Sunday 8 April

We docked early as always and disembarkation was very civilised and painless.  The whole of Horizon Court was opened up and staff were still offering to find us a table, even though it was pretty busy.  We were asked to gather in one of the bars for a 9.30am departure – they knew we were wanting to catch the 12.05pm flight to Miami.  We had an unhurried breakfast – it's not often we can say that on the last morning of a cruise!  In the event we left the ship at about 8.45am and the next bit was interesting – when might we be subject to the 3^rd degree inquisition to get back into the US?

At the dockside we had a passport check and then we collected our luggage from its colour-coded area of the large warehouse.  Then we had a slow customs/passport check - no trollies at this point, only the usual 'porters for a fee' opportunity - and then we were outside looking for a taxi.  We found one straightaway and we were off to the airport.

At the airport on Puerto Rico we had to put everything (including even bum bags) through the Department of Agriculture’s scanner just inside the front door and then we checked in online.  We got a surprise as American Airlines suddenly wanted to charge us $25 for each bag to go into the hold!  As this wasn’t part of an international journey with changes of flight elsewhere, we had to pay - aaarrrrgh!

Then we were at the bag drop and then on to security.  We had a first check of our boarding passes and passports by one of the ground staff, then had to queue for some time for a check of both by the Transportation and Security Department and then it was the real check – take almost everything off and stand in the full body scanner where we had to stand on an exact spot then hold our clasped hands above our heads and stand motionless for some time, so that they could see if we had eaten anything which might explode!  The joy of air travel in the US!

Finally we were in the departures area – it had taken us 90 minutes from leaving the ship to getting to the flight departure gate, even though the drive to the airport itself was only about 15-20 minutes!  The flight was on time – as usual there were a dozen or so people on the ‘wait list’, although the airline didn’t try to bribe people this time to be bounced off the flight for 24 hours!

The flight lasted exactly 3 hours – there was the usual complimentary drink, but not really any food to buy - only 'junk' as our rather jaunty cabin attendant described it.  At Miami we were treated as a domestic flight and just walked of the plane - but then we walked miles to the luggage carousel to collect our bags.  We looked for a hotel shuttle bus, but they aren't like ours and wanted to charge us all around $64 for the trip!  That sounded a lot for a 20-minute drive, so we opted for a yellow cab and our driver – not a man of many words – charged us only $28 – although he didn’t really know where the hotel was.  Whenever I drive in cities in the US, I can never find my way as it all looks the same with all the grid system road networks and I was relieved when I felt that the taxi driver was having the same problem.  We found one Holiday Inn, but not the right one - ours was actually a few blocks away.

We checked in, the free wifi access code was prominently displayed on the front desk, we got straight to our rooms and we were in heaven – two large beds in each room, loads of space for two people, a massive tv set and a coffee maker that neither of us could work despite the detailed graphics for instructions on the side of the appliance!  And free wifi - the blog was updated and some other internet options explored.  The credit card sized room keys were one big ad for Domino’s Pizzas and it said they were the equivalent of room service and would deliver pronto!

They were true to their word.  It was now around 4.30pm and we hadn’t really eaten since breakfast, so an online order was posted and then we were able to track exactly what was happening to it until it arrived in the hotel lobby.  What fantastic service that was!  Massive pizzas were devoured and we watched nervously to see if our Lee was going to pull it off at the Masters this time – how nice to be able to watch the Masters at a civilised time and not in the middle of the night!  Then it was time for a long sleep in beautifully comfortable beds.

Breakfast was not like on the cruise ships.  A tiny dining room, a limited set of food to choose from - mostly unhealthy - but it was OK for now and we only have to last out till lunchtime when the binge eating can start all over again!

The ship leaves at 4.30pm local time and they say to board from 1.30pm.  That sounds late to us, so we'll call for a taxi at about 11am and take it from there.  We hope to be at the dockside at about midday (5pm UK time).  We are on Royal Caribbean's 'Majesty of the Seas'.

BLOG FOLLOWERS PLEASE NOTE:

We will find it very difficult to get internet access on the cruise, so the blog is unlikely to have further updates until we get back home.  ETA in Worksop is midday Saturday 14 April.  We will be in Nassau tomorrow, then CocoCay on Wednesday - a private island owned by Royal Caribbean and then on to Key West on Thursday.  On Friday we leave the ship and hope to have a city tour of Miami and then be dropped off at the airport.  Our flight is BA0206, departing at 10.25pm UK time and arriving at Heathrow at 6.40am on Saturday.  You can track our flight departure at http://www.ifly.com/miami-international-airport/MIA-airport-flight-status-departures and our arrival at http://www.heathrowairport.com/flight-information/live-flight-arrivals - enter the flight number and choose Terminal 5.