harryfat1

So what’s next? I already mentioned that we will be going to NYC in the summer and then a Carnival Cruise for Christmas break as that’s the only time my boys’ holiday schedule matches up with my work schedule for a vacation. Yeah, it’ll be expensive but sometimes you can’t put a price tag on the family vacations as everyone is getting older. I’m looking forward to the December cruise as we have never sailed out of Galveston or even been to Houston. I’m already planning for a pre-cruise day at the Johnson Space Center to explore that as well as the brand new Carnival Jubilee. After the Carnival cruise, I will likely be writing the next installment of the Cheap Dad’s trip report over at the Carnival boards so if anyone is interested in reading, I will be over there by next January. I started the Cheapo Dad’s trip report installment about 10 years ago as I felt the family cruisers were underrepresented here on CC. Maybe I’m biased as whenever we can cruise as a family, so are 99% of other families as everyone is out of school around the same time. Every cruise I have been on since the kids were born has been filled with tons of kids/families. In the Odyssey, there were over 1,000 kids under the age of 18. That’s a lot of families sailing together. Technically we no longer belong in that group as my kids are above that age limit but we still experience things together as a family and as such, I want to share our experiences with other family cruisers looking to sail in future Holiday sailings. Another area I felt was underrepresented is the basic no-frills cruiser experience. In the previous cruises, we didn’t have any special dining or drinks packages or expensive excursions but we still had fun. I wanted to show the newbie cruisers that you don’t need to spend a ton of money on the extras that cruise lines want to charge you and still can have fun on the cruise. Except for this sailing due to reasons mentioned before, we opted for a couple of specialty lunches. It''s unlikely we will do that on the next cruise as we will try the basics of what Carnival has to offer so maybe I will get the cheapo dad name sake back for the next trip report...🤪

As you all saw I enjoyed eating in the buffet (probably more than MDR) as I like variety and that’s what I like the most about cruise vacations. It’s the ultimate buffet of vacations in that there are so many choices and options you can choose from. You can do as much as you want or as little as you want. You can do lots of fancy excursions at each port or none at all. There is no MUST on a cruise. Well, I guess you MUST be back on the ship by the All Aboard time... Unlike other large group vacations like European tours on Trafalgar or camping trips with friends where everyone will more or less experience the same thing. Whereas a cruise experience is so diverse that you will likely have had a different cruise vacation compared to someone in the cabin next door to you. I was born overseas and I grew up learning the parable of the 6 blind men and the elephant story. Wiki can explain the story better than I can: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant On any cruise, we are just one of the blind men feeling the elephant in our little world but everyone has their little stories to tell and only if everything gets added together can one piece together a whole story. Just be skeptical when you read other CC reports if someone is complaining about their bad cruise experience as they may only represent one part of the elephant and your experience could be very different.

Overall, we had a lot of fun on this cruise. As I said in the beginning, we vacation for new experiences and on this vacation, we certainly did new things pre-cruise at Hollywood Beach as well as experiencing the new ports of Curacao and Aruba. Of course, the Q-class ship was brand new to us and we certainly enjoyed the 270 theater area. I just wish we could have completed the ABC islands trio instead of just A and C. Now we need to find a different cruise later on that sails to B to complete the set. The cruise itself was expensive but we all knew that Christmas cruises are never cheap. Especially now with all sailings being more expensive than even pre-pandemic. But even for an accountant, sometimes you can’t put a price tag on a family vacation as the kids get older and as we get older, you never take for granted there will always be more of these trips later on. Don’t let the expensive price tag dissuade you from going on family vacations. Just cut back on what you do while on the ship if you are on a tight budget but still cruise with your family whenever you can.

For the next 2 days, I got various updates on my cell phone regarding the status of the suitcase. In the beginning, they couldn’t even find the luggage as it was somewhere in the Newark airport. Then finally they found it and they shipped it to LAX and then to SFO. After which, they had a special luggage courier to drop off my suitcase 2 days later. So this will be my last picture from this cruise as the flight tag showed where my luggage traveled that day As I mentioned before, you never appreciate your suitcase until it’s lost. Time to hug the luggage... With that, we have come to the end of this trip report. I will have a few closing comments in the following posts.

Typically this is where I end my trip report as I start/end at SFO, however, for this trip report, there’s something extra in that when all the luggage came out, my luggage was not one of them. We waited and no more luggage came out. I walked all around the luggage claim area. My suitcase was nowhere to be found. Damn. OK, time to find a JetBlue agent and showed them my luggage tag claim number and after some researching, they said my luggage never made it on the plane coming to SFO. Instead, it went on another plane to New Jersey? Guess my luggage didn’t want the vacation to end… Not much more to do at that point other than filing a lost luggage report and going home. At least it’s the end of the vacation. Can’t imagine what turmoil I would have to go through if the luggage was lost at the beginning of the cruise and boarding the Odyssey with no extra clothes...

Envious of all the working TV monitors... So finally made it back to SFO after sitting in the plane and being bored to death just looking at the photos on the phone for most of the flight. I like these tables at SFO terminals for people to use laptops and charge their devices. Even the small table area has charging plugs for people to charge their phones (red arrows). Didn’t see any of that at FLL. Better chairs also Waited at the luggage claim to get my suitcase – why do they need to build the ramp so high such that the luggage comes out like a bomb? If your suitcase is dinged or the wheels are damaged from the SFO flight, this could be the cause 20231231_195350.mp4

One supposed advantage of the JetBlue flight is that everyone can watch Live TV with the built-in seat monitor – assuming it works. As luck has it, mine is one of the rare ones that is defective. For the entire flight, all I saw was this error message. WTH? I had the worst luck in flying on this cruise – sat next to a couple that wouldn’t sleep on the red eye going to FLL and now going back to SFO, I’m stuck with a monitor that doesn’t work. I didn’t bring a tablet from home thinking I could just watch live TV on the plane. Well, so much for that… I was stuck watching part of the Indian Jone’s new movie from my son’s monitor but I had no sound so didn’t hear the dialogue.

After lunch, we walked around to another terminal at FLL to check out the Lego store. Also got some basic takeout food from Burger King for dinner on the plane as it’s a 6.5-hour direct flight from FLL back to SFO and we need to find some basic dinner options for the long plane ride home. The "glamour" of traveling nobody ever talks about... Don’t think this plane is going to SFO ahead of NFL playoffs Here’s our plane instead Boarding time for the plane is always chaotic as everyone is fighting to get on earlier to put away their carry-ons

I didn’t realize we were at those seats for 2 hours until I just checked the time stamps between pictures. Anyway, it’s 1:30, time for lunch. Now that we are back in the “real world” where every food item has a cost associated with it, the tiny piece of cake that you scoffed at back at the Windjammer now costs $5+ at the way overpriced airport counters. That’s like the roughest transition in going from no prices on food from the ship to way overpriced food at the airport within a few hours. I read a few reviews of FLL food and Pei Wei had the highest-rated counter service in the area. Not saying much as most people dislike airport food but not like you have much choice otherwise. Not bad, a bit too salty. They could have given people less meat and charged $2 less for their plates as it was too much meat for the rice you get

Made it to FLL. Airport check-ins are always hectic on a Sunday as many cruisers disembark and need to fly home. In addition, it was New Year’s Eve. Never liked these kiosks for boarding passes and luggage tag dispensers. Being old (school), I prefer the human element more. But at least the check-in luggage is free if you have the JetBlue credit card for the whole family. Our flight isn’t until 4 PM and I believe some airlines won’t allow check-ins more than 4 hours before the flight but JetBlue lets people check in 6 hours before the flight so we were able to check in and drop off our luggage early. Wow, that’s A LOT of people by the gates. Didn’t want to sit here in this crowd while waiting for our flight and we found a much quieter area between the terminals. Oh, yeah, much rather be here which is quieter to check our old email and text people back home as we didn’t have an Internet connection while on the ship. So if you are waiting at FLL, seek out the connection area between the terminals as it's much quieter to sit there until your flight is ready to board

After going down to the ground level, we collected the suitcases in group 40 (that section was empty except for our suitcases), and stood in the short line for customs. No passports are necessary. Just stick your face in front of the screen for the software to scan your face and assuming no issues, the agent will waive you through. Much faster process than the old-school way of whipping out the passports. OK, we are outside the terminal. Time to request a Lyft ride to the airport. As we waited for the ride, we noticed that FL cars have no front license plates so we couldn’t tell which dark SUV was our Lyft ride as the App lists the name and license plate of the car but since the cars were coming at us, without a front license plate, it was harder to find our driver in the sea of all the sharerides. Finally found our driver and she took us to the airport. We ordered the Lyft XL and it was $26 + tips for the 4 of us. Much better deal than shuttle service if you don’t mind waiting for a while for a pickup. As we head for the airport, time to queue up the music as we are homeward bound:

Somehow walking off the ship isn’t as happy as walking on the ship… Empty Terminal 18 will soon be filled with passengers for the New Year’s Sailing

Officially we were “dinged out” at 9:35. I overheard one security guy say to his coworkers that there were still over 100 people left on the ship so we were not the last ones off the ship. Just 5,100 out of 5,200 people… As discussed previously, Port Evergaldes won’t have a Shorepower plug-in for another few years similar the more “green” West Coast counterparts that have already implemented the plug-in technology.

By 9:20, they had called all the numbers and made the announcement requesting everyone to leave as they wanted to kick us off the ship ASAP as they couldn’t make any more money from us. So they are telling everyone else still onboard to “Move It, Move It” as they are welcoming a new group of cruisers like @LuCruise and @Ourusualbeach on the next sailing in order to extract some money from them. But before doing that, the leftover rift raft ghetto cruisers like us must disembark ASAP. Besides announcing over the PA, they also had a crew member coming over to 270 to tell everyone to disembark now. OK, I guess that’s the not-so-subtle sign to tell you to get off the ship. Making our way to the gangway.

The last photo of Windjammer at 8:45 as they have closed up and kicked people out. As our flight is later in the afternoon, we are in no hurry to disembark. It’s far more comfortable to sit inside the ship than at the airport. Besides, there’s complimentary food and drinks in the ship versus having to pay at the airport. With that thought in mind, guess where we went after leaving Windjammer? Bingo, 270. Technically speaking, they suggested the veteran cruisers use the Music Hall to wait there between 8 and 9 but we liked the 270 area better so we went there. Pastries and drinks at 270 at 9 AM. The area is also used for B2B cruisers to gather and get their paperwork done for the next cruise so there were a lot of people there. Throughout the morning, they kept announcing the group numbers being called so if your group number has been called, you are free to disembark. By then, they had already called group 40 but looking at the long line of people trying to disembark, we were in no hurry to stand in line with them

Windjammer opens from 6 to 8:30 on disembarkation day. Here’s one area of Windjammer I kept walking past daily and said I would come by and take a picture but never did until the last day. I like the floor-to-ceiling glass window view here. Well, probably be better if it was a waterfront view instead of the refinery area… Saw this automatic window cleaning thing going by spray cleaning the windows 20231231_083725.mp4

OK, done with breakfast. Time to go back and wake up the fam as we are supposed to vacate the cabin by 8 AM The Celebrity ship is across the waterway from us Few last pictures of the balcony area and one last 9.2 anal people check/double check we didn’t leave anything valuable in the cabin Yeah, back to the real world where Sunday actually means Sunday…

My phone App shows it was 48 degrees in Fort Lauderdale on New Year’s Eve. Wow. In the past, we disembarked wearing t-shirts and only put on jackets on the flight home. But this time, we kept the sweatshirts and jacket with us instead of packing them in the suitcase it was pretty cold the previous night so we had a feeling Fort Lauderdale might be cold. I’m typically not an advocate for getting Internet on the ship as I’m cheap but if there’s one day to get the internet, it would be on the last day as then you can check the weather at the port when you come back as well as check in for your flights at the 24 hour mark.

Not a single person was in sight at 270 at 6:55. But a whole lot of people right outside of café 270 to self disembark as the line wraps and turns right in front of the café area. You see the RCI worker in blue making sure the people make the turn to follow the line to self-disembark. While they do their thing, I do mine as I got my 2 pastries and coffee and enjoyed the last breakfast at 270.

The earliest “regular” departure tag you can get is #6. Per the list, unless you have a tour or transfer or are in suites/special status, the earliest departure tag you can get is #6. But we are not early people so I never thought about getting an earlier tag. On the Florida departure board on CC, every week someone will ask “What is the earliest time I can get off the ship?” That’s because many early departing flights from FLL are not full because cruisers are still on the ship so the airline lowers their fares to entice people to fly on them instead of say the more popular time at 12 noon. I’m waiting for someone to post – can I make an 8 AM flight out of FLL? Yeah, if you can jump off the ship and swim ashore at 5 AM…🤪

Day 9 – Homeward Bound I was up earlier today as it’s disembarkation day and everything opens earlier and closes earlier for breakfast. Here is the schedule again in case anyone needs to have an idea of when to disembark for your future Odyssey sailings: Café 270 opens at 6:30 AM so no need to wait for it to open as I took this picture at 6:41 of the hallway. The workers have the bags ready to put away the sheets and towels. Does anyone know what color bag holds what?

Yeah, suitcases are the least appreciated piece of equipment when it comes to traveling but it's very important in that it holds all your clothes and if coming home, many of your souvenirs/memories from the trip. Especially if it's the beginning of the vacation, trying to replace 1 plus week of clothes and travel accessories is a major work that nobody wants to undertake.

Yeah, we had the front door slammed on us a couple of times on day 1 when we opened the front door with the balcony open. After that, we always checked if the balcony door was closed before opening the front door.

The show’s over and back to the cabin. The last picture of the night was at 11:48 PM as it had stopped raining. and the corner cabin from the top no longer has holiday lights as the people packed them for home This concludes day 8 of the trip report. But we are not done as we haven’t gotten off the ship yet. In the past, when I read other trip reports, on the day of disembarkation, many writers just have a quick summary “We got up in the morning and got off the ship and came home”. Wait. What? Anal Inquiring minds want to know the hows and whats of disembarkation. As I said in the beginning, my trip reports are typically from airport to airport. Meaning I start in SFO and end in SFO (with a twist this time). So there will still be more photos and unwanted editorals from me on day 9 for those interested in tuning in. Let's close out the night and the cruise with the Kansas song as with what seems to be a blink of the eye, it's coming to an end +++++ Almost done, folks. The Fat Lady is up on the stage belting out her song… ++++++

OK, done with suitcases, time for the final entertainment act of this sailing. The typical “adults only” comedian act at 10 PM. It’s the same comedian from earlier in the cruise. He had a few decent jokes but nothing really great.