Mon 4 Apr 2005
Pre-Cruise – At the Sleep Inn
Posted by Lis under Everything, March 2005 RSSC Navigator, Virtual Cruise
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[This is the introductory blog post for a trip we took on the Regent Seven Seas Navigator in March 2005. The rest of the blog for this trip is collected in a Kindle eBook called Travel With Us on the RSSC Navigator. See our Travel With Us page for more information.]
3-25-05
Yesterday we flew from Portland to Ft. Lauderdale. We got up at 4 am PST for a 6:45 am flight and arrived at out hotel at 6:30 pm EST. We had a free Frequent Flyer flight on Southwest which involved 2 stops before we got to Ft. Lauderdale. Last month we flew to New York non-stop on Continental and even though Southwest had more stops (2) and hassles, ultimately it was a more comfortable flight than Continental. My back started hurting the minute I sat down on Continental. The Southwest seats were slightly wider and had lumbar support. To entertain ourselves we brought our laptop computer and some dvds (Harvey and Shattered Glass) and that really helped to pass the time.
We had chosen to stay at the Sleep Inn & Suites, Ft. Lauderdale International Airport . We were able to use Choice Privileges points for a free night. (This is an excellent reward program. We also converted some Choice Privileges points to Southwest in order to get our free flights.) The Sleep Inn had a free shuttle which picked us up at the airport within about 15 minutes after we called. The hotel is very attractive and our room is quite comfortable – looks a bit like some of the new Holiday Inn Expresses we have seen in our frequent activity of me dragging Mary to look at hotels. Free high-speed internet is included (thus this post). I had to give them a $5 deposit for a cable. The wireless up in the room is completely useless.
We ordered dinner from Hunan Wok, a Chinese restaurant across the street, and they delivered it to us in less than 15 minutes. It was inexpensive and good. Mary said her chicken egg foo yung was the best she’d ever had. I don’t know if it really was or if things just taste better when you’re as exhausted as we were. I ordered something called Triple Delight which was prawns, chicken, beef, and vegetables and it was quite good also. There is also an Italian restaurant within walking distance.
After a night’s sleep (we went to bed at 10 pm quite easily even though that was only 7 pm in Portland) we can report that the bed and pillows were quite comfortable. Mary woke up this morning at 5 am and went down to the lobby to read. She says the chairs down there were very comfortable also. When I woke up, there was a Miami Herald outside our door and they had a free breakfast downstairs. Though there wasn’t really anything I wanted at the buffet, it included waffles, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, oatmeal, cold cereal in cute little boxes, sweet rolls, toast, bagels, apples, and three juices (two sugary tropical drinks and orange juice.) Mary reports that the gravy was good but lukewarm; the oatmeal was good.I went to Walgreen’s (which is very conveniently located across the parking lot) and bought myself some apple juice.
It is hot and humid here. I think it’s kind of neat – Mary not so much.
My three complaints about the Sleep Inn:
1. the windows don’t open – I don’t like having to sleep all night with the air conditioner on.
2. there was some construction nearby and when I was falling asleep I kept hearing a beeping noise that sounded like a truck backing up (Mary couldn’t hear it and wished I would stop waking her up.) There’s a slight possibility that the beeping noise was my laptop battery dying.
3. Though we’re on a non-smoking floor, people are clearly smoking down the hall from us. We can’t tell in the room, but it really smells in the hallway. I don’t know how much hotels can do about that. Personally, if I ran a hotel, there would be some hefty fines for smoking in a non-smoking room.
Overall, this is a great place to stay for the night before a cruise when all you need is some food and a bed. They have a free shuttle to the cruiseport. They’ll take us there at noon, and we will begin our cruise!