mk-ultra

Twist my arm then.

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.

Twist my arm then.

Oof. This flight has a bad gate lice infection. 

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.

Twist my arm then.

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.

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.

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.

The #1 tip I can give you is to fly out and stay in a hotel the day before your ship sails unless you live near your departure port.  You don't want an airline/airport problem causing you to miss boarding the ship.
 

The #1 tip I can give you is to fly out and stay in a hotel the day before your ship sails unless you live near your departure port.  You don't want an airline/airport problem causing you to miss boarding the ship.
 

The #1 tip I can give you is to fly out and stay in a hotel the day before your ship sails unless you live near your departure port.  You don't want an airline/airport problem causing you to miss boarding the ship.
 

The #1 tip I can give you is to fly out and stay in a hotel the day before your ship sails unless you live near your departure port.  You don't want an airline/airport problem causing you to miss boarding the ship.
 

The #1 tip I can give you is to fly out and stay in a hotel the day before your ship sails unless you live near your departure port.  You don't want an airline/airport problem causing you to miss boarding the ship.
 

The #1 tip I can give you is to fly out and stay in a hotel the day before your ship sails unless you live near your departure port.  You don't want an airline/airport problem causing you to miss boarding the ship.
 

They can scan it from your phone or your printout.  I carry a paper copy just for my own reference in case my phone croaks.  Even if you show up without a paper copy or an electronic pass on your phone, you'll just present your ID at check-in and they'll just look you up and you'll be on your way.

They can scan it from your phone or your printout.  I carry a paper copy just for my own reference in case my phone croaks.  Even if you show up without a paper copy or an electronic pass on your phone, you'll just present your ID at check-in and they'll just look you up and you'll be on your way.

They can scan it from your phone or your printout.  I carry a paper copy just for my own reference in case my phone croaks.  Even if you show up without a paper copy or an electronic pass on your phone, you'll just present your ID at check-in and they'll just look you up and you'll be on your way.

Some other cruise lines enforce a minimum time limit between drinks and a maximum number per day.  Royal doesn't.  I've seen someone cut-off for the day when they were clearly hammered though.

Orlando isn't bad, especially if you're used to Ontario.  If can be a bit busy getting out of the airport if you're trying to do it during weekday commute hours, but it's otherwise fine.  Once you're on the expressway heading to Cocoa Beach, it's pretty stress free.  DO note, Florida's turnpikes have a number of toll booths.  I think there are 3 between MCO and Cocoa Beach. 

Ah, the endless mystery that is the Casino Royale points system.
It's pretty straightforward if you just play slots.  Well, the scoring is more straightfoward-ish.  The comps you get for your play seem to be all over the place.  I'm sure there's some system struggling along valiantly on a 1980s vintage PDP-11 in some high-tech data center (basement closet in a parking garage in Miami) that figures it out.  Or they use tossed chicken bones.  Probably both.
Table play is an exponential increase in scoring vagueness and rewards.  I can sit 4 hours a night playing $50-$100 a hand at blackjack for a week and get an offer for a comped interior room on a 3-5 night cruise... or get a comped JS on a week long one at the end of my cruise.  I don't think they use a fancy basement PDP-11 for this.  Probably a TRS-80 with a fickle cassette tape drive and a Morse code key for the pit boss to input play rating.

Ah, the endless mystery that is the Casino Royale points system.
It's pretty straightforward if you just play slots.  Well, the scoring is more straightfoward-ish.  The comps you get for your play seem to be all over the place.  I'm sure there's some system struggling along valiantly on a 1980s vintage PDP-11 in some high-tech data center (basement closet in a parking garage in Miami) that figures it out.  Or they use tossed chicken bones.  Probably both.
Table play is an exponential increase in scoring vagueness and rewards.  I can sit 4 hours a night playing $50-$100 a hand at blackjack for a week and get an offer for a comped interior room on a 3-5 night cruise... or get a comped JS on a week long one at the end of my cruise.  I don't think they use a fancy basement PDP-11 for this.  Probably a TRS-80 with a fickle cassette tape drive and a Morse code key for the pit boss to input play rating.

Orlando isn't bad, especially if you're used to Ontario.  If can be a bit busy getting out of the airport if you're trying to do it during weekday commute hours, but it's otherwise fine.  Once you're on the expressway heading to Cocoa Beach, it's pretty stress free.  DO note, Florida's turnpikes have a number of toll booths.  I think there are 3 between MCO and Cocoa Beach. 

I stayed in Cocoa Beach at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront property.  I scheduled an extra day in Cocoa pre-cruise to buffer my trip and to just check things out like Kennedy Space Center.  Rented a car one way from MCO to Cocoa and dropped it off at the local Hertz counter.  They have a free shuttle to the port.
The Hilton was nice.  Right on the beach with a fun outdoor bar that has live music nightly.  It's a short (under 15 minute) drive from there to the car drop off in Cape Canaveral.

Out of many, many cruises I've only been subjected to two alcohol-related incidents.  One was a drunken family having a slap-the-shit-out-of-each-other disagreement poolside (which security quickly took care of -- not sure what they did after escorting them away).
The other was was just creepy.  Extremely drunk guy at a blackjack table decided to start harassing a female friend of mine that was on the same trip, but in a different cabin with her husband.  She's got purple hair in dreads and tattoos.  She's also an IT exec at a Fortune 10.
Guy starting making all sort of insinuations and sexual innuendo hinting that he'd like to, "make her straight."  He also cussed out the dealer any time he busted.  The dealer just took it -- so I went to the pit boss and said, "this guy is being an asshole to your dealer and other guests."  All they did was move him on to another table.  That kinda pissed me off.  Definitely pissed my friend off.  She told him straight to his face to shut the F up.