It was an early start to the day but no earlier than a work day. We were up by 6am and out the door around 6:45am. It was an uneventful 50 minute journey to the airport parking lot. We were in line to drop our bags off at 8am. We are traveling business class for this trip so we got to use priority check-in but the line was super long so it didn’t feel too much like a priority 😀. It took us about 20 min to get through the line which only left us with approximately 20 min before boarding. We did have priority through security so we had just enough time to hit the lounge for a snack and drink.
We were heading to Fort Lauderdale for a 6-night cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas. The itinerary was:
| Day 1 | Embark Fort Lauderdale |
| Day 2 | Day at Sea |
| Day 3 | Cozumel, Mexico |
| Day 4 | Roatan, Honduras |
| Day 5 | Costa Maya, Mexico |
| Day 6 | Day at Sea |
| Day 7 | Disembark Fort Lauderdale |
We were flying on Air Canada’s Boeing 777, which is their biggest plane. We were seated in 2B and 3B so we both had windows. This was my first time flying in business with lie-flat bed seats so I was super excited to try them out. And let me tell you they’re worth the hype! Eduardo has had these seats a couple time before so they were slightly less of a novelty for him but I think he enjoyed them as well.
We left on time and breakfast service started shortly after. We got paper menus and had an appetizer and main course.
I had my chair in extreme recline mode with my feet up most of flight while watching a movie. I even put it in bed mode and had 30-45 min nap. I may have ruined flying for myself now.
The flight itself was pretty uneventful however when we landed that’s when things got interesting. As we were taxiing to our gate, we had to stop on the tarmac and wait for 15-20 min because a plane in front of us broke down and we couldn’t go around it to get to our gate. Once that plane finally got out of our way, we parked at the gate but problem 2 surfaced. The airport put us at a gate used for both domestic and international arrivals and just our luck an international flight arrived 10 min before us so we had to wait for that entire plane to deplane. Many of us had connecting flights in 1 hour so we were all getting a little nervous. We finally got off the plane after a 30 min wait but we still had to clear US customs and go through security. We ran through the terminal like crazy people, first through security where Eduardo forgot to remove a bottle of water from his bag so he had to wait for a quick secondary check. Luckily US customs was quiet. Having a Nexus card sped up the process so we were through in not time. Unfortunately, our gate for the Fort Lauderdale flight was basically back where we departed the first plane so we had to run another 10-15 minutes back. When we got to the gate, the flight was delayed so in the end, we didn’t need to do all that running and get sweaty.
When we finally got to board, the business class cabin was less than half full. We were on an Airbus 330, another big plane with lie-flat seats. These seats were similar to the last flight but felt slightly smaller, but I’m not complaining as they’re still more comfortable than the best economy seats.
We had a full dinner service with appetizers, main course and dessert. Eduardo ended up accepting many wine refills during and after dinner. I had one Caesar but it wasn’t very good so I went for a Coke the next time.
It was only a 3 hour flight so only enough time for a quick movie and it was time to land. It was a little bumpy when landing but not too bad. Another benefit of being on bigger planes at the front of the plane is you feel less bumps.
We taxied forever and finally got to the gate just in time for one more problem. The sky bridge broke down. It took them another 20 min to get it going and get us off. By the time we got to the baggage area, our bags were already there. Priority baggage tags for the win! Twenty minutes later, we secured an Uber and made it to the hotel for the night…only 1.5 hours late. I think we finally got to bed at 1am. Looking forward to start of the cruise tomorrow!
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