TRIP HOME & SUMMARY

Our Trip Home

        We were up at 6am as wanted to be out of our suite by 8am.  Disembarkation was to begin at 8:30 and we were to be first group off.  Well, all the luggage had to be off ship before Customs would let passengers get off.  I was getting very nervous about making our 10:55 flight.  It was 9:15 before we got off!  I grabbed two guys with carts to load up our 8 bags.  A lady was there at the luggage pickup with our name on a card.  She lead us to a special line with our two carts of bags so as to clear Customs.  Then we dropped 4 of the bags with Luggage Free personnel and they will ship them to our house via FedEx.  She took us to a stretch limo where our driver was waiting.

        This all took only 15 minutes and we were off for the Miami airport.  The trip only took 15 minutes so arrived at the curbside baggage check by 9:45.  A sky cap checked our  4 remaining bags and we were off for security check point.  We had TSA pre check so buzzed through it.  We arrived at our gate one hour prior to departure time.

First class seats on the Boeing 777.  They fully recline into a flat bed.  It was a pleasure for me to have flown this plane and instructed other pilots on it but I REALLY enjoy riding back in first class now.

 By 10:15 we were sitting in our nice 777 first class seats.  There we were served bloody Mary’s.  I went up and had a brief chat with the pilots.

                                     I took this photo of the Mariner as we climbed out.
        Once airborne we were served a chicken salad for lunch, which I had pre-ordered.  Trip not over so one more bloody Mary.  We arrived at the gate at DFW on time and headed for baggage claim after deplaning.
        We landed 30 minutes early so was off plane quickly.  Our luggage was on belt in baggage claim in record time.  Amazing!  We were ready for limo at 1:15 but I scheduled it for 2pm.  Luckily our driver showed up at 1:30 and we were home by 2pm.  Now the problem was I could not find the house key.  I put it in my bag 73 days ago and forgot where.  Luckily the neighbor who had been checking our house while gone was home and got the key I had given him.  Whew!!  I later found my key.  Right where I put it!!
        The house looked good inside.  No problems so far.  The front is a mess with shredded leaves from a tree.  I have to clean that mess up tomorrow.  First thing we did was Swiffer the floors and dust furniture.  We are both allergic to dust and noses will stop up at night while sleeping.  You can imagine how much dust there was after 2 1/2 months.
        Rebecca is going through the mail now.  I have to get income tax rounded up in next day or two. I called our insurance company, USAA, from Nassau and filed claim for roof damage due to hail. The adjuster just called me and will be here tomorrow afternoon.  USAA is great!

Summary of Cruise
        Well, this was NOT one of our more memorable cruises.  I guess it was memorable but not for the right reasons.  It was plagued with problems starting with boarding day back on Jan 13th.  Never start a cruise on 13th!!!  Boarding for most passengers took 2 to 3 hours.  We missed 7 planned ports, had bad weather, ship equipment problems, fishing net in azipod, and probably biggest downer was spending half the cruise fighting the GI bug with associated reduced services because of it.  Regent has made an offer of compensation for all this but I feel it is not nearly adequate.  So I will be composing a letter to them and have our travel agent fight the battle for us.
        Two highlights of the cruise were a fantastic crew and excellent food.  We also met some very nice people and hope to stay in touch with them.  Some we will be seeing on next January 5th's World Cruise.
        Yes, my next blog will be on our 128 day cruise around the world.  Stay tuned for the link to that blog which I will start sometime in December.
        I hope you have enjoyed my narrative and photos with this South America blog.  Thanks for the comments.  I have spent a lot of time with this blog but it is worth it when I know how many folks have followed it and appreciate my efforts.  So I will sign off now until late December.