Celebration: Debarkation Day

By
Saint Greg

February 27, 2023

Good morning from Miami! Today is debarkation day. I have a late flight out of Fort Lauderdale so I’m not going to be in too big of a hurry this morning.

Here are a few items in the room on the TV that I have not shown you yet.

Ship Cams.

On demand movies. The ones with the green box in the upper right corner are free.

Finally the TV channels. These are pretty standard but the older ships that don’t have the on demand movies will have two movie channels.

Last year I missed out on Big Chicken on debarkation day. I waited until after I checked out of my room and got coffee before my Big Chicken stop. It was closed but I know it was open at some point because people had Big Chicken plates.

This time I’m going to get my mocha and Big Chicken first thing and bring them back to my room.

7:30 everyone with all luggage can leave the ship.

Lee says we’re behind because of people coming down out of turn. I didn’t hear if he called any luggage tags yet.

A note on the room temperature. You don’t have to worry about it getting hot in here. It’s on full blast and if anything, it gets a bit chilly in the morning.

Comedy notes. The way I remembered Mardi Gras was it had more comedy than any ship I’ve been on.

I went to so many adult shows on Mardi Gras that I didn’t have time to go to PG shows. I only went to one PG show on Mardi Gras. Here I’ve been to one every day. The reason why is because there are fewer comedians and more repeat shows than what we had on Mardi Gras.

On Mardi Gras we had six comedians. Here we’ve had five. Here they do one adult show per day and repeat it three times. Then the next day they go to the limelight do one PG show and repeat it three times.

Maybe this is what they’ve evolved to over the past year after they went back to full capacity, but that’s not the way I remember it on Mardi Gras in August 2021

Each comedian does one adult show and one PG show and that’s it. Other than the 15-minute sets they do in late night showcases which I would say is one or two per comedian. I know some of these comedians have 3-4 adult shows but they don’t get to use all of them on this ship. I think I would like to see them add in additional adult shows in the limelight lounge.

Lee called luggage tags 1-10 at 8am. Then he called 11-18 at 8.35. That started a stampede just as I was trying to make my way downstairs.

I wish I had checked luggage, so I could’ve taken the stairs down. These ladies were holding the elevator because they couldn’t decide if they wanted to get off of the ship or stay on lido. Finally, someone let them know they were holding everyone else up from getting off the ship because as long as that elevator was there, another one wasn’t going to stop.

I made it down to deck 6 at 8:40am.

The Punchliner is the meeting spot for diamonds.

At 8:44 I can see the exit.

I am off of the ramp at 8:47.

The luggage area was a mess at 8:52.

This is the customs line.

They had facial recognition. I was out at 9:10.

Back where we started.

I used up the last of my onboard credit last night on an airport transfer. I booked 9:30am. The ticket was on my door this morning.

Exit the terminal, take a left, and it’s all the way down.

We’re waiting for the bus.

My 9:30 transfer bus has arrived just shy of 10am. So it may be after 11 before I get to the airport.

A lady told me you aren’t allowed to take pictures in the port area. I said well I’m in ALOT of trouble then.

This transfer cost me $36. Well it was mostly OBC. But it would’ve been 36. Here are the current Uber/Lyft prices

If I were going to MIA the transfer would’ve been $22. Let’s check those prices .

I don’t know if they’re combining this with a later transfer or what but we still have not left.

And we pulled out at 11:02.

We are at the first stop at 11:40. Most of the bus has emptied out.

Actually the first stop ended up being the only stop. He dropped everyone between terminal 2 and 3. So I had to walk to 4. One lady was not giving in. She said she paid her money and he’s going to drop her at terminal 1.

He did a fabulous parking job.

Right now on the left another bus driver is tearing ours a new one for his parking job.

Terminal 3 is at that next corner then terminal 4 is at the corner after that.

This is where my Lyft picked me up when I flew in.

I made it.

I had to go up an escalator to get to departures. I almost gave the lady by the Carnival transfer stand an earful but I didn’t .

Yes!

After bag drop they told me it’s better to enter through terminal 3 for my gate. I’m back outside walking back to terminal 3.

There’s no real line for security. It’s funny no matter what airport I go to I’m going to do something wrong. Every other airport tells me take my electronics out and put them in a separate container. Here when they see me doing that they scream “don’t take anything out!”

At DFW the guy didn’t like the way a raised my arms in the scanner. In New York I had the belt issue with the lady. It’s always something with those people.

I’m through security at 12:23. My gate is F4.

I think this is going to be my spot to watch football and it’s right by the gate. But let’s walk down and see what the other options are. I seem to remember another bar down on the end.

This would be the other one. I’d only get to see one TV here and theirs aren’t even on pregame yet.

Back to the other place. I’m not seeing any charging spots in there. I’m going to find a place to charge first.

This will work. I had to move to another because that one did not work. The working ones are lit up in blue.

I’m an IT guy so I can usually point out these complex problems.

That market has beer to go so I’m just going to do this setup for now and then hit the bar when my devices are charged and I’m ready to eat.

I knew there was a better part to this airport. By the G gates it’s a different world. Bigger, nicer, newer. Better shops and eateries. I’ve been over here before. I’m at a Cuban restaurant. I’ve been to their walk up window for empanadas before. It must’ve been in 2019.

I’m at the bar waiting on their “famous” steak sandwich.

These aren’t bad prices for an airport at their walk up window.

If I came back I would probably order something more Cuban off of their menu. This steak is pretty rough.

I headed back to my terminal. My actual plane is actually here. We should be boarding in 10-15 mins.

Apparently they let everyone board at once so I ended up back in the line. I get in the plane and all the overhead compartments in the front are taken up. I found a spot to squeeze mine in. No way am I going to the back of the plane to get my carry on. Then I sit down and it’s hot. I look up and this guy has both AC vents on him. Now he’s sending text messages with voice recognition. Nobody wants to listen to that.

I got the internet package so I can watch football.

And I got a beer.

People sure are dressed differently here. I have a feeling I’m not gonna be happy when I step outside.

I like those self bag drop machines. I haven’t seen them at other airports. A lot of people struggle with them. But once you figure it out it works good.

Car seats are coming out on these black trays. When they slide down they go flying off. It’s like a competition at this point to see which can go the farthest.

This is my first time with the remote parking. I guess I just need to go down stairs and follow the burnt orange signs.

I’m on my way to the remote south bus stop this guy stops me. He asks if I know where I going. Of course I do. He shows me where his car is parked. It’s by terminal A. We’re in terminal E. And right about then the remote shuttle passes me by. I take off.