Leaving the Ship :(

Sunday morning was departure (from the ship) day. We had opted for the luggage valet service, which was about $20 per person, I think. We put our luggage out the night before, and the next time we saw it was in Austin Sunday afternoon! For people like us who have a long time between leaving the ship and our flight departure, this is a nice service, as we did not have to "lug" our luggage around during the day.


We were allowed to leave the ship any time before 10am, at our leisure. We planned to get up, have a decent breakfast, then leave the ship right at 10, to maximize our experience. But we woke up and were ready to go by 8:30, and with not much to do onboard, we decided to go ahead and leave.


On our way down our hallway toward the stairs and elevators, we noticed many of the stateroom doors were open, in various states of uncleaned, being cleaned, or completely clean and readied for the next cruise. We took a peek inside (well, we actually took full tours of) a Junior Suite and a Grand Suite. Since the room stewards nearby didn't mind us taking a look, we decided to detour to Deck 17 for a peek at the Crown Loft Suites.


This turned out to be no problem. When we stepped off the elevator, we were greeted by someone cleaning the elevator lobby and we asked if we could take a look. She said "sure". Then we found an open suite and asked the steward, just for good measure, and he pleasantly said "take your time, and let me know if you have any questions".


I wish I had had my camera ready to take photos, but unfortunately, it was packed away in my backpack, and we were moving pretty quickly. Also, the room was a little messy as he was cleaning.


If you aren't part of a cabin crawl, I recommend doing this on your last day. We decided not to tour all of the other categories, but I'm pretty sure we could have seem most, if not all of them. It was fun to walk through and dream of being upgraded one day.


Our impression of the rooms we saw?
JS - We have stayed in a JS on Liberty OTS. It was just as we expected, and we would opt to stay in a JS again, if the budget could carry it.
GS - Super nice. This would be a really nice splurge. We think that if we could get a Suite Guarantee or a GS guarantee, we might grab it one day and hope for one of these.
Crown Loft - at the risk of sounding negative, we pretty much decided we would not want to stay in one of these. A couple of reasons:
1 - too far above the water - 17 decks! or at least 13 decks. We really enjoyed our Deck 8 balcony and being closer to the ocean.
2 - risk that we may be assigned a Sports Deck view. We really would prefer the privacy and serenity of an ocean view.
3 - (and probably most important) - When staying in a CL, we would be sleeping in a bed, upstairs, toward the back of the stateroom (toward the hallway) and away from the window. This means you can't just roll out of bed and to the window, or out to the balcony, to get your morning ocean fix. I know - whine, whine, whine.


Anyway, after our little tour, we left the ship and caught a cab to Las Olas (you can ask the cab driver to take you to Cheesecake Factory). This is an upscale area with lots of shops and some cafes sprinkled in. We walked a little, but it was still early on a Sunday morning and not much was open. There were a couple of open cafes and coffee shops, but not exactly what we were looking for. We wanted more local flair, and a smaller budget.


So we looked at our iPhone maps and decided to hike it toward the beach. It's a straight shot, only about a mile and a half, so we thought that would be easy peasy. Well, we didn't consider that we were carrying backpacks with last night's clothes, all of our toiletries, and our computers and peripherals (a little heavy). And it was sprinkling. So we got a little wet. It wasn't bad, but we wouldn't do it again.


Along the beachfront, we found a place which advertised the "best burgers in Ft Lauderdale" and stopped there. (I can't find it on the map, but I want to say it was Bikini Beach or something like that, next door to Greek Express.) They were serving breakfast and I got a decent french toast and whatever Chris got was also decent. 


We enjoyed a long brunch at an outside table, then wandered south, stopped by the South Beach Park to take in the view for a bit, and eventually picked up a cab from the Sheraton to the airport. 


I'm hoping this post does help some planners with ideas about disembarkation day.


At the airport and on the flight home, we reviewed our photos, checked in on Cruise Critic, and reminisced about what we consider to be our best cruise experience ever. We are hoping to return to an Oasis class ship in the not-too-distant future.


To all those planning Allure and Oasis cruises, I wish you an amazing time. And I wish I could stow away! Cheers!