Saturday, February 1, 2025

January 6, 2025 – San Diego, CA – Sunny – Cool – 71F

I was up early and got this pre-dawn shot of San Diego. 

I was in the Windows Café when it opened at 6 AM.  I did that because I thought it would be a crowded mess – it was exactly the opposite as the place had essentially nobody in it at that hour.  I had the usual pancake combo and I only had sour cream on my pancake as the cottage cheese was all gone (thanks to me in large part).

The breakfast was good and I got great pics of the sunrise through the San Diego skyline.

I put together a lox based breakfast for Ellen and brought it to the room.

We are not due to depart for the airport until 8:45 AM so we have a little time to relax before we have to vacate the room. 

There are no announcements on Azamara, so at 8:35 AM, we went to the gangway entrance to scan out (we kept our cards) and went to look for our suitcases.  They were there and then we located our bus easily and after a while, to allow everyone to get on the bus, we drove the short distance to the airport.  SAN is, almost every airport in the country, under construction.  It’s a relatively small airport with only one runway. United leaves out of Terminal 2 West.  We tried to check our bags but we were a half hour too early (you can’t check bags until four hours before departure).  We found some seats and at 10:14 AM, I hit the kiosks and printed out our bag tags and we headed for the TSA Precheck line.  The last time we were here, that line was very long. Not so today – the security check was quick and efficient. 

We have two day passes to the United Club so we checked in there (very close to our Gate 41) and found some good seats.  


We got there just as breakfast was ending so I just had a bagel with cream cheese and marmalade with Illy Coffee.  The United Club is very quiet and nice.  I decided to get a Bloody Mary (why not?) and the bartender made the perfect Blood Mary for me.  Just tangy enough.

When lunch was set up, I got some mushroom soup, some tomatoes with Ranch Dressing, tuna salad (really good), and some more coffee (Illy coffee again, really good).

We went to the gate at 1:30 PM (about 10 minutes before boarding). Flight UA2665 was at the gate getting serviced.  

Boarding was delayed a bit since our crew had just arrived at Gate 39 and had to get over to our plane and get settled in.  The cleaning crew was still spiffing up our plane, as well.  The pilot and first officer arrived first to applause and then the flight attendants (also to applause).  We are Group 2 (priority) and boarded smoothly once it got underway.  We are in 10A/10B (window and middle) on our brand new Airbus 321Neo.  

The seats were comfortable and the UA app now comes with Flight Aware and the entertainment system also has a flight tracking window.  We pushed on time and there were only three planes ahead of us so we were in the air in no time.  My phone had a mini stroke so I couldn't get the early parts of the takeoff but I did get some good pictures of San Diego Bay including a shot of Azamara Onward and USS Midway.

The plane went out over the Pacific and then made the big turn and headed East.

The visibility was great and I could see all sorts of stuff on the ground.  We were over Arizona I think when the Captain came on the PA.  

While the Captain had promised a smooth flight, he  said that turbulence had been experienced up ahead and put on the seat belt sign and told the flight attendants to go to their jump seats and buckle up.  He said the chop would last about 10 minutes.  We had just experienced thermals that shook the plane but this was different.  Well, nothing happened. No chop at all. After a while, the seat belt sign went off.  A turbulence false alarm, I guess.

The rest of the flight was uneventful and we finally broke through the low ceiling at ORD and saw the city lights.  

We landed right about 8 PM and it took about 10 minutes to taxi to the gate.

Our bags came off Carousel 14 very quickly and I confirmed that we were here with American Taxi (I had set up the ride two days ago).  I got a text back that Cab #134 would be at 1G in 10 minutes.  In 10 minutes, we went out into the bitter cold to see if our cab was there.  Well, he never showed up. I called the number on the text and the auto voice on the other end was impossible to understand.  Eventually, a live person got on the line and I told them we had been stood up.  I was also worried because subsequent texts said that there were no taxis available to pick people up at ORD.  

Eventually, I got another text that Cab #976 was on his way and would be there in a few minutes. Well, he did show up.  I was so glad that we were in a cab that I even semi ignored the awful smell in the cab.  Even though it was really cold outside, I cracked the window to avoid passing out.  Our driver, who did not speak English very well was a little confused about how to get to our place but eventually it came to him and we drove up to our condo.  I checked texts and it seems that three other taxis were also send to ORD to pick us up.  I did get someone in authority on the phone at American Taxi and clearly expressed my displeasure at this experience and demanded a voucher for a free ride next time.  Not holding my breath.

It was a crazy cruise, with all that was going on and all the moving parts, but we did work through all the issues, met up on the second cruise, had a good time, and eventually made it home. 

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