Today’s destination, Port Canaveral, was the last port of call in the USA on this trip. We could have chosen a visit to Disney, Kennedy Space Centre or indeed a nice relaxing day on Cocoa Beach, but we decided to go shopping.
The Florida Mall, the largest in the State, is located on the outskirts of Orlando, about a 50min coach ride away from the port. Our guide throughout the journey pointed out places of interest and informed us of the flora and fauna of the region. Interestingly he was a singer from Royal Caribbean cruises who does this job a couple of times a week between contracts.
When we first visited the States some 35 years ago, shopping in a mall was a very new and different experience. Many of the shops would be new to us and this coupled with the relative strength of the Pound against the Dollar meant that bargains were available. The same cannot be said today. Most of the stores are the same or very similar to those back at home and prices generally were on a par with ours. The only exception were the large department stores such as Macy’s…..
…..Sears and Dillards which seem to have survived while ours have largely disappeared.
One exciting difference was the Tesla store.
Here you could test drive and spec out your new vehicle and place an order if you wanted. The one I was most impressed with was the Tesla X, a six seat SUV that retails here for around $100K.
Outside in the car park were lines of brand new cars of all models and colours.
Some of these cars were being made ready for collection by their new owners and on the windscreens sat cards reading “Mr Smith Welcome To The Tesla Family”. I looked up and down the rows but unfortunately Mr Robbins was not welcomed to the family today!!
After shopping for a couple of hours it was time for a spot of lunch. The food court was large and had a great choice of eateries. Sylvia choose Teriyaki Shrimp.
A total of 23 shrimps that were cooked to order in front of us, delicious!! I opted for the Philly Cheese Sandwich.
This incidentally was the small size!!
An after lunch sit in the bright sunshine was well deserved.
Having spent all our dollars it was time for the journey back to the ship and a nice cup of tea.
As the ship slowly pulled out of our berth we were treated to a traditional P&O sail away with all the entertainment staff. A medley of singalong songs were followed by a finale of all the staff jumping fully clothed in to the pool obviously ignoring the safety notice below them!
The ship moved down the channel away from the coast passing the beaches with the Space Centre just visible in the distance.
We now have six days at sea, hopefully it will be a little calmer going back.
Hah. I didn’t know you were a secret Tesla admirer.
I’ll sell you mine for a discount!!
I do like the look of the “X”