Getting to the beginning of each cruise is chaotic but each chaos is different.  This year the chaos was uncertainty.  Suzi broke her arm just before Christmas.  She went to the ER, and they set up an appointment with the local orthopedic surgeon.  He thought that she needed surgery, a PT who looked at the x-rays agreed.   We set up an appointment for her in Anchorage after the new year to get a second opinion and better imaging.  I stopped thinking about the cruise.  The opinion was shoulder replacement and a long recovery.  I didn’t want to set both Suzi and me up for disappointment by continuing to think and plan for the cruise.  We concentrated on Christmas, New Year and having all the kids and grandkids here, with the daughters-in-law taking over much of the cooking.  A brilliant New Year’s Eve/morning aurora was a positive omen to greet the year.

The Anchorage team did x-rays and a CAT scan and concluded that Suzi’s arm was healing nicely and that we could get on the ship.  We got home and had a weekend to pack before the luggage forwarding service picked up our bags to take them to the ship.  As well as Suzi’s arm in a sling. I have a split bicep and a pull in my shoulder which we are trying to fix with PT.  I’m not supposed to lift things over my head and am cleared to lift up to only 30 pounds and only up to my waist.  The doctor recommended we travel with a friendly wrestling team who would be able to help us with bags.  The bag forwarding service filled in for the wrestlers.  But all this means our packing is a bit scattered over many smaller bags none more than 30 pounds.  Our packing was further complicated by Holland America’s forwarding service not allowing us to pack medications.

Normally we like to shop at home and give local businesses our custom.  But we couldn’t pre-ship meds and I would not have been able to lift them unless we split them up and paid a lot of extra baggage fees.  And with one usable arm each how could we carry extra suitcases?  So, we bought the meds and toiletries in Ft. Lauderdale.  It’s been 13 years since we’ve lived abroad, and we have a whole lot more meds and supplements now than we did in 2011.  Age does that to you.

In Fort Lauderdale we hit a CVS Pharmacy and bought more than $1,200 worth of vitamins, supplements, pain relievers, suntan gunk, bug gunk, stain remover, antihistamines, fiber supplements, toothpaste, Clorox wipes. you name it, we bought it, filling two small extra duffels, each under 30 pounds.   The purchases set off an alarm with our credit card bank, that much money in a beachside CVS miles from home?  We told them in advance we were traveling, but algorithms are algorithms and algorithms rule our lives.  They triggered. I’m not unhappy. Better to spend some time on the phone than have people using my credit card for their own devices.

As a sign of how disorganized we have been I got to the airport and found no driver’s license to give to TSA (I do have a passport.)  I probably left it on my desk after I scanned it for a remote notary signing of some documents we needed to attend to before we left.  I guess I won’t rent a car in Iceland.   

We flew out of Sitka earlier than we absolutely needed to.  Usually, we allow two days to travel from Alaska (given the probability of poor weather.  We overheaded Juneau on our way to Anchorage to see the orthopods two weeks earlier.) and two overnights in Ft. Lauderdale.  The cost flying on Tuesday and Wednesday was so much less than flying Wednesday and Thursday that we decided there are worst things to do than spend an extra day near the beach.  As it turns out, that extra day was rainy and in the 40’s.  Our room cleaner is from Ecuador and is freezing.  She doesn’t have warm clothes.  We are sailing to Antarctica, no problem.  The flights were beautiful.  The Southeast Alaska Milk run either gives you a great view of our coastline or a ride in an enclosed tumble drier.  This time the Alaska Airlines milk run was kind to us,

as was our flight out of Seattle. We rounded Mr. Rainier and saw the line of volcanos to the south.  We were a bit freaked out seeing snow on the ground an hour out of Fort Lauderdale.

We are staying in a hotel which is becoming, I believe, gen Z-afied, the tables have USB plugs and everyone is sitting at the breakfast table with laptops and smartphones, presumably enjoying their vacations.  We have stayed at this hotel before, and the meal service has morphed into pub grub that is pretending to be healthy.  Waitresses have been replaced by ordering at the bar.  The selection of coffee is catholic, Starbucks for some, Peruvian fair trade for others, all made in a Nespresso machine. (Note, I am drinking tea, although I started with a double espresso, my cure for Alaska/Florida jet lag.)

Fortunately, there are good restaurants a block or so away on the beach.  Unfortunately, they are outside, it’s cold, and they all seem to have run out of propane for their outdoor space heaters.  “They promise we will get them next week.”  Next week we hope to be on Volendam.  People walking along the seaside promenade have been more bundled up than we are.  Although on our last morning in Fort Lauderdale, as I type this waiting for the cab, it is sunny.  The temp has climbed from the high 40s when we got up to the low 60s now. The promenaders are wearing shorts with sweatshirts.

Our boarding is delayed several hours because of an outbreak of gastrointestinal distress and the ship is being deep cleaned. I appreciate that but wonder what good it does if the crew is the same as on the last cruise and they have been exposed to that distress.  Won’t they possibly carry it over?  Another trip to CVS for Imodium and Pepto. 

The hotel used to have nice ocean views but in the two years since we have been here it’s been flanked by taller buildings. 

But the staff is nice and allows us to have shipments sent to here, shipments we cannot get in Alaska because either the supplier does not deliver “outside the United States” (duh) or in the case of my replacement camera batteries, you cannot fly lithium in the belly of the passenger plane that brings our mail and express packages.  We’re going to have a lot of stuff to move to the ship with no wrestling team in sight.  But people have been kind and helpful all along the way.