Pre-Cruise in Fort Lauderdale

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Fort Lauderdale Here We Come

We always fly to the departure port at least one day early to avoid any stress from flight delays or cancellations. Our flight had been rescheduled from afternoon to 7:15 AM by the airline, so we decided to add another night's stay at a local hotel by the airport. It is a good thing that this happened because by early afternoon it started snowing which would have most likely caused delays for us.

We arrived right around lunch time and took their shuttle from the airport to out hotel.

Le Méridien Dania Beach at Fort Lauderdale Airport - Marriott

Lunch is Served

Le Meridien is a gorgeous hotel close to the airport and port.  The only downside is that it is pretty isolated unless you have a car or want to Uber around town.   Therefore our meals were at the hotel.

After checking in with the hotel we went up to our room to drop off our luggage and then came back to the lobby to have lunch with agent friends we met when we arrived.  

We decided to split an order of BBQ wings.   They were so good we decided to have them again for dinner after our cocktail party.   We originally had planned to have dinner in their Tequila Library restaurant, but when our group grew in size we'd have to wait too long to be seated, thus we changed our plans.

Visit Lauderdale Social

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau hosted a cocktail party for our conference at the hotel the night before our cruise.   Whenever your travels take you to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, we highly recommend you pay a visit to their website for a list of attractions, activities, nightlife, food and other entertainment.

This was our first social gathering as a group since the pandemic began.  There were hugs and smiles all around as we greeted each other and rekindled relationships.  Thank you to the convention & visitors bureau for hosting this great event.

Saturday Morning

Part of the excitement of a cruise vacation (or conference in our case) is the anticipation.  In all the years we've been cruising (more than 30) there has never been a more anticipated cruise than this one.  Our conference had been scheduled for last November on the brand new Celebrity Apex, but as you know, her deployment was delayed due to Covid-19.

The day has finally arrived!  It's Saturday morning and we are all gathering in the lobby of the hotel awaiting our shuttle departures for the port.  Here are some images from the hotel.   This is a great location if you are sailing out of Fort Lauderdale or if you need a hotel near the airport.   

#2021TogetherConference

Mini-Series

Click on the image on the right to continue our mini-series on Celebrity Apex and our national conference cruise.   Our ship was only 65% full but the crew was at 100% staffing.   This is a great time to be cruising.

Cruising has always been the best vacation value and it still remains so.  Also, it is one of the safest things you can do right now.   The cruise line controls the  environment and with new protocols in place they have been providing safe vacations for thousands of guests for several months now.

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Disembarkation Day Sydney Australia

 No cruise to New Zealand is complete without spending time before and after the cruise in Sydney Australia.  In past posts, we looked at our pre-cruise stay.  Our post-cruise adventure begins here.

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The sun was rising as Majestic Princess began the long process of disembarkation and turning around the ship with a new set of passengers.  These images from our balcony give you a glimpse of what we saw as this 13 day voyage to New Zealand drew to a close.

Since we were staying in Sydney for two more days, we were in no hurry to disembark the ship.  As elite members of  Princess Cruises, we had a lounge set aside for us to wait for our group to be called.

Post Cruise Hotel Stay

We couldn't fly all this way and only spend one day in Sydney, so we booked two more nights at the Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay.  

Once outside the terminal we hailed a taxi, since despite the short distance to our hotel, we weren't about to walk there with all our luggage.  Unfortunately, the taxi driver wasn't happy to be getting such a small fare, but we made it worth his while with an extra tip.

Stay tuned for details on our post-cruise activities.

Additional photos can be found on our Australia & New Zealand Shutterfly page

Sydney Marriott




Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

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Melbourne 19 Hours Later

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Our pre-cruise stay was at Crowne Plaza Melbourne. It was 15 minutes away from the airport and 15
minutes away from the cruise terminal. The hotel was renovating their pool and reception areas.  We were greeted by a bellmen when our taxi pulled up at the hotel.  They took our luggage and pointed us towards an elevator which would take us to the temporary lobby one floor up. 

We had a beautiful room which overlooked the front of  the hotel.  We could see the new pool area which will be fabulous once construction is completed.   The in-room television was displaying a picture of what it will look like.

Our room was quite comfortable with all the amenities needed for a couple night stay before your cruise.  It's location makes it a good choice as well. 

After 19 hours on two flights, your first instinct might be to get some sleep in your hotel ... But, that's the last thing you should do, so off we went ....

After checking in, we went up to our room to wait for our luggage.  After freshening up a bit, we headed out to the SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium which was actually a lot closer to the hotel than the map had shown.  It was just a couple blocks away.  We had some light refreshments in the lobby bar after returning from the aquarium.   We bought some meat pies for dinner from the local convenience store. We have lots of pictures and videos, so be sure to keep reading our diary on this trip.

The day we checked out, they opened their new lobby area, which looks lovely.  More images in our Crowne Plaza Melbourne photo album.

We'll talk more about our first day in Melbourne in another post.  For more images, see our Shutterfly Photo Page. Hopefully, you've followed us live on our social media channels as well.  Don't worry if you didn't, as our anchor post will tie everything together for you.  Just click the image (left) to our diary post.

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Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us every Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat  

Each week we post images from our trips and participate in several travel chats on Twitter.

Take advantage of these resources to assist in you in planning your dream vacations.  Of course, we are always available to answer any questions you might have about travel and the industry.

Pre-Cruise Fort Lauderdale

Early Morning Chicago to Fort Lauderdale

Vacations should not be stressful, so we recommend flying to your embarkation port a day early.  We took our own advice and stayed at Hampton Inn near O'Hare last night, so that we could get to the airport for our early morning flight without hassle.

Staybridge Suites Fort Lauderdale Airport

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale around noon and headed to Staybridge Suites Fort Lauderdale Airport West.  Please be aware that there are two Staybridge Suites in Fort Lauderdale, so be sure to select this one if you are looking for a hotel near the airport and pier.  After checking in we arranged the shuttle to the pier for 10 AM and headed up to our room.

On Saturdays, the hotel serves breakfast only.  They have a pantry where you could by frozen foods to prepare in your room.  We decided to check what was near-by instead.

There was a brand-new Wendy's four blocks away and Happy Pappy's restaurant.  We picked up sub sandwiches and brought them back to the hotel for dinner and ate lunch at Wendy's.  This way we wouldn't have to go out again.

Also close by is the the brand new Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. We had an amazing view of it from our sixth floor hotel room window.

 Check out this video for an example of the Guitar Facade Light show

Tomorrow we will have breakfast at the hotel and then take the shuttle to the pier.   Be sure to follow us on our social media throughout the cruise.

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