Amazingly we slept in… well if 7 am is sleeping in. I wake cause I can hear the thrusters positioning
us into the harbor and then berth.
There is another ship in port but a smaller one.
We shower and then pack up the last few items into our carry
on roller bag (why is it so darn heavy).
We decide to head up to the Horizon Court for our breakfast. It is busy there at 8 am – considering disembarkation
seemed to start on schedule just after 7 am.
We get a table in the aft area with another couple who are from
Washington. They too love to travel and
we talk travelling and advice and we exchange information so we can keep in
touch. Their experience in Europe could
be very handy for us next year.
After breakfast we are trying to decide where we can go and
hide out until they call our disembarkation color which is yellow 1 (10
am). We at first head to deck 15 aft to the
cushioned lounge area but after about 15 minutes the aroma of smoke coming from
the port side is just too much. Normally
this is not an issue cause when the ship is moving the air flows but I guess
cause we are docked it is annoying.
I decide I need a latte and Bernie heads to the Vista Lounge
(Platinum/Elite/Suite Disembarkation Lounge).
I sit in the International Café and sip my drink and relax. But boy can’t believe the crowds and a lot of
people don’t seem to know where to go or want to get off now even though it is
not their time. My thought is that there
are many new cruisers who just are not aware of the procedure.
In fact they made an announcement that people should head to
a public area and then proceed to their disembarkation lounge just prior to
their time. Also that they need to be in
their appropriate lounge to know when to get off.
When I arrive in the Vista Lounge at around 9:40 it is still
busy but really it is only crazy packed right near the entrance. I see Bernie off to the right side with lots
of empty space around him. We sit and wait and we are called off at just before
10 am.
We exit via the aft gangway on deck 7 to the port building
where we are directed to the Non US citizen line. We found that it moves rather quickly. We are surprised at how many questions the
customs agent has for us. Certainly a
lot more than we normally get. Wants to
know why we cruise so much, where are we going, why are we getting on another
ship. Wants to know why we don’t have a
stamp in our passports for when we entered the US on Nov 5. We tell him we used our Nexus Card not our
passports to enter. Oh… so you shop a
lot in the US then cause you have a Nexus Card.
No we like to travel and having a Nexus Card expedites this. Anyways he stamps our passports and we are on
our way.
We have a room booked at the Crowne Plaza San Pedro for the
night that we booked thru Hot Wire for $90.
We have stayed here numerous times and like its location.
We decide to walk to the hotel (note they have a shuttle but
for us it is not far and we can easily manage our bags). When we arrive at around 11 am we figure we
will have to store our bags but no the front desk has a room for us. Nice!
We drop off our bags and then we head downstairs to rent our
car from Enterprise.
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