Eurodam: Ready for departure

Here we are on the Eurodam, after a painless flight from Heathrow to Miami, and a much-needed night’s sleep at the Hollywood Beach Marriott in Fort Lauderdale.
The Eurodam is one of a host of cruise ships in Port Everglades today. I can see the Emerald Princess and the Ruby Princess, MSC Orchestra, the noisy Carnival Freedom blasting reggae music across the harbour, and Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas.
I haven’t got my Berlitz guide to cruise ships with me, so perhaps someone could work out how many passengers that is embarking here today.
The sun is beating down out of a cloudless blue sky, and there are so many private pleasure boats making their way out to sea that the intra-coastal waterway looks almost like the M25 on a Sunday afternoon.
We were on the ship by about 1.00 pm, before the cabins were ready, so there was time for lunch in the Lido buffet restaurant. Plenty to choose from – Thai and Tex-Mex specialities, salads, various grilled chicken, fish and meat dishes, a sandwich bar,
This being America, we were surrounded by fellow-passengers filling their plates – and their stomachs – with a heap of everything, and then going back for more.
By 1.45 we were able to go to our cabin – and what a cabin it is ! For once, the word stateroom seems appropriate. It’s a de luxe verandah suite at the stern, on the port corner (I’m sure that’s not the word) with what an estate agent would describe as a “dual aspect