Thankfully my COVID test the day before was negative because this morning I woke with a nasty head cold. Since it was a turn around day for our cruise, I wasn't going to miss much. We had breakfast and stayed in our room until it was time to meet in the Hollywood Theater with the rest of the people who were continuing on with the cruise to go through immigration. Let me explain.
When it is the end of one cruise and the ship enters a US port, immigration requires that all guests disembark and go through immigration. It should not take long as it's a formality but every guest needs to be off the ship before they can put guests back on. I heard stories that some people waited for an hour for the ship to clear so I grabbed my Kindle, a bottle of water and my phone along with my passport and room key. I was ready.
We waited in the theater on the ship about fifteen minutes until security said that the other passengers were off the ship. Then we were led as a group to the gangway where we had our ship cards scanned and then proceeded outside around the corner and back into the cruise terminal to go through another security check with metal detectors (which I set off with my knee). After a pat down, we were directed to some chairs and waited about ten minutes before we were allowed back on the ship. All in all not a bad ten minute stop in Miami.
Since there were only about thirty of us (another dozen had gone ashore) on the ship while the new passengers went through their testing and paperwork, we enjoyed quite a nice quiet rest of the morning and early afternoon. New passengers did not start coming aboard until around 1:30.
Meanwhile we checked our home cameras to see what the winter storm had brought. FOURTEEN INCHES! And still snowing. We counted our lucky stars and expressed sympathy for those back home although at that point in time with the head cold, a cup of tea next to a nice warm fireplace sounded cozy.
I spent the afternoon reading in the stateroom while Bob sought out someone to play paddle tennis with. He ended up exercising in the gym.
Just before dinner we took a picture beside the Welcome to the Grand Voyage sign in the atrium. Usually on a world cruise there would have been a big welcome dinner and dance but as much as people may have missed it, I think we were all just grateful to be here. Let the voyage begin.
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