Mitsugirlys STAR end of the world/pre-Christmas cruise detailed review & pictorial
Day 8: Getting off the ship
THE FINAL FINALE:
We woke up at 8am, got dressed and took and second and third look around the room to make sure that we were not leaving anything behind. So far, I have not discovered anything missing…so that is a good sign.
We headed for the buffet area and had our last big meal on board the “Beautiful Norwegian Star” and went out to the deck to take in everything as they were announcing which passengers were now getting kicked off the ship.
It was kind of a cold brisky day out. I was not happy about that. I had hoped for a nice sunny day because we had a late flight home and we needed to kill some time. Our plans were to send our luggage to the airport and just take off walking around NOLA for the day with our Airport Shuttle service picking us up at the hotel we had told them we would be standing at around 2:30pm.
I quickly checked my phone for the weather and seen that it was only in the 50’s I believe and the day called for rain. GASP. NOOOOO! This was not how the cruise was supposed to end. Rain and cold. YUCK. Thank goodness I had kept out warm clothes for us to wear home on our trip.
We kind of went back and forth about what we were going to do. We finally thought about just going ahead to the airport and just hanging out. After all, Sakari did have her new dvd player and was armed with 3 new movies to watch. But the final decision would not come until after we left the ship.
When it was getting close to the time NCL was going to force us off the ship, we headed down to the Atrium and sat for a while. I, of course, do not “sit” I take pictures. A few last one’s for the road of the beautiful atrium and one of Sakari by the huge Christmas tree.
Ok, sigh, it was time. Time to go. DARN! My husband glanced at me and gave me the “don’t make a scene on your way out by refusing to leave” look and I obeyed… I pouted, but I went willingly.
Disembarkment was a breeze. The lines were short, they moved along quickly, we said our good-byes to the staff on the way off the ship and away we went. We located our luggage…still intact but a little more of the thread coming apart was loosened more. (Deep breath). Customs went smoothly and quickly. The lady was nice and we encountered no problems. Usually they are kind of “uppity” but this one was nice and talkative to Sakari.
Out of customs we went and into…..H3LL!!! The same issue as when we arrived for the cruise. People everywhere not knowing where to go, what to do, what line was to get on, what line was to get off….round 2!
We walked out front and noticed the Airport Shuttle pulling away from the port loaded with people (this would become significant later on) and we were in the mob of people coming and going. I’m looking around for the desk, which the shuttle service AND the baggage transportation told me they had a desk right outside, to figure out how to go about sending our luggage and getting our transportation confirmed for our ride to NOLA airport later in the day. Asking people that worked there got me nowhere. I left the hubby and daughter standing outside with all of our luggage and headed in. I ask several employees that worked there where this “desk” was. They told me that it was outside (a different area) but they didn’t know if it was what I was looking for. I went out that door (it’s an area on the side that has a street, but it is covered above…like an underpass). I ask the person at the desk about this service and he tried to tell me that the port officials were having issues with the service and they had stopped running the shuttle service now. Um, did this just happen this week? Because I definitely had the service on my arrival and had spoken to them on the phone and in person at the airport about pick up just 1 week ago when we arrived. They did offer to take my baggage to the airport and drop it off but with the uncertainty of how we were going to get to the airport (other than taking an expensive cab), we weren’t sure. It was just a mess out there.
I went back out to tell my husband what was going on. We grabbed all of our luggage and headed back inside and out the other doors to just see about getting transportation with a cab to the airport instead and nixing the idea of staying in NOLA to walk around. It was cold and rainy looking, I was frustrated, we were in the middle of a mob scene and at that point I just wanted to go somewhere I knew we weren’t going to get left behind.
The people there kept asking me if I had prepaid for my transportation with the shuttle service. Not that I was aware of but now I wonder. As I said in the beginning, we paid $38 per person (when the website said $36) and then the lady took our “meeting point and time” for our return there at the desk when we had first arrived in NOLA. We paid and that was it. So now I’m thinking maybe this amount was for the ROUND TRIP and we were actually prepaid??? I have no idea how it works. The other thing that makes me wonder if it wasn’t for a round trip is because we were told that it’s cheaper to use their service compared to the taxi’s prices which would run about $48ish for one way to the airport. However, the people at the desk put us in a taxi to go to the port and it was cheaper than the $36 we had paid. This makes me think that it was a roundtrip ticket that we must have paid for. Then, I still wonder because the lady at the deck had told me that on our return trip we would get $4 off. So if that were the case, it wouldn’t have been for a round trip ticket. I don’t know. I was tired and aggravated at that point.
We got in the cab and headed for the airport….where we would spend the next 6+ hours just waiting…and waiting…and waiting. We would facebook, read emails, I had brought a book with me to read and I managed to read half of the book that day with almost the other half on the plane ride home. Sakari watched 2 of her videos and we ate $6 chips. OUCH! This place was crazy expensive. We were not even allowed to check in our luggage for 2 hours because of the time that our plane was leaving. They only allow a 4-hour before check in. So there we sat with our luggage until we could dump them off and finally make our way in to the security area.
Once in, we decided to get something to eat (since we were so use to eating a couple of times by now, we were starved). We ended up getting 2 “small” pizza’s, which cost us $20 and they were only cheese pizza’s because they were out of the pepperoni ones. We grabbed our boxes and plopped down on the floor in the hallway against the wall (there wasn’t any place to sit at that point) and open the box. Um, where’s my small pizza? I didn’t order a “personal” pizza, I ordered a small. Give me small! Well, that was “their” small. What a complete rip-off. We walked away starved!
Finally it was our time to board the plane and head for Tennessee for our next flight. I won’t bore you with the details. There was nothing interesting. More book reading, eating/snacking, watching videos and checking in with the family about our status of arrival.
We arrived home to EXTREMELY cold weather and I was exhausted and had to work the next day…Christmas Eve. Things were back to normal..until I started writing this review. LOL Then came the snow...and snow...and snow. I need a cruise! :D
So now, I have 1 more week off before I start back to school. I have neglected my normal “readings” on cc and feel so left out at the moment. I know things are about to get hectic again with work and school and I’m hoping that I will find time to start to research for my next cruise in May. I don’t know how I’m going to manage, but I gotta put my best foot forward and just find the time. My oldest daughter is planning on joining us again on this cruise. She’s trying to talk my oldest son in going. We’ll see how that goes. Maybe I can get my youngest son to join too. But, he will be graduating from High School some time around that time, so I’m hoping it won’t interfere with my “cruise dates” or I’ll have to pick another date.
Until the next cruise and review…I hope you all have enjoyed living my cruise through my eyes.
If you have any questions, you know I’m here for you and will answer to the best of my knowledge.
Adios Amigos!