December 19th, 2021
Part 1
Let's start us off right, with the night before as Kira finally put that last number up on our Disney countdown calendar...this time with a Boo cameo.
If you've read my previous Christmas cruise reports then you'll know that we like to spend a couple of days in Webster, Texas before heading to Galveston for the cruise. This works for so many reasons. We like to shop at stores that we don't have here in Canada, we like to eat at Cheddar's, Snooze & Cheesecake Factory, all places we also don't have here in Canada and most importantly, it gives us time to deal with the unexpected. Travelling across the U.S. border, especially these days, can be tense, and flights lately are often delayed or cancelled. Having that extra 2-3 days of cushioning is important and recommended.
Our flight was 10:45am the next day but we made sure to get to the airport super early to beat the crowds. Not as many people are flying these days but at YYC, we were expecting about 35,000 travellers every day up until Christmas, so we were on the road by 6:15am.
While there wasn't a lot of snow yet this season, it was very cold, which was rather evident in our traditional airport pics.
It actually got a LOT colder while we were gone, -34C almost every day! We left at the perfect time.
Kira and I checked us in while Rob dropped off the car, then we met up and headed for security, then customs.
Because we were so early, there were no lines for security and our Nexus cards got us through immediately.
We are officially in the United States now.
You will see a lot of peace symbols and thumbs up in this report. ✌
Slowly but surely, there's more flights out of Calgary, this board is a lot more full than when I flew at the end of October.
And just in time, our beloved Wolfgang Puck's The Kitchen reopened the previous week!
It had been closed since March 2020. We found out that the owners sold it last year and it was quickly scooped up by the owner's of the Belgian Beer Cafe, which is the other sit-down restaurant in this terminal but they weren't busy enough to re-open until a week before, so our timing was good.
Hungry and sooooo ready for this vacation.
The menu was limited but we found plenty to eat.
It was delicious!
We had a bit of a wait before we could board so Rob and Kira watched some Daredevil while I got my steps in and explored.
This is when I discovered that we would be flying on Westjet's Frozen Plane.
We were lucky enough to fly on it before, one day we're hoping to fly on the Magic Plane too.
We had a bit of a delay as we were waiting on one last crew member but only about 30 minutes or so. We were thankful we weren't going to Orlando because that flight was delayed over two hours already because of sick crew.
During Westjet's check-in, we had to upload our vaccination records and fill out an attestation form that we have tested negative for covid, no later than one day before the flight and that we need to show proof, if requested. I had flown to MCO in late October and they never checked my covid test and it didn't seem like they were checking here so I put them away in my carry-on. Things were going well, everyone was sailing through the boarding process and then the couple in front of us was asked for their test results. I had a tiny moment of panic and asked if everyone needed to show it. She just looked at me and said "Maybe" so I guess they were randomly checking them but they didn't ask for ours.
Selfie with the Frozen Plane now that we're closer and no one was around. You will see a lot of beard mask photos like this one.
When we boarded, we noticed that all of the cute Frozen details inside of the plane were no longer there. Apparently, the Frozen and Magic Plane were recently refurbished and all of the inside Disney touches were taken out.
Mandatory airplane family selfie coming up.
So long Calgary, and your stupid, unbearable cold spell.
And hello gorgeous weather!
It was a little foggy, you could barely see downtown Houston.
It took awhile to get off the plane, it was pretty packed, so we sat patiently...
Cool new mural in the terminal...
And I'm glad we stopped here because the "welcome to Houston" sign that hangs above the escalator was no longer there!
So, down we went to find our luggage carousel....one Mickey bag, two Mickey bags.......................................
Umm, where's the third?
We waited until the carousel shut off and then realized we were not getting that third bag.
There were three or four other families who were also waiting on one last bag. There were two Westjet agents there and like the others, we filled out the dreaded, long, lost baggage form.
They suggested we call Westjet when we can and just follow up with them as well.
The good news was that the bag they lost was our "cruise bag" so there was mostly stuff in there that was only for the cruise, along with some of Kira's clothes but we were heading to the mall the next day to two stores she loves so we knew we could buy her some clothes there and there was nothing in the bag that would make or break our trip. More on that later.
About two hours after we were originally supposed to be leaving IAH, we headed for the car rental shuttle, one bag down.
When we got to Alamo, we headed for the Full Size row to pick out a car for the trip. There was only one car there in the entire row so we flagged down an employee to ask if there were more that we were just missing. A very friendly and helpful Taylor explained to us that Alamo and National were basically the same company and that we could also choose from their inventory so we headed over to pick one out while Kira waited with our bags.
Rob picked out a Toyota Camry and off we went!
Downtown Houston is very beautiful at night, especially at Christmastime.
We stayed at Springhill Suites Webster, same as last time as we loved the mini-suite and the location.
As I was walking in to check-in, a lady looked at me and said "Cass????"
I was a little caught off guard, didn't think anyone would know or recognize me, especially with the mask on
"Yesss???" I respond, begrudgingly
It turned out to be a lovely lady and her kiddo from the FB Cruise page that had read my previous trip reports and recognized me right away. I was like, wow, good eyes! Not only do I have a mask on but I also chopped off all my hair a few months ago so dang, woman, you're good!
We chatted a bit while we waited to check in, apparently she had chosen this hotel because of my 2019 trippie
Our room was on the first level, so no cool spaceman elevators for us but it was super convenient, first room off the side of the building.
I posted more pics in my 2019 Xmas trip report so feel free to check that out if you want to see more, it's the exact same room.
While we unpacked and got organized, I called Westjet on speakerphone. I was on hold just over an hour and a bit before we ended up leaving for dinner. We were starving, the last meal we ate was at 7:30am Calgary time and now it was 7pm Houston time!
Cheesecake Factory, here we come!
Kira was totally crushing on our waiter so that made a very good meal even more fun, especially since he was a really good server! It was delicious!
Sadly no room for dessert. We were all VERY tired now, it had been a long day, extra stress with the whole bag situation too. We were originally going to stop at Target for some supplies but we all nixed that idea at dinner once we all crashed from eating. We just wanted to go to sleep!
I tried calling Westjet again but they had closed.
So I went online and started a baggage loss claim on there as well. It's a good thing I did because on that form I filled out at the airport, there was no number so when I spoke to them, I had no reference number. At least with the online form, you get a claim number and you can also fill out your address, hotel address, etc.
We had basically two more days really to get that bag, so I was still hopeful that we would get it in time for the cruise when I went to bed that night.
Then a meme that I had recently seen popped into my head...
"Hope. The first step towards disappointment."
Reunited after 19 days!*
2011 DCL Second sailing of the Dream
2016 Christmas on the Wonder
2021 Christmas on the Wonder
2022 Alaska Wonder Cruise
Calgary enjoying 
I've only had my bag lost three times but until this trip, it was always (and thankfully!) on the way home so it didn't really matter much.
