Cruise Ship Rush Hour in Fort Lauderdale

Sea Princess (II), Enchantment of the Seas, Carnival Liberty, Radiance of the Seas, Zuiderdam, Seabourn Pride, Regal Empress, Star Princess (II) & Island Adventure in Fort Lauderdale

This review is written by Amy Blume.

January 6th, 2007 found me in Ft. Lauderdale's cruise port getting ready to sail aboard Queen Mary 2. However we were in port with nine other ships, which of course I photographed while I had the opportunity. The review for the entire cruise will be linked at the bottom of this stalking report. The first ship I spotted was Sea Princess. She had been Sea Princess since her launch in 1998 except for a brief period where she was transferred to sister P&O as Adonia from May 2003 to May 2005 when she was changed back with the addition of a Movies Under The Stars screen on the stack. She was parked in an inauspicious location that was not viewable from QM2 and she left after us at 7pm so she is the only ship I didn't get good pictures of. Here is the token image I was able to capture from the bus.

I tried to take a series of pictures from the loop that is the main terminal at Ft. Lauderdale, but the angle is almost impossible from below. The only really nice picture I got from the ground was this one of Enchantment of the Seas. At 80,700grt she was launched in 1997 and the only Vision class vessel to be stretched. There is also the 110,239grt Carnival Liberty, which was launched in 2005.

Parked next to the Carnival was another Royal Caribbean ship, the 90,010grt Radiance of the Seas, which was launched in 2001.

Then we went on deck to get more images. The next couple are Enchantment of the Seas, the 82,000grt Zuiderdam, which was the first Vista class ship to be built and the 10,000grt Seabourn Pride. The oldest ship in port was the 21,900grt Regal Empress tucked in the corner near the 109,000grt Star Princess. Regal Empress had her maiden voyage in 1953 as Olympia for Transatlantic Shipping Corporation. Then in 1974 she was laid up near Piraeus. She was bought by Sally Line of Finland in 1981 and became Caribe for a year when, after a refit in 1983, she was renamed Caribe I, joining Commodore for Caribbean cruising. She was sold in 1993 to be their Regal Empress. Eventually she was sold to Imperial Majesty in 2003 and did two day cruises but sadly was replaced in 2009 by Bahamas Celebration, a former Color Line ferry. She left Fort Lauderdale on the 15th March 2009 and was sold to Indian breakers while in Freeport. She then made her final journey across the Atlantic and through the Suez Canal to Alang. Later she was joined by the 15,410gt Island Adventure. She began life in 1976 as Kazakhstan, sister to Belorussiya, Gruziya, Azerbaizhan and Kareliya. She was converted to cruising in 1984 and renamed Ukrainia. After a charter in 1996 to Royal Seas Cruises Lines, she went to SeaEscape in 1997, getting her present name a year later. She left Fort Lauderdale on the 12th Novermber, 2008, destination Alang.

Regal Empress was the first to sail and I very nearly missed her. She was tiny compared to those around her as we watched her being turned.

Just as Regal Empress left, Queen Mary 2's Captain Rynd came on the speaker and welcomed us to "Cruise Ship Rush Hour", and announced that we were cleared for departure after the Princess, but that we were looking for a missing boy. When the announcement was over, as if on cue, Enchantment of the Seas' whistle sounded and she began to pull away.

Regal Empress and Enchantment OTS were barely clear when another blast sounded and Zuiderdam was on her way backwards down the channel.

Then another blasting starts and we can't tell where it's coming from until we realize that Radiance OTS has snuck out from behind us and is on her way. The two ships are racing! Who will win?

A near miss but Radiance wins sailing faster forward than the HAL can backward.

The Captain announced that the little boy is found and everyone on deck cheers! Those of us with early dinner were starting to worry about getting down to the restaurant on time but I wasn't moving until we were gone. We heard another blast and this time QM2 answers, getting another cheer from the crowd. Around our stern appeared the shrimp-tail stack of Carnival Liberty! Little Seabourn Pride then blows her whistle and is backing out toward us, but the giant Queen is underway and will win this race easily.

This is my best image of Island Adventure as we back toward her. QM2 almost hits the pier behind us as she makes the turn into the main channel.

We wave goodbye to Ft. Lauderdale for four days, leaving little Seabourn Pride, Island Adventure and Sea Princess in our wake. To read my review of my QM2 cruise go here.

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