April 13, 2024 Fort Lauderdale boarding the ms Rotterdam

We enjoyed the hotel’s buffet breakfast again today. There is even a machine where you insert a plate, press a button and it takes one minutes to make 2 pancakes to which you can add your choice of syrup. We repacked our suitcases and met outside the lobby for the 10 a.m. shuttle to the cruise terminal. It only cost $13.00 each, cheaper than our taxi ride from the airport which is only a little closer to the hotel than the cruise terminal. The van took about 15 minutes to load. The journey to Port Everglades, in the 33 passenger van, took eight minutes. There was a short wait as vehicles were checked through the gate security. Our luggage was unloaded into the care of the porters to transfer to the ship.

There are eight cruise terminals in Port Everglades. Today there are four other ships in the Midport section: Celebrity Cruise Line Apex at Terminal 25, moored at the berth aft of us, and Reflection at Terminal 29 which was in front of us. Holland America Cruise Line Eurodam at terminal 19, across the pier from us and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Odyssey of the Seas at terminal 18 further away at a 90 degree angle to the Eurodam. Our ship, the Rotterdam, was at terminal 26. Princess Cruise Line Enchanted Princess was at terminal 2 in the Northport section which we could see in the distance.

This is our first cruise as four star mariners, part of the loyalty rewards program. It was 10:45 a.m. as we reached the checkin floor. There was a priority lane for four and five star mariners plus the suite guests. Instead of waiting in the main hall for the “all clear” to board (which I presume was announced around 11:30 a.m. when the staterooms were ready for passengers), we were directed straight to the checkin kiosks and ushered to the ship’s gangway. Ascending the escalator, looking at the people seated in the waiting area below, it looked like at least 500 people waiting who did not have priory early access to board. Usually there are photographers stationed, with backdrops, near the entrance to the gangway, but we did not see them. As we went through the ship’s security stations to enter the ship, we saw the “All Aboard” time was 2:30 p.m., which is usually 30 minutes before the ship is scheduled to depart a port. However, the Port Everglades schedule has the ship leaving at 5 p.m.

Once on the ship, we saw the specialty restaurants reservation desk and decided to make an early anniversary dinner reservation. As four star mariners, one of the perks is 50% off speciality restaurant and coffee shop purchases. As passengers boarded, the staff directed people to go to the Lido buffet on deck 9 because the housekeeping staff were still getting the staterooms ready. The Rotterdam’s previous voyage, in the Caribbean, had unloaded her passengers between 7 and 10 this morning. We took our time climbing to Deck 9 from Deck 3 to the Lido buffet. At each elevator/staircase lobby was a picture or sculpture. On the staircase mezzanines, there also were pictures on the wall. The one that we noticed first between deck 4 and 5 where a series of old speakers with a world map painted on it. The next level had a wavy piano keyboard. In the elevator/staircase lobby on 7 was a model of the first Rotterdam ship and deck 8’s art was an abstract 3D cello and chair. We will have to explore the other staircase art in the next six sea days.

At the entrance to Lido buffet, a staff member was reminding people to wash their hands in the sinks or use the hand sanitizer before proceeding. Some passengers just ignored the suggestion. There were already many people seated or in food lines, it looked like about 2/3s capacity for the restaurant with only about 30% of passengers on board. We walked to the rear patio deck with shaded tables surrounding the small outdoor Seaview Pool carrying coffees. There were only a couple of dozen people scattered at the tables. It was too soon for lunch since it was just after 11 a.m.

The temperature was about 23°C (74°F) under sunny skies and a slight breeze. We were joined at our table by solo cruiser, Mary from Virginia who was about our age. She told us about seeing the Northern Lights on her visit to Iceland in February. When the announcement that the cabins were ready at 11:30 a.m., she left to go to her stateroom. We stayed a little longer, then had lunch before going to our stateroom to check the mailbox for our stateroom key cards. Next on the agenda was to find our muster station and report in before returning to our stateroom to watch the eight minute safety video which unlocked our TV. We thought that our luggage might be delivered since it was placed on a luggage cart at 10:40 when the shuttle van dropped us off. There are probably over 5,500 pieces of luggage to be delivered to staterooms on eight decks. We wandered up to Deck 12 to get caramel lattés at the Explorations Café in the Crows Nest lounge. There were tables for playing cards, chess and solving puzzles and some light tables with interactive information about the designations in week 2 of this transatlantic voyage.

Rotterdam’s Captain Bas van Dreumel made an announcement at 2:30 p.m. that he would sound the emergency signal that tell passengers that they should return to their stateroom to get medicine, passports and life jackets before going to your muster station. It was seven loud short blasts and a long blast. He also remarked that Rotterdam was scheduled to depart at 3:30 p.m.

A few minutes later, Captain van Dreumel announced that the distance to Ponta Delgado, Azores, is over 2,000 nautical miles and we will arrive six and a half days from now at 7 a.m. at the sea pilot station. The sea pilot will help guide the ship to the Ponta Delgado harbour and the ship’s berth. Rotterdam’s average speed will be 19 knots, which is about 35 kilometres per hour. He also announced that our first time change will be at noon tomorrow. It will be the first of four time zone changes. We will cross three time zones before the ship arrives in the Azore islands. Usually the time changes are done during the night. The earth’s time zones are approximately 15° longitude apart, but take some detours over the oceans and land, especially at the North Pole.

All the cruise ships depart using the Port Everglades Entrance Channel which is the ocean outlet of the Stranahan River. It also connects to the Florida Intercostal Waterway which was very busy with pleasure craft this afternoon. Apex and Reflection were scheduled to leave at 3:30 p.m., while Eurodam, Rotterdam, Odyssey of the Seas and Enchanted Princess were scheduled to leave at 5 p.m.

We decided to watch the sail away from the promenade deck 3. What actually happened was Enchanted Princess pulled out of her berth at 3:25 p.m. moving forward then making a 90 degree turn to port and heading out to sea in about 15 minutes. She was followed by Celebrity Apex at 3:40 p.m. She had to back away from her berth very slowly and made a 90 degree turn to her port side to line up to exit, but blasting her horn four times to indicate forward motion into the Entrance Channel. Next we saw the dock workers throw the mooring ropes into the water and within a few minutes Rotterdam sounded a single five second blast which was answered by Eurodam. She was leaving her mooring and heading to the Entrance Channel, so we waited another ten minutes before slowly moving backward to the channel in the same manner as the Apex. Two minutes later the Reflection was underway before 4:30 p.m. Only the Odyssey of the Seas was still moored.

We had chosen a set dinner time at 5 p.m. rather than 8 p.m. There is also open seating, for which you have to reserve daily or wait in line at peak times. Our keycard read table 212 which was for eight people. We joined Bill & Lynn from California, Heather from Vancouver, another couple Eric & Lois and Sharon from St. Paul, Minnesota. The waiter’s name was Reditama who comes from Bali, Indonesia, and the assistant waiter, Pantasa, who we may call Harry. Dinner service was very efficient taking a well paced 90 minutes. During the dinner conversation, we found out that shortly after we boarded, boarding ceased. Authorities were looking for a missing crew member around the ship, we saw no indication of a search sitting on the Seaview patio. After an hour it was determined, after checking security video, that during the night, as the ship passed Cuba, the crew member had jumped overboard. The U.S. Coast Guard was notified and began a search.

We passed the library on the way up to the Explorations Café in Crows Nest lounge for an after dinner coffee. There were comfy chairs with ottomans overlooking the front of the ship where we read our books for an hour. During that time Captain van Dreumel reported that Rotterdam was turning toward West Palm Beach to rendezvous with a medical evacuation boat in about 45 minutes to transfer a very sick crew member who needed medical attention on shore. The detour may cause the captain to increase the average speed a slight bit. At 10 p.m. the ship’s speed was 23 knots on a route Northeast 37.27°.

The main theatre - World Stage - was presenting Origin Story, a multi media tale of Holland America’s history over the past 150 years. We passed on going since we saw it on a cruise last spring. Today’s steps were 9829.