Sunday, September 29, 2019

Grand Princess – Mexico and Hawaii Cruises – December 13, 2018 – January 7, 2019

We are getting away from the cold for almost a month by combining a 10 day Mexican Riviera cruise with a 15 day Hawaiian Cruise.  I never get tired of those itineraries - especially the sea days and warm weather.


Wednesday, December 12, 2018 – Travel Day

Our flight on American (AA2634) this morning departs at 10:20 AM so our cab is scheduled for 8:00 AM.  Instead of our usual cab, American Taxi dispatched their upscale American Blue Lincoln Sedan at no extra coast.  Our driver is another classy woman dressed in a long coat and gloves.  We took one of these a while back – very fancy.  I don’t know how much more the Blue cars are but it was a comfortable ride.  She was right on time and with no traffic, we were at the airport before 8:30 AM.

We usually check in at the kiosk but there was no one in line at the Premium desk area so we checked in with an agent.

TSA pre-check was very quick and we were off to our gate.  Our plane (an A320) was waiting for us.





The flight took off on time and the climbout was smooth.


We were in Cabin Extra Seats – 10C and 10D so we had drinks included – we also were told that we could have one of the pay meals instead of a drink so I chose the hummus plate (three different hummus’ and the cutest mini pitas and some vegetable sticks for dipping) which was very good.  On the next drink run, I ordered a “White Russian” (a glass of milk and a Bailey’s bottle).  A pretty good perk for the premium seats.


The flight was bumpy almost all the way there and the pilot kept apologizing for the ride and indicated that he has been trying to find smooth air (I could tell that was the case because I could feel the change in altitude and also saw it on the TV display).

Even though we are on a small jet, the entertainment system was excellent.  I watched “Pacific Rim 2” – essentially dreck but it helped pass the time.  I have a feeling that there are more Jaegers and Kaijus on the horizon.  The flight status system was also neat with 3D graphics now included -  here we are about 30 minutes out.


We touched down on time and our bags were one of the first to come off the belt.  We went upstairs to the Hotel Shuttle pickup area.  We had to call twice to make sure our shuttle was actually going to pick us up.  After waiting about 40 minutes, our van showed up.  


It’s a short ride up the highway to the La Quinta SF Airport North. 


Our initial room was an accessible room in an outbuilding – we walked part of the way there and decided to check with the desk on other options.  We wound up giving up our Double Queen Room for a Double Double Bed Room on the second floor in the main building.  This would make it easier to come down for breakfast and to check out.The desk clerk was very helpful - he indicated that this room actually was part of a group reservation.  He said he would deal with the issue later.  

The room looked like it might have been recently upgraded.  The beds were nice and the bathroom had a bath tub.
 
We walked across the hotel parking to the Denny’s Restaurant and picked up two side garden salads and some fries to have with our bagels and loxs that we brought on the plane to eat.  The salads were huge and I didn’t each much of the bagels. 

We spent the rest of the evening in our room.  Even though we were supposed to be embedded in a group of reserved rooms, everything seemed quiet.








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