December 9, 2024 – Miami, FL – Partly Cloudy – 79F

Embarkation Day

The compressor did indeed turn off at night so I was able to get some sleep – still got up early but dozed off and on again until 6:30 AM when I went down for breakfast.  The breakfast area is just off the main lobby and the selection was pretty good – cereal, waffles, donuts, some kind of prepared omelet, good coffee.  The food stations were spread out all through the area so, at first, I thought there was very little to eat.  For example, the waffle makers were against the far wall and I don’t think anyone knew where they were because they were just sitting there clean and ready to go.  I would say the breakfast was pretty good.

I took some coffee back to the room and have been working on this log since then.  I also took some pictures from the room to get an idea of the location of this hotel.

It is now 9:34 AM. 

I signed up for the complimentary Port Shuttle (a rare perk for Florida Cruise cities) which departs for the Port of Miami at 12 Noon.  I checked out of my room at 11:00 AM and waited for the bus to arrive.  The lobby was packed with people so I went out by the pool where I found a seat and could enjoy the Florida sunshine.

I met some people from California that were also going on the Onward and they told me that the other folks were all going on Carnival.  The bus was late (traffic we were told) and showed up around 12:15 PM.  We were moved into groups depending of which ship we were on so our luggage would be segregated.  Once the luggage was set up, we boarded.  The bus was three quarters full and the driver never met a lane he wanted to stay in or a speed limit he was comfortable with.  

We dropped most of the people off at the Carnival Conquest and another Carnival ship I couldn’t identify.  Besides the five of us headed to Azamara Onward, there were four people going on the Independence of the Seas. We then headed for the relatively small Terminal J where Onward was docked.  I handed over my bag to the porter and headed to check in.  Because we were a bit late, there was no wait and I could very well have been one of the last people to check in.  The check-in process was quick – the agent asked me if I was feeling well and I said Yes – she then checked off all of the COVID questions.  I had my picture taken and was told that my cabin had been changed from 3025 to 4070. That sounded like some type of low level upgrade.

From there, I boarded and went to the Windows Café for lunch.  The placed was slammed and the first time through I couldn’t find a seat either inside or on the Sunset Veranda.  I went around again and someone had left a table near the door to The Patio Section adjacent to the pool.  I had it cleaned off and took the seat.  There was not a lot left in the buffet – all I wanted was a salad and some tuna.  I did get the salad (from a crew member who recognized me and I remembered her, as well.  The tuna salad would take at least ten minutes to come from downstairs.  I took the last teaspoon of tuna and some egg salad.  I had a standard beer (Heineken) with the meal (my drink package was not yet in the system).

 

I went to 4070 to see what the room looked like.  It was located on Deck 4 in a dedicated hallway near Guest Relations.  The corridor, which only had four or five rooms, and the room looked new – it had an upgraded thermostat and new type of toilet.  

The shower had a combination shower head and hand held shower head.  All of the drawers were soft close.  The carpeting seemed new.  Best of all it had a large window instead of a Deck 3 porthole.  Don’t know the reason for the change but it seemed like a good one.  The room did have a very loud fan associated with the heating and cooling system. The noise could also be due to the engines since this is Deck 4 Aft (maybe not because we used to live in 3025, which is right underneath and I don’t recall any noise in that cabin). I am going to have to get used to that.

There was no letter in the room from the Cruise Director’s Office so I went to Guest Relations to take care of a few things – I activated my free internet and upgraded drink package and asked the agent if I could talk to the Cruise Director.  She told me that the Assistant Cruise Director would be out in a few minutes to talk to me.  It turned out that the ACD is Lee Heatherington and we have sailed together in the past – in fact, we were on an Azamara ship seven years ago.  The Cruise Director is Darren Lynton, who is back with Azamara after a 10 year sabbatical.  The Captain is Captain Gianmario Sanguineti. I have never sailed with either the CD and Captain. The Master of the Vessel would go by "Captain G" during the cruise for those non-Italian speakers.  

The cruise didn't officially get underway until I had my Iced Decaf Mocha from the Mosaic Cafe.

There was a little issue with my bag - when it didn't show up as we neared the departure, I called Rustico, the room attendant.  He said he would look for it and when he came up empty, I went to Guest Relations.  While there, I noticed that they had a bunch of bags against the wall and one of them was mine.  While the photo luggage tag had my last name on it, the paper tag the porter put on it did not have my new cabin number or my name.  That's why the bag didn't get delivered.  Ellen always puts both name and room number on the tag so if the room gets changed, they can always look the cabin up by name (I guess they don't read luggage tags). 

After scanning my card and sitting through a brief safety session in the Discoveries Restaurant, I went back to the room to start putting away my stuff.  I packed very lightly for this leg.  I also watched the sail away from my room because the route to the open ocean from Terminal J is not very scenic - just hundreds of containers.

I had dinner on the Sunset Veranda (it has an official name right there on the doors - I was calling it the "back deck").  Salad bar and some bread made up the meal.  The highlight was seeing Venus high in the sky (just a dot in the photo).

I attended the Welcome Aboard Show at 9 PM because Lee was going to introduce the speakers on this ship.  The Destination Speaker is Chuck Richardson (we have sailed together before) and Tom Eastwood (Spies and Espionage) (never sailed with him.  Lee called out my name and I waved to the audience (not much reaction from the folks). 

Darren opened the show  with “Once In a Lifetime”. He has theater experience and a very good voice and and is an addition to the tradition of singing Azamara Cruise Directors.  I watched the Signature Singers and Dangers preview the Production Show, “Amped Up” and it was really loud.  The troupe consists of three boys and three girls - one couple (Sabrina and her partner) are the specialty dancers but they also dance (very well) and probably lip synch along with the actual singers.   

Piano Man Bob Styles (I thought he was Eastern European but he's actually from Oklahoma) was next and I have heard him many times before so I headed to the room. I walked across the warm pool deck to get a nice shot of Deck 9 all lit up.

I went over my first  talk for a few minutes.

Lights out at 11:00 PM. 

Azamara Onward – Back to Back – Miami – Southern Caribbean plus Panama Canal – December 8 – January 6, 2025

This will be a very unusual back to back cruise.  I am cruising alone on Cruise #1 while Ellen stays home to take care of some important things.  Ellen will join me in Miami on December 20 for Cruise #2.  That was the best solution and really the only good option that would make sure that everyone is taken care of and that everything gets done.  The first cruise will be the first time I have cruised alone in over 120 voyages. 

December 8, 2024 – Travel Day

My flight today – UA1857 – departs at a reasonable time at 10:50 AM which meant that I didn’t have to get up early.  But I still got up early (about 5:15 AM) which has been my MO since we moved to our lakeside condo.  Even without the new digs, I have generally gotten up early in the morning.

I checked my phone to make sure that the flight was on time.  It was, but I also got an notification from United that my seat had been changed.  I bought Economy Plus seat 10A (window) for an absurd charge and the airline thought reasonable to move me to the middle seat in that row (equipment change was the reason stated).  That wouldn’t do, so I called United and while going through the phone options, I was told that I could communicate with United through text (my preferred mode of communication).  They sent me a link to access the “chat line” and I got on.  I first encountered a bot, which sent me in an infinite loop so I typed in “live chat” and was told that someone would soon be on line with me.

To my amazement, someone did enter the chat.  I explained the issue and the agent said they had to check my rickets and information.  They came back on in a few minutes and asked me to confirm by full name and DOB.  I sent that along and in a few minutes, the agent said that they had moved me to the window seat one row up (I tried to do that myself on the UA app but they asked for $83 for the seat (laughable since I already paid for the original upgraded seat).  Well, the move to 9A, which I confirmed before I terminated the chat, did not cost me anything.  You would think that UA could have done that without my having to contact them.  But, it all worked out in the end – I also checked to make sure that 9A had an actual window since some airlines have a “windowless” window seat on their planes.  According to seat guru, 9A had a window. 

It was so early that I had breakfast (the usual) before the Sun came up.  I double checked a few things just in case.  The American Taxi ride was scheduled for 8:00 AM, which I set up to get me to the airport in plenty of time to check my bag (free with this reservation), make my way through TSA Pre-Check, and to my gate with was Terminal 1 C34. 

The cab arrived a little early at 7:53 AM and I was on my way to ORD at 8:00 AM.  He went a totally different way – cross town to the US94 then to US190W and to O’Hare.  The ride took exactly 30 minutes.  Would have taken a bit longer during the week but we had no traffic and my driver did not exceed the speed limit the entire ride.  He dropped me at Terminal 1 and I  got my bag tag and paper boarding pass at a kiosk.  I took my bag to the drop and, in just a minute, was on my way to Pre-Check.  Going through security was fast and I got to C34 at 8:50 AM.  The previous plane (going to Aruba) was still at the gate.  We don’t board until 10:10 AM (it is now 9:26 AM).  The gate just cleared so our plane will be arriving soon. 

My plane – a B737-900ER – did not taxi up to the gate but instead was towed.  

No passengers got off that plane so I concluded that our actual plane ran into some issues and this plane was subbed in at the last minute.  After the aircraft was cleaned we boarded.  My seat, 9A, was a good window seat. 

After taking out my lunch, I put my backpack in the overhead compartment and settled in. I was happy to discover that, unlike some previous United Flights, this seat did have good legroom (still too expensive compared to the fare).

The other passengers in my row were two young guys and the guy next to me spilled over into my territory so I couldn’t operate the entertainment screen.  A flight attendant offered one of the guys a seat across the aisle but he turned it down – guess they really wanted to sit together. 

The United Airlines app now comes with Flight Aware Tracking.  I checked out the flight plan, which was pretty direct.  I also noted that there was no weather between ORD and MIA.

The flaps and slats were set in take off position (I still check but not as religiously as I used to years ago).

The plane pushed on time and took off pretty much on time making that hard bank (to reduce ground noise) before leveling off.

The flight was mostly smooth except for some CAT about half way through but it lasted only a few minutes.  When we started our initial descent into MIA, I went to check that my seat belt was tight, I realized that I did not have my belt on for the whole flight.  I didn’t need to visit the facilities at all for the three hour flight so I didn’t notice the belt. The flight attendants who usually go through the plane checking for seat belts also didn’t catch it.  Another contributing factor was that when we boarded my belt was shoved into the crease in the seat and I didn’t see it and simply forgot about it.  Still no excuse – SAFETY FIRST – and I am totally into wearing the belt the whole flight.  Hasn't happened until now and it won’t happen again.

We were ahead of schedule and the plane flew over the western coast of Florida before turning east tor Miami.  

We were on final approach crossing over the Everglades and some salt evaporation ponds. I also tracked the plane’s shadow on the ground on approach.  

We were just about to touch down when the plane banked to the right (at a pretty low altitude – less than 1000 feet) and spooled up the engines and started climbing – a go-around at very low altitude.  The plane climbed for a few minutes while circling back to MIA.  The pilot came on and said that we were too close to the plane in front of us and we were ordered to go-around to put safe separation between aircraft. 

We landed without incident about five minutes later and were at the gate still earlier than the initial arrival time. From Gate H15, I made my way to Baggage Claim – quite a trek.  My new bag came out quickly and I called the hotel to check on the shuttle. I had a direct line to the hotel and they said that the shuttle picks up at gates 8 and 15 on level up at Departures.  I was at Gate 21 so I opted to go to the closest pick up spot – Gate 15.  I checked again with the hotel and they said the shuttle would be there in 45 minutes.  I found a place to sit and it was warm outside so the wait was not too bad.  The shuttle actually arrived in about 20 minutes and after a 10 minute ride, we were at the hotel.

I am staying at the Comfort Suites Airport North in Miami Springs (on Minola Dr.) It seemed like a nice hotel and the folks at check in were nice.  I was assigned Room 205 and was told it was a quiet room.  Breakfast was 6 – 10 AM and Checkout was 11 AM.  I found the room – not too close to the elevators and overlooking the parking lot.  The room is large with two queen sized beds and a large bathroom.  It’s not really a suite but it does have a safe, a work area, and a TV that could use some additional brightness (dark picture). It also comes with an annoying compressor noise that comes on every minute or so and then goes off – I’m guessing that it’s the air conditioner next door.  

I checked out the restaurants nearby and they were expensive and not that appetizing. I decided to order in from old friend Pizza Hut. I ordered on line – a personal pan pizza, some pasta alfredo and a Sprite type soda (no diet available).  It was still expensive with the $5 delivery charge and driver’s tip (the whole thing came to under $30).  Pizza Hut does the same thing as Dominoes.  They tell you when the pizza is cooking and when it’s on its way; The order came right on time and it was still hot.  I liked the personal pan but the Penne Alfredo was a stinker.  The Breadsticks, which come all together in a loaf, were good but too big a portion.  Next time, just a personal pan.

I spent the evening watching football.  Fortunately, the compressor either was shut off or quieted down after 10 PM.

Lights out at 10:45 PM.

August 28, 2024 – Boston, MA – Partly Cloudy – 70s

The Oceanview Café opened this morning at 6 AM and when I got up there, the place was already teeming with passengers.  I was fortunate to get a decent seat and put together my usual breakfast and drink at least two cups of coffee.  I also watch Eclipse sail into Boston Harbor passing alongside several islands.

Eclipse is joined here today by the Emerald Princess, docked behind us.

I brought Ellen her standard complete breakfast lox breakfast – no room service this morning. 

We were able to get out of our room by 7:30 AM. 

Our next stop would be a face to face meeting with CBP (Immigration) in the Foyer when our number was called (10A on our little Immigration Card).  We waited to be called on Deck 5 just above Celebrity Central.  The process started late and they calling two numbers at a time.  At around 10:00 AM, they hadn’t reached double digits. 

My wife has Jedi powers and she talked to someone and told me to come with her.  We went down to the Foyer and got in line – no one asked for our little ticket and we started moving slowly toward the agents.  The face to face was so brief that I think I could have given her my Costco Card and that would have been sufficient. 

We then proceeded to the Terminal to find out bags.  That was easy and that’s when the real craziness started. 

There were several lines outside the Flynn Cruise Terminal – some people had ship transfers – some must have had Ubers and we were going to take a cab.  We got into the cab line and waited for it to move – there were many more people than taxis and then the taxis stopped coming.  Our flight would be boarding at 11:47AM and it was now 11:00 AM.  We also noticed that people with porters were jumping the taxi line.  We found out that if you hire a porter for $5 you can jump the taxi line.  This little known secret really frosted people in line especially the mobility challenged person behind me.  Tempers were flaring – Ellen was working with the port staff to ensure that other people weren’t jumping the line as well. Chaos defined.  

There was one cab I probably would not have taken were it available.

Around 11:15 AM, we finally got a cab – the ride took a little longer than it should have – traffic – so we go to Logan around 11:40 AM.  We tried to go an agent but that line was moving slowly – so I used a kiosk to print bag tags and boarding passes.  An agent helped us tag our bags and directed us to another agent to check in. 

We hustled to TSA PreChek which was not as long and got through there relatively quickly.

We arrived at Gate 5A at around Noon as boarding had started for our flight – AA1457.  We don’t usually arrive at the gate during boarding but we made it onto the plane.  If we hadn’t gotten on that cab when we did and he didn’t find a way around the traffic and if that kindly agent at Logan hadn’t assisted us in getting our bags tagged (my bad was too big to carry on), we would have been close to have those doors close on us.  The immigration process on the ship probably did cause some people to miss their early flights.  I am thinking that our Immigration number was called while we were in that cab on the way to Logan.

We have good seats – Cabin Extra 9A and 9B on this B737-800.  The seats were comfortable and the chargers were on the seat back in front of us.  

I was encouraged when I saw the slats and flaps extended on our plane - it means we were in takeoff configuration.

We taxied at normal speed to the active runway and held there,

We did take off on time and I got some nice views of Boston and vicinity on the climb out,

I had a Bloody Mary along with my lunch (maybe not the best choice of a drink) and Ellen had a Baileys.  The flight was generally smooth 

with the Captain maneuvering around any weather.  There was some weather stuff near ORD but he took the long way around and kept it smooth.  I took some pictures of our approach over Lake Michigan and on final approach to ORD.

In this photo, you can see the airport in the distance.

We landed a little early and our bags came off the carousel early.

Rebecca picked us up and we went to get our cars.  We took the cars to the remote lot and loaded our bags into the van for our ride to the condo. 

The condo was not quite finished but the Master Bedroom and Bath were done so it was livable. 

Great trip but it is good to be back..

August 27, 2024 – Sea Day – North Atlantic Ocean – Mostly Cloudy and Foggy – 60s

Didn’t get a morning shot of the sea as I am getting Room Service for the first time on this cruise.  I actually ordered three cereals – Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, and Special K – for breakfast along with a toasted bagel (blueberry is all they had this morning) and coffee. 

He came right on the button at 6 AM and I was able to eat in less than 30 minutes – this gave me ample time to wake up completely and get ready for my talk. 

I got to the theater at 7:30 AM to set up.  This is the first time in my cruising career that I have given an 8 AM talk and probably the first 8 AM talk in Enrichment Speaking History.  My expectations were set pretty low for this time slot and the crowd was smaller but they did come out to hear “Forensics and History: The Mystery of the Romanovs” (60 percent full). I modified the talk so it would definitely run only 45 minutes and it ran only 39 minutes – I must have sounded like an auctioneer.

I was too tired to stay for the other talks (although I would have wanted to hear about asteroids).  Instead, Ellen and I went to the Oceanview Café for a proper breakfast. 

The rest of the morning and most of the afternoon was spent in the little cubbies on Deck 11 – nothing to see outside since it was so foggy that the horn was sounding constantly.  We also did some packing and were basically done (thanks to the packing prowess of my wife) save for the clothes we would need for my afternoon lecture and for tonight for dinner and the show. The larger suitcase that I bought for this trip, while bigger and more difficult to maneuver, makes packing simpler.

I should mention that Ellen has been fighting some kind of respiratory thing for a few days.  I am pretty sure it’s not COVID (no fever and the other malaise that comes with COVID) so I started her on Augmentin – she has started feeling better and today, she is feeling pretty good.  (I used my time machine to zip into the future to report that both us tested NEGATIVE for COVID on the day we got back – so she did not have COVID). 

At 3:00 PM, I went to Celebrity Central to do my encore presentation of "Forensic Detectives: The Search for Jack the Ripper".  I was surprised to find quite a few people already there. One woman thanked me for doing this special lecture.  The venue was full for this session as well and I am sure the passengers appreciated not missing this presentation.  The audience was once again engaged and interactive - there were quite a few votes for Aaron Kominsky in this group but Lizzie might have just edged out our favorite hairdresser.

Ana made me my final pasta of the cruises – it was not as good as usual – not her fault – the sauce now tasted different.  I had some of the pizza, which tonight was pretty good.  No one starves on a cruise ship.

Another Elton John Tribute tonight in the Theater – Craig Meyer taking on Sir Elton.  

We did not find him to match up with the others we have seen with the exception of the outfits and some of the body movements.  We did not stay for the whole show. 

Back in the room early – it will be a long evening (which is OK) because even though it is the last night of the cruise, the clocks are moving back one hour to put on EDT.  Changing clocks on the last night is tricky in that some people might be operating on incorrect time.  Usually breakfast helps people figure out the right time.

We are in Group 23 (independent transfers) departing around 8:30 AM (but needing to be out of our rooms by 7:30 AM so the ship can be cleaned and sanitized for the next bunch of passengers).  Our flight is at 12:23 PM and the airport is less than 30 minutes away so we should have plenty of time tomorrow.

I put our bags out before 10 PM.

The ride has really been smooth on this leg.

October 26, 2024 – Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Mostly Cloudy – 70s

I was up early and beat the excursion crowd to breakfast.  I went back to my pancakes, cottage cheese, sour cream, and jelly medley combo today.  Still yummy as are the mini-biscuits. I brought Ellen her breakfast when the people density in the Oceanview Café reached critical. Back in the room, we could see the final approach to Halifax.

It's a beautiful day in Halifax and warm enough to walk around. 

Here's where we are docked.

Eclipse is docked behind the HAL Zuiderdam, which we were told by one of their crew, was “the really big ship”.  In reality, the Zuiderdam is smaller than Eclipse.  The hypermodern Seabourn Quest is parked at right angles behind us.  The ship looks like it sailed in from the future.

 

At about 10:30 AM, we disembarked and started walking toward the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.  Originally, I had wanted to see the Titanic Child’s shoes but spending the day in a museum on such a nice day seems like the wrong thing to do.

The ship is docked in an area teeming with monuments.  The first one we encountered was the tribute to Ruth Goldbloom (1923-2012), who co-founded the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.  

Pier 21 served as an immigration destination and drop point from 1928 to 1971.  Ruth, a philanthropist, raised millions of dollars to revitalize Pier 21 and establish the Museum. Ellen joined Ruth on a bench for a brief chat about her contributions to the Halifax Cruise Terminal.  There was a large queue for the Museum so we kept moving.

Next up was a huge bronze statue of Samuel Cunard, 

a native Haligonian (that’s what they call themselves), whose name is associated with Ocean Liners and the current Cunard Cruise line (QM2 and her sister ships).  In 1840, the mail-carrying steamship, Britannia, arrived in Halifax after a 12-and-a-half-day voyage from Liverpool England.  The ship would be the forerunner of the iconic Cunard Line.  We are carrying on that tradition by having sailed on the QM2, QE, QV several time and hoping to grab a gig on the new Queen Ann. 

The statue, “The Emigrant” by Armando Barbon, and unveiled in September 2013, recognizes the immigrants who entered Canada at Pier 21. It depicts a man jumping on the gangplank of a ship while leaving his family behind. 

Next we stopped to admire a set of statues, “The Volunteers” honoring WWII Female Volunteers. 

The statues, created by Artist Marlene Hilton Moore, was revealed in 2017.  There are several scenes each depicting activities supporting Canadian troops in the war. 

We passed through the entrance way to the Halifax Boardwalk 

and continued along the well maintained path. There were plenty of people out today because of the mind weather and the presence of two huge cruise ships.

The next statue we passed was a huge granite structure with a rectangular opening – one side is a polished blue gray color and the other side was painted red (for passion).  

The statue, "The Passage", was carved from a 9 ton boulder by scuptor Vassillis Vassili and installed on the waterfront in 2015.  It is a tribute to Anna Leonowen, the governess to the King of Siam and the Anna of “The King and I”.  After her employment in Siam, she moved to Halifax to lecture and write.  She also participated in the education of her own grandchildren and became a social activist for women and children.

We also spotted a group of costumed Spider-Men – (the costumes looked pretty good) and I guessed they were going to put on a show for kids or maybe just walking around as street entertainers.

The harbor area provides plenty of areas to sit and watch the water.  We found some Adirondack Chairs (where I attempted one of my “selfies”) 

and spent a while just observing. Across the way was a Canadian Naval Memorial, 

consisting of a vintage ship and probably a gift shop. Lots of folks were lined up to visit that.  We also saw a Canadian Police Zodiac (armed of course) patrolling the waters and coming quite close to our position. 

The Boardwalk is saturated with shops and eateries.  We checked out a number of places but settled on The Summit Restaurant (we saw their ad on the boardwalk).  The restaurant is on a terrace overlooking the boardwalk.  We shared a generous plate of fish and chips and a Diet Coke.  

The fish and chips were perfectly cooked and delicious.  I suppose that since Nova Scotia is “New Scotland”, fish and chips are right at home her. 

On the way back to the ship, we stopped at a craft store and picked up a unique item (a school of fish placed on sticks – much cooler than my description). 

We dragged ourselves back to the ship.  This time, it seemed longer to get back than our outbound journey.

Since the weather was still pleasant, we spent the rest of the afternoon up on open Deck 5, checking out the scenery and watching the Zuiderdam depart.

Another small pasta cooked to order for me and then the main course, super good vegan chili.  It was so good I had two bowls, as we watched the Zuiderdam sail away from Halifax. 

We passed on the show tonight – “Rock City” I am guessing, and also didn’t stay too long to hear DeeZee in the Ensemble Lounge – he singing voice wasn’t as pleasant as it was during  their previous performance.  We instead found some seats on Deck 6 and listed to Next Stage do their thing. 

I got a message earlier that I would be doing two talks tomorrow – the last sea day.  The first would be “The Romanovs” at 8:00 AM.  (they had to squeeze the Captain’s Navigation Talk in so I am on at 8 followed by Kelley and then Samantha. It's a lecture relay tomorrow morning.  Then at 3:30 PM, I would do an encore presentation of "Jack the Ripper" in Celebrity Central.

The talk is so early that I actually ordered Room Service at 6:00 AM.

Today was a big walking day for us as immortalized on my watch. I certainly feel it.

10,453 Steps (phone pedometer)