The 50th Birthday Trip

This Spring Break I turned 50. Some people don't like to have a 50th birthday, but my theory is that it is better to have a birthday than not have a birthday. My dad didn't get to have a 50th birthday, so I am grateful that I got to have mine.

We decided to celebrate the 50th birthday with a Caribbean Cruise! Yay! We decided to pick this specific Holland America cruise on the MS Koningsdam because it was 10 days and had 6 ports... a few of which we haven't been too yet, and two of which we LOVE!

For one of the first times in ages, our flights didn't leave at dark o'clock! Here we are at the airport, excited for our trip-- in daylight!

We left at a reasonable time, had two plane changes, and arrived in Fort Lauderdale just after midnight. This was when we discovered our hotel's shuttle stopped at 11:00 PM. No problem, we just took a taxi.

There was a weird young couple at the front of the taxi line trying to negotiate with the cabbie... showing him the uber prices. They were quite rude and demanding, even though he and the two girls who worked the taxi desk were politely telling him that isn't how taxis work in Fort Lauderdale.

Travel tip: Feel free to take an Uber if you want... but don't hold up the taxi line demanding he give you the same price as an Uber because no Ubers are available. Either wait for your Uber or suck it up and pay the taxi price. It was literally dollars in difference...

Eventually, the taxi driver got tired of trying to explain it to them and waved us over (next in line) to get in the car. We of course received some choice words from the Uber people who seemed to be wrapped up in their own god-given right to save a few dollars. Here's a travel tip: don't be those people.

We arrived at our hotel finally after 1:00 AM and quickly fell asleep. We stayed at the Hyatt Place Dania Beach because of it's proximity to the airport and the cruise ship port.

Normally, I don't splurge on Hyatt's but there is a long back story to this, which I won't bother you with here. Suffice it to say because of another naughty hotel's policies, booking.com put us up in the Hyatt for a very reduced rate (although they did try to put me in the "Super 8 Resort" first). Yay Booking.com!

In the morning, we had a lovely buffet breakfast in the hotel for only $11.00 per couple! I thought that was a spectacularly good price! Our friends who were going on the same cruise joined us in the morning for breakfast as their flight arrived early that morning, and they only charged them $11.00 per couple as well.

The Hyatt was lovely, clean, and had a glorious king size bed! Definitely recommended if you can afford it 😀

We walked across the street to pick up some wine to take with us, then headed over to the ship. In case you are looking to get wine, I'm going to post a photo of the sign (with no sarcastic comments... you can just imagine them if you so wish). You need a membership to shop at this store, but not for liquor. When you walk in just tell them you are buying wine and there is no problem.

The boarding was quite fast and painless and we were on the ship by 12:30 ish. When we got on board, our rooms were already available.

We hurried to check out our room because we knew we had been upgraded to an extra big balcony. This time we booked a balcony guarantee cabin, and did get bumped up to a deep balcony. The room was a normal balcony cabin room, but the balcony was lovely. What would have been great is if they put some chaise lounges on the balcony rather than just the regular chairs.

We were pleasantly surprised with the ship as it is one of their newer ships and quite large. The furnishings in the public spaces were quite lovely and seemed almost new, and the room was just right. I particularly liked the bathroom which had a long shower (bathtub length) with a full glass door, and hand wand shower with great water pressure. Too some of you this might seem commonplace, but after having been on quite a few cruises, trust me when I say that this is a deluxe cruise ship shower!

Here are a few more things I wanted to remember to mention about this ship:

• The buffets on Holland America are miles above other cruise ships I've been on. They serve you everything. (Side note: I wish people would stop trying to reach under the glass to grab things...there is a reason the glass is there... germs!) Anyway, my favourite part of the buffet is when they make you a personal salad with whatever you like including fancy things like chickpeas, artichokes, real bacon and tons of other tasty foods.
• On this ship there was a Dutch Bakery on the third floor. It had the most amazing chocolate chip cookies! AMAZING. We went every day and took a "few" (I won't tell you how many) and kept them in our room for emergencies like "midnight cookie snacks".
• This ship has added a "Rolling Stone Rock Room" to the entertainment venue. This was a very welcome addition and gave us something to do in the evenings, which Holland America is often lacking due to their average age probably being 30 years older than us (not exaggerating here!) That being said we weren't the only ones that enjoyed it, there was often standing room only in this venue!

Finally, I'll close out with someone once again thinking they'd spotted a celebrity when they saw Steve. This time someone thought he was Stephen Kerr, basketball coach of the Golden State Warriors. This is not the first time he has been asked if this is who he is... unfortunately he always has to let them down and let them know he is just regular old Stephen, not Stephen Kerr. 🤷 I personally don't see the resemblance... my Stephen is much more handsome!