Willdra's Paramount Carnival Panorama October 15-21 Cruise

[willdra]

They're creepy and they're kooky. Mysterious and spooky. They're all together ooky. The Willdra family. Their house is a museum. When people come to see 'em. They really are a scre-am. The Willdra family.

 

Careful. Doors are closing, and will not reopen.

 

Hey y'all! Welcome to Willdra's Paramount Carnival Panorama October 15-21 Cruise! I'm back with another banger. I hope.

 

This journey began on October 13 for myself and W (a man who married me and won't let me sizzle, burn, and crumple to the floor). Bless him.

 

Our alarms were set for 5:30. We had a 10:40am flight to LAX. I must’ve been super tired the night before, cuz I only remembered laying down and turning off my lamp. 12.5 seconds later, it was time to wake up. Where in the world did the time go? There was no tossing and turning, and no waking up to empty anybody’s bladder. Just lay down and wake up. I liked it.

 

Per our usual routine, I got up, knocked the dust off of my body, then I woke up W around 6:15. Our goal was to be out of the house no later than 7:15. Since it was also W’s birthday, I piled his gifts up on the bed so he would see them as soon as he woke up. When he opened his eyes, he jumped up like he suddenly caught the Holy Ghost. He started opening up the boxes very slowly tho. The Holy Ghost must've gone on break. That energy was mismatched. Excuse me please sir, we have places to be. I need you to rip those things open like a monkey on a cupcake. While he was imitating a Platinum AARP member, and a 2 legged turtle, he kept saying “I didn’t have this much stuff on my list did I?”. Yes. You. Did. Now get on with it.

 

Everyone in our family has separate gift lists on Amazon. I love it because you can add “your friends” and when they update items on their wish list, you can just click it and add to cart. The tough part for all of us is remembering to add stuff to our own lists instead of buying everything that we want for ourselves all of the time. I usually send out a message to the fam in early Oct reminding everyone to update their lists for birthdays and Christmas. Sometimes it works, sometimes I have to resort to methods that I am not proud of. Either way, we all end up getting what we want. Now back to W. He opened 3 gifts, took a shower, then opened the rest. He moved a lot faster after the shower. I will have to remember that next year. Shower first, then gifts.

 

 

After our little party, we went about our last minute house check and preparing to leave. I was actually ready to go at 6:55. W wasn’t. While he was doing I don't know what, I gently reminded him that we needed to hit the road. This was a Friday morning with a strong possibility of liquid falling from the sky. ATL traffic ain’t nobody’s friend. Wet or dry. It makes no promises and it is known to throw a hitch in your giddy up and mollywhop your plans. I didn’t want to be on the rough side of its rage. Not today. Not ever. 

 

Me getting driven by W to the airport parking lot

 

 

Edited January 30 by willdra
Grammar

[willdra]

We left right at 7:10. Traffic wasn’t bad. There was a light drizzle but nothing major.

 

We arrived at the offsite parking lot at 8:11. A shuttle pulled up right as W was parking. Perfect. We loaded up and went to pick up other passengers on the way to the airport. The last couple to get on were "of a certain age". I could tell before they even got on the bus, cuz I could hear them before I saw them. The male was yelling “Come on Ethel we gotta go! I don’t know, just leave it!” Then Mrs. Ethel yelled out to the bus driver “Can we take an umbrella in our carryon? Will they let us take it on the plane?”. I know the bus driver was thinking "What? Why? They will have all of their luggage before they walk outside of the airport terminal so they really don’t…never mind." He managed a well mannered reply of  “Yes ma’am you can carry it on if you must" instead. For that, he was a saint. Even tho that "if you must" at the end was shady. I don't think they caught it tho. Thankfully they were the last ones to get picked up. I don’t know how much more of that we could take.

 

The ride to the airport took about 10 minutes. We got there around 8:30. We stopped at Delta first. Everyone exited except W and I. The driver unloaded them quickly then whipped us over to Southwest. The airport was kinda quiet and not nearly as crazy as it could be. Inside the terminal, I scanned us into the kiosk, W tagged the bags, gave them to an agent, and we were on our way to PreChek. It’s tricky in ATL cuz the entrance moves. We really had to pay attention to the signs. We got in line and this time I was taking no chances. I removed my phone and little card wallet from my pockets, then put them in my backpack. I wasn’t in the mood for extra screening (am I ever?) so I decided to minimize the risk as much as possible. Yay me. 

Edited January 30 by willdra
Grammar

[willdra]

Unfortunately, everyone does not share my views on TSA. They act like they don't mind standing in line for 3-5 business months. While I'm in line, I will look to see what's going on at the front. If I see they are just taking driver licenses, I get mine ready to hand over so I’m not digging for it, and holding everyone else up. The line moves so much quicker when people are prepared. When we got to the agents, W and I breezed thru, got the regular body scan, and we were not selected for extra screening. It took exactly 10 minutes and we were outta there. At that point, we felt "Linen Suit Grown", and you couldn’t tell us nothing. Our next destination was Gate C4. The train over there wasn’t crowded, and it was unnecessary to box anyone out for a space. Absolutely boring and no fun. We'll take more of this please.

 

When we left the train, we already knew that we had a walk ahead of us. The gate numbers go from high to low on that side. It looked like we had a mile to go. Right as we got off the escalator, we saw a Krispy Kreme and a Bantam and Biddy. We love the Bantam and Biddy at Ansley Mall, so we stopped there. W was maybe 2 or 3 people ahead of me cuz I wanted to look at the menu first, which was weirdly at the front by the registers. I got in line, then the server stopped serving when there was one person in front of me. I didn't get a  “I need to restock, I’m waiting for biscuits", nor a "I hate it here, and I quit". She just walked off. So we wait and wait.

 

She returned with more food after some time, and she helped the lady in front of me. When it was my turn, I asked for the OG Biscuit. She said "no". I said “no?”. “No”. Blank stare. Adds a head shake for emphasis. As we stood in this weird biscuitless space, I was unsure if she meant “not now", or if she meant "never”. I had questions. What was happening? Did the food run away? Was it M.I.A. like her 4 front teeth? I needed her to help me understand. She just stood there shaking her head. I was clueless still, so I asked “Do you have waffles?”. Head still shaking. “No”. Alright. I was defeated, and I didn’t want anything else, so I put back the apple juice that I was gonna get, and exited the line. W got his food there (he got it before biscuit gate) and we walked away. That was so bizarre. I get that they run out of stuff, but is it asking too much to communicate that? I completely didn’t understand her. Breakfast should never be this hard. Or angry. Or toothless. Pick a struggle Bantam and Biddy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

Thank God there’s a Chick Fil A in Concourse C. I guess it was just meant to be. The line was long, but in true Chick Fil A fashion, they worked thru it. I was really hungry by then, and right when I was about to walk up and pretend my name was whatever name they were calling, my food was ready.

 

W had already finished eating by the time I got to the gate. There was no plane there yet. Shortly after sitting, the gate agent said the plane was on the ground, and they were just waiting to taxi. That was good news. We boarded shortly after and were on our way. We chose seats in the 3rd row, very close to the front of the plane. There was already a lady sitting in the window seat which was perfect. She was a good neighbor for the short flight, except her phone kept chiming every time she got a notification. She got a lot of notifications, and the font was so big, I was pretty sure that her messages could be read from outer space. I just quietly shook my head, and put in my Airpods. They're noise cancelling, so even if I'm not listening to anything, they block out most sound. It was a short flight, at just over an hour to St Louis. As a rule, I really try to avoid connecting flights if at all possible. Southwest didn’t cooperate this time. There were very few options. We had connecting flights to and from Los Angeles. The ghetto.

 

W and I dozed off and on during the flight, but it was lightening fast. We somehow managed to wake up for snacks. Cuz food. Then we went back to sleep. A huge perk of sitting that close to the door, was we got off almost immediately after we landed. I wasn’t even ready yet.

 

We deplaned and arrived at Gate E which is where we needed to be for the flight to LA. I really liked the St Louis airport. On the walk to our gate, we passed 2 Starbucks, a wine bar, and lots of other food and shopping choices. It was weird that their TSA checkpoint was right there by our gate tho. There were also a couple of doors there to exit.  When we got to our gate I ordered from Starbucks in the app. I was about to click “order” when W said “can you get me something?”. So this how it went: “What do you want?” “I don’t know. What do they have?”. "Mister. I’m not going over the whole menu for you. It's Starbucks. You've been there before". “Do you want food or a drink?” “Food.” Silence. “Ok what type of food? They have desserts and sandwiches right now”. “Some kind of sandwich” “Ham and Swiss croissant?”. I pause to pray. Please say yes please say yes. Then he said “Yes that sounds good”. I added it without another word before he could change his mind. Who was trying to wait for him to figure his life out? Certainly not me. I have neither the time, desire, nor the attention span for that.

 

The Starbucks was a short walk from where we were. I went potty first then walked down there. I picked up the order then went back to join W. There was a vending machine by us, so I went there to get a drink. I don’t use vending machines often (at all). I made my selection then realized that I ordered the drink above what I wanted. I ordered a Cherry Pepsi by mistake. Uh uh. There was no way I was drinking that. I threw it right in the trash can. The Hudson News store was close to the vending machine. I went in there and got a bottle of water and a Diet Coke for W. If the Pepsi had been a regular Pepsi, I would’ve given it to W. Nobody was drinking Cherry Pepsi tho. The best part? That Pepsi was $3.50! No cap. Mistakes are costly. On hood.

[willdra]

Soon after I had everything that I needed for the 3 1/2 hour flight to LA, it was time to board. We were in the A Group again. On the plane there were lots of seats with one person sitting on the end. If we wanted to get in, they had to pick up their stuff, climb out, then let W and I in. We stopped at a row close to the front again, but the lady sitting on the end had a lot going on, and it was taking her a long time to get it together. After a healthy eye roll, I gave up and went to the next available row.

 

We got settled in, and soon we were departing St. Louis. During the flight, we ate, drank, and I watched 2 movies. Well 1 movie and a half. I got sleepy during the last one, and I let nature take its course. I’m pretty much always giving in to a nap. I'm powerless against them, and I’m ok with that. Much quicker than expected, we were getting orders from the flight attendants to put up our junk and get ready for landing. It was a beautiful day, and I was so looking forward to revisiting Cali. I’m still gagged that W and I lived there 30 years ago.

 

Sometime during the flight my bag of brownie chip crumbs fell over. Into my shoe. I had tiny cookie crumbs in my shoe and I didn't think they were coming out. Before we deplaned, I shook out my shoes into my Starbucks bag. I successfully evicted most of the crumbs. Not all of them left willingly tho. It was awkward and unwelcome.

 

Since we were in row 10, it didn’t take long for us to get off once they opened the door. The walk down to baggage claim was long and a little confusing. We really had to pay attention to the signs. Our bags arrived quick tho.

 

Our next move was to find the shuttle for Hertz. I’d already checked in for the rental, so we should've been able to check the board and go once we got there. A few minutes after we got outside, we located the car rental shuttle area. The Hertz bus pulled up shortly after that. The only function this bus performed was pulling up. The doors opened, and we stood there a minute, waiting for the driver to help. First, we saw a lady fighting with her suitcase trying to pull it out. We didn’t see the driver tho. So the lady ripped her bag out, and got off the bus on her own. W figured we were on our own too, so he grabbed our bags and loaded them onto the bus. The driver drove. That was her one job. As soon as I sat down, a questionable man sat next to me and took off his shoes. What was that about? I was busy in my phone texting A, but then I quit that so that I could pay attention to my “surroundings”. This was absolutely not the time to get caught slipping. Is there ever a time tho? Prolly not.

 

We made it to the Hertz lot, then checked the board. My name was not there. Reluctantly, I went inside to check in, and to ask why this was necessary. The agent said "oh we just needed to see your credit card". Beg your pardon? Hertz had already charged my card when I checked in on the app. Now they wanted to see the card?? After they'd already charged me? I took a breath, and thanked God that I remembered to bring it. I handed it over, she literally just glanced at it, then said "ok you’re good. Pick a car from the gold lot".  Le sigh.

 

We went over to pick out our carriage of inconvenience. We chose a Nissan Rogue, got the directions together, then drove out. 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We were staying at the Intercontinental in downtown LA. It was an hour away from the airport. Traffic was thick but manageable. It got strange when we got closer to the hotel. We passed the entrance up at first. W doubled back, and we got it on the second try. The streets are full of buses, bikers, and pedestrians, so we had to be careful. Plus the hotel was valet only. We drove in and gave them our deets. The attendant told us to leave our bags in the car. Someone would bring them to us. I was skeptical at first, but I quickly acted like I was used to that good life. I still couldn't help thinking "I really hope he works here", as I walked away.

 

The hotel lobby was up on the 70th floor. There’s a set of elevators that only go there. We rode up to get our room cards since I’d already checked in on the app. They don’t have a mobile key option which I thought was strange since the hotel has lots of high tech features. There was no line waiting. We got our cards and a quick overview of the hotel from the receptionist. Then we were able to use the other elevators which require a hotel card to get to the rooms, which are below the lobby. Our room was on the 48th floor. At the elevators you have to insert the card, then make your floor selection. The panel then assigns an elevator to you and you can only use that one. There’s no way to control the elevator from the inside. Sounds familiar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We checked out the room a little then our luggage was delivered. Sweet. Those guys downstairs did actually work there. We got settled somewhat then tried to find our bearings. W was ready for food. Especially when he realized it was 8pm Eastern time. We found a Mexican restaurant that was walking distance from the hotel. There was also a Target shopping center in the same block as the hotel.

 

Walking around downtown LA taught me that you'll see lots of randoms loitering outside. It seems really normal there. When you see someone who looks like they snuck into Earth, just mind your business. Furthermore, keep walking when you see someone setup a card table literally on the side of the road, to sell their whatevers. The biggest lesson of all was that a person doesn’t have to know all of the words to a song in order to setup a karaoke machine on the sidewalk and sing for their supper. Lyrics are prolly a luxury that we didn’t pay for. In any event, don't make eye contact. Just keep it moving.

 

Needless to say it was very colorful downtown. We walked to the Target first. It was not empty. We found our items fast then walked down the block to El Patron for dinner. I’ll admit I was a little hungry too, so it was perfect timing.

 

We strolled right in and seated ourselves. When the server came over we ordered chips, guacamole, and salsa. This was followed by the Quesabirria Tacos and a California Burrito. I got a Strawberry Margarita for my drink, and W had a Dos Equis. The restaurant lived up to its ”Top Rated” ranking. Everything was magnificent. When the food arrived, W and I took our time chewing and swallowing. This was a long day.  Even tho we were stuffed quickly, we tried to eat what we could, because we couldn’t really deal with too many leftovers. There was not a microwave in our hotel room. We were only able to take the chips and stuff to snack on later, which was enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

After we settled our tab, we walked back across to the hotel. W wanted to drop off the bags, then peruse the hotel a little. Our first stop was up to 70 in the lobby area. We got up there and looked around. There were lots of cool hangout spots where peeps could gather. There was also a bar in the back that was seeing some action. 

 

We decided to ride up to the restaurant areas after that. When we got up there we saw that it was really just restaurants, so we rode back down. Nothing to see there.

 

At this point we were going to look at the pool area, but I was getting tired and we had another big day ahead. We were going to Disneyland  the next day, so we needed our beauty rest. I also needed to get W’s Magicband ready to go. He's God bless the dead when it comes to those types of things. He's so lucky to have me. 

 

 

Before I fell asleep I said a prayer thanking God for that Snapple Watermelon Lemonade that I copped from Target. It was delicious and it was the refreshment that I didn't know I needed. It was also NOT a Cherry Pepsi. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hurricane0226]

glad to see you back. 

[VIFP1987]

Yay!! So happy to see you! 

[LaRue1975]

Hey, I was on this cruise too. That’s two active Panorama cruise reports that I also sailed this week. I am really looking forward to following along, I cruised with Willdra and didn’t know it, wow! Thanks for posting! 

Edited January 30 by LaRue1975

[Jamman54]

You know that we're along for the ride. Great start to your review! 😁

[Shaded Lady]

Woo hoo! New Wildra review!

[Hogladyrider]

All signed up for some more FUN!  Plus @Jamman54 Tribe review should be starting soon as well....all has not been lost this week for sure!

[x lindsay x]

Happy to see another wonderful report coming our way! 

[ninjacat123]

I just woke up and clapped my hands with joy, seeing Wildra’s link to her cruise review!! And time in LA!! I lived in La La Land from 1986 to 2004. Maybe we crossed paths….looking forward to more review👍😁😎

[princess76021]

Yay!! Another @willdra review!!

Very happy to wake up to this!!!

Thanks for doing it!

Hugs from Texas

[pcvtmom]

Doing my happy dance for a Willdra review!! 😊

[edspec]

Yay!  I've been looking forward to this.

[Cinnamon2]

Great reading!   Thank you for posting another review - I will be following

 

[Butterbean1000]

Yay, I have new reading material for a while! 

[mimmy52]

Another Wildra review! Yay! I’ve already had some laughs. You have a way with words!

[BigNance]

Awesome! happy to follow and be entertained!

 

[mkcurran]

Yay! Glad to see you back i action!