Saturday, January 6, 2018 - Back to Fort Lauderdale and Jungle Cruise Dinner

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Didn’t sleep too well last night. Because my phone was on the wrong time zone, I was afraid I would miss the get up time. So, it seemed I was up checking the time, half the night. Then when the alarm went off, I had to check again, and I wasn’t on Ft. Lauderdale time, so it was too early to get up. Back to sleep again, for another hour. Again, it didn’t feel like I slept much.

Finally we were up and showered, so thought we should vacate our cabin so they could start tearing it down for the next guests. We went up to the buffet on deck 9, got our breakfast, found a place to sit, and hunkered down until it was time for our group to leave.

We got the call at about 9:30 and went downstairs to start the procedure. Off the ship, find our bags, line up to go through the customs area, and then find a cab to take us to our hotel. That took about an hour in all, and then when we got to the hotel, our name went on the list of those waiting to check in.

Our Hotel

This provided some more wait time. It was much colder in Fort Lauderdale but the sky was clear and the sun was warming things up. We sat outside and had a coffee/tea, read, knitted, and talked. Our friends, Carl and Martha, had gotten off early, and waited for us at the hotel for about an hour. When we still weren’t there, they decided to take off. They were driving to Sarasota to visit a friend, before driving off to other places. We didn’t get there before they left, but I texted them while we were waiting to tell them that we had a good time and enjoyed their company.

Guests have to be checked out by 11:00, so we had some time to wait until our room was ready. There are a few off our ship who are also waiting, and the order on the list will be the one used for getting into rooms as they become available.

We have a dinner cruise scheduled for this evening, so will have to wait until about 5:00 to call a taxi to take us to the location for this adventure.

We left for the dinner cruise aboard the Jungle Queen Riverboat at about 5:00 pm. It was a fairly short taxi ride (about 10 minutes) and then we had to figure out where the boat was. Our driver let us off at a hotel/.yacht club entrance, but that wasn’t the place. We had to ask a couple different people where it was and finally found it just a short walk away.

Some of the Boats at the Yacht Club

There was a short lineup that we had to go through. They tried to take our pictures but Dawn wasn’t having any of it. We looked around for seats by the water and found a couple where we sat at the edge and were able to see out.


Of course, by the time the ship was full, it was almost dark when we left. I did get a couple shots of some of the boats that were parked at the yacht club, but they weren’t overly much compared to the ones we would see in a while. By then, it was too dark to be able to get photos, so I didn’t bother to take any while we were sailing along the rivers of the Intercoastal.

We went by some very large yachts and houses. The driver talked about one where the yacht cost $60 million dollars and the house cost $40 million. We couldn’t see the house too well because of the light, but we were pretty close to the boats, and they were mostly quite impressive to see. Even the small ones which weren’t nearly as impressive were likely more than we could afford.

Where we sat for Dinner

We toured for about an hour, and then came to the island where the dinner and show were held. It was a private place beside the water. It covered a large area, and the eating area was huge. There were tables set up that were like large picnic tables that seemed able to hold from 8 to 16 people. We were directed to an area, and chose to sit at a table. A couple of young ladies joined us shortly afterwards, but that was all who came to this table.


When we sat down, there were already a couple different types of shrimp there, and we were able to start eating right away. We had to peel the shrimp before eating which was a pretty messy way for us to do it, but they were good. One was cooked plain with lemons, and the other was cooked in some sort of spice. They were tasty, but we didn’t eat too many.,

Lisa, Our Server

On the table, there was also coleslaw in a couple small bowls, and baked beans, also in small bowls. We dished up some of these, and then our server, Lisa, came along with huge trays of barbecued ribs. We could have as much as we wanted, so Dawn took one piece, and I took two. There was so much barbecue sauce on them that they were hard to eat. But they tasted very good. I couldn’t use my fingers because of the sauce, so had to figure out how to cut them up with my knife and fork.


Next, she came with huge trays of barbecued chicken. We each had one piece of chicken breast. They were also quite tasty. There was a lot of food.

Each place had a napkin and a package of wet wipes. There were also a couple rolls of paper towel on the table, which was very important because the napkins didn’t go too far. Dawn and I both took some additional wet wipes from the plates where there weren’t any people. My hands were filthy. I even got some barbecue sauce on the sleeve of my jacket, which wiped off with a wet wipe.

We were freezing, so asked for hot tea and coffee. It took a bit of time, but Lisa was able to get them to us. Suddenly, everyone around us was gone, but we thought we would stay there to watch the show. Little did we know, we had to move to another area where they had a small
theatre.

By the time we got there, the first act was almost over.This was Polynesian Dancers, which was pretty good. There were a couple pretty girls, and a man who dance with the fire baton. It was fun.

They were followed by a ventriloquist. Not spectacular, but he did have some funny moments. We laughed a lot. This guy was followed by a comedian who looked like Dave Chappelle. He had some funny material and played the crowd well.

Finally, the last act was a performed who was Argentinian. He used the bolo balls on a rope and told jokes and danced using those balls. Again, he was pretty funny, and it was pretty impressive how he didn’t hurt himself by the swiftly swinging balls on the end of the ropes.

Jungle Queen Tour Boat

The show ended, and we headed back to the boat. We got the same seats returning, so had a look at the houses and boats on the other side of the river. Overall, they weren’t as spectacular as the side we looked at going to the dinner. However, they were still pretty nice. We can’t imagine how all these places and boats made out during the hurricanes. I’m sure there is still lots of damage that we couldn’t see.


Once back at the dock, we got off the boat and then had to look for a taxi back to the hotel. One finally came along. We got in, told the driver where we needed to go, and he drove us. It was almost like we were disturbing him because he talked on his phone non-stop, the whole time. He was speaking French, and was fairly quiet. Once there, again it was like we were disturbing him because he had to stop speaking to whomever he was talking to to tell us the amount and let us pay for the ride. We weren’t impressed with him, but he was the first driver we had that sort of experience with.

Back at the hotel, we continued to be freezing, so headed to bed with an extra blanket to warm us up. I even turned the air conditioner heat up, which was a mistake overnight when it got too warm. Fort Lauderdale is still suffering under cold temperatures for them. It was in the high 50s last night (about 15 C). It took a while but when I woke up, I had to turn off the TV.

Tomorrow a free day before we fly out the next day.