did the rum survive the turbulent flight?
Our bags emerged eventually, and just as we turned toward the door, we saw the bus arriving. We beat feet outside and raced toward the loading zone, JUST making it there in time. Our luggage was loaded on the bus, we climbed on, and a few others who made it because the driver had been loading our luggage, followed us on board.
The trip back to NH took about an hour and a half because there were several stops along the way. It was raining and cold and all I wanted to do was hop on a bus back to the airport and go back to somewhere warm.
We arrived at the Londonderry bus terminal just about 9 and easily found my car. We made it home about 10. Our first task? Opening the suitcase to find out the status of the rum. It survived!
Overall thoughts:
Wow. Such an amazing vacation. We didn’t scratch the surface on all there was to do on the ship or on Castaway Cay (or Nassau or Key West for that matter). My biggest concern had always been not having enough to do. That wasn’t an issue.
We were really surprised at the value of the cruise, even paying the Disney premium. When we really started breaking down the costs, it was a tremendous value. The quality of the product was awesome too.
I totally understand why Disney went 14 years without a significant stomach bug outbreak. According to news reports, reported cases topped out at about 5% of the ship. Not great, but not as bad as another ship that’s been making headlines lately. Although I became a little neurotic about doing all I could to avoid the bug, I felt very confident in all that Disney put into place to assist in my not catching that bug. I cannot describe how visible their actions were. Those CMs were EVERYWHERE, cleaning EVERYTHING...even the pages in the sales book for DVC. And I have a hunch that they’ve been reviewing policies since to figure out what else they can do.
This was my first experience with the bus from Boston. It was easier than I’d expected (we prebought tickets before we left), and we won’t hesitate to use it again if we need to fly to or from Boston. I much prefer flying to and from Manchester. It’s so much more convenient. I’ve also found the security to feel tighter in Manchester than it does in Boston, which blows my mind. Most of you know we lost my great aunt on one of the flights from Boston on 9/11. And Nick had several former employees injured in the marathon bombing. We’re painfully aware of what has happened in that city, and I take serious issue with how lax the security feels there. But, for this trip, the flight home was $200 cheaper (1 way, per person) into Boston than into Manchester. For that price, I have to suck it up. So it’s good to know the bus makes Boston a little easier for when there is a dramatic price difference.
My second big concern prior to cruising was variety of food. I’m a picky eater and have a lot of foods that don’t work out so well for me. I had no problems finding foods that I could eat, and that I liked eating.
I know the newer ships have more bells and whistles. I also know that the Wonder is going to get some upgrades when it goes into drydock this fall. But we still really enjoyed the ship and didn’t feel like it lacked ANYTHING. Maybe our opinion would be different if we had sailed on the Fantasy first, but the Wonder is still an incredibly themed and maintained ship, with an abundance of activities, and an enthusiastic, energetic crew.
Bottom line? I’m really looking forward to our next Disney Cruise!
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