May 19, 2022 – Oranjestad, Aruba – Mostly Cloudy - 84°F.

Slept in two shifts – got up in the middle of the night and then finished off shift 2.  Got up a little later than usual and went up to the Lido Café closer to 8 AM.  I did this to allow guests to get their breakfasts and then empty out the place on their way to excursions.  That didn’t work out all that well since the place was still full when I got up there.  I still haven’t been able to get fried eggs so today, it’s pancakes (that came out of a drawer) and scrambled eggs – I shook things up by getting some porridge (AKA oatmeal) with brown sugar.

We have not been getting off at the ports but today we decided to walk to the downtown area to get some bottled water at the supermarket.  It was hot and humid and the walk to get out of the port area was quite a hike.  We are docked here with the Explorer of the Seas and the Scientology Ship, Freewinds.  

I was saddened by the look of the port area of Oranjestad.  

In our past visits – pre-COVID – the downtown area had fancy stores and nice restaurants and even spas.  Today, shops were shuttered, and the area looked in disrepair with weeds growing out of the pavers.  

I did get a picture of an installation - a Blue Horse - as we made our way through the town.  We did not run into any more blue horses during our walk - I thought the horses were part of some festival.  Will never know.

We walked into a couple of souvenir shops – Ellen found some butterflies for the house.  We did finally find a Supermercado where we bought six large bottles of water ($1 each) to take back to the ship.  The walk back seemed endless but we did make it – I had 6000 steps on my watch before lunch.  We both wore masks in all the stores - locals were not wearing masks.

After dropping off the water we went up to the Lido Café for lunch.  I ordered a Grolsch Beer

and a Diet Pepsi – the beer was good. For lunch today, I had a salad with Balsamic Dressing (the dressing was pretty good), some potato salad, and a cheese pizza that we shared.  The pizza was OK and the salad was OK too.  Best of all was the beer – I had never had this brand of beer and I really liked it.  All beer tastes terrific when you’re hot and sweaty.

We went out on Deck 3 for a while but it was too hot so we found a place near the library that was A/Cd and had a view of the city and 4G phone signal.  

I read more of my Spenser novel but mostly caught up with Facebook and emails.  I also posted a comment on Jenene Caramelio’s FB Page telling her how much we enjoyed meeting her and attending her shows.

The crew was also checking out the life crafts - several of them were sailing around the ship.  Probably a good idea to put them in the water every so often and see how they function.

I tried to find John to give him some receipts but he wasn’t in the office. Plan B involved working with a nice woman at the Purser’s Desk to email John the receipts along with a hard copy.  She also made me a hard copy of the receipts.  She did a nice job of handling the issue.  The Purser’s Desk has been very helpful throughout the cruise.  They also revealed that a few passengers had tested positive yesterday and were in isolation.  They also confirmed that we were sailing with only 1300 passengers (out of 2081 capacity).

Back in the room live now – 5:17 PM and taking advantage of the AC.

We pre-ordered two items for tonight’s dinner in the Britannia Dining Room.  Mushroom Soup (off the veggie menu) (much thicker and darker than the standard soup we had a couple of days ago but very good).  We also both had specially prepared spaghetti with pesto sauce.  It came with pine nuts and garlic but a cup short of pesto sauce.  It was more like a oglio but it was still good in its own way.  I doubt we will be able to do that again – the Maitre D seems to imply that it would be a one off.  I also had a little salad with 1000 island.  We did not have dessert but did have the chocolate brownie petite fours and tea and coffee.  It was a good meal overall.  We did not see anything on either of the menus for tomorrow so we will need to fend for ourselves up in the Lido Café.

As we passed by the Grand Lobby, I took a picture of Ellen on the stairs across the way.  Turned out to be a spectacular photo.

I also got a nice picture of the elegant Deck 2 - Home to the Queen's Room and the Pub.

before we took in the Everglow Duo in the Queen’s Room after dinner.  We decided not to go to the show tonight, featuring violinist “Gary Lovini” aka “The King of Strings”.  Instead, we went to the Library to read and enjoy the quiet.  We finished up the evening in the Commodore Room listening to Jacqueline Waugh sing her sad songs.  The Commodore Room is set up so that it is difficult to establish any distance between tables.  We did find some seats away from people.

The ship is very cold tonight but our room is just right.

Seas are smooth.

May 18, 2022 – At Sea – Heading to Aruba – Partly Cloudy - 84°F

Slept OK.

We (those passengers that embarked in FLL) are scheduled for COVID Testing this morning at 8:00 AM so I went up early for the continental breakfast – essentially a croissant and coffee. 

I did get a nice seat in the back with a view.

Just After Sunrise

The regular buffet opened a few minutes early at 7:25 AM.  I was hoping for two eggs over medium, but the egg guy was not at this station, so I had my waffle (it came out of a drawer and the edges were neatly trimmed by the waffle chef.  More scrambled eggs (consistently creamy and delicious) accompanied the perfectly square waffle.  The cottage cheese on this ship is mostly whey – there are few curds to go on the waffle.  Passengers are still not allowed to get their own food - the staff relay process seems to be working.  Once you finished at one station, another crew member picks you up and takes you through the next part of the buffet.  I never get any food on the British Breakfast side of the buffet so I generally zip right through.  I am still sitting in the far corner of the restaurant away from other guests.  There are crew members running around with hot coffee so that's a bonus.

I got down to the room before 8 AM and we both went to ConneXions 2 and 3 (Deck 3) for our tests.  Another company - not Eurofins - is in charge of the testing on Queen Elizabeth. The ship is really organized for this – pre-barcoded cards were sent to the rooms last night.  We took those cards and our Voyage Cards to the testing site.  We were one of the first people there – no crowd, no line, and no wait.  There were maybe 5-6 technicians ready to sample guests. Two minutes later, we were done.  The testing is well timed - the incubation time has passed and there was one port of call - so the idea is to catch any new cases early.  It should be noted that on this ship, COVID Antigen Tests are known as "Lateral Flow Tests", a term not used in the US.  Makes sense because that is how these tests work.

I went to hear Jay talk about unusual marine critters at 10 AM in the Theater.  All three speakers are on today – in a row.  I am running the middle lap.  Jay talked about camouflage and color changes and poisonous creatures.  He ran out of time in the middle of a slide and indicated he would pick up where he left off next time.

I got set up quickly for “Forensics and History: The Search for the Unknown Titanic Child”.  I miss the chat with the audience but we are not allowed to go into the audience for COVID reasons. Most of Jay’s crowd left and were replaced by my audience about five minutes before I got started. 

 

I had a bigger turnout than the first talk but it is impossible to estimate the attendance.  What I do know if that there were folks in the royal boxes and in the balcony.  I was happy with the attendance – my talk finished a minute late – I missed the clock in the back balcony the first time (someone was standing in front of it) but this time the clock kept me right on pace.  That’s the way to do it to keep things moving.  The applause was loud and long and the feedback was positive.  I met with a few people outside the theater and by the time I got back to the room, I was pretty tired.

We found good seats (away from any compressors) on Deck 3 and I read and snoozed for the rest of the afternoon.  We never got any update on the COVID testing but I’m sure any positives were notified.  We had no internet on this voyage so we couldn't be notified of our results via email like on previous cruises.  No news is good news.

Dinner was a bit nutty – the descriptions of the food do not always match the item.  I thought I had ordered two different salads but they were essentially the same (or my waiter misunderstood and I did get the same salad twice – I did request 1000 Island Dressing which he did get for me on both salads).  The corn chowder was good.  I asked the waiter to make sure that the tuna was well done.  It was but it was not as good as I thought it would be.  I did have a cheese and vegetable “dip” in a bread bowl which was the best thing tonight.  All of those items made us late and we had to rush through dessert and coffee.  Ellen ordered Rice Pudding but got a panna cotta instead.  We did not finish our tea and coffee. 

Ellen wanted to get a good seat to see both Viviana and Jenene tonight for their Variety Showtime Performance – we wound up four rows from the stage.  There was no one in front of Ellen (so she could see) so that was good.  Mask Monitors continue to enforce the mask mandate and ensure that people are wearing their masks correctly.  I spoke with this evening's monitor and told her she was doing a great job (more aggressive than previous monitors). 

Viviana started off with a “Fiddler on the Roof” medley and then "demod" other flutes from around the world including the “nose flute” (yike).  She is so enthusiastic about her music and her show was entertaining.

Jenene started off with “I Could Have Danced All Night”, followed by “My Heart Will Go On”, “If I loved You” and “Time to Say Goodbye”.  She was terrific again.  The theme from "Titanic" would have made Celine Dion jealous.  She continues to hold the title of best female vocalist we have seen on a cruise ship (very close runners up include Lindsay Hamilton and Karen Grainger).  

After the show, to reduce interactions with other guests and because I was pretty tired, we went to the room to rest and settle down.

May 17, 2022 – Grand Turk Island – Hazy, Warm - 84°F

A humid and hot day in the Turks and Cacos Islands.  This is a Maiden Stop for Queen Elizabeth – the Queens are rarely in the Caribbean.  I guess an honorary plate will appear in the hallway making this occasion. We are here alongside the Carnival Freedom, a ship in dire need of a facelift.  When the Freedom pulled in, the gangways were closed for safety reasons – we have seen that done before, mainly in Costa Maya where ships are docked side by side.

I went up a little later this morning hoping that guests would already have eaten and would be on their way off the ship.  No such luck – the Lido Café was crowded.  I went to the shady side of the ship where there was no one.  In a few minutes, I was surrounded by people.  I simply don’t understand why people need to cluster like that when 99 percent of the room is empty.  I ate quickly and departed.  BTW, the meal remains the same simply because it is so good – waffle and scrambled eggs.  I do like those little jams in their cute little jars.

I am making progress on “Old Black Magic”, Ace Atkins take on Robert B Parker’s Spenser.  This is the second Spenser book in a row that I’m reading and they are both about art theft.  Just getting used to Atkin’s Spenser – maybe a little less snarky and his banter with Susan Silverman is not as witty, but it is definitely a Spenser novel.

We had lunch in the Lido Café on the side facing the Freedom – the cooler and less crowded side.  Today, I had a salad with Ranch (the main dressing).  I also had some spinach manicotti (very good) and a slice of their Margherita Pizza (which was really good and nothing like the Frankenpizza thing I created the other night). 

When I got to the table, Ellen was chatting with Jenene Caramielo, who, when not glammed up for her shows, looks just like a passenger.  We spent most of the lunch talking with her and finding out how similar our situations are (Guest Entertainer and Guest Lecturer).  She said she is going to take some months off to see the country in an RV with her husband and two dogs.  She told us that she moved to South Florida to get away from the cold of Pittsburgh and to have easy access to cruise ships.  So, now South Florida is too hot for her.  I told her she needed to move to San Diego.  It was great talking to her.

Spenser and I spent the afternoon together on the open deck – watching the blue green water and the beach goers.  

I also got a very nice panoramic shot of Grand Turk.

There was a terrific breeze that kept things cool and provided Caribbean fresh air.  We watched the early sail away from Deck 3.  The ship just backed out and skirted around to the starboard side and off we went.

Sail Away - Carnival Freedom

We had dinner in the Britannia Dining Room.  I had a salad, gumbo soup, and a Chinese veggie dish (good but way too spicy).  I don’t remember what Ellen had.

Dinner turned out to be very fast so we had time to go to the Queens Room for the pre-show set – “The Watson Duo” sang songs of the 50s through today with quite a few Dusty Springfield numbers and “The Tennessee Waltz” by Anne Murray.  They were very good.

Tonight’s entertainment in the Royal Court Theater was the Second Production Show. “The Outsider” – a fantasy story incorporating current songs (like “Here Comes the Sun”) – hard to follow but the music and dancing were OK.  We got there late and sat in the back row of the balcony – with all of the protective plastic barriers up there, you really can’t see anything. What was extremely strange was that the play just ended – no one from the Entertainment Department was there asking for another round of applause and commenting on anything.  The audience didn’t really know if they should leave or if something was yet to happen.  In a few minutes, everyone just left.  It’s the first time that we have seen something like this.

May 16, 2022 – At Sea – near the Bahamas – mostly Sunny - 84°F

Slept quite a bit better last night – the only possible difference is that I did not have any coffee after dinner – hidden caffeine, maybe.  Who knows?

My first presentation – “The Mystery of the Romanovs” is scheduled at 11:00 AM in the Royal Court Theater following the talk by Bob Donaldson, the third speaker, on the situation on the planet in 2040.  Very depressing talk – all about war and terrorists.  Not really what I want to hear when I am trying to get away from that very thing in today’s world.  He did, however, have a good turnout.  His presentation was very light on graphics and heavy on words and paragraphs. 

After he finished, I set up quickly amidst the mass exodus.  During the setup both the AV Tech and I wore our masks.

John was there to introduce me and we chatted a bit about mitigation on board QE.  I told him the ship was doing a great job.  He would, of course, want all of this COVID stuff to end and get cruising back to where it used to be.

The crowd did return and I did have a good turnout with people all over the place (every other seat is a social distancing seat with a “no sit here” sign – so from my perspective on the stage, the place looks full.  There were even people sitting in the royal boxes and in the balcony.  It looks like no one is there but the first row is unavailable and no one really wants to get real close to the stage (OK by me).

My voice was a bit raspy and I was a bit tentative in the talk – but I did finish right at 45 minutes and the few people who came to talk to me were positive with their comments.  It wasn’t the greatest opening presentation but it was behind me.  The clock in the last row of the balcony is great for keeping the speakers on pace.

We went to lunch in the Lido Restaurant and I had some salad mostly – the Ranch Dressing is different as I expected it to be and the “Marie Rose” dressing, I was told contains fish (all of the ingredients are listed next to the items) but when I checked, it didn't.  COVID restrictions do not allow anyone to get their own food - you are given either a "hot" or "cold" plate and the staff walks with you through the salad and hot entries and puts them on your plate.  That is the strictest food restriction so far on ships that we have seen.

The afternoon was spent on open Deck 3 port side – the chairs are comfortable with thick cushions and it is relative quiet and socially distant.  I am trying to finish my Spenser Novel,
“Painted Ladies” written by Ace Atkins, who took over for the late great Robert B. Parker.  Ace almost captures the banter from Spenser, which is why I read these books.

When it became too warm on deck, we also spent a little time away from everyone in the Garden Room.

We had dinner in the Lido Restaurant tonight – I had the chef make me a very exotic pizza with rosa sauce (tomato sauce), pizzerella (mozzarella, I guess) cheese, garlic, red onions, Roma tomatoes, and sun dried tomatoes.  The pizza crust looked like a pflam pletzel but overall the flavors were interesting and I ate three pieces.  Will have to try this again with a less complicated concoction.  In addition, the Lido Restaurant has ocean views and is peaceful and quiet.

Before the show, we went to the Queens Room to hear the Everglow Duo perform their set.  They are entertaining enough and not too loud. 

Showtime tonight feature flautist and raconteur, Viviana Guzman.  

She was born in Chile, suffered through many years with a congenital hip issue, which just recently got finally resolved with double hip replacements.  She is a great story teller and showed us a number of different types of flutes from around the world.  She also included some very nice videos to back up her music.  She now lives in Half Moon Bay, CA and showed a drone shot video of her bicycling up a bill in her area.  A very enjoyable show.  A "mask monitor" was on duty before the show started.

We went to the room after her show.

Tomorrow, we are in Grand Turk Island.

Seas are smooth and the room is quiet.

May 15, 2022 – Ft Lauderdale, FL – mostly cloudy – Stormy – 70°F

It was a very long night for both of us – I could not settle down – maybe the coffee was the culprit.  Through the night, I noticed that the ship had still not moved - that probably also contributed to a long and essentially sleepless night.

I finally got up for good at 7:00 AM and looked out and the ship was pushing away from the pier.  Captain Stephen Howarth came on the PA and said that the problem was a leaking engine water line.  Apparently, it took all night to get that fixed.  He also said that our arrival time at the Turks and Cacos Islands would not be affected.

I went up to the Lido Restaurant for breakfast at 7:30 AM (when it opened).  I had scrambled eggs and a freshly made waffle.  The eggs had something else in them – maybe milk and cream – but were still very good.  The waffle was underdone – I will keep an eye on that next time.  I did find cottage cheese and good preserves (in those little bottles).  The best thing – the coffee was hot and good.  The view at breakfast was a cloudy and stormy one.

Ellen ordered Room Service and was not that happy with her scrambled eggs.  She did like her bread basket. 

I went to the Café Carinthia to try their coffee and to check out my discount.  I ordered a large iced mocha latte.  It was really good and only cost me $2.93 – what a deal.  Ellen joined me at the Café but then went back to the room. I’m still trying to trim a few minutes off my talk.

Iced Decaf Mocha Latte

I went to the Theater to see Jay Christofferson talk about Coral Reefs – he’s a marine biologist from California.  He had a good crowd.

Ellen and I went to the Golden Lion for the Pub Lunch – I had the Fish and Chips (the fish was good but there was something odd about the chips – also the malt vinegar was a golden color with precipitate in it). I am pretty sure that that is not how malt vinegar should look so I stuck mainly with the tartar sauce.  I had a pint of ale with coffee and almonds flavors – very dark with so much gas it was hard to swallow.  

Very Unusual Ale

A pint seems like a lot to drink - yet the Brits can put away several pints (at least on TV).

The rest of the day was spent on the Promenade Deck port side (Deck 4), where I was able to get the obligatory iconic picture of Ellen against the railing.

I also went to the Entertainment Offices and met Sally Sagoe (the Entertainment Manager) and John Consiglio (the assistant EM) (to make sure my talks were in the correct order).  I’ve sailed with Sally before on the Queen Victoria (years ago).  John seemed like a very nice guy and easy to work with.  In fact, everyone in the room - all part of the Entertainment Department - were very cordial and helpful.

Tonight is the first of the Formal Nights - the Red and Gold Theme Night.  I wore my red dress shirt along with my dark gray pants and black coat.  Ellen, of course, was totally together with her outfit.

We were back at our wonderful table (300) in the Britannia Dining Room.  We both had the mushroom soup (delicious) – Ellen had the Sole and I had the Spanakopita (fila turnovers stuffed with spinach and cheese) (very good).  We just had the chocolate petite fours for dessert along with tea and coffee.  A pretty good meal.

The show tonight was the first of several Production Shows – “Be Our Guest” involved a lot of dancing and an unclear story line (pretty typical) but there was a very loud Adele medley sung by the two female singers and a very loud tribute from everyone to the “Greatest Showman”.  It was entertaining but it was starting to get up there in volume. 

We spent a little time in the Queen’s Room before going back to our still quiet cabin.

May 14, 2022 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Party Cloudy - 86°F

Embarkation Day

The room was indeed quiet – one earplug muffled the fridge, which wasn’t loud but always in the background.  I slept until 7:15 AM and then went down to see what had happened to the “Bright Side” Breakfast.  Gone were the signature waffle makers.  Offered was coffee (using individually wrapped coffee cups), individually wrapped whole wheat bagels, wrapped muffins, hard boiled eggs, packets of instant oatmeal (not Quaker), and cold cereals.  It was OK and I ate fast and went up the room.  Three masks total in the breakfast area (this is Florida, land of Freedom, after all).  I found it ironic that all of the precautions are aimed at the food and not at the real transmission process for COVID. 

I am live now at 11:15 AM in the room.

Cunard had informed us that we had to arrive at the terminal at 1 PM.  Knowing that we would be hungry, I finished off the remaining couple of pieces of pizza and Ellen had the last of the bagels from the flight.

At noon, we went down to the lobby and I called an Uber to take us to the Cruise Port.  Wislot, our Uber driver, came within five minutes and the fare came to $24.24 including a $4.86 “booking fee”, which is a pandemic construct intended to bring in revenue.  Wislot got a little confused about where our ship was but he did eventually find it. 

We dropped our bags off with a porter and headed for the terminal.  Our instructions were to get priority boarding as a guest entertainer but people were confused as to what that meant.  One person did check out our vax documents and COVID test results and checked us in but then we were told that we would be checking in with the regular passengers.  What we didn’t know was that the computers were down rendering the check in process glacial.  It took about 90 minute to complete check in.

We embarked the ship and headed up to the Lido Restaurant on Deck 9.  Before lunch, I went out on the deck and got a nice picture of the FLL harbor area including a panoramic shot of the entire area.

The Caribbean Princess docked near us.  I had full houses on the Caribbean Princess some years ago when we sailed from Quebec City to Houston.

We tried the tuna and egg salad and found them to be too salty.  I hope that was a one off situation and that the tuna will be better as the cruise goes along.  There was pizza that looked OK and maybe that will be an option going forward. 

We went to our room, Cabin 1045, Deck One Midships.  

The room was nice with a large window with no obstruction.  The bathroom was good size and the water pressure was very good.  While I went up to the Lido Deck to get some air, Ellen went to the Britannia Restaurant to get us a table for dinner.  She got us a permanent table, 300, near the entrance of the restaurant. This table would provide needed social distancing during dinner.  

I stayed upstairs until the Elegant Duo started playing 

and then I went back to the room to get ready for dinner.

Notes on COVID:  Masks are mandatory indoors; only four people per elevator at one time.  The Queen Elizabeth seems very serious about COVID – no doubt due to the recent experience the Cunard ships experienced around the end of the year.  COVID mitigation signs were everywhere.  

In my welcoming letter, I was asked to meet with the tech people to test out my presentation in the theater.  I went to the theater at 6:15 PM to take care of that check.  It took only a few minutes to see that my laptop was compatible with the ships AV system and then we were off to dinner.

Dinner tonight was in the Britannia Restaurant – HMT – Greek Salad (different but OK); Beetroot Salad with Feta (very little beet); Salmon with baked potato (very good); and some veggie soup thing that was mostly mushrooms – it was OK but too much.  ET: Smoked Fish patty; Salmon; Potato Pancakes.  For dessert, I had the cheesecake; ET has the chocolate cake.  The coffee came quickly and I even got refills.  Getting coffee quickly (along with refills) was a rare occurrence on a ship.  Overall, the service was really good at dinner and the table was perfect in that a) there were very few people around us and, b) it was nice and quiet.

We went to the Royal Court Theater to see tonight’s entertainer – vocalist Jenene Caramilio.  The ship does not allow photography of any kind (must be a UK thing) so I had to use a picture of Jenene from the advert.

Mask Monitor on Duty

The theater required that everyone wear a mask during the entire performance and no food or drink is allowed (so you have to keep your mask on).  There was even a crew member at the front of the theater serving as a "mask monitor" and making sure that everyone was wearing their masks properly.

She sang opera, “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”, “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”, and a medley from “Mama Mia”.  Even her operatic numbers were great.  She was one of the best vocalists we have seen in our cruising career – great stage presence and absolutely wonderful voice.  It was a great show.

The ship did not depart at 7:00 PM – the Captain indicated that the QE had engine trouble and it would take several hours to fix the problem. 

After the show we went to the Queen’s Room, where the other orchestra and two singers (Michael Burke and Rebecca Southard) were performing.  

We just had to find out if the curse of the Queen's Room was present on this cruise, so I went to our room while the Queen’s Room was really rocking, and I DID NOT HEAR A THING.  Our biggest source of anxiety related to this cruise was now removed.

We went back to the room and indeed did not hear anything.  By 10:00 PM, the ship had not yet left.  Google Maps confirmed that we were still in Port Everglades.

Lights out – we were tired.

FYI Passenger Count – The total number of passengers is 1300 – total capacity 2081 – around 65% full.

MS Queen Elizabeth – Grand Panama Canal Cruise – May 15 – June 1, 2022 – Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco

May 13, 2022 - Travel Day

This is an interesting cruise – QE is first going to the Eastern Caribbean, then through the Panama Canal, on to Mexico, and then up the California Coast, stopping in Los Angeles, and then ending up in San Francisco.  The itinerary has six ports and 11 sea days and is the second longest single cruise we have ever taken. We have not been on a Cunard Cruise in quite some time (QM2 - December 2017).

We have another early flight this morning – AA1424 depart ORD at 8:47 AM – so we called for a cab at 6:30 AM.  Originally, we were going to leave at 6:45 AM, but I noticed a glitch in my boarding pass when I checked in online.  I had no TSA PreCheck on my boarding pass.  After phone calls to both American Airlines and TSA (yes, I actually spoke to a very nice woman at TSA), it turned out that the Travel Agency (Carnival UK) that set up my flights entered a new middle name in my ticket – “Mr.”.  Because of that discrepancy in my name, TSA would not issue a pre-check designation.  I checked my return flight and everything seems to be in order so I am hoping that that doesn’t happen in San Francisco.  Hence the extra time spent in the airport.

We got to the airport in just about 25 minutes and checked bags at the AA Kiosk.  I headed for the regular security (Ellen kindly accompanied me even though she could have gone through Pre-Check).  Although, there were hundreds of people in line, the line kept moving and it only took about 10-15 minutes to get to the TSA officer.  That was instantaneous but the process at the scanners was a pain.  Shoes came off and computers had to be put in separate buckets.  All those items went in different directions and I was just hoping that they would all reappear.  They did, but why people would go through this and not get the TSA PreCheck is a mystery.  Masks were non-existent in Terminal 3 – we wore ours to be safe because the people density was high.

After that exciting experience, we headed to our gate, K19.  (Why can’t it ever be K2?).  Our plane was there waiting for us.

Our first plane (AA1424)

We boarded pretty much on time and sat for a few minutes in a hot plane when we were told there was a mechanical issue with the plane and we would have to go to Gate L2A where an identical 737-800 was waiting (3000 steps BTW). 

There indeed was another plane at L2A 

AA1424 - Take 2

but it was not quite ready to go – one of the sinks was inoperable so that stuck on another delay.  We finally re-boarded – for some reason, even though it was the same passengers on this plane, I noticed a lot more masks.  My seat mate didn’t wear a mask when we boarded the first plane and now he was wearing one.  The plane loaded up, the doors closed, and I did not have anyone in the middle seat.  How about that – it didn’t make up for the TSA glitch but it was a start.

We finally took off – after more than a 90 minute delay.  Smooth flight all the way until we ran into moderate chop on descent into FLL – not real bad.  I always expect chop on landing so I was not surprised.  My seat mate wore his mask the entire time.

Our baggage claim was number 5 and it took a little while for the bags to appear on the carousel.  Our bags came off quickly and I called for a pickup from the hotel.  We were supposed to go left after leaving the baggage claim area and go to the E-F location, where hotel pickups, taxis, and other shuttles stop.  The desk clerk at the hotel said he would be there is twenty minutes and he was.  The shuttle made another circuit looking for other customers and then headed for the La Quinta by Wyndham –Ft. Lauderdale Airport (off of Sheridan on 26^th Street).  The $213 per night that we paid for this hotel was about $100 more than we paid for this hotel the last time we stayed here.  It’s a nice hotel – not new but looks new – located on a large lagoon.  It has a nice pool area.  It used to have a wonderful breakfast but with COVID, that has been cut back.  This was the best price I could find for a hotel in the area – others were in the mid to high $300 per night.  This is not a special week end there should be no reason to jack up the prices like this – this is not helping with inflation.

We got to the hotel in about 20 minutes and checked in – our first room was 113 but we decided to switch rooms when we could hear the entire conversation going on in 115.  At first, I thought the desk clerk said the hotel was empty but later on when we switched to 307, she said they were all booked up.  307 was a nice room (with no adjoining room) – again, the hotel has aged well.

But before the hassle with the room, we had a major kerfuffle with the pizza we ordered for dinner.  The first place I ordered from said he delivered to the La Quinta so we ordered a small Margherita Pizza, a Greek Salad, and a Diet Coke.  Forty-five minutes later, I got a call from the delivery guy who said no one was in our room – I told him we were in the lobby.  He said there was no one there either.  He had gone to a different La Quinta.  When I ordered the food, I asked the owner of the pizza place whether he delivered and he did not ask me my address – in fact, the shuttle driver said there was only one La Quinta in the area.  I apologized to the delivery guy and asked him if he would bring it to us – he had a 10 miles range and we were at 13 miles (really).  He said he would have to trash the food (I hope the staff ate it) and I asked him to cancel the credit card charge – he said he would. 

We ordered pretty much the same thing from a menu from the desk – this pizza – from “Pronto Pizza” arrived in about 30 minutes and we ate it in the lobby – it wasn’t the best Margherita Pizza and green salad but it was OK. 

After dinner, we spent the rest of the evening out by the pool, which was comfortable and warm.  There was good separation out there and fresh air. 

We stayed out there until about 9 PM – no bugs but lots of lizards, big and small - and then went to the room which was generally quiet.  The appliances, though tiny, are new.  The microwave has two USB ports and an extra outlet in the front – so you can heat up your pizza while you are charging your devices.

Light were out early tonight because it has been a long day – I was up this morning at 4:11 AM.  Hope the room is quiet.