Carnival Paradise Review: Day 6 – Debarkationfeatured

I have this…thing…a connection…a spidey sense — to my cellular service. On the morning of debarkation, I’ll wake up in the middle of the night, reach for my phone, turn it off airplane mode and wait with rapt anticipation to see if the upper left hand corner lights up with bars of service.

Cellular service was restored to my phone around 2:30 in the morning. I checked all of my emails, all of my news sites and watched a video on YouTube just to celebrate. My sister Stephanie calls it cellular dependency. Whatever it is, there’s such a relief that flows through when I’m reconnected to the world outside the cruise ship…I just wish it didn’t mean debarkation was near!

I slept again, waking up just before 6:00 am to watch the ship pass below the Sunshine Skyway Bridge before falling asleep for another hour, waking at 7:15 to start getting ready to leave the Paradise.

My Platinum status got both of us Group 1 baggage tags, but we were in no rush – Keri’s flight home wasn’t until 1:00 pm and mine wasn’t until 5:00 pm, so we had plenty of time. We had breakfast upstairs at the Paris Restaurant (which was quiet and had plenty of open tables – there was no way this ship was anywhere near capacity on this voyage) and waited while self assist debarkation was called for decks 6 and 7.

They called our baggage number before they called self assist for deck 8, perhaps in an attempt to start getting some of the guests with early flights off the ship, so we lingered a bit longer. And just when we were ready to get off the ship, they paused debarkation due to congestion in the terminal.

It only got worse from there.

We waited a bit longer after they started again to leave, an entertainment staff member guiding us around the line after seeing my Platinum card hanging off my lanyard, and from there, we waited in line for nearly a half hour to go down an escalator, as they were only letting people down 20 at a time.

Once we got down the first escalator, it was a 15-minute wait for the second escalator. And then another 15 minutes to make our way through to the front of the customs line. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

And in true to form fashion, it took me less than ten seconds to pass through customs. They’ve done away with the customs declaration form. Apparently the customs agents will randomly question anyone they find to be suspicious. That was a little too nebulous for my likes. Do I say hello and good morning? Does that make me too friendly and thus suspicious? Do I not say anything at all and avoid eye contact, sliding my passport their way? Does that make me more suspicious?

In any case, I walked up to the agent, wished him a good morning, placed my passport in his hand and waited. He didn’t stop his conversation with the agent next to him, he didn’t look up at me, he scanned my passport, handed it back to me and told me “You’re good.”

I’m good? That’s it? You don’t want to know what I bought or who I talked to? Because I can tell you: I spent 85 CUC, I have one big bottle of rum, one small bottle of rum, exactly one Cuban cigar and one box of puritos, two t-shirts, one book, two magnets, one keychain, one wooden car replica, one postcard and a tote bag. No partridge, no pear tree. So you all know that now, but customs does not, did not and didn’t care to. I can’t figure out if I’m relieved that it was so easy or terrified at what could potentially make its way through border control.

The luggage hold was after customs, and we quickly identified our bags under the Zone 1 sign and headed out towards ground transportation. The day before, we had inquired at guest services about Carnival transfers, but at $20.50 a person, the representative urged us to take a taxi, which would meter to about $30. Before we headed towards the taxi’s, we checked Uber and found a ride to the airport was $14. So, pro tip, if you’re traveling between Tampa International and the cruise port, use Uber or Lyft.

We were at Tampa International before 10:00 am, giving me more than seven hours to wait out my flight. Keri was booked on an earlier flight home, but she had hours to burn, too, so we sat out pre-terminal shuttle, where they have more dining options and super comfy chairs to sit out in.

Tampa International is not my favorite airport. It’s probably towards the bottom of my list of favorite Florida airports. Dining options are limited. The gates are in an oversized hangar. It’s marginally better than my absolute least favorite airport (LaGuardia in New York) only for the fact that the ceilings are higher.

Keri’s flight boarded at 12:50 pm, so we parted ways there. I headed off to the American gates, boarding a shuttle to security clearance. I’d forgotten that American does not have a priority security lane in Tampa, which just added to the reasons why I don’t like Tampa International list, but once I made my way through that line, I headed through the congested concourse to find an empty seat where I could log onto my computer and check in with work because if Tampa International was good for nothing else, it had free WiFi.

I grabbed a freddo at Illy (where it took longer to get my coffee than it did for the Customs agent to clear me) and poured through my pictures. My flight boarded right on time and, having cleared my upgrade two days prior, I settled into my rather spacious seat with a vodka soda because, well, until I stepped foot off the plane at O’Hare, I was still on vacation.

The flight was short, and by the time dinner service was concluding, we were already beginning our descent. Thanks to some favorable flying conditions, we were early to land. So much so, that they had to fly us further west in a loop around the airport before they could clear a gate for us at O’Hare.

As soon as we were on the ground, I texted Stephanie (who agreed to pick me up at the airport and drive me back to my apartment if we could make a stop at the Stranger Things pop up bar in Wicker Park) and as soon as I stepped off the plane, I felt nothing but oppressively sticky heat. I guess I brought some of that Cuban heat home with me.

By the time I had my luggage, Stephanie was waiting for me outside, with a super icy iced tea, ready for me to regale her with stories of all of the things I saw and did in Cuba.

And that’s where it ends. At least for this one. But you know me – it never ends there. We’d be off on the Carnival Splendor for the holidays before we knew it!