Because we had to reschedule our cruise, we lost all our show and specialty reservations, as well as our cabana on Nellie's Beach on Labadee. At that point, we decided to just relax and go with the flow, and surprisingly, we were able to experience everything we wanted anyway! But I'm getting ahead of myself
This time, we decided to fly into Ft. Lauderdale the day before the cruise (Saturday), out of Philadelphia. We flew Southwest for the first time, and couldn't beat the experience for the price.
I found a deal on Travelzoo.com for a stay at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66. The deal included early check-in, a Tower Junior Suite, two free beverages in the hotel lounge, and two free Water Taxi tickets, all for $129. Excellent deal since the rack rate for the Tower Junior Suite was $199.
So we caught a taxi from the airport. I was a little irritated with the driver because he ran the meter up a little by purposely driving waaaay slower than he needed to. The rest of the traffic was whizzing by. I gave him a look through the rearview and he sped up a little bit. I don't mind paying for services and we normally tip generously, but really...don't cheat people out of $2-$3. That would have been part of his tip, but it went into his base fare. Oh well.
Anyway, the ride was about 15 minutes long. Should have taken about 10 minutes.
We pulled up to the hotel and were checked in within about 5 minutes. Since we arrived around 3 PM, we were happy to hear that our room was ready. Our suite was lovely. You'll note that one of Wes' favorite things is a great view, so he tends to make a beeline for our balcony wherever we are:
I emailed the manager before our arrival to let him know we were celebrating our anniversary/baby-moon. He made sure a plate of cheese and crackers, and two bottles of water (instead of champagne) was waiting for us, along with a handwritten note from him. Such a nice touch:
We had a great view of the Intracoastal Waterway from our huge balcony, as well as the hotel pool area:
We checked out the Water Taxi website and noticed that the next taxi was going to arrive within the next half hour. What I love about the Hyatt is that the hotel's dock is actually one of the water taxi stops. It's stop #6. So we took the 10 minute or so walk to the stop. The Hyatt's property is huge! It was cool to see all the yachts and boats in the marina.
We boarded the Water Taxi and actually didn't stay on it that long. We stopped at the Hilton Marina (and could see the Oasis in the distance- see the 4th photo below), then got off at the 15th Street Fisheries, where we planned to have dinner. We ate in the dockside area since we didn't feel like dressing up. I loved the friendliness of the crew, and the fact that they gave a commentary on each stop, as well as the story behind various yachts and homes we passed.
So we docked at 15th Street Fisheries, and upon our departure the crew gave us a coupon to use at the restaurant. Turns out the coupon was for either 10% off our bill, or two free desserts (key lime bar or raspberry sorbet).
We chose our own seats in the dockside area, and were greeted by a friendly waitress, who took our orders. We shared the calamari as an appetizer, and I had blackened mahi as an entree. Wes had the chicken tenders.
Our table was right next to the dock, so we were able to watch people feeding the tarpon. Those fish were huge! At first, Wes heard a big splash and asked, "What in the world is that?!" He thought they were feeding cute little fish, not fish of that size. He Googled 'tarpon' and discovered what was really swimming down there. They're surprisingly agile as well.
While we ate, we could see the Oasis departing. She didn't pass us, since she made a right just before the bridge to head out to sea. You can see her just beyond the bridge in this photo. It was awesome hearing everyone's admiration for the ship, knowing that we were sailing her sister the next day!
Continuing with our dinner....we enjoyed everything. The food, atmosphere, and live music were great. We watched some of the workers come with trays full of scraps to feed the tarpon. Our waitress insisted that we join in and throw any unwanted food to the tarpon below. She said they eat anything! So we did and they instantly went after Wes' extra fries, and even my extra broccoli, lol.
What they DIDN'T get any of, though, was my dessert. We chose the two free desserts as our coupon prize. You got to choose between the key lime bar and a raspberry sorbet. Since Wes didn't want any dessert...I made him get the sorbet so I could order the key lime bar, ROFL. Hey, my baby boy and I needed to eat!
My goal in Fort Lauderdale was to have some good seafood and key lime pie, and I accomplished my mission. 
The key lime bar was delicious! Just the perfect combination of sweet and tart. Total yum! I had to eat both quickly since the next water taxi was coming soon. We decided to ride it all the way down to the first stop, then back to the Hyatt. Just a leisurely evening.
I think the water taxi arrived around 6:40 or so. The sun was setting, and luckily, we caught the last taxi that gave a commentary along with the ride. Any later than that and it's basically a shuttle, since you can't see a lot of the mansions in the dark.
We got to hear a bit about the various owners of these fabulous mansions along with waterway. Just beautiful properties. Anyone have an extra $300,000? That's the going rate for the condos in the third photo below.
It was pretty dark by the time we got back, so we strolled back to the hotel and stopped in the lounge for our free drinks. I ordered a Shirley Temple (sigh), and Wes decided to try a rum and Coke. He's not really a drinker and wanted to try and find something he would like. Well....the server came to our table with a glass almost full to the brim with rum, and literally splashed a little Coke on top! Can he have some Coke with his rum?!
It was waaaay to strong and I laughed as his eyes bugged out as he took a few sips. Oh well, it was free lol. 
Up next: we board the Allure!
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