The Elliott adventures continue. This time we are starting in Fort Lauderdale, cruising through the Panama Canal, then completely around South America, through the Caribbean Islands, and finally returning to Fort Lauderdale and back home to California. This adventure will be much shorter than our last one and will be a cruise only. We will be traveling for two months and will be home on March 10th.
Soooooo, here we go:
The cruise line arranged for us to stay the night at the absolutely magnificent Ritz Carlton in Fort Lauderdale, where we had an evening gala. We were thrilled beyond belief when we were escorted to an incredibly beautiful oceanfront room with a huge wall of glass and doors leading to an enormous balcony overlooking the pool, fine white sandy beach, and gorgeous clear blue ocean. The colors in the room were just as I had imagined for Florida. The furnishings were bright and warm and made us feel welcome, with turquoise blue, sunshine yellow, and vibrant red. Gorgeous live exotic plants were scattered throughout the room. It was a tropical paradise and I could already feel myself unwinding and starting to relax from the hectic Fall season.
I quickly unpacked my swimsuit and sunglasses and headed downstairs to the beautiful infinity pool. Amazingly, there was no one else enjoying the water so I enjoyed a quiet moment of embracing the warm, soothing sensation of the salt water as it gently washed over my skin and engulfed me in a sensation of peace, warmth, and tranquility. After my body was completely relaxed I managed to climb out of the pool and walked across the street to the majestic Atlantic Ocean There was a very different feeling from the beach on our Pacific Ocean in Southern California. The beach itself was not nearly as wide and the sand was whiter and finer than our beach at home. There were vendors renting cabanas and other beach-related accessories I was surprised that the beach was not crowded. One such a beautiful day in Southern California our beach would be jammed with locals, people from inland escaping the heat, as well as tourists. I ventured into the water. I was amazed at how warm the temperature was and how calm the water felt. I enjoyed my peaceful afternoon and then headed back to the room to get ready for the pre-cruise gala.
The gala was a lovely event. We sat with fascinating people from Australia and a representative from the Silverseas corporate office. The people we met, the sumptuous food and the elegant surroundings made the gala a wonderful event and a great start to our adventure. We returned to our incredible
room to get a good night's rest before we left for the ship the following afternoon.
The following day we boarded a van which took us to the ship. Our first afternoon and evening on the ship were wonderful. The moment we boarded we felt like we were home. This ship is the sister ship to the one we were on for our four-month world cruise so were were already very familiar with the deck plans. Such a great feeling to be back onboard. Immediately, we saw many, many staff and passengers who we met on our previous cruise so we had a great time reconnecting with them. It was such a lovely reunion.
We were greeted promptly with a glass of champagne Although we thought about saying no (for about a nano second), since it was only about 12:30 p.m. we took it gratefully, snapped our initial onboard photo and headed up to the pool deck while or room was being readied. There is such a warm and welcoming feeling on this cruise line. It is really a pleasure to be surrounded by such genuine and friendly people. The staff knows us by name and it does feel a bit like we've "come home" now that we're back on board. Sooooo excited to experience our adventures ahead.
Once our suite was ready our baggage was delivered and we began the big job of unpacking and finding a place for everything. We were greeted immediately with warm smiles and gracious offers of assistance by our butler, Ryan, and our lovely suite attendant, Karen, both from the Philippines. This time we are in a much smaller suite so we had to be somewhat creative to find space for all of our "stuff". We got everything put away (which took a couple of hours) then began to ready ourselves for dinner. Although the suite is not very big it is actually very comfortable and conveniently located in the middle of the ship. We are definitely ready to experience this "pretend" lifestyle for the next few weeks where our every need is anticipated and the biggest decision we have to make is whether we want lobster of Beef Wellington for dinner!!!
OK, we are experiencing our first onboard problem. It seems that the cruise line "neglected" to mention that they are remodeling the boutique, located directly beneath our suite. The noise from the demolition, drilling, pounding, and shouting below is ear-piercing. At times it is difficult to carry on a conversation or hear the T.V. We understand this construction is scheduled to continue until January 20th. The noise begins about 8:00a.m. and doesn't finish until at least 7:00p.m!! We have talked repeatedly to staff but so far haven't had a resolution to this problem. However, we don't spend too much time in our room and we are determined not to let is spoil our exciting adventure. Tonight the ship sails for our first port of call, Key West, Florida.
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