Tales of the High Seas: Voyage of the Norwegian Prima
November 11, 2022
The trio of Dee, Claudine, and myself scatter with the winds to Alberta, Canada, South of England, and a stay in the US.
Since I was able to carry my luggage myself, I chose to use SELF-ASSIST disembarkation. It is the simplest way to leave. I kept my luggage with me and carried it off the ship at my leisure. I already had informed Arnold, my room attendant, that I would be all packed up, and I would leave my bags in my room while I went out for breakfast. If he wanted to get a head start on my room, he could. I just needed to grab my bags and go. I got to avoid the congestion in the baggage claim hall. It is hassle free. He had already informed me that my mini bar was locked on the last evening of the cruise to take inventory. I hadn’t made use of it, so it was no big deal to me.
Dee, Claudine, and I had called each other on the stateroom phone (once again to remind you, my phone was broken and inoperable). We made plans to meet outside of Hudson’s and have a nice, leisurely breakfast. My bags were in my room, so it made for getting around quite easy. On disembarkation day, I saw the most amount of people at the main dining room than I had all sailing long. Dee was running late, but Claudine saw she made an error, and the dining room would be closing at 8:30 am which was far earlier than we had anticipated. We each purposely chose items that would be easy and quick for the kitchen to prepare. No need to stress out the staff. Soon Dee joined us after Claudine and I had already ordered and we had a great time wrapping things up. Dee would be returning to snowy Alberta, Canada. Claudine had a return trip to as south as you could get in the UK where it will be a bit rainy, I’m sure. Me, I was staying for two days in Miami. Afterwards, it was another cruise journey aboard the MSC Seashore.
After breakfast the clock was approaching 9 am and I headed back to my room to pick up my bags. Arnold, the entire trip, was always smiling and always greeted me by name. He took excellent care of me. Besides picking up my bags, I remembered to give him a bit of a cash tip to thank him for his service because I’m sure those pre-paid services charges would not be enough since it would be split among the staff. There were a good amount of people waiting to disembark the ship, but it wasn’t an inordinate amount of time waiting in line, maybe fifteen minutes, max. While waiting I made note that a family had a wee bit of money that was owed to them. It was under a dollar and the staff made the family get out of line and go back to guest services to settle their bill. Me, my account was all settled so they ran my face through the face recognition system and off I departed easy-peasy. No customs check, no examination of my passport, just kept on walking. The whole process was just a few minutes once I reached the point of getting my face recognized. It was just a matter of how fast I wanted to go under my own steam. Once I got out my original plan was to call a ride share vehicle. Without a functioning phone that put the Lyft plan to bed. Instead, I hopped into a cab which whisked me off to the Fashion Boutique Hotel in South Beach. The taxi cost well over double what I would have spent that day, but I was able to persevere on.
It was a picture-perfect day in Miami. It was hours earlier than check-in time, so they allowed me to store my bags at the hotel, while I went and explored Miami. I went to my phone store on Lincoln Road which brought back memories of time spent there. Once at the phone store they said since I had a warranty that covered the damage, they could send me a new phone to me the next day. The trouble was I’m traveling so that would not work. I ended up getting a new phone the following day. Since money was extremely tight, I spent hardly a dime in Miami, choosing the sand and ocean of South Beach and my complimentary tv service in my room.
NEXT: It’s cruise day on MSC Seashore!