Cruise Day

I don’t know about the others but I was very excited today as this was one of the highlights of our trip away and this was our first ever cruise! We were able to get a free shuttle to the dock which was great as the driver knew exactly where to go and drop us off. The first place we had to go was to actually get our tickets to be able to board the boat. This was a relatively quick and easy process which ended up being the last quick and easy process of the day! Once through there we had to go through to security which was a bit of a wait as the American Customs machines were crashing but that wasn’t too bad compared with the next step actually getting through customs itself. At the first instance we were waiting out side the customs hall for awhile then we were ushered into to sit down. There were two lines one for American and Canadian passport people and then the rest of the world!. We were seated for about 1/2 hour as we watched line after line of ACP people go through but no movement on our side. Finally a lovely gentleman from customs came as got us and we followed him to the start of the sheep dip pens ( as Peter calls them). Well that was fine and well until we realised we weren’t moving anywhere fast at all. The waves of ACP people going past us just kept coming while we all stood still. By this stage we were wondering what was going on but to find an answer wasn’t easy.

In an hour we had hardly moved as they only had 2 customs officers on our side of the process but at least 5 for the ACP travellers. I get that there were more of them to get through but the waiting time was absolutely ridiculous! Anyway after what seemed like forever, actually close to 3 hours, we finally were able to board the boat. The first thing we did was go to our room which was very nice and quite spacious with a lovely little balcony. We met our porter Rene who very kindly gave us all a glass of champagne and that whole disastrous episode in the customs hall was almost forgotten. 

Leaving Vancouver Harbour

Our room on the boat 

Lunch was next on the agenda as we hadn’t had anything since breakfast and we were all starving.  The buffet lunch was great as it had plenty of choice. After lunch Cheryl and I lost the boys so we had a bit of a wander around to see what was what. We finally found them and had our first cocktails of the trip to celebrate our sailing. As they were staying in the smoking area I made my way to the front of the boat to enjoy watching us sail out of Vancouver. It was great watching this big ship go under the bridge and glide away. We wandered for a bit more before going back to our rooms for a bit of unpacking and a rest.

Dinner was excellent and after dinner I went back to our room for bit and left the others who said they were going to the Princess Theatre. Well I went there and couldn’t find them so spent some time getting lost, so decided I would go back to the room as I could have wandered all night being unfamiliar with the boat as I was. That was a good decision as Peter came to find me. By this time I was very tired and if i had of been in my pjs I wouldn’t have gone back out but I did and ended our night with a laugh regarding my lost time wandering the ship!!

All in all a great end to a great start to our cruise.

Day 2 Alaskan Cruise

This is our first full day on the cruise and it is an at sea day. For me it was all about finding my way around a bit better. After breakfast Peter and had a walk around and found a shopping bargain of 2 adult t-shirts for $20 which was a good buy. After that bit of shopping I found Cheryl and John and the boys went their own way and Cheryl and I went to the $10 shopping event in one of the dining rooms and then went to a shopping presentation hoping to win a diamond ring. While we were on our way I was amazed at how many people were already drinking at 10am in the morning! I know the drinks package is expensive and you have to make the most of it but even I am not that bad!! 

After lunch we all went our own ways, Peter doing his photos, me doing some writing for the blog and John and Cheryl having a wander and relax. Part way through the afternoon Cheryl, Peter and I did a couple of laps of the Promenade Deck 7. It was blowing a gale and was so cold! I have never seen Cheryl move so quickly!! A classic photo of her shows just how cold it was.

We made our way back together in the afternoon for a couple of drinks in the Crooners Bar with our soon to be favourite server Rey. He is very friendly and always ready with a joke and he “knows our number”. This is referring to he has a look at our cruise cards and puts it on our tab! 

Dinner was in one of the speciality restaurants, Sabatini’s which is an Italian themed one. The food was delicious and all it cost us was $29 per person extra. This is one of the things we made sure we booked before we came away, so we didn’t have any hassles once on the boat. After A very lazy and indulgent day we were off to bed ready for our first stop Ketchikan.