Dan...
... if you think flying in the same day of the sailing is tense... I have something to TOP that! We flew in as close as we could through the Hurricane Frances domino of airport closures to make what was expected to be the embarkation MONDAY. That would have left us with a 5 day sailing to unknown ports - and we went through 7 flight changes from the moment we left the house! Plus mid way enroute (3 connections) our party of 3 was SEPERATED automatically by the United computer (odd play on words there) as the flights cancelled they automatically rescheduled us cuz we were in the air. AND THEN - the closes we could get to Orlando was ... Charleston SC! We then rented a car - one of perhaps a dozen we had reserved at several Florida, GA. and S.C. airports and that Sunday we drove INTO the spiraling arms of Frances.
So what would a know nothing California boy know about hurricanes? Well... with the packed parade of escaping souls going the other way it was a singularly unique feeling to be among the very few who were driving TOWARDS the hurricane. We pulled into Jacksonville that nite at about 10PM and boy oh boy was it blowin'. We really had no idea whether it had hung a "right" with the eye coming towards us or what... so in retorspect it was pretty darn crazy. Something I'll NEVER do again. But we made it! The Hampshire Inn even had good hi speed internet service and I found out monday morning on line that the embarkation Monday had been ... Canceled. Then we called
DCL and told them we were at Jacksonville and we would just motor over to Port Canaveral and catch a hotel there and await the ship (U see... as plain old stupid as this may sound - we were total DIE HARD
Disney Cruise Enthusiasts... and if it were any worse for luck it might have been a die hard threatening event!
SO.... DCL sort of put us into a info blackout and eventually (decent notification - but temporary delay as THEY figured out what was going on).... eventually they told us to come on into Orlando and they would provide a nite at the Polynesian. SO.... after about 4 hours of bumper to bumper going covering about 40 miles... we were getting frayed in the car - tough hangin' crowd that was stiffly maintaining our composure - but I could plainly see we were approaching a point of decision - and I called DCL to declare they could KEEP their nite at the Polynesian and we were gonna turn around and go to P.C. for a hotel. And it was at that point they said I HAD to come to Orlando cuz the embarkation had been moced to Fort Lauderdale! And that now they were gonna bump us up to a veranda cabin too... and to get into Orlando and they would provide WDW "Ultra" passes. Well... we figured - OK - but how were we to get to Fort Lauderdale. And they explained they were gonna handle transfers for everyone on the sailing!
So - we slugged it out and got into Orlando near sunset - checked in - and found that the WDW parks were gonna close early in about an hour. Oh well... so much for the ultra passes. What were they worth? Easy come Easy go.... And we just hot the Down Town Disney scene as that stayed open a little longer. We chatted with some other DCL folks in the hotel and described a more DIFFICULT time then we had since the hurricane had passed closer to them then us. They had been confined to the hotel and were made to stay INSIDE THEIR ROOMS the whole time. No wandering the corridors or lobby. No food of significance. No courtesy food. Just what they called over priced stuff from the resort.
Oh well... so in the morning we lined up for the busses - were met by Pluto and maybe another couple of characters - and a very nice supervisor changed our exired one day ultra passes into 1 day ultra passes that were now good for any single use within the next 10 years. Who ever said DISNEY was a low class outfit had probably never been a patron of Disney!
So riding down was slow but uneventful. The casting off was delayed though as one or two busses had BROKEN DOWN enroute to Fort Lauderdale and they held the ship for them! And quite litterally, as the last passenger from the broken down busses boarded - they buttoned up the ship and Azipodded away from the pier.
Now.... this sailing had been dropped to 4 days in duration - and it was now they announced it was going to be a 4 nite Western Carib schedule. Well... that is probably our least favorite Caribbean route - but under the circumstances it was OK. The family was totally happy to have made the sailing. We ended up having ANOTHER time of our lives type vacation on that sailing. Especially considering what we went through to make the sailing. It was indeed a total adventure. And after we considered the refunds, cabin credits, hotel, passes. transfers, cabin upgrades and what not - we tabulated that DCL gave back about 60% more then what we paid net. SO it was like a free cruise + having a modest discount on our next sailing. Wierd, eh?
So - I'd like to think this Hurricane Frances travel ordeal has got to trump an uneventful flight to embark on embarkation day. And we all know... that anyone who is flying on embarkation day with our sailing will have NO complications... right?
OK... so much for that story. And if you believed all that then I's like to show you some nice used cars we have direct New Orleans. Never you mind the mud in the glove compartment or over head dome lights! That stuff adds a special fragrance to these "gems"....
Just kidding of course. Everything I've said aout the Frances sailing is true. And the used cars are NOT. We're not that sort of horse trader!
won;t rub it in though.. 
The roofers were here while we were gone.. now I have a partially completed roof and RAIN RAIN RAIN! 
about the extra pounds you could manage to pack that way. 
just 
