MITSUGIRLY sails off into the HORIZON-review & pictorial
Day 10 Getting off the ship and going home
Sunday December 23: Time to Leave.
Alarm woke us up, we headed for breakfast, I hate this day.
It was now time to do the dreaded task of checking the weather back home to see what we might be returning to.
Yep, just as I expected. COLD! But hey, at least there wasn't any snow in the forecast as they had predicted prior to leaving for the cruise.
We hung out waiting for them to call our numbers. We were number 20. The kids were drawing to pass the time by.
Kendra had a rough but fun cruise. The kids drove her nuts with the arguing. She vowed to never take them again alone. She needed a vacation now. She said the minute she got home...she was shipping them off to family. LOL
Beautiful weather outside...just not as hot as it had been during the week in the Caribbean. 58 DEGREES!!! What the heck? Are you sure we returned to Miami?
They called our number to get off around 9:15 am. We headed to the bathroom and then to get in line to get off. While we waited, Lorelei entertained us and we all sang Christmas songs.
It was only about a 10 minute wait and we were off the ship before we were doing the dread walk in the wrong direction off the ship (in my opinion because we should be heading on the ship instead).
We were at the luggage area by 9:30 am
There is a screen that tells you where to locate your luggage depending on your number.
However, all of the luggage had came out...but Kendra was missing one. We waited and looked and searched and asked questions to the people working in the port...but no luggage. We spent 40 minutes trying to locate her luggage. FINALLY it came out on a different belt and with the last few people to get off the ship. Someone screwed up!
We headed to customs and there was not much of a line. We spent maybe 10 minutes from getting into line to walking out of the building. Wow, quickest process ever.
Outside we tried to get our Lyft driver to come get us in his Black XL but he wasn't answering. We did put in for 6 people and they summoned a van to come. When it arrived, there was NO WAY we were all fitting in it along with our luggage. We had to pull the luggage back out and order the kids back out of the van. It just wasn't going to work. Time to order 2 separate cars.
Ours said it would be there within 10 minutes. Kendra's said 15 minutes...then 20 minutes, then 1 hour...then 2 hours!!! WHAT THE HECK??? She was watching her guy come and go on the gps locator and circle back onto the freeway and head in the opposite direction. We wasn't sure what was going on. I felt bad and she was completely stressed at this point. She tried cancelling it and reordering one and she was having all types of issues.
Our car arrived and we piled in and pulled away. I felt so bad leaving her standing there with the kids and all that luggage...wondering if she was going to make it or would be left sitting there for hours.
Finally I caught word that her ride showed up shortly after ours. We compared mile markers and she was right behind us thank goodness.
Then before long...she obviously passed us up and arrived at the airport before us and was already in line to get her boarding passes and check in her luggage.
While we were standing in line to check in our luggage, I hear someone say "Are you Mitsugirly?" I had been spotted. The funny thing was, this lady was someone I talked to years ago when I was planning my trip to Bermuda and had tons of questions about the bus system and buying tickets for it. She was so helpful and nice and ended up mailing me her left over bus passes from the last time they had visited. We talked for quite some time and I was so happy to have met someone that had helped me out so much in the past. She had also just gotten off the Horizon and said they hadn't cruised in 2 years (and I believe maybe her first Carnival cruise). Well welcome back to cruising!
We were starved by the time we made it in the gates at the airport...so it was time for some lunch.
Time to board the plane and off we went.
It was an uneventful trip home with a route from Miami to Tampa with no plane change and then on to Columbus. The second half of the flight was a little delayed. We had quite a few passengers that were handicapped and the hubby helped lift one up in the seat, that couldn't walk or move himself, and we were rewarded with free booze on the way home. You can't beat that!
We arrived safely, but later than scheduled, back home and Kendra had a later flight. (Procrastination of booking air flight meant she didn't get the same plane as we did and also had a plane change). However, she arrived much later HOME because she was picked up at the airport and went straight to drop the kids off at their aunts before heading home. LOL She wasn't lying when she said she needed a break when she got home.
THE END....