December 12, 2024 – San Juan, Puerto Rico – Partly Cloudy – 81F

There was a note on my bed that the A/C in this part of the ship was going to get an upgrade and maintenance today at 1-4 PM (so I will be sure to be somewhere else at that point since it will be hot in the cabin. 

Didn’t sleep so well last night but I did manage to get enough sleep that there was not a lot of time between getting up and going to breakfast.  It looks like the seas will be nice and calm all the way to San Juan.

We are not due in San Juan until around 9 AM.

I got a nice seat by the railing on the Sunset Veranda (more like the Sunrise Veranda for me). Before getting any food, I found a suit and requested cottage cheese and sour cream.  He delegated and in a little while, while I was finishing my cereal breakfast, the two arrived.  I then went to get my pancakes and they are made to order (the scrambled eggs got cold but again, they did not measure up to the scrambled eggs I am used to).  The pancakes, cottage cheese, sour cream, and two kinds of jam made for a very tasty breakfast.  The pancakes were more like flapjacks – doughy nut fluffy. Formulation change?  And a beautiful view as well.

I watched the approach into San Juan

and then the iconic El Morro Castle 

and head on into San Juan Bay. Onward is the only ship here today.  

A little while after pulling alongside, the engines were cut off and the noise that I have been experiencing constantly stopped so it was clearly the engines.  We stayed in 4050 last time on Onward and because that cabin is a few cabins closer to Midships, there was no engine noise.  I plan to speak to Lee about the situation later today.

I was able to get a nice panoramic shot of San Juan Bay from the Sunset Veranda.

At about 10 AM, I disembarked and planned to go to Walgreens, which is literally across the street from the pier.  I got some nice pics of Onward docked.

I also got a nice view of the street adjacent to the port.  As is evident, it is a beautiful day on the Island.

I needed to get some shaving cream and a pair of scissors, which I didn’t take along but needed.  I decided to do that last.  Before that, I went to the Starbucks 

a bit up the hill from the street level and picked up a San Juan mug.

In San Juan, the mug was $12 – mugs in Cozumel were $18 and in Barcelona they were $20.  From there, I walked over to the Plaza Colon – passing a cute little middle of the street Nursey.

Cristobal was still there pointing to the Ocean – 

the plaza was all done up in Christmas stuff.  There weren’t a lot of people around since only one ship was here and it was a small one. 

I picked up the items at Walgreens and headed back to the ship.  You have to show both a picture ID and sea pass card to get back into the port area and they check very carefully.  I put all my cards away and headed to the ship.  I took out my sea pass card and scanned in. After I got to the room I noticed that I didn’t have my Azamara card holder which contained my driver’s license, credit card, and $20.  I retraced my steps all the way back to the entrance of the pier and did not find the cards.  

I decided to check with Guest Relations and she was waiting for me with all my cards in her hand. A passenger just turned it in – she said they were right behind me and found it.  I don’t know it didn’t get into my pocket since I generally pat my pocket to make sure everything is there.  A mystery with a good outcome.

I had a Beyond Burger with onion rings plus a small salad for lunch in the Windows Cafe.  I put ketchup and mayo on the burger to counter the sweet taste of this burger.  It was good and I finished it all. I had it with a Becks Beer, which the waiter brought me for some reason.  I must have mentioned that I was going to have a beer.

I spent the afternoon in the Living Room (Deck 10 forward) but took a break to meet Lee in Windows (he was having lunch) to talk about the engine noise in my cabin.  I told him I knew the ship was full but he said he would check on another cabin.  The best I could do.

I went back to the Living Room and hung out there accompanied by a very good Margarita.

Back in the room now. The A/C is working again – the room is very comfortable.

Going to be going to dinner soon – it is “Taste of Mexico” night in Windows so who knows what I am going to eat – there was nothing for me in the dining room so this is it.  If there is nothing, I’ll head to the Patio.

It was "Taste of Mexico" in the Windows Cafe tonight.  I had great hopes but, as it turned out, there was only one thing on the menu tonight and that was a cheese quesadilla – all the other potential dishes all had chicken or beef in them to jazz them up and make them unavailable to me.  I went to the Patio and ordered the Vegetable Lasagna and salmon (well done) and a baked potato with sour cream.  I asked the waiter if he could bring the food out to the Sunset Veranda and after getting an OK from someone, said he would find me out there. In a few minutes, the dishes appeared.  The lasagna was cold and watery but I ate a bit of it and it was OK.  The salmon, this time thinner and skinless, was perfect as was the baked potato.  Churros and some kind of chocolate jelly roll made for a decent dessert along with decaf coffee.

It's a late sailaway from San Juan (St John is pretty close) so I stay on the Veranda and got some pictures of San Juan Bay in the Gloaming.

I went to the theater for Production Show #2 with the Signature Singers and Dancers performing “Wanderlust” a story of six people traveling the world together. 

Each location, and some of them were surprising – Vermont and Maine, for example – was associated with a song.  Loosely associated.  “Don’t Stop Believing”, “Turn Turn Turn”, “Lightning only Happens When It’s Raining” and “Moon River” were among the tunes tonight.  At first I thought the singers were lip synching but later on it was difficult to say.  The best part of the show were the background visuals which used a jillion pixel screen to get crisp and animated scenes. I snuck out a few minutes early just as Darren was on stage to go over tomorrow’s stay in St. John.

I went back to the room after the show – talked to Ellen since I have phone service. At 9:45 PM I could hear the engines come back on (no ignoring the engine noise in this cabin) and in a few minutes we pushed and were on our way to St. John.

Lights out at 11:00 PM.

December 11, 2024 – At Sea – Off the Coast of Cuba – Party Cloudy – 81F

Another beautiful day at sea and it’s getting warmer as we make our way to San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

The cabin continues to have that constant background noise but I am dealing with it with earplugs.  I have confirmed that the noise and vibration are indeed coming from the engines and not the HVAC.  

I got a little more sleep than usual – tiredness catching up to me.  I will still up early enough to shave and take a shower before the Windows Café opened for breakfast.  The Sunset Veranda is still a great place for breakfast.  Just look at the view - you can tell how early I got up there by the empty tables.

I took a picture ow what I thought might be Cuba off the Starboard Side.

Today, I tried pancakes and two eggs over medium.  My timing was not good because the pancakes are made to order and the pancake guy opened up late.  So the eggs were a bit cold.  (all my breakfasts have some corn and frosted flakes as an opener).  The breakfast was pretty good and I was thinking I should have as many eggs as I could considering the price of eggs at home (😄probably not). 

After some more really good coffee I got ready for my second talk. “Forensics and History: The Search for the Unknown Titanic Child”. 

No introduction today.  There were just about the same number of attendees today as yesterday.  It’s a beautiful day and maybe people were on the pool deck or at the Watercolor class or some other activity.  No matter.  The talk ran 52 minutes and that gave the next speaker – The Future Cruise Talk - time to set up.  My talk went well and only one couple left before it was over but the energy level of the crowd seemed lower than usual.  Maybe I was just imagining it.  Some good feedback followed the talk. 

During my talk, I had to be extra careful as the ship is moving a bit today.  The seas were a bit choppy and it was raining.

This was confirmed by the safety equipment hanging from the bannisters.

I had lunch again on the Sunset Veranda (my go to place for lunch).  Today, I ordered the Spicy Tuna Wrap from the Patio, along with some French Fries and some salad from the salad bar. I asked that my tuna be well done and it was and the wrap was delicious.  It was hard to tell that it wasn’t meat.  I had a Leffe Blond Beer from Belgium (I think) which enhanced the meal.  I checked out the label and it said it had notes of vanilla and it did. A great lunch.

I was amazed that the barista at the Mosaic Café recognized me.  He said he tried to catch the lectures on TV but couldn’t. I checked and they were there.  Maybe I’ll let him know.

I went out on Deck 5 and found a lounge chair – we are traveling East so the Sun is tracking along the same line so both sides of the ship are out of the Sun (blocked by the lifeboats). The seas had calmed down, and it was super nice on the deck but after a while I went back to the room and proceeded to conk out for nearly two hours – when you are really tired, it just catches up on you.

I got ready for dinner.  I first went to the Discoveries Bar where I got a Strawberry Daiquiri. It was “Taste of France” in the Windows Café so I checked out the Buffet first. They had something called Lemon Crusted Sole and a couple of mini-quiches.  They were making Tuna Niçoise Salad but I already had tuna for lunch.  It turned out that the Sole was very good and the Quiche Lorraine was also good.  That was enough for me for dinner.

I was treated to calm seas and beautiful skies during dinner.

My dinner companion tonight was the planet Venus.

I went back to The Den and ran into the folks from LA that I met at the Hotel.  We had a nice time just chatting.  They went off to dinner and I went to the Cabaret Lounge to get a good seat for the Show tonight.  

Tonight, the headliner was CD Darren Lynton. Darren was an entertainer on Grand Princess in 2004 when he met his wife, who was the Cruise Director.  He moved from ship to ship as an entertainer and then took a sabbatical to be with his kids and to teach 8 and 9 year olds (give that man a medal).  He came back on ships a couple of years ago and this is the first time we have sailed together.  He put on a fantastic show – singing standards like “Mac the Knife” and show tunes like “Music of the Nights” and “Stars”.  He has a musical theater background and it shows – his voice is excellent and he moves around the stage effortlessly.  He joins the other Azamara singing CDs – all talented.  

Back to the room to settle down.

Lights off at 11:00 PM.

December 10, 2024 – At Sea – Atlantic Ocean – Mostly Sunny – 77F

There is something special about that first day at sea.   

As usual, I was up before dawn. I took this shot from my cabin.

 I think I dealt with the noise OK – the earplugs did their job.

The weather got better as the day progressed. A beautiful day at sea.

I went up for breakfast at 7:30 AM (Azamara has late breakfasts).  I had a waffle and some scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese.  I asked for cottage cheese and was told there was none.  I found a suit and he was able to get me some cottage cheese.  I can understand no sour cream but no cottage cheese in the fruit section would be a first.  I guess I will have to ask each time.  The waffle had a funny aftertaste and was difficult to cut with a knife (very thick and doughy – hopefully, a onetime occurrence.  The scrambled eggs were not nearly as good as on other ships (Celebrity has the best scrambled eggs).  The best part of the breakfast was eating on the Sunset Veranda and the pre-breakfast of corn and frosted flakes. I will figure out the breakfast thing tomorrow. As for today, this is the view I enjoyed.

The ship is pulling 16 kts to get to San Juan on time.

After getting an Iced Decaf Mocha to go at the Mosaic Café, I went to Chuck Richardson’s talk on San Juan and St. Johns at 10 AM and also stayed for a few minutes of Tom Eastwood’s talk on “Spies and Espionage”.  He had a different speaking style than I am used to but the audience knew him and he had a good turnout.  I did get a picture of Lee introducing Chuck.

I had lunch on the Sunset Veranda – I ordered a Beyond Burger with Onion Rings along with a salad from the salad bar.  The Beyond Burger was OK but not even close in taste to the Impossible Burgers I get on other ships.  Still, it’s an option. 

I like what Onward does with the adverts for the lectures.  Here's the one for my first talk.

I went to the Cabaret Lounge at 1:30 PM to set up for my 2 PM talk – “Forensics and History: Identifying the Famous and Infamous”.  This is my new opening talk because it lets me introduce the technical stuff in just a few slides and provides the background for the second talk. There were just a handful of people there and the AV guy set up my computer in no time. The headset mic was an issue as it was too small for my big head but the slides were clean and crisp.  The AV is great on this ship. 

By the time, I got started, the Cabaret Lounge was about 80 percent occupied (Google says that the Lounge has a capacity of 450 people more than Journey or Quest – it didn’t look any bigger to me).  I got a nice introduction from Lee and the talk went well.  I wasn’t mumbling and struggling like I have been recently and I got a lot of nice feedback from attendees.  A good start.

I was tired after the talk.  I didn’t take my anti-inflammatory meds this morning so I was a bit achy.  I stretched out in the room to deal with that.

I went to The Den to hear Bob, the Piano Guy but I got the time wrong.  My consolation prize was a Blue Curacao Sour, which was very good.  I didn’t finish all of it as I didn’t know how strong it was.  Turns out not so strong.

Tonight was Asian Night in the Windows Café.  I got a nice seat on the Sunset Veranda. There wasn’t much for me to eat (I would have tried the stir fry but it was going to be a task trying to get a meat free dish tonight).  I took some veggie fried rice, veggie spring rolls, and some tofu dumplings.  Everything was pretty greasy but not bad.  I then went to the patio to get some salmon as my dinner was protein free so far.  The salmon, which took a long time to cook, was basically sushi.  I ate a bit but the rolls and butter dipped into the decaf coffee made the meal (pathetic for sure).  It was just enough

Showtime tonight was “Groove Tonight” the first production show and focusing on disco.  I have seen it before and I was just too tired to go. 

I went to the Mosaic Café instead and had a decaf Americano coffee with a chocolate truffle.

After a while, I was back in the room.  I told Rustico, my Room Steward, that I didn’t need a turndown tonight but he did bring me an interesting chocolate.  This ship does have little petit fours as part of their turndown. 

I moved the clocks forward to Atlantic Standard time  as we will be in Puerto Rico in a couple of days. Puerto Rico does not have Daylight time so they go all year on AST.

We are current now – it is 10:39 PM AST.

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.