A quick ride from a generous neighbor got us to our local airport shortly after noon for our first flight of the day scheduled for around 2PM. We flew on American Airlines so there were no direct flights into Orlando. Check in and security was fairly quick thanks to the beauty of TSA pre-check. A much better experience than our last pre-cruise flight where the agent gave me such an intensive pat down I thought she'd at least have bought me dinner first! Our first flight from Baltimore to Charlotte, NC went smoothly leaving early and arriving early. We had the luck of getting bulkhead seats on each of our flights and I'm happy to report that even all these months later, I still didn't need any seatbelt extenders! Guess we used up all our good karma because the 2nd flight from Charlotte to Orlando was delayed leaving us sitting on the plane because of a light bulb. An important light bulb like the one that goes in an indicator in the cockpit control panel you ask? Nope, a lightbulb that went into the lights along the inside cabin lighting that runs along the wall and doors. Not only did we have to wait on them to come out to the plane, look at it, proclaim "Yup, light bulb's burnt out," and go back to get a new one but also a second round of waiting because the mechanic brought the wrong light bulb! I guess someone needed their own internal light bulb replaced in that department!
Finally arrived in Orlando around 7PM and we had arranged for a private car and driver from Access Line Transportation to pick us up and make the 45 minute drive to Port Canaveral. Luggage pickup was a little confusing as after waiting at the posted luggage carousel for a while, we noticed that our flight info disappeared from the screen and re-appeared on a carousel on the opposite side. Thankfully our driver paid attention to the first carousel and noticed that luggage with our flight number was coming down that first carousel after all. She had also thought to leave her car sitting outside the exit saving us from having to walk over to a parking garage after grabbing our luggage. The drive down to Port Canaveral was very smooth and our driver took the time to hand us cold water bottles and move up the passenger seat giving us extra leg room. We enjoyed a lovely conversation chatting about our mutual cruise experiences but turned down her offer to stop at a grocery store for supplies. She pointed out how the cruise terminal was essentially up the road from where we were staying as we passed it heading to the hotel. Saw lots of other hotel chains butted up next to each other in the same area so there's lots of choices if you don't want the Radisson.
Got to the hotel by 8:30PM and check in was simple since by that time not many people were in line at the front desk. The rooms are so spread out that the employee checking us in had to draw out a route on a map to show us how to get to our room. It's always comforting to hear the employee checking you in turn to his colleague and confirm "Elevator #2 is working again currently, right?" We got ourselves quite a bit turned around trying to find our room #328 on the 2nd floor but thankfully I'm not writing this from inside a broken down elevator #2. We reserved a room with 2 full size beds and I never thought I would say that at 5'7", I had to actually jump into my bed it was so high. The bathroom space was split up so that just the toilet and tub shower were inside their own room with a closed door. The sink, vanity, and mirror were outside in an open alcove off the main space of the room. The room had a mini fridge and microwave so once you eventually find the hidden vending machines, they offer bags of popcorn you can purchase to enjoy in your room. There was one free 16 oz bottle of water left in our room for our use and once we figured out how to connect on our own, free Wi-Fi.
After relaxing long enough in our room for a pit stop and to catch our breath, we decided to head back down to see what options there were for dinner. Ended up crossing the parking lot to a restaurant called Kelseys and aside from a big gap mid meal where our waitress Kat disappeared, we had a nice dinner at 9:30PM. Word to the wise - their appetizers and entrees could have fed 4 people!
Above: Chicken nacho appetizer
Below: Philly steak sub
With full bellies and a long travel day behind us, we walked back to the hotel. We killed time by wandering the grounds checking out the pool. As we stood at the vending machines contemplating picking out some sort of poptart or granola bar for a quick breakfast, a kind woman wandered by offering us to take some bags of tortilla chips off her hands. I must say, that was a first for our travels.
We soon settled back in our room watching television and checking in online before deciding to get some sleep. Our genie Smitha had emailed while we were flying to suggest we wait until after 12PM to head to the port due to a scheduled Coast Guard inspection. Turned out the lights with the thought that we'd take it even more leisurely in the morning than initially planned. A bit of a rough sleep due to the noise of rolling suitcases along the brick paths and an a/c unit that wouldn't stop cycling over and over. We had a connecting room and we not only faintly heard the neighbor's TV shortly after turning ours off this night but the housekeeper blaring her stereo while cleaning that room in the morning might as well have been in our room as well.
My very own MacGyver's version of a homemade security system as neither of us were really enthralled at staying in a hotel with room doors to the outside:
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