One of the things that is fun about doing a back-to-back sailing is what is often referred to as Turnaround Day. The ship returns to port (usually but not always where it started) to disembark passengers, embark new passengers, take on food and supplies and prepare to head out in the afternoon on a new cruise.

Part of what makes Turnaround Day fun, especially if you don’t have to change staterooms, is that you basically have another nice morning on the ship while all of the passengers that are disembarking are schlepping their luggage (some or all of it) into and out of elevators, generally congregating in and blocking the stairwells and public areas, anxiously waiting for their luggage tag number to be called so they can race off the ship and on to wherever and whatever comes next. Those of us who get to stay on board walk around smug and proud, ignoring the fact that they’ll likely be joining that group the next go-around. 😉 My eventual goal is to never have to leave, although that’s not likely to happen!

One of the other really nice things is that the crew is often really excited to know that you are a back-to-back passenger. Especially if you are really nice to them and even more especially if you tip well.

After the disembarking passengers have left the ship, those of us who are staying on gather in a central spot, where we are escorted into the terminal, through customs and back on the ship, where we can enjoy an hour or two before the new passengers are allowed to board. There is often a special lunch set up for “consecutive cruisers” which is a nice bonus.

Most mornings on this past cruise I didn’t get up too early. On the islands where we were doing an early tour, the timing didn’t work out, and I had to pace myself for a long day! For some reason, on the morning we returned to Port Everglades, I was up early with my camera, and managed to catch a few photos as we entered the port. Especially interesting was a cargo ship that was transporting a ferry on its deck. In general the port at night is a pretty cool place, as it operates 24/7 and there is always something interesting to see. The light was pretty as the dawn approached, so it made for some nice scenes.

I didn’t make too many photos during the day, and I regret that I didn’t get to see the ferry offloaded from the ship it had come in on. That would be interesting to see, but as we left the port in the afternoon I could see that the ferry was gone, although I have no idea where it went.

Next stop, Bonaire!

Kathy & I enjoy cruises that depart from Fort Lauderdale, and we’ve done a bunch of them. The airport is close enough to the cruise port that you can see the top of the ships from the concourse. It’s an easy flight from Charlotte and the schedules usually provide plenty of choices for flights.

We generally arrive in Fort Lauderdale the day before a cruise and stay at a hotel along 17th Street, which crosses the Intracoastal Waterway via a drawbridge that provides a nice view of the cruise port and all of the big money yachts that sail in and out of the harbor. More money than I’ll ever have!

Departing the port is always fun, because a number of the residents of the high rise condos near the opening to the sea will stand outside, wave banners, blow horns and generally say ‘bon voyage.’ One of the residents even has a webcam where he will upload footage to a website and you can watch yourself sail by. Some cruise passengers go so far as to bring their own banners, wear bright colored clothing and make a point of standing on the Port (left) side of the ship facing the camera.

Since we did a back-to-back sailing on the same ship, Celebrity Equinox, we returned to Fort Lauderdale 10 days later, so Part 2 will have some of the photos from our “turnaround day.”