mk-ultra

Happy to report: completely uneventful flight.  Did the terminal E to terminal C hustle at IAH in about 15 minutes.  IAH-FLL flight was held at the gate briefly so a passenger on a late connecting flight could make it.  This is a recent United policy, and it's a good one.  Pilots were able to make up the time en route by shoveling a little more money into the engines.  Pilot Flying absolutely plastered it onto the runway on landing.  Much shrieking.  I thought it was funny; others not so much.  I'm easily entertained.  Lead flight attendant started his post-landing announcement with, "You may have noticed we've arrived in Fort Lauderdale..."  High-five to him.   Cockpit door remained shut during deplaning.  Yeah, door of shame.  Stand in the galley and take your ribbing, coward.
Taxi ride to the W Hotel on the beach in Fort Lauderdale was, um, interesting.  It was totally a breeze until we hit A1A for the last couple of miles.  Construction has necked-down a segment from 2 lanes to 1, so we spent the last mile watching pedestrians outpace us.  No skin off my nose.  I got a better chance to ogle what I may want to explore on foot tomorrow. 
Note if you're taking a taxi from FLL airport to anything close to it:  Flag drop at the airport is $13 minimum with an additional $3 fee for whatever.  So, $16 to move 100 yards if that's how far you want to go.  Once you've used $13 worth of mileage/time, the meter starts ticking up like normal.  FLL to the W was ~$25 for the 6.5 mile trip.
This particular W has a pretty stellar reputation for the property, service, rooms, location and food.  I'm digging it so far.  Super smooth check-in.  Met by their "Welcome Manager" Brian while I was being checked in.  Very nice comp room upgrade.  This is one of those places that does Amex "Fine Hotels & Resorts" bookings perfectly.  Late check-out.  Free breakfasts.  $100 credit to spend on-property (to which the W added a surprise additional $50).  Amex is also running a bonus right know that will knock another $100 off of my bill for spending 2 nights.  [I'm not trying to pimp Amex, but if you travel a lot -- that Plat card pays for itself many times over.]
Ate at El Vez tonight, the Mexican restaurant in the W.  Excellent service.  Great Margaritas.  The mahi mahi fish tacos though.  Erm.  No.  I saw tons of excellent looking food on other tables.  I think I just ordered a dud.  Prices are surprisingly non-extortionate for a hotel restaurant.
Plan for tomorrow: wake up at an ungodly hour and lament still being on West Coast time.  I wake up at 0530 in CA.  That's 0230 here.  It's gonna be a loooooong morning.  Once the sun is up it'll be a walk across the street to the beach, then a saunter south to the cool looking venues on A1A facing the beach in search of brekkies. 

This is my first sailing out of Port Everglades.   The departure is ridiculously pretty. Sorry I didn’t take more pics, but I was busy admiring the view with a silly grin plastered all over my face.  Tons of locals living in the condos near the channel waving and hanging sheets off of balconies with nice tidings.  Time to go back to the cabin and begin the unpackening.

Ordered lunch poolside.  Simple order.  Cheeseburger, fries, Mexican mule blender drink.  It took ~30 minutes to arrive (which I thought was totally acceptable as busy as the pool was — I certainly didn’t complain or ask about it).  They apologized profusely, comped my meal and brought me double drinks (also comped). Wow.  Gonna leave a stratospheric tip.  Cheeseburger, fries and blender drinks were great.  I have no idea why they thought they messed up.

 

It just keeps getting prettier.  Did I mention how nice it is to be in shorts and sandals outdoors at 0700 without freezing your butt off?  Sigh.  I could spend my life watching sunrises like this one.

Man I love early AM flights.  Quick 15 minute ride to SFO.  Security Pre-Check line was literally 30 seconds.  I'm now camped out at the Centurion Lounge in terminal 3 (opened at 0500) and there is a massive crowd of 3 whole people to contend with.   I see 'em cooking breakfast in the kitchen, so I'm 100% sure I'm not going to perish from hunger.  Too early for the bar?
Food's ready!  Their timing is impeccable.
Fruity selection:

Spinach & bell pepper scramble.  Chicken apple sausages.  Steel cut oatmeal.  Mushroom frittata.  French toast.  Vegetarian farro dish I eyed suspiciously, but it was actually really tasty:

Just had a Kummelweck sandwich from the Park Cafe for lunch.  I will be having one per day.  Maybe two if nobody is watching.
My big goal today is to remember that I need to be at the spa at 3PM for 75 minutes of massage and 20 minutes of being aggressively up-sold magical detox woo.
It’s one of our two formal nights.  I'll put on my blazer and play dress up over dinner before taking my dashing countenance to the casino to shore up RCI's stock.
[NERD WARNING: NERDY STUFF AHEAD]
I'm already slowing down to "cruise speed."  No need to be anywhere or do anything.  Like, Imma just sit here with a book all day and drink fruity things.
I totally hit the jackpot selecting one of the books for this cruise.  I would have sworn I'd read every Iain M. Banks Culture novel.  Somehow, I'd missed Excession.  I've been incredibly restrained in saving that book for this cruise instead of immediately consuming it in a nerd binge when I got it.  I feel like I found a $100 bill in an old jacket.  W00t!
Iain passed away in 2013, and the Sci-Fi literary world lost an icon.  Humor.  Prose.  Fantastic characters.  All wrapped-up in an astounding universe.  Cheers, Iain.  ?

Just had a Kummelweck sandwich from the Park Cafe for lunch.  I will be having one per day.  Maybe two if nobody is watching.
My big goal today is to remember that I need to be at the spa at 3PM for 75 minutes of massage and 20 minutes of being aggressively up-sold magical detox woo.
It’s one of our two formal nights.  I'll put on my blazer and play dress up over dinner before taking my dashing countenance to the casino to shore up RCI's stock.
[NERD WARNING: NERDY STUFF AHEAD]
I'm already slowing down to "cruise speed."  No need to be anywhere or do anything.  Like, Imma just sit here with a book all day and drink fruity things.
I totally hit the jackpot selecting one of the books for this cruise.  I would have sworn I'd read every Iain M. Banks Culture novel.  Somehow, I'd missed Excession.  I've been incredibly restrained in saving that book for this cruise instead of immediately consuming it in a nerd binge when I got it.  I feel like I found a $100 bill in an old jacket.  W00t!
Iain passed away in 2013, and the Sci-Fi literary world lost an icon.  Humor.  Prose.  Fantastic characters.  All wrapped-up in an astounding universe.  Cheers, Iain.  ?

Just had a Kummelweck sandwich from the Park Cafe for lunch.  I will be having one per day.  Maybe two if nobody is watching.
My big goal today is to remember that I need to be at the spa at 3PM for 75 minutes of massage and 20 minutes of being aggressively up-sold magical detox woo.
It’s one of our two formal nights.  I'll put on my blazer and play dress up over dinner before taking my dashing countenance to the casino to shore up RCI's stock.
[NERD WARNING: NERDY STUFF AHEAD]
I'm already slowing down to "cruise speed."  No need to be anywhere or do anything.  Like, Imma just sit here with a book all day and drink fruity things.
I totally hit the jackpot selecting one of the books for this cruise.  I would have sworn I'd read every Iain M. Banks Culture novel.  Somehow, I'd missed Excession.  I've been incredibly restrained in saving that book for this cruise instead of immediately consuming it in a nerd binge when I got it.  I feel like I found a $100 bill in an old jacket.  W00t!
Iain passed away in 2013, and the Sci-Fi literary world lost an icon.  Humor.  Prose.  Fantastic characters.  All wrapped-up in an astounding universe.  Cheers, Iain.  ?

Just had a Kummelweck sandwich from the Park Cafe for lunch.  I will be having one per day.  Maybe two if nobody is watching.
My big goal today is to remember that I need to be at the spa at 3PM for 75 minutes of massage and 20 minutes of being aggressively up-sold magical detox woo.
It’s one of our two formal nights.  I'll put on my blazer and play dress up over dinner before taking my dashing countenance to the casino to shore up RCI's stock.
[NERD WARNING: NERDY STUFF AHEAD]
I'm already slowing down to "cruise speed."  No need to be anywhere or do anything.  Like, Imma just sit here with a book all day and drink fruity things.
I totally hit the jackpot selecting one of the books for this cruise.  I would have sworn I'd read every Iain M. Banks Culture novel.  Somehow, I'd missed Excession.  I've been incredibly restrained in saving that book for this cruise instead of immediately consuming it in a nerd binge when I got it.  I feel like I found a $100 bill in an old jacket.  W00t!
Iain passed away in 2013, and the Sci-Fi literary world lost an icon.  Humor.  Prose.  Fantastic characters.  All wrapped-up in an astounding universe.  Cheers, Iain.  ?

Just had a Kummelweck sandwich from the Park Cafe for lunch.  I will be having one per day.  Maybe two if nobody is watching.
My big goal today is to remember that I need to be at the spa at 3PM for 75 minutes of massage and 20 minutes of being aggressively up-sold magical detox woo.
It’s one of our two formal nights.  I'll put on my blazer and play dress up over dinner before taking my dashing countenance to the casino to shore up RCI's stock.
[NERD WARNING: NERDY STUFF AHEAD]
I'm already slowing down to "cruise speed."  No need to be anywhere or do anything.  Like, Imma just sit here with a book all day and drink fruity things.
I totally hit the jackpot selecting one of the books for this cruise.  I would have sworn I'd read every Iain M. Banks Culture novel.  Somehow, I'd missed Excession.  I've been incredibly restrained in saving that book for this cruise instead of immediately consuming it in a nerd binge when I got it.  I feel like I found a $100 bill in an old jacket.  W00t!
Iain passed away in 2013, and the Sci-Fi literary world lost an icon.  Humor.  Prose.  Fantastic characters.  All wrapped-up in an astounding universe.  Cheers, Iain.  ?

Day 2.  Both today and tomorrow are sea days.
As usual, I woke up early. Popped down to Cafe Promenade for coffee and a pastry.  I was surprised to see Guest Services open and 2 people working the desk at 0530.  Nobody was in line, so I took the opportunity to see if I could straighten out my erroneous Voom charge and figure out where my missing shore excursion ticket for Phillipsburg was.
For the Voom charge, they sent an email off to someone in corporate to see if they could remove it.  My shore excursion was cancelled.  No notification, but I do see that the money was refunded to my credit card.  Off to the Excursion desk later today to book something else.
Weather is very nice, but it was windy AF earlier this morning.  We’re doing ~18 knots directly into a 10-15 knot gusty breeze.  I was down on the pool deck and a lady opened one of the now-famous windows to stick her iPad mini (with a cover opened like a book) out to take a pic of the sunrise.  That worked out just about as well as you might imagine.  Some dolphin is probably playing Angry Birds on it now.
Ate at Windjammer.  Being an early bird has its merits.  One of which is not having to elbow my way to the trough through a crowd.

L2 (port side, aft facing) Crown Loft Suite.  I'm on deck 17, and my view down is the putt-putt golf course and (if we were underway), the ocean on the port side.  Right now it's putt-putt and fuel tanks.  The last two times I've been in a CLS were both ocean facing on the starboard side.  Decided to try something different.
Don't ever book a CLS. 

Just had a Kummelweck sandwich from the Park Cafe for lunch.  I will be having one per day.  Maybe two if nobody is watching.
My big goal today is to remember that I need to be at the spa at 3PM for 75 minutes of massage and 20 minutes of being aggressively up-sold magical detox woo.
It’s one of our two formal nights.  I'll put on my blazer and play dress up over dinner before taking my dashing countenance to the casino to shore up RCI's stock.
[NERD WARNING: NERDY STUFF AHEAD]
I'm already slowing down to "cruise speed."  No need to be anywhere or do anything.  Like, Imma just sit here with a book all day and drink fruity things.
I totally hit the jackpot selecting one of the books for this cruise.  I would have sworn I'd read every Iain M. Banks Culture novel.  Somehow, I'd missed Excession.  I've been incredibly restrained in saving that book for this cruise instead of immediately consuming it in a nerd binge when I got it.  I feel like I found a $100 bill in an old jacket.  W00t!
Iain passed away in 2013, and the Sci-Fi literary world lost an icon.  Humor.  Prose.  Fantastic characters.  All wrapped-up in an astounding universe.  Cheers, Iain.  ?

Day 2.  Both today and tomorrow are sea days.
As usual, I woke up early. Popped down to Cafe Promenade for coffee and a pastry.  I was surprised to see Guest Services open and 2 people working the desk at 0530.  Nobody was in line, so I took the opportunity to see if I could straighten out my erroneous Voom charge and figure out where my missing shore excursion ticket for Phillipsburg was.
For the Voom charge, they sent an email off to someone in corporate to see if they could remove it.  My shore excursion was cancelled.  No notification, but I do see that the money was refunded to my credit card.  Off to the Excursion desk later today to book something else.
Weather is very nice, but it was windy AF earlier this morning.  We’re doing ~18 knots directly into a 10-15 knot gusty breeze.  I was down on the pool deck and a lady opened one of the now-famous windows to stick her iPad mini (with a cover opened like a book) out to take a pic of the sunrise.  That worked out just about as well as you might imagine.  Some dolphin is probably playing Angry Birds on it now.
Ate at Windjammer.  Being an early bird has its merits.  One of which is not having to elbow my way to the trough through a crowd.

Day 2.  Both today and tomorrow are sea days.
As usual, I woke up early. Popped down to Cafe Promenade for coffee and a pastry.  I was surprised to see Guest Services open and 2 people working the desk at 0530.  Nobody was in line, so I took the opportunity to see if I could straighten out my erroneous Voom charge and figure out where my missing shore excursion ticket for Phillipsburg was.
For the Voom charge, they sent an email off to someone in corporate to see if they could remove it.  My shore excursion was cancelled.  No notification, but I do see that the money was refunded to my credit card.  Off to the Excursion desk later today to book something else.
Weather is very nice, but it was windy AF earlier this morning.  We’re doing ~18 knots directly into a 10-15 knot gusty breeze.  I was down on the pool deck and a lady opened one of the now-famous windows to stick her iPad mini (with a cover opened like a book) out to take a pic of the sunrise.  That worked out just about as well as you might imagine.  Some dolphin is probably playing Angry Birds on it now.
Ate at Windjammer.  Being an early bird has its merits.  One of which is not having to elbow my way to the trough through a crowd.

Swooped back by the cabin.  Bags are appearing outside of our cabins (2:30PM or so).  Seems like everything on this cruise is ahead of time.  I was on Allure last December.  It was efficient then, but not as crazy good as this sailing.
Fruit magically appeared while I was wandering around. 
 

Onboard at 10:42AM.  That’s a record!  Glass of Prosecco in the suites lounge at 10:52AM.   WOOHOO!

Ordered lunch poolside.  Simple order.  Cheeseburger, fries, Mexican mule blender drink.  It took ~30 minutes to arrive (which I thought was totally acceptable as busy as the pool was — I certainly didn’t complain or ask about it).  They apologized profusely, comped my meal and brought me double drinks (also comped). Wow.  Gonna leave a stratospheric tip.  Cheeseburger, fries and blender drinks were great.  I have no idea why they thought they messed up.

 

I stopped back by the room and did something I never do.  I just laid back down in bed and thought, maybe this is what napping is about?  And then crashed hard for two hours.  I don’t nap.  I’ve never napped.  I wish napping was in my repertoire... I’ve always been jealous of folks that can grab one.  It was glorious.  It’s like I got a quick free battery recharge.  Back poolside now for lunch and it’s busy, but there are corners where you can get some space in the shade.  DJ is playing a really good Latin mix.  A+.

I never buy in-flight WiFi, but I’ve got some UAL credit to burn up, so here I am at FL350 trying it out.   Speeds are laughable, and the 700ms latency tells me it's geosynchronous sats.
I’m going to attempt to use my blazing .3Mb/s upload speed to post a photo.  Not to worry.  I’ve got 3.5 hours.

Flight is on time.  ? Won at gate roulette.  Gate changed from 90 (ass end of nowhere) to gate 61 (stumbling distance from a variety of places that serve alcohol).  Next up: IAH (Houston) layover.  If there's an airport I hate with a burning passion, it's IAH.  80% chance of it being a cluster-f*ck.  I'll be brave and wear my big boy pants.

Yawn.  It's 0330 and I didn't need my alarm to wake me up for my 0720 flight to Fort Lauderdale this morning.  I'm always gunning to go when a cruise is pending.  Might as well burn off some energy with my first stab at live-blogging a trip.  ?
Basics
Ship: Allure
Sailing: 9/29 7 night Eastern Caribbean
Cabin: L2 Crown Loft (1722)
View from the backyard.  That isn't a sunrise.  It's city lights.

Nah, the dolphins know that Tiny Aquarium is where it's at. ?
 

Day 2.  Both today and tomorrow are sea days.
As usual, I woke up early. Popped down to Cafe Promenade for coffee and a pastry.  I was surprised to see Guest Services open and 2 people working the desk at 0530.  Nobody was in line, so I took the opportunity to see if I could straighten out my erroneous Voom charge and figure out where my missing shore excursion ticket for Phillipsburg was.
For the Voom charge, they sent an email off to someone in corporate to see if they could remove it.  My shore excursion was cancelled.  No notification, but I do see that the money was refunded to my credit card.  Off to the Excursion desk later today to book something else.
Weather is very nice, but it was windy AF earlier this morning.  We’re doing ~18 knots directly into a 10-15 knot gusty breeze.  I was down on the pool deck and a lady opened one of the now-famous windows to stick her iPad mini (with a cover opened like a book) out to take a pic of the sunrise.  That worked out just about as well as you might imagine.  Some dolphin is probably playing Angry Birds on it now.
Ate at Windjammer.  Being an early bird has its merits.  One of which is not having to elbow my way to the trough through a crowd.

Day 2.  Both today and tomorrow are sea days.
As usual, I woke up early. Popped down to Cafe Promenade for coffee and a pastry.  I was surprised to see Guest Services open and 2 people working the desk at 0530.  Nobody was in line, so I took the opportunity to see if I could straighten out my erroneous Voom charge and figure out where my missing shore excursion ticket for Phillipsburg was.
For the Voom charge, they sent an email off to someone in corporate to see if they could remove it.  My shore excursion was cancelled.  No notification, but I do see that the money was refunded to my credit card.  Off to the Excursion desk later today to book something else.
Weather is very nice, but it was windy AF earlier this morning.  We’re doing ~18 knots directly into a 10-15 knot gusty breeze.  I was down on the pool deck and a lady opened one of the now-famous windows to stick her iPad mini (with a cover opened like a book) out to take a pic of the sunrise.  That worked out just about as well as you might imagine.  Some dolphin is probably playing Angry Birds on it now.
Ate at Windjammer.  Being an early bird has its merits.  One of which is not having to elbow my way to the trough through a crowd.