The alarm sounded early at 3:30 AM this morning. We tried to go to bed early, but after completing our last minute preparations, it was almost 10:00 PM before we were trying to get to sleep.
Mom picked us up promptly at 4:30 AM, and we headed to the airport for our 6:00 AM flight to Charlotte, connecting to Los Angeles. Leaving from a smaller airport early in the morning was nice, there were no crowds to speak of since all of the people flying out that early were on small airplane regional flights. There was not much traffic on the roads at that hour either.
In about 20 minutes, we arrived at the Departures drop off area and headed inside. We checked our one bag apiece, and headed through security, always a fun experience. Once through security, and redressed, we headed out to the gate for our flight to Charlotte. We boarded on time and departed on time, seeing the orange colored setting moon as we boarded the plane out on the open tarmac.
It was a short 30 minute flight to Charlotte with good weather. We had about an hour layover before we boarded our flight to Los Angeles, so we did not have to rush to the connecting gate, even though our gate for the Los Angeles flight in B Terminal quite a distance away from our arriving gate in the E Terminal.
About 20 minutes after we were seated at our new gate, we boarded the plane and took our seats. Unfortunately, there was no entertainment of any type on the Airbus 321, no music or movies, which was a little surprising since the flight is about 4.5 hours long.
Flight to Los Angeles
Once we reached cruising altitude, the pilot reported that we were going to arrive about 30 minutes early, which should get us to the port earlier than we anticipated.
We arrived in Los Angeles about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, just as the pilot had projected. We got off of the plane and headed to baggage claim, hoping that both of our checked bags had made it. After waiting about 10 minutes, the baggage started coming out onto the carousel, and a few minutes later, both of our bags came out, which is always a relief. We locked our suitcases, and placed our Princess Cruises luggage tags onto the bag, and headed outside of the terminal to look for the Super Shuttle waiting area. Once at the Super Shuttle curbside pick-up zone, they checked us in and we had to wait about 20 minutes for our van to show up. We got on the shuttle, and after one more stop to load up a few more passengers, we headed to the pier.
It was bout a 20 minute ride, and on the way, we started talking with a coupe from Utah, also on the Golden Princess for the cruise we were taking.
Port of Los Angeles
After arriving at the cruise terminal, we gave our suitcases to the porter, and headed to check in. It was about 11:30 AM, and we were surprised that there was no lines to go through the check-in. Once we checked in and went through security, we were directed to a holding area for Elite status passengers. We were called to board about 5 minutes later, and were on the ship at about 12:10 PM.
We headed to our cabin and dropped of our carry-on bags.
We were both tired and hungry from the early morning travel. We headed to the buffet for lunch, and while we were eating, we were joined by the couple we had met on the shuttle. We enjoyed our lunch and talking with them. We spent about 45 minutes with them before we headed off to get an adult beverage, or two.
Leaving Los Angeles
We spent the afternoon out on the deck enjoying the sunny, warm day in Los Angeles. After attending the mandatory emergency drill presentation at 3:30 PM, we headed back outside to enjoy the weather. The ship left at about 5:00 PM, about an hour later than scheduled. This was a much more enjoyable departure from Los Angeles than our previous cruise from here in 2012, there was no fog this time, so we were able to see the coastline after we left the harbor.
However, once the ship was out at sea, the wind made it too cold to stay outside for very long, and the temperature really dropped since the ocean water was about 60 degrees.
Heading Out To Sea
We headed over to a bar near the enclosed pool deck, and enjoyed some refreshments. We met a nice bartender from India, Nigel, and he took good care of us there for a couple of hours. We enjoyed some pizza while we were at the bar, and decided that this would suffice for our dinner, we were too tired to go and clean up, and get dressed for the dining room.
We turned in at about 9:00 PM local time, it had been a long day.