Remember planes, trains, and automobiles? Well that sums up San Diego. We could see and hear all of that right from our veranda as we sailed into the San Diego Bay at 6:30am this morning. It was going to be another hot day in town with temperatures around 90 degrees with 28% humidity, and 11.5 mph winds. Much the same as last week.
We started with an early breakfast at 7am with very few guests due to the disembarkation we assume. Once again, groups began to be called off by 7:30am. They are well organized for the frequent turnovers on these shorter voyages.
Being in transit guests, we were asked to be off of the ship by 9:15am by using our old room key, taking our passports (never were asked to see them) and the stickers to put on our shirts to show the shore staff we were in transit. We had our new room keys with us to get back onboard.
Leaving the ship at the requested time, we logged out at the crowded gangway, then followed directions from the shore crew. They did ask to see our in transit labels. There was another ship docked across from us. It was the Serenade of the Seas (RCI), not one of their mega-ships, but much bigger than us. Today the buses, taxis and Ubers were allowed into the parking lot between the two ships making the area congested and crazy. We had to weave between guests with luggage and bags to make it to the street.
Instead of walking the waterfront to Seaport Village, we chose to turn left and go up Broadway. That would keep us in the shade and away from the crowded boardwalk with all of the kiosks. In addition, we would be out of the path of runners, skateboarders, bikes, and pedi-bikes that were offering rides to anywhere and everywhere. Heading up Broadway kept us under the trees and in the shade of all of downtown's high rises. Only the local working crowd was here and a few scattered homeless people near the Santa Fe Railroad tracks. Any city with a climate such as here, will have homeless folks, as we would find out later on.
We made it all the way up to Horton Plaza where a Westfields Mall used to be located. Now all we saw was a park and some buildings undergoing possible renovations. It struck us how many pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants could be jammed into this area. Then we entered the historic Gaslamp Quarter and found even more eateries and some souvenir shops. Located very close to Petco Park, these restaurants and pubs fill to capacity when there are baseball and football games. Due to the time of day we were walking here, there were some homeless folks wandering around. One of them began taunting us and eventually staying on our heels. He was obviously deranged and confrontational. We were close to our destination of the Hard Rock Hotel, when we decided to enter a side door. It was locked and we needed a room key to open the door. This guy knew that and cornered us, which was a big mistake. He began to get very vocal spitting out nonsense threats when one of us yelled back quite loudly. That drew the attention of a rather large and young waiter at the adjoined restaurant, and he came out immediately to help. With that the guy left. We are certain they all know him...even the police who were patrolling the streets.
Going around the corner we found the main entrance to the fairly new Hard Rock Hotel that did have a store but not a cafe restaurant. One of us located a city t-shirt, and we left the building and the incident behind us. We were close to the Convention Center where we had walked yesterday. The Cheesecake Factory was our next stop, where the nice waitress remembered us from a week ago. She even recalled what we had ordered - the Mexican tortilla salad, Stella beers followed by a slice of pumpkin cheesecake. Their salads are built like a mountain - even the Skinnylicious ones. The best part was being able to relax in the air conditioning for over an hour before having to leave.
We made it back to the boardwalk and did find a bargain long sleeve t-shirt to buy. Stopping at some benches in the shade, we made it back to the pier by 3pm. By now most of the HAL guests were embarked, but there was still a crowd for the Serenade. Our "in transit" stickers were checked as well as our room keycards. One of the nicest HAL reps also asked for our in transit stickers, adding that she would need to see our room keys because we could have stolen the stickers. Really? Security is extremely tight in San Diego.
Walking down the hallway, we ran right into friends Connie and daughter Michele who we met along with husband and dad Joe back in 2007. So nice to see them again. We would see even more cruising friends at breakfast tomorrow. We did have an invitation to a 1 hour cocktail party at 6:30 in the Lido Pool area. We assume it was for the higher day Mariner guests. However, we made the mistake of opening the bottle of sparkling wine on ice during the sailing out of the bay at 5:15pm. So we missed the party, knowing there will be more of them.
Passing Coronado Island was interesting with all of the aircraft carriers, helicopters, military planes, and jets. The Ronald Reagan, Carl Vinson, and the recently returned from the Persian Gulf Abraham Lincoln aircraft carriers were all visible. Makes one proud to be an American. Of course, there were the sea birds, sea lions, and seal-laden buoys.
The menu for dinner was still mixed with some Mexican items. Appetizers we ordered were small coconut-crusted pork meatballs, sliced tomato with mozzarella, and a shrimp cocktail with different sauce. Mains were a slightly cremated pork chop and an enchilada barbacoa. No dessert. And another surprise - we had new waiters. Their names are Hajid and Agus. The powers to be are rotating waiters on all of the ships. Why, we do not know for sure. Good news, the clocks went back one hour tonight. Perfect. A cellist Wendy Law was the performer in the World Stage tonight.
We have begun the 5 -day trek to Hawaii with relaxing days at sea.
Bill & Mary Ann
