Well, we’re off again but on a very different type of trip for us i.e. a cruise which is, by its very nature, rather more organised than our usual ventures. As we weren’t confident we would cope well on one of the ‘floating cities’ of 2500 to 3000 people we chose a small ships cruise on the Azamara Journey which only has around 650 passengers.
27th February 2016 – Home to Heathrow.
We were picked up at midday today by our trusted local car service and had a very easy run to Heathrow where we’re staying at the Holiday Inn Express near terminal 5. We had decided to stay over as our flight tomorrow is at 10:25 which means checking in from 07:25. The Hotel was okay, nothing we could complain about but nothing special either.
28th February 2016 – Heathrow to Long Beach California.
Today has been a very long day and one which went surprisingly smoothly until we reached LAX airport in Los Angeles. We had pre-booked a car service to take us to our hotel in Long Beach and our instructions stated that our driver would be waiting for us and displaying a board with our names on it. Unfortunately, the instruction given to the driver was that we would call him when we arrived (bearing in mind we don’t currently have ‘phone that will work over here I’m not sure how that was supposed to happen) so we waited and waited and after almost an hour I found an airport information desk where a very helpful lady rang the car service for us and we were finally picked up for our onward journey. The hotel which was included in the package was right on the waterfront at Long Beach and was perfectly okay but, again, nothing to write home about and as it is right next door to the conference centre was full of delegates of a massive Transport conference. Once we’d settled ourselves in we walked across to the waterfront, had a look around and then had a very nice fish dinner before retiring for a fairly early night (we’d been up for almost 24 hours by then).
29th February 2016 – Long Beach to our Cruise ship.
As we weren’t being picked up until midday we decided not to eat breakfast in the hotel (it was very expensive anyway) so asked for some recommendations and two different people mentioned ‘the omelette café’ so we walked the 5 or 6 blocks in to downtown Long Beach and had a very nice traditional American Breakfast before walking some of it off on our return trip. Thankfully today’s car did turn up (he was actually a little early) and we had a fairly short ride to the cruise terminal where we went through the security checks with only a few minor hiccups (the guy just couldn’t understand why sending Graham back through the scanners wasn’t going to work) once we were through those checks a member of staff spotted Graham’s walking difficulties and we were shown straight to a priority check in desk so we were on board in no time. We were greeted with a glass of bubbly and found ourselves a comfy chair whilst we waited the hour or so for our stateroom (cabin to you and me) to be ready. The room is a little cramped but no worse than many hotel rooms they only thing that’s a little hard to fathom is the size of the shower it’s er, on the small side shall we say ! Once we’d unpacked (something we never usually do on holiday) we had to take part in a safety drill which only took a half hour or so and we then took up position by the pool to wave goodbye to Long Beach (although the weather had started out quite murky this morning it turned out to be both sunny and very warm).
This ship runs an open seating system for most of the restaurants and we headed to the ‘Discoveries’ restaurant (as its waiter service not buffet) at around 18:30 and we were asked if we wanted to sit alone or if we were happy to share. As we were comfortable to share we were sat on a table for four and were joined by a very pleasant couple (John & Angela) from the Cambridge area. The food and service were both very good the only issue being that we ate far too much and the wine by the glass which is included with dinner turns out to be a bottomless glass and unless you manage to stop the staff keep refilling it, it keeps magically increasing in volume ! After leaving the restaurant all four of us decided that we’d make our way to one of the many bar/lounges to listen to the guitarist who was playing which was all very pleasant until they started the disco a while later. That was when we decided to call it a night.
1st March 2016 – At sea.
We were a little surprised to see that this morning had dawned grey and murky (and as I’m writing this mid-afternoon it still is) but were weren’t deterred as we had planned to take in a couple of the advertised talks. The first provided details of our first few ports of call and was useful to some extent although we had already had much of the information from the Accessibility team in Miami who had helped us sort out which tours might be suitable for Graham. The second was conducted by a very knowledgeable speaker who told us a lot about the whales which might be seen as we make our way down the coast. We’ve just had some lunch (more food) and will shortly be heading out again as there is somebody scheduled to be tinkling the ivories in one of the very plush lounges in around half an hour.
Tonight we will be eating in one of the specialty restaurants the ‘Prime C’ which is described as traditional steakhouse. There are 3 specialty restaurants on board which do cost extra but as we were offered a package which offered an evening in each (one of them is what they call the ‘Chef’s table’ where you are served 5 or 6 courses and wines to accompany each one) so we decided to go for it. If last night’s meal was anything to go by it should be worth it, let’s hope so.
By the way, the shower although rather bijou did the job !
2nd March 2016 – To Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Well, it was definitely worth paying for the food upgrade. The Filet Mignon I had was one of the best I’ve had in a long, long while and the rest of the meal was really good too.
Most of today was spent at sea so we found ourselves a couple of sun loungers in a nice quiet area (in the shade as it’s been really hot & sunny) and settled down to read for much of the day. We finally dropped anchor off the coast of Cabo at around 17:00. As the vast majority of the passengers on board were scheduled to go ashore for the free ‘AzAmazing’ evening the only dinner options were buffet so we joined the throng and ate before we boarded the tender to the shore and then the coach to the venue, a small canyon in a dry river bed approximately 30 minutes’ drive from the marina. On arrival we were offered quite a few local snacks (very nice) and a variety of drinks including what turned out to be some very potent Margaritas. Once everyone was settled the show, ‘The dance of the Dead’ started and involved a variety of acrobatic and dance routines followed by some fireworks. We finally returned to the ship at around 23:30 and headed straight for bed as we knew we had an early start to look forward to.
3rd March 2016 – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Our alarm went off at 05:30 this morning and we had our breakfast served to us in our cabin as we needed to be ready to leave the ship by just after 07:30. Once we’d taken the tender back to shore we joined another coach which first took us to a local glass blowing factory then further down the coast to take in a scenic view (which included some good shots of the Azamara journey and two other recently arrived cruise ships) before moving on to San Jaun del Cabo where we had some free time to take a look around. It was then back to the ship for some lunch and another relaxing afternoon with our noses in our books.
4th March 2016 – At Sea.
We had another full day at sea today and spent much of it lazing on the shaded loungers (underneath the lifeboats) before spending another pleasant evening in the Discoveries Restaurant where there is full waiter service. It has been hot and sunny all day but as we sat ourselves on the shadier side of the ship the temperature was very pleasant.
5th March 2016 – At Sea.
Today was very much a mirror of yesterday, lounging reading and watching the dolphins playing in the ships wake. We have seen the occasional whale on this trip but, so far, only at a distance.
We had a different evening planned this evening. We had decided when we boarded to take advantage of the ‘Chef’s Table’ one night and this was it. Over a very pleasant evening hosted by one of the officers we had a really good seven course meal with wines to accompany each one. The sommelier was able to tell us quite a lot about the wines that we had and the Head Chef was introduced to us during the evening too.
6th March 2015 – Huatalco, Mexico.
We arrived at the small town of Huatalco fairly early this morning and joined a tour which took us away from the resort area and into the more remote local townships where we visited a number of locations including an Iguana farm (a conservation project where they are breeding Iguana which are regularly re-introduced to the wild), a local kitchen where we were shown how traditional tacos and tamales are made (and where we were able to sample them) then on to Prickly Pear farm where we were informed of many of its uses and where, once again, we got to sample some of the local dishes. From there we visited another local workshop where palm leaves are used for making a variety of items and where there was, surprise, surprise a lot of local produce on sale (and yes, I did buy something).
It was back to the Discoveries restaurant this evening followed by a happy hour spent listening to an on-board singer’s tribute to Frank Sinatra before retiring.
7th March 2016 – At Sea.
If we, so far, have one criticism of this trip it is the number of days spent at sea. That was, to some extent, our choice as it’s really the only way to sail right through the Panama Canal which, for us, is the whole point of coming. To ring the changes a little we had s slightly later breakfast this morning and then went to a lecture about the Panama Canal which was very informative and interesting. It has given us some clues of things to look out for en-route too. It was then back to the loungers where we’ve spent slightly less time reading today as there have been lots and lots of Dolphin, Sea Turtles and even the odd Marlin showing themselves (in fact, as I sit on our balcony typing this there is another pod of Dolphin playing a few metres away).
8th March 2016 – San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.
My, it’s been hot today reaching 91F whilst we were in Granada and it’s been humid too. We were up early this morning and, once again, we had breakfast delivered as it saves quite a bit of time and we were due to disembark at 07:45. The tour we had chosen took us direct to the city of Granada by bus (via the Pan American Highway) we were then picked up by horse-drawn carriage for a tour of the old colonial city which is actually very pretty and colourful too (not sure what we’d expected really but it’s much more unspoilt than we feared). We then called in at one of the larger hotels to use their facilities and have a cocktail made from the local rum. Next was a short drive to the edge of Lake Nicaragua (which is huge) and on to a boat ride around a number of islets which enabled us to see a variety of birdlife. Lunch was our next stop. This was taken at a different hotel and we had the choice of three local dishes, the beef we both had was really good and the other choices looked great too. As we’d already tried the local rum we took the opportunity to try the two local beers on offer as a drink was also included in the price. We then had a short walking tour of the city before heading back to the bus which was parked outside of the Convent which we could have visited briefly if we’d wanted to but we chose not to as there has already been quite a bit of walking involved during the day.
9th March 2016 – Puntarenas, Cost Rica.
We had another early start this morning. After having breakfast in our cabin we joined the multitudes taking advantage of the various shore excursions that were available. The one we had chosen to do involved a 1 ½ hour drive south to an area of primary forest where an enterprising company have set up a number of ‘experiences’. The one we participated in involved an hour long aerial tram ride through the canopy which was both interesting and very hot as we were right at the front of the 8 seat carriage and, at times, directly in the sun. This was followed by a walk through a number of exhibit areas (butterfly house, serpentarium etc. etc.) which was worth doing but also really, really hot and humid. After an okay buffet lunch we were back on the bus for our return to port where there was supposed to be a noddy train available to take us between the shoreline and the ship. Unfortunately this had broken down so Graham decided enough was enough because of the heat and humidity (35C and very humid) and returned to the ship whilst I took a walk to see what Puntarenas had to offer and as it transpires Graham got the better end of the deal as the only things in easy walking distance were a number of stalls selling what can best be described as cheap tourist tatt.
After another very good meal we decided to check out the evening entertainment in the Cabaret Lounge. We lasted 2 ½ songs before we retreated to one of the bars for a quick drink and an early night. If there is one drawback of a small cruise ship is it that they don’t have a very big entertainments team/budget so most of the shows are provided by the same few singers and dancers supplemented by some acts who are flown in for a few shows (the Tenor who was on board for a few days was very good but some of the others have, shall we say politely, not been to our taste).
10th March 2016 – At Sea.
Today has been another lazy day at sea mostly spent reading and snoozing so there is little to report. Tomorrow should be more interesting though as we are scheduled to start our transit of the Panama Canal at around 06:00 and to reach the Caribbean at around 18:00.
11th March 2016 – Transit of the Panama Canal.
Today was definitely a more interesting day. As we were due to arrive at the start of the Canal at around 06:00 we were up early so that we could treat ourselves to Steak & Eggs for breakfast out on our veranda, the only thing was we were still so full after last night’s dinner that we couldn’t eat very much of it ! Once we’d eaten we moved ourselves up to the sun deck at the front of the ship where we managed to pull a seat up close to the rails so that Graham could see what was going on without having to stand for too long. We managed to stay there until we had passed through the Miraflores locks and the Pedro Miguel locks before the stifling heat got to us and we had to retreat indoors (as almost everyone did). Initially we moved to one of the inside viewing areas (The Lounge) but it was rather busy for our liking so we made our way back to our cabin where I made full use of the veranda as a viewing point whilst Graham had a snooze and cooled off a bit. Graham later joined me outside whilst we were lowered through the final and largest set of locks on the Canal (The Gatun locks) which took us out into the Caribbean Sea. It was certainly an experience and seeing just how little space they have to play you have to admire the skill of the pilots, they certainly earn their keep. Interestingly we were told that the cost of taking the Azamara Journey through to canal today had been around $112,000 (approx. $175 per passenger). Once we’d passed the last of the marker buoys signalling the end of the canal there was a noticeably stronger wind and an even stronger swell which continued into the evening so made for an interesting meal time with various little ‘whoops’ of discomfort from some (there were also noticeably fewer people eating and we heard reports of quite a few people feeling unwell).
12th March 2016 – Panama to Cartagena, Colombia.
That turned out to be an interesting night ! The swell that had developed as we entered the Caribbean increased as the night went on and it felt rather like trying to sleep on a rollercoaster. Although we didn’t have the issue ourselves, some people were apparently woken by their ‘stuff’ falling off of shelves all around them, we were simply woken by the sensation of being bounced around the bed! It was certainly the roughest sea crossing I’ve encountered. I managed to have a quick one-handed shower this morning but Graham had to admit defeat and have a good wash instead as the ship was moving around way too much to risk taking a shower (we are now, however, in possession of a shower stool which should help for later in the day). Getting to breakfast was a bit of an effort too as there are some areas of the ship which are devoid of handles so it was a bit of a case of two steps forward and one back. As none of the outside seating is currently available in the shaded areas (too much spray) we went up to the top deck and sat in the observation lounge for a while before deciding it was time for me to catch up with the blog/photos etc.
We’re scheduled to arrive in Cartagena at around 13:00 and we’re due to take a short tour of the city an hour or so later. We may also get time for a brief look around tomorrow morning as the ship will be staying in port overnight leaving at around 11:30 tomorrow en-route to Miami.
We later spent a very pleasant evening with Trish & Gary (from the Outer Banks in North Carolina).
13th March 2016 – Leaving Cartagena, Colombia
Yesterday’s tour of Cartagena was well worth taking. Although we didn’t have a great deal of time to spend in the town we did get to see a lot of the old architecture (rather like the French quarter in New Orleans) from the back of a horse drawn carriage. We had heard a few horror stories with regards to visitors being hassled and I suppose if you’re not good a dealing with hawkers it could be a bit full on, but we both really liked the place and have said that if we were back in the area we’d definitely like to go back and spend a bit more time there.
As there didn’t seem to be much close to the port we decided to stay on board this morning just chilling out whilst we were able to enjoy the calm waters. The ship sailed at 11:30 and although it wasn’t anywhere near as rough as the other night, the sea was still a little choppy so sitting on the lower deck sun loungers meant risking getting wet from time to time. We stayed there for a fair while and then retreated to our cabin where we were able to watch the spray from the occasional very strong wave as it passed out veranda and we’re on deck 8 !!
14th March 2016 – At Sea.
Not much to report today, it’s been another sea day which is okay if you’re into the daily activities (quizzes, Bridge lessons etc.) but there’s not much to do otherwise and as the day had started out a bit on the rough side (and a bit murky) we spent most of the day inside reading & chilling. As we are staying on board for the next cruise we were invited, along with others who are staying on, to attend a brief get together so that we know what to expect on change over day, this was followed by one of the restaurant upgrades that we’d booked. This time we went along to the Aqualina, a specialty Italian restaurant and very, very nice it was too.
15th March 2016 – At Sea.
Unfortunately, I woke with a migraine this morning so it took me a while to get going (even after one of the super dooper pills my doctor has prescribed) and we missed breakfast so our first port of call was the Mosaic Café for a much needed cuppa. We then settled for a while in the Living Room at the front of the ship only to be accosted by two fellows Brits (John & Angela) who we’ve been spending some time with as they wanted some extra brainpower on their quiz team. We did join them but, as we’d warned them, we weren’t much help. A brief lunch near the pool was next followed by more doing nothing much. This evening we’ll be meeting up with Trish, Gary, John & Angela for a last meal together before they disembark tomorrow.
16th March – Miami, Florida.
We spent a very pleasant last evening with our new friends last night before saying our farewells as they were all heading off to home whilst we are booked on a back-to-back cruise into the Caribbean.
As the majority of passengers were leaving the ship today (there are, apparently, 18 staying on for the next cruise) we decided we’d stay out of the way and have breakfast in our room. Once we’d eaten we took a short trip along the corridor and asked one of the butler’s if we could take a look at one of the suites in case we wanted to upgrade during any future cruises (not that we’re sure there will be any). The suite we looked at was much, much bigger than the room we have and the bathroom even had a full tub with shower over so would be a better bet for us IF we decide to do something similar in the future.
We then had to disembark ourselves and go through customs as US regulations state that the ship must be completely emptied of passengers before their inspection, once that was done we could re-board if we wanted but instead we took a cab to the nearby Bayside shopping area for a short walk around before making the return trip. As returning passengers we didn’t have to face the queues but were escorted through straight back to the ship. Most of the remainder of the day was spent dodging newbies who couldn’t find their way around (much like us last time) before going to dinner where we shared a table with 6 others, another very pleasant evening.
17th March 2016 – At Sea.
As the main restaurant wasn’t open for breakfast this morning (they had decided to put on a St Patrick ’s Day brunch) we ordered breakfast in again before having another very lazy day sitting out with our noses stuck in books.
18th March 2016 – At Sea.
More relaxing and more reading today followed by dinner in one of the Specialty restaurants The Prime C. This is labelled as a Steakhouse but it has other offerings too (Graham had veal & I had pheasant), we were sat right at the back of the ship with a lovely view over the ocean. We followed this with a trip to the Cabaret lounge where the ship’s band was playing a tribute to Glenn Miller (we’d seen/heard it last week but decided to go along again as it was rather good).
19th March 2016 – St John, U.S. Virgin Islands.
The ship anchored off of St John at around 09:00 this morning and we were fairly quickly on to the tenders which took us to shore where we joined a small open sided bus for a tour of the island. This didn’t take too long as the entire island is only 28 square miles but it was worth doing as it showed us some of the great viewpoints around the island. We also had a half-hour stop at one of the fabulous beaches, long enough for some to swim and me to have a paddle (it turns out there’s quite an undercurrent). At the end of the tour the bus driver dropped us at Mongoose Junction a waterfront shopping area which much to our dismay (yeah, right!) turned out to have its own brewery and Tap House. As a Life Member of CAMRA Graham decided it was his duty to go and sample the local brew so after a few tasters we settled on a half-pint of two different ales both of which were very nice thank you. After a little longer looking around the local shops we took the tender back to the ship and, once again, sat outside on the deck reading although it did eventually get just that bit too hot as the breeze which usually accompanies our reading sessions was missing as we were still anchored in the bay.
20th March 2016 – St John’s, Antigua.
We had an early start this morning as we had booked a helicopter flight across from Antigua to take in the views of the Monserrat volcano which last erupted in 2010 and is still emitting quite a lot of smoke (and a strong smell of sulphur too). The seating in the helicopter is allocated by the pilot/crew to ensure that there is an even weight distribution and Graham came up trumps with the front seat while I, unfortunately, was allocated the centre seat in the back so my view wasn’t nearly as good but still worth doing. There were a number of flights scheduled and ours was the first of the day so we were up, out and back to the heliport by around 10:00 and back to the dockside by 10:15.
Rather than head back to the ship we visited the local tourist office to see what they recommended we should do/see and a very helpful young lady suggested a 2 ½ hour tour of the island by Taxi Bus which would cost $25 per person if we could make up a group of 4 or more. Whilst we were speaking to her two fellow passengers joined us and shortly afterwards two more so we were good to go. Our driver, Neil, turned out to be a very, very good guide and our 2 ½ trip turned into 4 hours as he didn’t want us to miss anything ! During those four hours we saw much of the West, Centre and South of the island which included some great views as well as a number of historical sites, well worth the $25 (Neil got a good tip too).
As it is Sunday (and Palm Sunday at that) most of the shops in St John’s were shut but a few of the more enterprising traders were open for business so we made a few small contributions to the local economy before heading back to the ship for a snack and a rest before dinner and maybe, just maybe, attending the White Night Deck Party that is being put on this evening.
21st March 2016 – Charlestown, Nevis.
Another early start, another room-service breakfast and another organised excursion. We hadn’t realised when we booked this trip that the island was quite so small. We joined seven other people in a minibus and headed for our first stop, the Hamilton Museum (named after an early US President who was born here) but unfortunately there were five other minibuses in the convoy so there were a total of around fifty people trying to visit a tiny little museum all at once, not surprisingly it didn’t work too well ! The rest of our trip around the island followed much the same pattern with all of the buses constantly catching one another up but we did, at least, get to see some of the island including a number of old sugar plantation houses which have been converted to luxury hotels. At the end of the tour we had a walk around the town and found a small “Snackie” or local café to you and me. We got a few odd looks when we went in but were made very welcome whilst we tried a few local snacks (a bit of a cross between a Cornish pasty and a Samosa followed by some sort of sugarless doughnut) whilst we listened to the lady behind the counter singing hymns. Once back on the ship we took up our usual position sitting out reading our books.
We later spent a very enjoyable evening sharing dinner with an American couple (Susan & Joe) who we’d met earlier in the cruise and later we went along to the Cabaret Lounge to listen to the entertainment which was provided by a very talented young female violinist. We both said that this was the best entertainment we’d had on-board so far.
22nd March 2016 – Gustavia, St Barts.
Another day, another very small island. We had been told that this island, which is French owned, was considered to be the Caribbean version of the Riviera and also one of the most exclusive and expensive and it seems that this was a very accurate description. The ship anchored a 15 minute tender ride from the shore at around 07:00 this morning and it was obvious very early on that there were some very, very big and expensive yachts around (both sail and motor). Anchored right next to us was a very odd looking modern yacht which is apparently owned by some Russian Oligarch and which we were told by some ship’s officers was designed by someone (named Stark) who used to design furniture and who “now thinks he knows how to design yachts”. It certainly had a certain James Bond look about it.
After a leisurely breakfast we took the tender to shore and found a taxi driver to take us on a tour of the island. It’s not a very big island and the tour only took an hour including some stops for photos but it still cost us US$80. It was expensive but there really wasn’t any other way we were going to see any of the island so it was probably worth it (just). Once back in the town we sat in a waterfront café and had two non-alcoholic drinks which cost us $US17, we then took a walk along the harbour where some of the biggest, plushest yachts I’ve ever seen were moored including some flying Isle of Man flags. Talk about how the other half lives !
Taking account of the costs in town we decided to head back to the ship to get lunch and then, guess what, it was back to sitting outside reading.
The ship is due to set sail at 18:00 this evening and make the short crossing to St Maartens where Azamara have arranged an evening’s entertainment for their guests on the pier side. It sounds like it could be interesting so we plan on going ashore to see what they have to offer.
23rd March 2016 – Virgin Gorda.
Last night’s Azamazing evening took place on the pier side so we didn’t get to see much of St Maarten itself but the event was pretty good so it was worth making the effort. We were greeted by costumed stilt walkers and a large youth steel band who were really good to listen to and even better to watch, they were so enthusiastic it was infectious! Later we listened to a modern string quartet (three electric violins and an electric cello) who were quite good but not, in my opinion, as good as the steel band.
We docked at Virgin Gorda early this morning and joined a pre-booked tour which first took us on a boat ride around the island (which is only 8 square miles in total) and showed us a variety of sites and some absolutely fabulous beaches too. We were warned that by choosing to sit in the front of the boat we might get wet and the warning proved to be accurate as we got completely soaked. We then joined a tour on an open sided bus to see the interior of the island which included more views of some exceptional beaches. We had thought we might stay in town to do a bit of shopping before heading back to the ship but it turned out that there was only one very small shop so that didn’t take long. Once back on board we took up what has become our usual position of bum on lounger and nose in book!
24th March 2016 – At Sea.
Another completely lazy day followed by dinner in the Aqualina, a specialty Italian restaurant – very nice.
25th March 2016 – At Sea.
Our last day at sea was mostly spent in the same way as all of the others although I did have to take some time out to pack as we have to have our bags ready to go by 23:00 tonight. We will be keeping back just enough to get by until we get home as we will be visiting Miami tomorrow and we don’t want to be lugging any big bags around with us.
26th March 2016 – Miami and our flight home.
We were supposed to be off of the ship by 08:00 this morning but we woke to discover that there had been some sort of technical problem overnight which had forced the ship to slow. As a result we didn’t dock until almost 08:00 and we left the ship just after 09:00. We had pre-arranged a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of Miami toady as part of the deal included secure luggage storage and we didn’t want to be cuddling our bags all day (our flight isn’t until 18:25). Once we’d cleared customs we identified our bags, had them labelled and loaded onto a storage truck before being transported to the ‘Big Bus’ terminal where we boarded one of the three city tours which was scheduled to take around 1 hour. Once we got back from that we joined another tour which was supposed to last 1 to 1 ½ hours this took us on a much nicer route and we saw a number of the better residential areas of Miami as well as ‘Old Havana’ the Cuban district. This all sounds very organised but there was just one slight problem with the plan i.e. the Big Bus company appeared to have sold more tickets than their buses could accommodate people so some who had hopped-off in various places were having real trouble hopping back on, so much so that there were heated discussions going on between passengers and crew and our bus ended up so badly overloaded that the air bags gave up and the bus crept back to the terminal grounding in various places along the way. We made our transfer time with around 15 minutes to spare but there were others who had missed theirs, I just hope they’d left themselves enough time to catch their flights!
The transfer laid on by the Big Bus Co dropped us at Miami International at around 14:00 but unfortunately there was no direction given as to where we were supposed to go so after we re-packed some bits in our luggage we spent 20 minutes or so trying to work out where the departures area was so that we could check in. We then settled in for a fairly long wait before boarding at 17:00 or so (after a slight delay to let Charlie Watts the Rolling Stones drummer and his Police escort on board). The flight itself turned out to be pretty bumpy to the extent that they stopped the meals service part way through as there were bits falling off of the trolleys. Drinking the red wine we’d already been served turned out to be a hazardous exercise too! Things calmed down after around an hour and a half but it certainly wasn’t one of our more comfortable journeys.
27th March 2016 – Home.
Our flight landed at Heathrow terminal 3 at 07:30 and even though it was a 747 we were dumped off at one of the apron stands i.e. with no air bridge so we had to wait for a lift to take Graham and others with walking difficulties down from the aircraft before we could join in the fiasco which is BAA’s “assistance” service. I won’t go in to all of the details as it’s very boring and also very frustrating but let me just say that our arrival in the UK was, once again, marred by the diabolical service provided by BAA & Omniserve. In the end I finished up pushing Graham through Passport control myself and a couple of staff from Qantas (who were nothing to do with us or our flight) offered to help us with our luggage as they could see we were struggling. We arrived outside to meet our driver just in time to see him disappearing into the car park lift as he’d been waiting so long he needed to put more money in the machine. We called him and let him know where we were and finally met up a few minutes later. It was during our drive home that I asked Graham where he’d put the house key (we’d brought just a single key) and we realised we had no idea. To cut a long story short, we had to call our friend Bob out to let us in the house and even after unpacking everything we still haven’t found the key!!!