1,017 Days ago, March 22, 2020, we left the ms Amsterdam in Fremantle, Western Australia, and started our long journey back to San Diego via air instead of our preferred mode of international travel – a cruise ship.  This will be the first Holland America World Cruise since and will be the longest Holland America Cruise since the restart.  

Our roll call on Cruise Critic wins the record for the roll call with the most replies – over 7,100 – Amazing.  When you have been planning something for this long,  the anticipation is off the charts.  

Planning this cruise was more stressful than normal due to the ever-changing COVID testing requirements.  Many of us had assumed that COVID testing would be a distant memory for our cruise.  It’s one thing to test positive and miss a 7-day Caribbean cruise,  it’s quite another to think that a positive test in Fort Lauderdale might jeopardize the entire cruise.  Fortunately, HAL extended the worry-free promise to cover our cruise and committed to helping people join the ship en route if they were delayed due to COVID in Fort Lauderdale.  

The COVID testing requirement ended up requiring everyone to test using a self-administered Antigen Test or you could get a PCR test 48 hours out.  Most people chose the cheaper and more convenient self-test.  

Our check-in time was 11 am, but we have learned that the check-in times are meaningless and most everyone simply arrives whenever they choose.  

We stayed at the Residence Inn in Plantation, about 10 miles from Port Everglades.  When planning your pre-cruise stays in FLL, don’t automatically assume that you must stay outside the gate to Port Everglades.  We have found that the hotels in Plantation are less expensive and right next to a large mall and a Target.  The sightly higher taxi or shuttle fare may be worth it when the rooms are cheaper, and you are within an easy walk to a large mall and Target.  

We left the Residence at 10:45 and arrived at Terminal 26 at 11:12 am.  I dropped off Cindy, Brad, and Judy and then took the car back to AVIS and returned on the free shuttle bus.  You pay a premium for an airport pickup and a cruise terminal drop-off.  In the future, I will consider returning the car to the airport, which is cheaper and then taking a cab to the cruise port.  The total price for each option may be closer than your first estimate.  

Back at terminal 26, it took a little less than 1 hour to get thru the lines and complete check-in.  There was a priority line that we learned about later, but it turned out not to be much faster than the normal lines.  

The lesson for this check-in was to use VeriFLY – even though there wasn’t a separate Verifly line, you will help the entire process move faster if you use veriFLY.  

After we completed check-in, we had our embarkation photo taken and headed to the ship, where we were greeted by Henk and the Cruise and Travel Director, Ian.  We were in our cabin a little after 1 PM.  The check-in process took about 1 hour – not bad for a World Cruise.  

Next on our agenda was waiting for luggage which arrived over the next several hours.  We had bags that we checked in at the Terminal and others that were sent from San Diego to the ship via Luggage Forward.  We received all our bags by 8 pm.  

There wasn’t a SailAway party as the ship’s crew was very busy getting everything ready to go, and since our departure time was during the first seating, the turnout for these sail aways are always light regardless.  

Our departure was delayed a few times as we were waiting for the arrival of some late cargo.  This included all the library books for the new library and some decorations for the various theme nights.  

As expected,, the lines were long for guest services.  To help reduce the pressure on the front desk, they established a Navigator and Internet Help Center in the Gallery Bar for those who needed assistance in these areas.  My sister and brother-in-law had an issue establishing separate Navigator accounts and they were helped quickly in a nice setting.  

The time for main seating was changed to 7:30 instead of 8 pm, which will help support the earlier start to the second show – now scheduled for 9:30 pm.  

Dinner was fine, but we missed the wine stewards, and while the waiters do their best, they can’t replace the knowledge and higher service level when HAL had Wine Stewards.  Once they bring the bottle of wine, you will serve yourself afterward – OK – but not the same level of service.  

You will find copies of all the menus HERE are the Cruise Itinerary Page.  One nice thing we noticed was that the Shrimp Cocktail is now included daily at no extra charge.  This is usually the case on Grand World Voyages, and we are glad to see the extra nice touches continue.  We are also getting Chocolate Turn Down Service automatically.  No Towel Animals, but we may see them on dressy or formal nights.  

The only show tonight was an overview of the cruise’s 61 ports by Ian, the Cruise and Travel Director.  The show was rebroadcast on the ship’s channel the next day.  

The first day of any cruise is exciting and hectic, and we look forward to our first sea day tomorrow.  

Here are our detailed time hacks for our check-in:  

11:12 am – arrive at Terminal 26 in our rental car 

11:15 am – bags checked in. I return to Avis to return the car  

11:25 am – car returned – waiting in the shuttle bus line  

11:45 am – shuttle bus departs  

11:54 am – arrive at Terminal 26 – join the line.  We learned later that there was a priority line for wheelchairs and 4/5 stars etc.  But we later learned that line moved slower than the standard line.  They only had one person working the priority line and 6 working the standard line.  Plus people in this line seemed to take longer.  VeriFLY helped at this point.  If you had VeriFLY – you were done in 30 seconds.  Otherwise, 5 minutes as many people were not prepared and had to dig thru and “find” all their paperwork.  Keep in mind this was my limited observations from afar.  What others experienced may be different.  

12:28 pm – inside terminal 26  

12:30 pm – we were offered the chance to move to the priority line – we declined.  Good call based on our continued observation.  

12:40 pm – our initial doc check completed – 30 seconds.  

12:44 pm – thru security – no line  

12:46 pm – check in at iPads  

12:49 pm – done with check in – head to ship  

12:56 pm – take embarkation photo  

1:05 pm – on the ship – Henk greets everyone along with Ian (C & TD)  

1:08 pm – in our cabin!!!