Chicago is having a very cold winter this year – climate change kicking in – so we are getting away to the Southern Caribbean for 10 days and hoping the worst will be over when we return.
Pre-Trip Blues.
After printing out all the relevant documents for this cruise, I noticed
that Ellen is not listed on the reservation.
Celebrity was contacted and I have not heard anything prior to our
needing to leave for Florida.
September 16, 2025 – Travel Day
Our flight, United 1775 is due to depart ORD at
10:35 AM so I called for a cab at 8:20 AM.
That is usually a bit early but the area has gotten a lot of snow and if
we get some this morning, we will need more time to get to the airport. When I got up and checked, the flight was
still on time and there were just flurries and light snow showers in the area –
no real issue. After I had breakfast, I
checked again and now the flight was delayed to 12 Noon. I updated the taxi pickup and kept tabs on
the United app. The next delay was 12:48
PM and it didn’t change for a while. The
issue was the lack of gates at ORD and the amount of traffic going into FLL. This was slowing everything down.
The taxi came around 9:30 AM and we got to ORD around
10:10 AM. I used a $6 New Trier Township
voucher so the taxi fare was $41 including tip. We checked our bags and went
through TSA in good time – the next time we will try the facial recognition
line (they said it was faster). We went
under the tarmac to the C Concourse and our gate 10C.
By the time we got there, the app indicated that there was
a gate change – we are now at C18, which was not too far away. There was no plane there when we got
there. The departure time continues to
be 12:48 PM.
We had part of our lunch in the waiting area along with an overpriced diet Coke (the fountain drinks are quite a bit less expensive than the bottle or can version). The information boards now indicated a countdown to boarding so that was a good sign and a B777-200 appeared at our gate. According to the app, the 777 had arrived last night. Newer information said that another 777 was brought in to handle this flight. I also noticed several flight attendants in the area along with a ton of people – some of these people came in packs so perhaps they had been on earlier, cancelled or delayed, flights and were now on our flight.
At around 11:45 AM, we got our first PA announcement
asking people in Groups 1 and 2 to line up (we are in Group 2) and for those
passengers who need more time to board to line up as well. There are two line up areas at C18 – Group 1
went to C18 and Group 2 went to C18A. I
guess we are using two different jetways to get on the plane. Boarding started a few minutes later and went
smoothly.
At the end of the second economy section, there are eight seats that are in a two seat configuration for some reason and we are in two of those. They are not extra legroom seats but they are still comfortable. We are in 37K and L. I have a nice window seat (sometimes the windows are misaligned with the seats. We are just behind the wing - the smoothest part of the plane.
The plane was really
cold because all of the doors were open.
Once they shut them, things warmed up quickly. Also, the plane was relatively empty with
lots of open seats in front of us and the third economy section behind us –
barren. With all of the cancellations, I
thought this plane would be full.
The plane took off pretty much on time and made it through
the cloud layer and into blue sky. The flight attendants got up and started the
food carts through the aisles (there are two aisles on this plane).
The pilot came on the PA and told us that we could expect
some significant turbulence for the remainder of the trip (about an hour) and
that the flight attendants should finish up their food runs and sit down. The plane did start to vibrate a bit and I
made sure I was strapped in. We waited
for the chop to start and I thought it best, while it was still pretty smooth,
that I would hustle to the very close washroom before we were locked into our
seats. I successfully managed that.
As it turned out no chop materialized and the captain came
on and confirmed that. Also, I had been tracking the flight and did not see anything on the weather radar. I had seen that
before where ATC warned of turbulence only to have it not happen. No complaints
here – the opposite is worse – smooth then boom, chop.
Flight tracker went nuts as we approached FLL and indicated that the plane had overshot Florida and was headed to Cuba.
The remainder of the flight was actually pretty smooth as
the plane maneuvered around some weather.
As we were on final approach, Port Everglades was on our starboard side
and I could see two cruise ships (one very large one) in the harbor.
The approach and landing were smooth (once we skirted the storm clouds).
Our bags came out of Carousel 1 pretty quickly so I called
the hotel – when I spoke to them before the trip, they gave me a direct number
to the front desk. The agent told me
that we would exit the baggage area and go to the left to Column E
(Hotel Shuttles). In a first-of-its-kind
event, the shuttle was actually waiting for us (and had been for a while) at
Column E (I was told that it was 20 minutes away). Communication – always a challenge.
The Marriott Courtyard FLL Airport and Cruise Port
was only about 10 minutes away. It was
located alongside the highway in a nice green area. The check-in agent was a little brusque when
I inquired about breakfast. It didn’t
matter since we had some food left over from the flight. The hotel was part of the Celebrity
reservation – a good thing – so no complaints here.
We are in Room 313,
located right over the front entrance of the hotel. It is near the Ice Room and the elevator. I was concerned we would hear the Ice Machine compressor but that turned out not to be the case. We did hear a faint ding from the elevator but that wasn’t an issue. However, as is sometimes the case, there was a mysterious noise (like an actuator going on and off) in the room. We eliminated our fridge as the source, so maybe it was a neighboring air conditioning unit.
We asked the front desk for a dinner recommendation and
she told us to try the Islamarada Fish Market restaurant, which was just
a short walk from the hotel. I checked
out other possible eateries and they were on the other side of the highway so
getting there would be difficult.
It was just a few minutes to the restaurant – we passed by
the Game Fish Association (I think) Building with its huge fish statue.
The restaurant was in serious “fish décor” mode – there were fish outside and inside the place had two fish (marlins, maybe) hanging from the main room ceiling.
We shared a fish (mahi mahi) sandwich and a large green
salad. There was a minimum amount of
fish on the sandwich and a maximum amount of American Cheese instead. That made the sandwich gooey. The fries were good and the salad was very
good (excellent Ranch Dressing along with a good Thousand Island
Dressing). The total bill was $37.21
which included a 25% discount coupon from the hotel.
The walk back to the hotel was nice - it was still warm outside. The noise in the room was still there when we got back but earplugs seemed to do the trick.
The bed is very comfortable - hoping for a quiet and restful night.
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