It's not worth the stress, especially in the winter. That's my justification for flying to Calgary.
And, what made it even better was that we stayed at the In-Terminal Marriot hotel. Got off the plane, walked for 3 minutes in the terminal and there was the hotel. We didn't have to step one foot outside in the cold and snowy Calgary weather. Plus, we only have carry-ons, so no waiting at the luggage carrousel....that fearful wait as it goes round and round and your suitcase just never shows.
We had dinner at Yakima's in the Marriott, I had chicken breast and rice noodles in a broth (it sounded fancier on the menu, but was basically chicken noodle soup)
and he had a steak sandwich, and then we headed to bed as 4:30 comes early. Yes, we had the dreaded early morning flight, one of the perils of a last minute booking. Price was right, but this second leg was not so friendly, time wise.
It worked out fine though, we woke up on time, went down the elevator and across the hallway to security, where Steven was pulled aside for secondary screening (ha-ha, as it's usually me, although they did take away my 120ml bottle of mouth-wash. Horrors! Trying to bring 120ml into a 100ml world.) Then to our gate where we had breakfast at Tim's and got on the plane and flew to Toronto. Nothing could have been simpler! Then we got to Toronto and nothing could have been less simple.
To make a long and stressful story short, we got off the plane and had to change to a different terminal side we were flying to the USA. Asked a guy where it was, as the signage was horrendous.(a customer service guy, not a random stranger) and he pointed "there" so we went "there" which was up a flight of stairs. Wrong place. Back down and asked a different guy and he directed us to a hallway. We went there, and it was correct, but seriously, the security is over the top. I believe we showed our passports four times, and went through two screening areas. At one point we showed our boarding passes, went down a long hallway with no windows or doors, and then had to show our boarding passes at the other end. I mean, did they think that perhaps I had some sort of machine in my carry-on that woud allow me to print counterfeit documents or sneak someone on board between one end of the hall and the other? Paranoid much? Then a final room, where there was a long row of check-in terminals with a sign that said Global Entry, which we don't have. So we went past them, a guy scanned our passports and we got in the line for customs (immigration...whatever, I always get confused in airports) . We still had about 30 minutes until boarding. We waited, and we waited and we waited and no one moved. Only one window was open and the guy was apparently taking the complete life history from each passenger. Now we only have about 15 minutes and I ask a guard/security woman if there's any way she can let us through early as we were going to miss lur flight and she bluntly states "nope". People are letting us go ahead of them, which was awesome, but the line still wasn't moving. Like, literally, it did not move. So I promised to make this short: we had not gone through the Global Entry line and gotten a photo taken, which apparently everyone has to do, so we ran like hell back there, scowled at the Guard who let us through without this crucial paper, basically pushed our way to the front, got a woman to scan our passports and print this piece of paper (which I might add was SO dark that the photo was just a black smudge with no redeeming features), ran back to the line-up (which still hadn't moved), and now we have 6 minutes to catch our plane, the little fellow who was letting people through must have seen the panic and dismay on our faces and he let us go through the priority line. We ran like mad down the hallway until we found our gate, with seconds to spare. Of course the plane ended up leaving late, but still, it was the closest I have ever come to missing a flight. It wouldn't be a holiday without some type of early stress. But we made it and arrived in Ft Lauderdale on time. The flight itself was uneventful, but to my great surprise there were no TV screens. No inflight entertainment at all. I haven't seen that (or, I guess, I haven't not seen that, for years)
Walked off the plane and the humidity slapped me in the face like a hot wash-cloth. It felt like my lungs filled with water as I breathed deeply. We walked to ground transportation and took a taxi to our hotel. The taxi driver was a scruffy looking fellow who discussed his parent's divorce, his one trip to Canada, which he hated because of the snow and told us that our hotel was so close that it was "hardly worth his while" but we could "make it worth his while". I wasn't 100% sure if that was a threat or a hint. 😳. Anyhow, $17.00 later we arrived at the hotel, and thank the gods for air-conditioning. The hotel rooms were average, nothing special, but the location was fabulous. Right on the Ft Lauderdale Marina and across the road from Port Everglades, which was where we would board our ship tomorrow. You can just see the top of it to the right of the palm tree.
We walked around the unbelievable yachts that were docked there, and tried to find a breeze, which did not happen. It is so hot and humid here....I don't know how people survive.
Anyhow, we had a light dinner at the outdoor restaurant, where a giant, lazy, fat cat seemed to be the doorman. He lifted his head and scrutinized us with cat eyes as we walked past him, and every now and then he would saunter past a table in hopes that a morsel of something yummy would fall his way. From his size it was apparent that morsels were not lacking. Steven had chicken strips and I had conch fritters, which I have never tried before. They were excellent.
We walked all around the marina, people-watched a bit and before long it was time for bed. The rooms
had great air-conditioning, and we didn't have to leave for the ship until noon so we had a good sleep with no stress about rising early and/or missing flights. It was awesome.
Got up at about 8:30 ish and took our time with breakfast and wandered around the marina again. The humidity was a balmy 82% even at this early hour. This was the beginning of my Brillo hair. Below see the marvelous job that Heather did, and then the fabulous job that Mother Nature did.
Every morning I'd smooth it out, which would just take 5 or 6 minutes and I'd walk outside and be a frizzy mess in 30 seconds. But during those 30 seconds, people loved my hair.
But I digress. At noon we took a shuttle to the boat, we could have thrown a coconut and hit it, it was that close, but there is no way to cross the freeway on foot and survive, so a shuttle it was. We were dumped unceremoniously off at a massive terminal filled with diesel belching buses and an array of painted lines going every which way. Of course I chose the wrong way and tried to go in a loading dock, but that surprised no one (meaning Steven or me). We found the correct way quickly and an old man who was sort of a security guard (he was about 87) told me my hair was "cute" and he'd "never forget me". He said I looked like a peacock, so I don't think I'll ever forget him either. I'm sure he thought it was a compliment. 😊😕
The waiting room was HUGE (I'm in the USA now so I guess I should say "yuuuuge", and also, speaking of, I didn't meet a single person who was a Trump supporter, every single soul dispises him)
It rapidly filled with a few hundred people, but man, were the staff ever efficient. Actually, I got an email a few days prior telling us our assigned boarding time, which was 12:30 and not to come earlier as we were to board in groups, right up until 4:30. If you came earlier than your time, you'd be sent away to wait. It was super quick, we filed in, went to a desk like an airline check-in, showed our ID and got our key cards and were whisked off to a gangway and on the ship we were. It was super organized, I was impressed. The days of hoards of pushing people and crowds and log jams are in the past.
I'm sure most of you already know all that, but I have some friends who have never cruised, and plan to, and they wanted all the lowdown and details, so excuse the minutia. Also, I am amazed at how I forget stuff myself, and I like to keep a detailed journal. You know, for when I'm old and senile.
So we are on board the Island Princess! As I write this I've been away since 5 AM and I'm exhausted. Gonna close now and will tell ship stories tomorrow, as we begin our adventure.
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