We Die Horribly
Wait, what? We die? Read on...
We had opted for self-carry exit, which allowed us to debark any time between 720AM-830AM. Had we chosen to remain for standard departure, as Suite guests we would have gathered at R Bar on Centrum Deck 4 for an 830AM departure. (Suite guests and disabled guests were the only ones assigned to the Centrum.)
Since we were renting a car to get back to Orlando and had a lot of time to kill before our 345PM flight, our original plan had been to skip breakfast onboard, exit the ship around 815AM, and grab something after we had the car. With no particular need to rush, we could have slept in until about 715AM. Despite that, we still set our alarms for 530AM because we had learned during our trip to KSC at the start of the week that a rocket launch was scheduled for 600AM! On embarkation day our starboard side cabin was facing Cape Canaveral so we knew if we returned in the same orientation we’d have a front row seat.
We were still pulling into Port Canaveral at 550AM when we passed an electronic signboard in the channel that warned that a rocket launch was scheduled. We were tied up at the pier around 600AM, once again facing the Cape. Suddenly around 610AM there was a very bright light in the distance that rapidly rose into the air, leaving a smoke trail that was visible even in the blackness of the morning – and then came the rolling thunder. One of the tidbits we’d learned at KSC was that, on the launch pad, most of the billowing “smoke” you see is actually steam, caused by them emptying the contents of the pad’s water tower into the blast tunnels moments before the rockets fire. The reason for this is to dampen the sound. If they didn’t do this, apparently the sonic waves from something like an Apollo or shuttle launch would have broken windows in four counties! Seeing a rocket launch was a personal bucket list item for me – but one I frankly NEVER expected to actually experience. An incredible experience, and icing on top of our cruise cake!
Now wide awake and with over 90 minutes before our intended departure we decided we’d go ahead and have one last breakfast in WJ instead of waiting. It wasn’t the crazy zoo we expected – maybe the fact that we were there by 630AM helped us miss later risers? Back to the cabin to relax, and perform double/triple/quadruple checks of all drawers and closets to make sure we had everything, and then down to Deck 4 to self-exit at about 815AM. They had told us to expect to be out of the terminal within 5 minutes of exiting the ship and they weren’t lying. An RCCL employee was outside and pointed out where we’d find the Budget shuttle – which was just pulling in at that exact moment. On the shuttle and at Budget in another 6 minutes, and in our car about 3 minutes after that. Easy!
So, our cruise was officially over, but there was still one more act to our vacation. As mentioned, our flight out wasn’t until 345PM, so even allowing time to drive to Orlando, fit in lunch, and get to the airport in time to return the car and get through security…well, we were still going to have 2-3 hours to kill. So how best to fill time?
I was really excited to discover that Orlando has several different “Room Escape Games” available. I love these on the computer (google “Room Escape Game”) but trying a live-action version sounded like a lot of fun. Basically, your group is locked into a room and has 60 minutes to solve a series of puzzles in order to get out. The goal in most cases is to find keys or codes to various locks. We did “Pandemic” as found at http://americasescapegame.com/. They were located about 20 minutes away from the airport – so adding up the arrival window, the 60 minute game itself, and then travel to the airport, this detour helped us kill about 2 hours of time. More importantly, we had a blast! We didn’t manage to escape in the 60 minute time limit, but that was more than OK with us. (The staff told us that we’d gotten closer than most, but upon hearing what we still had left to do I think it would have taken us another 30 minutes to get to the end.) So, in the end, not only did we die a horrible death trapped in the labs of a Mad Doctor, but our failure likely resulted in the wiping out of civilization as the disease would escape into the wild. Sorry. Our Bad. <g>
A quick note about rental car return in Orlando. We expected that we’d run across a gas station after taking the airport exit, but it turns out that you are routed into the airport almost immediately after exiting the freeway. So if you intend to fill up your rental car tank before drop-off, you apparently need to take the airport exit, BUT THEN GO IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, away from the airport, in order to find a gas station. We didn’t obsess over this – we just dropped the car knowing that Budget would charge us their per-gallon price to complete the fill-up of our tank. Given that we live the San Francisco Bay Area with some of the most expensive gas prices in the US, we felt like the $2.15/gallon fee was a bargain. (In San Jose on the same date, our gas was $3.07/gallon!)
From there it was all anti-climax. An uneventful flight with a 45 minute delay on our connection in Denver, gathering of luggage back in San Jose (and sharing the parking shuttle with one of the families we’d driven in with at the start of the trip!), and finally walking back into our house about 930PM calm, happy, and ready for our Alaskan adventure next summer!
Thanks for sticking through to the end of the trip report. Hope you found something of value that you can use to enjoy your next cruise!
) while my wife went with the pancakes and the youngest opted for granola and yogurt. The EB was OK – about the best one can expect from mass-produced hollandaise and poached eggs that no doubt remained soaking in a low-temp water bath all morning. We both remembered to order hash browns on the side – we should have thought about asking for a 3rd muffin half, too. (When I make it at home we both eat 3 eggs worth of EB.)