All's Well That Ends Well

We arrived safely back in Maryland by eight on Sunday evening. It was wonderful to see Natalie and Mallory and Madelon and Mickey all waiting for us at the airport. We had to take two airplanes, one from Miami to Atlanta and one from Atlanta to Baltimore, but even that could not take the glow off the cruise.

When we woke Sunday morning, we were docking at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. I watched the whole thing from our veranda. Then, once docked, we went for a few spins around the top deck (outside) to take everything in one last time. We saw a huge cargo ship being tugged out to sea. We saw some cruise ships. It is amazing the different perspective you have of these sights from the top of cruise ship skyscraper. We had a great view of everything as we took in our last cruise meal at the outdoor cafe on the tenth deck. The weather was superb and the palm trees were swaying.

We disembarked and sat on a bus for a while for transfer to Miami International. Here is what happened inside the terminal while we were safely on the bus:

Exploding fire extinguisher injures cruise passenger at Port Everglades
Second exploding canister added to panic and caused hazardous materials units to be called, but no injuries
Macollvie Jean-François
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
11:31 AM EDT, April 27, 2009
PORT EVERGLADES
A cruise ship passenger was injured and panic briefly ensued on a vessel when two canisters exploded in separate incidents this morning, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. The eruptions occurred while passengers were disembarking from the Celebrity Infinity, at about 10 a.m. The first canister that exploded was a fire extinguisher that a worker threw in back of a truck, Sheriff's spokeswoman Dani Moschella said. The vehicle's jostling caused the fire extinguisher to shoot through the truck's window, smacking a man who was disembarking from the ship. The impact knocked the passenger to the ground, injuring him, Moschella said. Paramedics took the victim to Broward General Medical Center. About a half hour later, a crew member was unloading another canister from the ship when the can's nozzle was jostled and also exploded, Moschella said. The canister shot out of the man's arms, but no one was injured. It was not clear whether that canister was also a fire extinguisher or used for other purposes aboard, Moschella said. The activity reportedly brought on a response from hazardous materials units and paramedics initially, as several people were said to be injured at first. The flurry of activity cleared however, as authorities arrived and cleared the scene. The explosions are a coincidence, and are not under investigation, Moschella said. The Infinity cruises around Panama canal and Central America, according to travel sites. A call Monday to a Celebrity Cruises' local corporate offices was not immediately returned.