Our Fabulous Liberty Cruise: Photo Review Part 6 (Departure, Fort Lauderdale)

The last morning of a cruise is hardly ever fun. We weer a little melancholy as we finished packing. Because we had such late flights, we decided to leave our stateroom around 9:45-10:00. As we headed toward the Platinum theatre for the next wave of departures, we came across a worker who asked if we were trying to leave the ship. We said yes, and she said, "Just take the elevator down to deck 1 to depart." We quickly found an elevator and were off the ship (sadly) in less than 10 minutes.


What we didn't realize was how long a walk it is from the ship to the luggage terminal. I think we were walking (stopping and starting) for about 10-15 minutes. I wouldn't carry a whole lot of heavy things off the ship, but leave those things outside your door the night before so you can retrieve them in the terminal!









 We quickly went through customs and caught a taxi to the airport's car rental center. Our last glimpses of the ship:

We rented a car from Enterprise for the day, and the cost was $60 including taxes and fees. I know we could have gotten a lower-priced car by booking through Hotwire, but with rental cars I like knowing exactly who I'm dealing with ahead of time.

Upon getting to the lot, the manager upsold us an SUV for the day. It was very nice and filled with some cool amenities. A lot of the car was controlled by the touch screen in the center of the dash.

The drive to Las Olas Boulevard was only supposed to take about 10-15 minutes, but we were silly and listened to the GPS that ended up taking us toward Miami! We had to turn off the GPS and use the handy map they gave us at Enterprise to navigate the area.

An hour later, we found Las Olas. Yay!

 
 I chose Las Olas Blvd because I figured we could fill several hours by walking in and out of the shops, having lunch, etc. What a great choice. It's a beautiful area:





In front of our car:











We parked and used the meter (pretty cool). Wish they had meters like that in Jersey!







I really liked all the outdoor seating at many of the restaurants on Las Olas. Upon the recommendations on Cruise Critic and Tripadvisor, I suggested we give Mangos a try. We wanted to get a table outside, however it was so busy there that we settled for a booth in the back area with large windows instead.

I like to order water with lime when in restaurants.

Random pics of the decor:

At first, Crystal tried the Egyptian Mango Nectar to drink...it was waaay too thick, so she went with the IBC Root Beer. She loved it.

 

I ordered a Greek Salad with Blackened Chicken. Rae had the Las Olas Shrimp (pasta dish), and Crystal had the Lobster Pot Pie.

Everything was DELICIOUS! All the seafood was incredibly fresh. Loved my salad, and the chicken on top was very flavorful.









After such a leisurely lunch, Crystal went to add some more money to our meter.








We spent a lot of time in this shop. The clothing is pretty pricey though (of course). If you love sparkly accessories like me, you'll love this boutique.

Our SUV:


The Blvd is beautiful and it was a lovely day, I couldn't stop taking photos. Walking down Las Olas:

Found some more of Britto's work:

 










 After walking for about 10 minutes or so, we passed an intriguing shop. I wanted to go in but wasn't sure if Crystal and Rae wanted to, but when they noticed it they figured right away that I would want to circle back and head in. The shop is called the EVOO market, and if you love to cook or are a foodie, it's a wonderful place!

Long tables are lined with various bottles of olive oil from around the world for tasting. There were several varieties of infusions, like white and black truffle, porcini mushroom, rosemary...even bacon! As soon as we entered, the owner, Sultan Khan, greeted us and explained the different varieties of oil. He also pointed us to several flavors of aged balsamic vinegar, which was rich and sweet. We tried the 18-year old balsamic, as well as the strawberry balsamic. Both were delicious!

We enjoyed ourselves, tasting several types of oil. He mentioned that if you purchased $100 worth of products, he would ship everything to your home for free. Crystal instantly set to work putting her order together. Rae and I bought bottles of water ($1 each), and a loaf of freshly baked bread from the bakery next door (he sells them when the bakery is closed), for $1.25. Delicious bread too!

We chatted a bit and told him that we were from the Princeton area. He said, "You know, I used to live right next to Princeton." We asked him where, and he said.....Plainsboro! Such a small world! Rae and I tell people we live in the Princeton area since they hardly ever know where Plainsboro is (right next to Princeton)! It's amazing that he comes from our hometown. He retired from the corporate world and opened this shop in Ft. Lauderdale, and is loving his life there.

It's funny, I kept taking photos of the shop and Sultan was wondering what I was doing. I know I must have looked crazy! I told him I was a blogger and would show some photos on my blog. If you are ever in the area, please do stop by and pick up a bottle of olive oil, or balsamic vinegar, even one of the fabulous cooking salts or beauty products. Sultan was very informative, giving health advice and recommendations based on our preferences.

If you Google EVOO Market Fort Lauderdale, you'll find his FB page. The web address is www.evoomkt.com, and you can email him if you would like to order. Rae and are planning to put an order together in the next few days. 





















I'll be back, Sultan, with more space in my suitcase!



After the market, we strolled back to the car. Crystal wanted to take some of her items in her suitcase to the post office to ship home. She had a whole bag of items that shipped for just $10, which was much less than the extra fee she would have had to pay if she was charged by the airline.



For the next hour or so, we pretty much drove around the beach area and Las Olas. We were thinking of parking and taking some photos on the beach, but the Spring Break crowd was out and the beach was very crowded. Apparently the weather kept everyone in when we arrived before our cruise, but the sunshine coaxed the visitors outside on this day! The traffic was stop-and-go.








 
Around 6 PM, we returned our car to the Enterprise folks, and boarded the shuttle to head to our respective terminals. Since Crystal was on a different airline, she went to Terminal 4, while we went to Terminal 3. We got off first, and were sad to say "so long," to her after spending such an awesome time with her all week!

The airport terminals were smaller than I expected. There was a console available with a lot of outlets, so I was able to charge my phone and Kindle Fire before boarding.

Ok, so the food in FLL...is terrible! In our area, there was one smallish eatery that had a Dunkin Donuts, a Caribbean food place, and a sandwich shop. Rae was smart and got a sandwich. I got a jerk chicken platter....the chicken was shredded into a stew that was sweet and hot at the same time. The flavors didn't make much sense to me. You would have to taste it yourself to understand what I'm talking about (but please don't do it LOL). I love jerk chicken when it's done right, I don't know why I expected it to be like that. I only ate about 5 bites and couldn't finish it.

One cool thing; I think they were in a hurry to get us to board, so the back half of the plane boarded by walking outside, and the first half boarded the normal way. We were just behind the wings, so we got to go outside. If anyone had mobility issues, they were able to board normally. Some people complained, but I thought, "How many times do you have an opportunity to board from outside?!" We loved it. I was in a hurry so I couldn't get clear shots.

Besides that, our flight was uneventful and smooth. Rae and I watched Bethenny Ever After on Bravo on the plane, and the man next to me was watching the Colbert Report. Gotta love JetBlue . Our baggage at EWR came quickly, and Wesley was at the door when we got to the curb.

Sadly, that's it for our vacation. Thank you again for reading, and feel free to post your questions and comments. You all have been amazing, happy cruising!