Cruise Report - Day 1

Day 1

We started the day surprisingly well rested.  I had slept like a log!  We ate breakfast in the Holiday Inn dining room then returned to our room to finish our last minute packing.  By 10:45 or so we headed down bags in tow to find out if our taxi was there.  One was indeed waiting and whisked us to the port by a bit after 11.  After turning all but my backpack over to the porters, we went in and quickly got through the embarkation process (the only glitch was we weren’t told BOTH of us had to fill out health forms—I filled one out for both of us (there were multiple name lines but apparently all but the original name were for minor children) and we had to redo with two forms.  We were on board exploring shortly and soon made our way to the Windjammer.   

Windjammer Buffet

I sampled some fruit and had a roll with carved roast beef and tried several desserts.  DH had a hamburger and fries and then vanilla ice cream.  We continued our exploration, primarily of the upper decks.  At 12:30 we went back to guest services (we’d been there earlier and were told they weren’t open yet) and placed money on our Seapasses.  After exploring further (about 2 p.m.) we returned to deck 12 to the Crown & Anchor lounge to see if any other Cruise Critic members were there.   

View of the Crown & Anchor Lounge

 Most were not, but we met Carrie (kyrn) and her husband as well as Dave & Karen.  We chatted for a while before returning to our room.  At some point we met our Steward, Rolando.  We asked him for an extra blanket and some ice and they were both in our room after we’d been gone again for a short time (lol maybe the extra tip helped but then again he may well have been just as eager to please).  We went to the muster drill at 3:45 and were stationed right by the gangplank.   

Lined up for muster drill

People in center not on board yet

A huge senior citizen group came on while we stood “in formation.”  Obviously for some reason they were allowed on well after the cutoff time (lol maybe they used choice air).  










 I did wonder if they might be the group sponsored by a CC member (who posted a while back on the roll call) leading a large group.

After the muster drill we returned to our room and one of our bags was there (we had five checked… DH keeps saying I took everything but the kitchen sink…my philosophy was as long as it didn’t make us check an extra bag (we planned 2) I’d take what I wanted).  Our steward soon brought another… then another and apparently went looking for the last two.  They all arrived shortly but we discovered one had been damaged (the top handle was broken on one half…we had yet to figure out if they would do anything about it but we took pictures just in case).  All our belongings were fine and we got everything put away in the closet and drawers, etc. out of sight and suitcases all fit under the bed.  I will have to try to remember to take pictures tomorrow.  Our unpacking was sporatic because we kept wanting to go look out the balcony once we set sail.  It was fun to stand and watch all the people on the dock waving us off and then to see them grow smaller and smaller.   

Still very close to the dock

Underway. :)

Bon Voyage! :D

Soon we went under a bridge leaving the Vancouver harbor.  It was amazing to watch how close we seemed to be to the underside of the bridge even from down on deck 9.   

You can barely make out the bridge on the right

Getting bigger

Closer....

Still closer....

Almost....

Nearly there....

It is getting close!

Only a little more....

Will we fit?

Underneath!

We made it! :)

The stage of the Aurora Theater

After that we just alternately watched and unpacked until it was time to get ready for the evening.  About 7:15 we went down to deck 6 and went into the Aurora Theater (balcony) to check out the show.  It wasn’t busy at all so we walked around a bit before going down to deck 5 and getting seats in the back row.  Because we had dinner at 8:30 we had to leave early.  The Royal Caribbean singers, dancers, and orchestra were enjoyable.  The comedian (Oren) was funny for the bit we heard.  Now we definitely know not to sit in one of the first rows—you can get picked on.  Before the comedian came on the cruise director spoke to us and acknowledged all the people on board celebrating birthdays and anniversaries.  The longest married couple had reached 64 years!  He asked for advice for the 10 honeymooning couples on board and the husband said “always let her get the last word in” and something to the effect of “always let your last two words be ‘yes dear.’”

After leaving the theater we went to deck 4 and were escorted to our table in the Cascade dining room.  We were sitting with six other people—a couple from the UK and 4 people (possibly an adult child and spouse with one set of parents) from Los Angeles.  Dinner was good.  I had the kiwi, pineapple, and strawberry starter and the pork medallions.   

A yummy starter....

The mushroom sauce is on the side but I did like it.

DH had a Caesar salad with thousand island instead of Caesar and prime rib.  For dessert I tried two… the strawberry pavlova (delicious!) and a sponge cake with grand mariner sauce called Savarin (it was okay…I'm  not sure what I thought of grand mariner though).   

Strawberry Pavlova

Savarin

We left dinner about 10:30.  After we changed into warmer clothes we went down to deck 5 and walked entirely around.  I’d thought we’d been around the whole deck earlier but apparently we hadn’t been aft.  When we went back around to the bow (actually up to dec 6) DH spotted a lighthouse from the helicopter pad.  So far we are very much enjoying cruising but I can easily see how people need a vacation after they come home.  

Next up... day 2. :)

 

Cruise report--pre-cruise day

My husband and I just completed a cruise from Vancouver, BC to Seward, Alaska.  Here is the start of a report on my trip:

The taxi picked us up right on time.  What a speed demon.  I think he ran two red lights… one a light right out of our neighborhood we hate and another that made me cringe.  Oh well we got to the airport safe and sound.  At the airport everything went smoothly except for the fact that I learned you can’t put shoes on top of a laptop to run them through security, lol.

Looked out and saw a plane tail that said “Beavers” name of Oregon State’s team.  Sadly, as far as our oldest daughter and son-in-law would think, we did not take that plane.  DH (a staunch University of Oregon Duck fan) was quite glad.  The flight was relatively good and there was very little cloud cover.   We saw Mt. St. Helens and lots of other pretty sights.

Once we got to Vancouver we hit the long customs line.  It did move fairly quickly though and when we got up to the agent he had us pegged as cruisers within the first 10 seconds (and no, we did not have the luggage tags on any bags).  I figured it was most likely the single day stay listed on the customs form.

Next we had to go searching for the 7-11 or Pharma Save to get our bus passes for the Sky Train (of course we were hauling 6 bags between us now).  Finally DH told me he would just stand with them while I went off in search of the elusive location.  After asking about 3 people I got down, quickly bought them, and retraced my many steps back to DH.  Luckily we had stopped fairly close to the area to cross over to the Canada Line.  We got on the train and were on our way.  Later DH told me he realized after the fact that there was no charge for the many luggage carts we saw people pulling around the airport… and here we were each rolling two bags and carrying either our garment bag or backpack. :P

We got off at Broadway and made our way to the Holiday Inn.  Vancouver has LONG blocks!!  At least that was what they seemed like while hauling all the bags.  We arrived and found our room nearly ready and thankfully they relieved us of our luggage.  We retraced part of our steps and went and ate at the Cactus Club.  It was nice but seemed spendy when we were just looking for a quick lunch.   $15 for a burger & fries… granted it was a bacon cheddar burger but still… oh well it was nice to sit.  DH went to the restroom and said it was the fanciest one he’d ever seen.  After eating the yummy lunch we went back to the holiday inn and found our room ready.  They had upgraded us to an Executive King with a balcony (the only one on this side on the 16^th (top) floor).  We regrettably decided we’d probably rather not go to Stanley Park like we’d planned.  Hopefully we’ll be able to come back to Vancouver sometime for a shorter non-cruise vacation.

After resting for a while we got ready and headed out to our anniversary dinner.  We had a reservation at Seasons in the Park at Queen Elizabeth Park.  We went via the bus… got on the 15 like we were told to do and realized we were going away from the direction of the park.  We asked the driver after a few stops and were told we were going the wrong way.  Thankfully he was able to redirect us to the right bus and we were back on our way within ten minutes or so.  We got to the place I’d understood we were to go (33^rd & Cambie) and start walking… and walking…and walking…and walking.  I was NOT prepared for walking!  We’d dressed up for dinner and although I don’t wear heels I certainly wasn’t wearing walking shoes.  By the time we finally got in to the restaurant we were now twenty minutes late.  Thankfully they were still able to seat us right away.  Dinner was delicious.  We split a cut of bone in steak I think it was called.  It was a very generous portion of meat plus mashed potatoes and broccoli.  We also enjoyed a shrimp cocktail.  They gave us very nice, large shrimp.   They also gave us free dessert (ice cream w/chocolate sauce with little cards on them that said “congratulations” and “happy anniversary”).  The waitress was terrific.  DH joke with her the whole meal and at the end she got him good.  His favorite line is to tell them they didn’t have to bring that (in reference to the bill).  She quickly told him that she brought it to him because he had been naughty.  She had his number, lol.  Needless to say after the long walk we asked them to call us a taxi to go back.  After a short wait we were in the taxi and then back at the Holiday Inn anxiously awaiting our day tomorrow. :)