Anderson South America Misadventure Day 30 - Off the Coast of Florida "I Can See America" April 3, 2020

I woke up this morning and moved the curtains, I could see the sun rising. Wait, rising? We have been on the west side of the ship why am I seeing the sun rise? The captain had said last night that we would be heading for Ft Lauderdale but had been asked to stay outside of the territorial waters. We put the map on TV. Sure enough, we are making a big oval in the ocean. I can see other cruise ships circling with us. We are told that the Volendam has joined the "parade" to act as support. There is a meeting that will be held at 10:00 am where they will be "crossing t's and dotting i's." Breakfast comes, what a nice surprise we have a cheese omelet. Yes, I also have what I hope will be my last cup of tap water chai. When I put the drink order out I see a packet waiting for us. Yes, the end really is in sight. We have luggage tags and a health form to fill out. Uh oh, it is the same one that kept us from going to the Rotterdam. Do we tell the truth and risk another two weeks on this ship? They are asking if I have had a cough in the past 10 days. Well, I woke up coughing so I have to check yes. Oh good, my ulcer is already kicking up. We pack our three checked bags, tag them and put them out in the hall by 10:00. I took a picture, seeing our luggage in the hall makes it seem real. We are sorting through a few more things and stuff that needs to be put in one of the checked bags. I open the door and quickly slip the stuff in. Um, why is my suitcase wet? Oh, they sanitized them and then I touched them. I am not posting this until we are out of Florida. I am sure that this is against protocol. We are doing our normal morning activities, sitting around and waiting for a turn on the internet. I hear a knock on the door and paper slides under. I go to pick it up and exclaim "papers!" The person in that hall said "Thank you." I said "I held my breath while I picked them up." She laughed. Oh great, we have new health forms. They are asking for symptoms for the past 24 hours that include a fever over 100, a worsening cough and difficulty breathing. We can answer honestly and get off of the ship. We are told to not use the old forms. I made a paper airplane out of mine. I finally hit the door with the paper airplane. That form did some good. Lunch comes, after yesterday I am nervous. We have a salad which we split. Every lunch we have a salad and it comes with four green olives. Rob is not fond of olives but really does not like green olives. I fish them out and move them to my side. OK, get brave and check the main plates. OMG, we have lunch from the Dive In. This is a burger place near the Lido pool. One plate is burger and fries with a side of carrots the other is fish, fries and a side of carrots. These must also be HUGE carrots. You would not believe the size of these slices. This lunch is just what we need. Rob sleeps in the afternoon, I try. I woke up before him and I cannot sleep. I am fretting, about what I am not sure but I am unsettled. The captain finally announces that we have been given permission to dock and we head for the port. We have a Coast Guard escort. I do not know how thrilled they are about me filming them, but I do not care at this point. We have been given instructions. We will be called down in sections. We are to wear our mask, have our health form, passport and cruise card with us. We will go through the health screening then down to the cruise port and go through immigration. We have everything all set. At first we were told that we would be starting this at 1:30. Since we do not reach a dock until 5:00, we need a new schedule. I am on the port side so I can see the Rotterdam at their dock but not our dock. Victoria told me that they are showing the ambulances on the dock. I go to that website on my computer. I can see the ambulances lined up and them getting the gangplank set up. Then they start to move patients out. This is hard to watch. I do not know how these people are doing. The ship had been trying to get these people to a hospital, but no country would allow them ashore. In many ways this pandemic has brought out the best in people and the worst in people. The governor of Florida did not want us to dock, then said that he did not know that there were Americans on board. Really, seriously, no Americans on a cruise ship? I am Floridians, but is he a special kind of moron? Then he said that he would allow Floridians off. OK, so the next time that someone from Florida needs help when they are in another state I hope that everyone remembers this. They finally start to call people down for well checks and immigration. They start with “Brown Tag Group 1.” When you cruise on Holland America you get luggage tags in different colors for the night before you disembark. You put your suitcases out in the hall, making sure that you have saved clothes to wear the next day. Do not laugh, this has happened more than once, not to me, but I have read about this happening to other people. You put tags on you suitcases and they take them down to the cruise terminal. In the morning when you get off you find your group and claim your bags. We are purple 1. Anyway, they call Brown 1 and tell them to bring their carry on bags. What? We were not told anything about carry on bags. We are confused, then realize, oh, this must be Floridians. They get to leave the ship and go home. Then they start with Deck 7 Starboard. We are Deck 2 Port, this could be a while. We are doing an interview with someone at Fox 19. We have to keep pausing for the announcements. I then start an interview with Chanel 5. Sure enough, they call us. I tell him that I will call him back as soon as we get back. We leave the cabin for the first time in a week. This is the first time that I have walked more than 11 steps in a row. We are warned to keep “social distance.” We try, but they kind of mash us close at the medical check, which seems a tad ironic. I hand in my form and they take my temp 36.1. I remember from before that they want it between 35 and 37. I am fine. Yea! I was so afraid that I would have a hot flash and we would be stuck on the ship for another two weeks. I am given a slip of paper that reads “Clear to Debark.” I have heard disembark but never debark. It sounds as if I have been given permission to go peel bark off of trees. Now we keep following down the way. We actually get off of the ship for the first time in 19 days. We head down the escalator. They keep telling us to open our passport to the photo page. They told us this in the paperwork and made this announcement. There are people standing along here telling us this. A couple comes off of the elevator, the woman is on a scooter and they cut in front of me. OK, fine, I will be nice. We mosey along, keeping our “social distance.” They get up to the first immigration agent. They have neither passport open so they have to stop, which means that all of us stop, still keeping our distance. The man gets out the passports and drops everything. He has to pick it all up, of course blocking the way for the rest of us. He finally gets the passports picked up and tries to hand them to the first agent. No, open the passport to the photo page. He fumbles with both and then opens them. He is told that his wife has to hold her own. He hands it to her and she drops it. I am of course behind them making faces behind my mask but the agent can tell by my body language that I am about to lose it. He hands the passport to the woman and she opens it, but not to the photo page. Then she gets it to the photo page and has her thumb over her photo. OMG, I am really going to lose it. She gets it right and tries to had it to the agent. NO, keep it open and show it to all of the agents. It is kind of a drive by immigation screening. We come out at the end and the couple turns right instead of left. I take the opportunity to make a quick dash for the line and hope that Rob is right behind me. At this point if he isn’t he is on his own. Back up the escalator then wait for another line. Do not get too close, o not touch anything. Boy this is fun. They have to scan our cruise card to allow us back on the ship. We come in on deck 3 so we have to go down stairs. People are trying to keep their distance on the stairs so this involves stopping dead to make sure that you leave enough space. I remember the Roman Catholic nuns, “leave room for the Holy Ghost.” Back in our room. Um, did we get our flight information? Nope. Victoria has read the entire plan laid out by Holland America for Broward County. She knows that we will board a bus at 9:30 in the morning to catch a noon charter flight to Atlanta where we will be put on a commercial flight to Cincinnati. We must wear our mask the entire time until we return home. We are not to eat or drink or put anything under the mask. Oh this sounds like a lot of fun. I finish one more interview and we decide to go to bed since we know that we are leaving in the morning.