Finne's Follies

Our suite at Candlewood

Being cooped up in a hotel room can make a person a little bit crazy. That's my excuse for saying "yes" to Mark's suggestion (I'm blaming him entirely).

There we were, sitting in our little hotel room, waiting for information from our insurance company. No word on the motorhome. No word on the car. Twiddling thumbs. Thinking about what to do next.

Then, out of the blue, Mark says... "We should call our cruise 'planner' and see if there are any cheap last-minute cruises we could go on. It beats sitting in a hotel room."

That logic is hard to argue with. After all, a cruise to nowhere would beat sitting in a hotel room.

The fact that we had just returned from a cruise only three weeks before served to add a twinge of guilt, but certainly not enough to put the damper on looking. No harm in looking, you know.

So Mark got on the phone to our Carnival agent who looked to see if there were any cruises with availability going out of any of the Florida ports in the next week or two. And there was nothing. Oh well, it was fun checking.

A little later on we got a call from our Carnival agent. An opening just came up for a three-day cruise to the Bahamas... leaving tomorrow! Carnival doesn't reduce prices anymore, of course. We should have said "no way...too expensive." But instead, we said, "Book it."

It must have been the insanity.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

That was Wednesday, the 13th.

We started packing up our room, and put together a small suitcase to take care of us for a weekend. The next day we headed to Port Canaveral, our departure point, hauling the trailer full of all our possessions behind us. Mark dropped me off at the terminal, parked in the oversize vehicle lot, and we headed up the escalator to check in.

When we completed our online check-in the day before, the instructions told us we would need either a passport or an "enhanced driver's license"-- you know, the new ones that let you get on an airplane without a passport. Some states have them, some don't. Mark thought that our Texas driver's licenses were the enhanced variety. I had planned to grab our passports out of the safe and take them along anyway, but... well, one of the problems with last-minute plans is not having enough time to carefully plan. The passports were forgotten (curiously, one of my recurring nightmares).

The front line agent in the terminal kindly explained to us that Texas drivers' licenses were not enhanced (enhanced cards say "enhanced" right on the front), and we would need a birth certificate to go with the license or we would need a passport.

Fortunately, all our possessions were back in the parking lot, so in short order we had our passports in hand and headed to the counter to check in.

Once at the counter, we began the extra scrutiny given to those lunatics who book a cruise 24 hours before the ship sails. "Did we go through security a second time?" they asked. "What are you talking about?" we answered. The agent's computer locked up. Another takes over. Agents are quietly murmuring back and forth, one leaves, comes back. Pictures are taken...we can go. No additional security check will be done. Well, that was interesting. Maybe booking last minute isn't as good an idea as we imagined.

The next little surprise waited for us at the cabin door-- two key cards; one for him, one for me. Only they had somebody else's name on them. Apparently Carnival has trouble with last minute changes too. Fortunately, one of them opened the cabin door for us, so we dropped our stuff in the room and headed straight to "Guest Services" to get our own Sign & Sail cards (key cards)... with our names on them. By this time Guest Services is closed because the crew is preparing for the "Safety Briefing." That's the grueling fifteen or twenty minute exercise required before every sailing, where all the passengers have to gather in their assigned Muster Station and learn about how to put on their life vest and disembark into lifeboats in the event of a catastrophe. Since I am now a "Platinum" level guest, I approached the special counter for those privileged guests and managed to snag an agent who was still scrounging around behind the desk. I briefly explained our problem, and she quickly, and graciously, provided us with new key cards (even though the desk was officially closed), while a bunch of other people stood around wondering why we got helped and they didn't. I expect she realized we would need them for the safety briefing, since they take "roll" with the key cards to make sure everyone participates.

Ocean view cabin on our "impulse" cruise

After the briefing was over, we were finally able to head up to the Lido Deck for some food, our first real meal of the day...only to discover all the buffets were closed. Lunch was over. They were prepping to put out the dinner food. Fortunately, the "Guy's Burger" hamburger joint was open, and we grabbed food there to tide us over until dinner time, which on this ship was 6:00.

It was a trying first day, but once we stumbled through all the unexpected issues and settled in, we had a mostly happy and peaceful weekend.

Our only port of call was Nassau on Friday. Thursday and Saturday were sea days. But even on sea days, there is more to do on a ship than in a landlocked hotel room. We walked a lot, saw a couple comedy shows, and (as always) enjoyed the food that I didn't have to cook or clean up after. We discovered a little-used spot on the port side of the ship with comfortable seating and spent a lot of our time there, watching the ocean. In Nassau, we got off and walked around a bit. Mark wanted to look for a place with WiFi and check his emails, so we found a little cafe advertising two "Bahama Mamas" for the price of one, which sounded like a good idea... and we sat for a while.

Coming into Nassau. The lighthouse looks like a toy. It's not.

I still feel a little guilty for spending more than we should have just to get away and try to forget our troubles for a bit. But it was a mostly relaxing diversion. And, thanks to this short little cruise, I am now officially "Platinum" with Carnival...a status that comes with laundry service-- something Mark has been looking forward to for some time.

Just before we left on the cruise, we were notified that the insurance adjusters approved repair of our car. It seems the damage to the frame, if there was any, was not sufficient to "total" it. It should be ready for us sometime in the middle of March.

Upon our return, we were notified that our RV was indeed "totaled." That was not a surprise. We have since received a settlement offer from our insurance company for "fair market" value, which we have not accepted. We learned that, even though Florida is a "no fault" state, we have the option to file a claim with the insurance company of the liable party. So that's what we're doing. We're seeking restitution, not fair market value. Once that runs its course, we'll let you know how it all turns out.

In the meantime, we are comfortably settled into Candlewood Suites, an extended-stay hotel in Valdosta, Georgia, which is the city where Mark's daughter, Melanie, and her family live. It's a much roomier place than the last one, and the price is about the same. For once, Mark gets to spend some time with his family. Most of the family we've visited with over the last year have been mine. It's certainly his turn, and he's thoroughly enjoying it.

We're hoping for a resolution on our insurance claim by the end of next week.

Until then...

The Disney ship docked next to us

"Snow White" on the movie screen.
(One of these days, I will take a Disney cruise.)

Our spacious "suite" at Candlewood

Candlewood suite kitchenette area. Not much different
than cooking in the RV...except it has a bigger fridge!

Well, the first phase of our nomad life has been brought to a close. We moved out of what I have affectionately dubbed our "Follymobile" on Sunday, February 10. It was mostly fun while it lasted.

The Hoffmans (Mark's daughter and family) were kind enough to loan us their spare SUV and a six by twelve box trailer in which to store our personal effects until we find a new home.

Mark hopped on a plane to Valdosta to fetch them back to Miami.

On moving day, he hired the two sons of the wrecking yard owner to help him load the trailer. They were happy to get the cash, and their help was invaluable to me--since it meant I didn't have to do any heavy lifting. It took us about five hours to load everything up. We had spent a full day earlier in the week packing as much as we could into boxes, but there was still a lot left to pack up.

It's amazing how much stuff you can cram into a 38-foot motorhome!

The culprit

Jammed by a hairdryer

We had a little trouble getting to the drawers in the bedroom, wherein rested all the "Harley T-shirts" that Mark has collected over the years. Normally, in order to access those drawers we would need to extend the bedroom slide. But alas, it wasn't going to budge. During the tumult on the road, the slide had evidently tipped out a little bit, while at the same time, the door of the cupboard that was housing the hairdryer came open. The hairdryer flew out, slid across the floor and landed under the closet slide where it remained, keeping the slide from settling back to a level position. You would think that the heavy closet slide would have crushed the hairdryer into bits. But it seems the hairdryers of twenty years ago were made of sterner stuff.

The problem with drawers on a slide

We were about ready to call everything in those drawers "irretrievable." But as it turned out, once we removed the mattress from the bed, we were able to pull out and empty the top two drawers. After that, there was enough space for me to stick my skinny arm into the bottom drawers and pull out their contents, one item at a time. Nothing was lost.

In fact, we lost very little in the way of personal belongings, thankfully. Many of the glass items that broke could probably have been saved just by stowing them a little more carefully. I'll know better next time. Live and learn.

Cooking in a teeny-tiny kitchen. Ugh.

So now we wait... in hotels. Extended-stay hotels with kitchenettes aren't very much different than living in a motorhome. In some respects they are roomier. Like the bathroom, for instance. This one, however, is designed for one person, not two. It has no table--only a desk area and one chair. So one of us gets the desk (Mark) and the other gets the easy chair with a plate on her lap. But it's okay for a short stay.

We received the good news that our car will be repaired-- one less thing to worry about. It will take three or four weeks to complete, but we have a loaner vehicle, so it isn't a real hardship. The settlement quote on the motorhome is taking longer.

In the meantime, we decided to do something fun. Our extended-stay hotel was located about five minutes from the Miami Zoo, and we both enjoy zoos, so we spent a day bumming around the zoo. It was a hot, sticky day, but we just walked slower and took our time. There were hardly any people there. We got a parking place right up front and felt almost like we had the zoo all to ourselves. It was great!

Sitting around hotels can be hazardous to your sanity. In my next post, I'll explain what happened. In the meantime... zoo pictures! :-)

American White Pelican

Not sure if he's smiling or hissing

Humans

Double hump camels

Giraffes

African elephants

Squirrel monkey

Yellow snake

Too hot to move

These guys are everywhere

Ibis, a native bird you see everywhere in Florida.
They are little scavengers.
They will steel the food right off your plate if you're not
on your guard. We watched them snag french fries
from at least two diners as we ate lunch.