Allure 9/29 - 7 Night Eastern Caribbean

[mk-ultra]

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.

[JLMoran]

Following! Have a safe flight and a great cruise!

[mk-ultra]

Timing feels really good on this trip.  It's always a crap shoot during hurricane season.  Hurricane Lorenzo took a nice early turn North, and Tropical Storm Karen has been meandering around like a drunk while dissipating the last two days.  Weather on my flight route today SFO-IAH-FLL all looks decent.  Yay!

If you're a weather nerd, or just like keeping tabs on the Atlantic before an upcoming cruise, you can burn a lot of hours while pretending to be busy at work at:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TropicalWeather/

and

https://tropicaltidbits.com/

[mk-ultra]

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:

[mk-ultra]

2 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Following! Have a safe flight and a great cruise!

Thanks! 

[JLMoran]

17 minutes ago, mk-ultra said:

Too early for the bar?

1. You're on vacation
2. It's 5 O-clock somewhere

[WAAAYTOOO]

Not sure with whom the Centurion Lounge is aligned, but that breakfast looks a far sight better than what they offer me in the AA Admirals Club !

[mk-ultra]

12 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

1. You're on vacation
2. It's 5 O-clock somewhere

Twist my arm then.

[ellcee]

35 minutes ago, mk-ultra said:

Too early for the bar?

Nope. Vacation rules over everyday rules.

[mk-ultra]

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.

[mk-ultra]

Oof. This flight has a bad gate lice infection. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 minute ago, mk-ultra said:

Oof. This flight has a bad gate lice infection. 

Say what ??  Oh.....you mean the ones that hang out 3” from the boarding lane believing that if they’re the first ones on that they will win the lottery ?

[stephenkurucz]

Following! Going on Allure Feb 2020 with @kuruczpa and our S/Os. 

[almondmilktea]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Not sure with whom the Centurion Lounge is aligned, but that breakfast looks a far sight better than what they offer me in the AA Admirals Club !

https://thecenturionlounge.com/

Centurion lounges are offered by Amex for Platinum and Centurion cardholders.  

@mk-ultra the breakfast options look !  I was there at 5am in August for a 6am flight, but most of the hot food wasn't ready until after 5:30am.  Have a awesome trip!  Looks like you've had a great start so far 

[Poleman88]

Following you, have a great cruise. Going on Allure Oct.20!!!!

[Brenna]

Have a great trip! We leave for Harmony tonight so will be excited to see what we missed out on with our choice 

[mk-ultra]

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.

[mk-ultra]

I don’t know who at United concocted this awful egg white breakfast sandwich thingy, but I’d like to hunt them down and make them eat six of them.

If this wasn’t breakfast #2, I’d be feeling stabby.  
 

[WAAAYTOOO]

The egg whites have a strange resemblance to insulating foam. Probably tastes about the same, too !  The fruit looks ok.

[DJsMrs]

3 hours ago, mk-ultra said:

 Too early for the bar?

5:00 am - works for me!

[almondmilktea]

35 minutes ago, mk-ultra said:

I don’t know who at United concocted this awful egg white breakfast sandwich thingy, but I’d like to hunt them down and make them eat six of them.

If this wasn’t breakfast #2, I’d be feeling stabby.  
 

Last time I ate a dish containing eggs on a United flight, I had food poisoning and was hugging the toilet for a week.  Never again.  Thankfully it was on the return flight.  Smart move to stay away from that!

[Cruisegirl1976]

Have fun.. enjoy the Allure!

[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. 

[mk-ultra]

11 hours ago, almondmilktea said:

@mk-ultra the breakfast options look !  I was there at 5am in August for a 6am flight, but most of the hot food wasn't ready until after 5:30am.  Have a awesome trip!  Looks like you've had a great start so far 

Doors open at 0500.  The fruit, coffee and pastries were out right away, but the hot food matched your experience.  Came out at 0530.  It was really good.  This lounge can be packed later in the day, and was starting to fill up when I left for my gate at 0620.  It was blissfully empty this early.

[viga]

15 hours ago, mk-ultra said:

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.

Hi we are in that same sailing see you on board!!!!

[mk-ultra]

10 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

The egg whites have a strange resemblance to insulating foam. Probably tastes about the same, too !  The fruit looks ok.

Tasted exactly as good as it looked.  The ciabatta roll itself was very nice.  Crusty, hot, fluffy inside.  Those grainy egg whites and whatever they'd mixed in with them were gag-worthy.  Fruit and yogurt made up for it.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Is that the W Marriott property ?  I’ve been eyeing that one or the regular Marriott for my Dec Oasis cruise. I thought the W sounded kinda “funky” (not in a good way).  How are the rooms ?

[mk-ultra]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Is that the W Marriott property ?  I’ve been eyeing that one or the regular Marriott for my Dec Oasis cruise. I thought the W sounded kinda “funky” (not in a good way).  How are the rooms ?

You are correct.  W Hotel is Marriott / SPG / Bonvoy (whatever they're calling themselves this morning).  I totally agree that some of the W's are indeed too funky.  The ones in San Francisco and Honolulu give you a tiny (though nicely modern looking) room.  I'm not sure what category room I got upgraded to, but it's large, has power outlets and USB charging ports everywhere, and (OMG) a real tub you could conceivably drown in.  Most W's just have a shower.   Big balcony with a couch, chair, table and an ocean view.  Bed was so good I slept-in until 9AM Pacific time (yesterday's time zone).

[mk-ultra]

As predicted, I'm up early.  Not nearly as early as I imagined though.  Slept in until 6AM local, which is 9AM by my CA body clock.  This place has a great bed.  The plus side of waking up early on the right coast is being able to catch a pretty sunrise. 

[mk-ultra]

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.

[mk-ultra]

Breakfast al fresco (at El Vez, the W’s Mexican restaurant).  Yes, I’m eating here again even though last night’s mahi mahi tacos were underwhelming.  All the other food looked and smelled so good, I think they deserve another shot.

Their Huevos Rancheros are ridiculously good.  Mean Bloody Mary too.  Must not get borracho too early.  

[WAAAYTOOO]

Great googly-moogly.  That thing looks worse than the insulation  foam that served you yesterday on the plane.  Glad it tasted better than it looks !

[mk-ultra]

Finished my initial sandals-on-ground morning recon.

There are 3 other really nice hotel properties here.  All directly across from pristine beaches.  Conrad, Westin and Ritz-Carlton.  Win for location goes to the Ritz.  It's about 5 minutes walking time south of me, and it's right next to the strip of shops and restaurants on A1A you're likely to explore on foot.  There's also a CVS immediately adjacent to it with a very decent selection of wines and champagnes to fill your 2x750ml allotment.

There are also apparently WaveRunners for rent, though they aren't open for business this early.  I'm gonna go back around 11AM and see if I can hurt myself on one.

[mk-ultra]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Great googly-moogly.  That thing looks worse than the insulation  foam that served you yesterday on the plane.  Glad it tasted better than it looks !

Definitely not a looker, but wow it was tasty.  Tortillas were deep fried (crispy like chilaquiles).  Salsa actually had some heat to it.  Queso fresco & fresh guac.  Not afraid of cilantro.  Burp.  Very nice.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Hmmm...I wonder if I can used my points for the Ritz.  I will look into that.

[Lovetocruise2002]

19 minutes ago, mk-ultra said:

Conrad,

This property is always on my list of ones to try.  Problem is that it's a 20 min ride to our beloved La Bamba from there.  Looking at your sunrise pics makes me want to look at the Conrad again...

[mk-ultra]

Exploring the pools at the W.  There are two (one each in the East and West towers). This is the East tower on the 5th floor. Shady day beds and couches if you want to enjoy the breeze while not being baked too harshly.  Bar and DJ start at 11AM. 

[mk-ultra]

LOL.  So, those day beds go for $150 a day, and the couch I camped out at goes for $500 a day.  But, but, it’s got a TV (not pictured).  Self-proclaimed models/social influencers also started posing around the pool and walked around narrating video selfies.  Gonna go check out the pool in the West tower and see if it’s a little less douchebaggy.

[mk-ultra]

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+.

[mk-ultra]

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.