Fall Coastal Cruise

I was planning on going to the Panama Canal, but that didn't fit in the schedule, so I had to cancel it. I still wanted to do something, so I found a four-day cruise that did fit into the schedule. I needed to get away for a while at least.

We had been on Holland America twice last year and were warming up to the line a little. So, when this cruise came up that wasn't too expensive, we jumped. Coastal cruises are easy for us because it's only one-way airfare to go down to California, or come back to Seattle or Vancouver. It was Vancouver this time.

My daughter-in-law wanted to have dinner with us. Since they live north of us, we decided to just keep going into Vancouver after dinner. It didn't make much sense to go north, then south, then north again the very next day.

We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express near the airport. They would keep the car for the four days of the cruise. We would pick it up when we arrived back in Vancouver. They had a regular shuttle to the airport so it worked out very well.

The elevator at the hotel was interesting. It had doors at both sides. You would enter the one door from the lobby and then when you arrived at your floor you would exit the other door. One time Deb and I climbed into the elevator from the lobby, and this family also walked in. They had suitcases and children in tow. He hit the P1 button and the other elevator door opened.

"Oh," he said as he climbed back out the other side. I did check later on. They could have gone around instead of through the elevator.

Day 1 Vancouver

Deb forgot her toothbrush. I only mention that because we had to walk blocks to find her one and not because of the many many times she has harassed me for forgetting things. We walked to a Chinese market just as they opened in the morning. The toothbrush the hotel had given her had fallen apart after just one use.

I looked around the place. I definitely felt out of place, because we were the only non-Chinese people in the place. Deb enjoyed walking around and seeing stuff that she can't get at home. We found the toothbrush and then walked back to the hotel.

As we were checking out I tried to give the man at the desk the key card back.

"No, keep it as a souvenir," he said. Souvenir? This is a Holiday Inn not the Ritz Carlton. It did come in handy as we arrived at our ship's cabin. It requires a keycard to turn on the lights. The idea is you will take your stateroom keycard with you, so the lights will be off when you leave. We had the hotel keycard in there the whole time instead.

Vancouver’s Canada Place.is notoriously bad for getting through security and check-in and getting on the ship. One time it took us over four hours. This time, with only one ship in port, was a lot easier. The whole process took less than an hour. When we arrived at US Immigrations, they sent us directly to the customs agents. Everyone else was sent to a check-in computer. I later counted. We skipped forty people by doing that. I don't know why, but I liked it.

The only place open for lunch was the buffet. One of the options was veal parmesan. At least that is what it said on the menu. It was only a breaded veal patty. When he put it on my plate, I asked if there was any sauce, so he put gravy on it. It wasn't what I was hoping for. In fact, I was downright appalled.

I did eat it. I had a little room after the first round, so I went for seconds. This time I grabbed the veal patty from the homestyle area, went over to the pasta bar and got some spaghetti sauce, then walked over to the taco bar to get some cheese. Not perfect, but a lot better than gravy.

We explored the ship, had a nap and then did the mandatory lifeboat drill. I don't like it, but I figure the cruise actually starts the second it’s over. We ran around the ship. Up to the side watching it leave the dock. Then up to the top to see it sail under the Lion's Gate bridge. At dinner we met a nice couple from Ottawa. They were both French teachers, but since retired. They retired a lot better than I did. I started working again and they haven't.

Music Walk on this ship is a whole bunch of venues on deck two. You have Lincoln Center, then the BB King Blues Club and then Billboard Onboard which has dueling pianos. We started at Billboard Onboard with a trivia game. Deb ran to a Windows 10 class while I stayed and drank a diet Sprite. Then she came back and we listened to the English Invasion songs until the Blues Club opened. The female vocalist was absolutely amazing. At 9:30 they had a preview of all the shows they would have on the ship. A full and enjoyable evening.

Day 2 Seattle

Woke up to an announcement playing in the hallway. Couldn't hear what it said, but the gist was we were in Seattle. Deb and I have opted to spend the day on the ship. Something we rarely do, but because we are in Seattle often, and because we are in port only 4 hours, we saw no real reason to hop off.

They have three omelet stations on this ship. I love omelets so I was all smiles because I didn't have to wait in line for one.

The world is taunting me, or maybe it's the Cosmos. I see the NCL Pearl at pier 66. It was the ship we were going to take through the Panama Canal. To make things worse, this ship is headed through the canal too. Cursed the schedules that don't let you do what you want to do. Five times I've booked a Panama Canal cruise and five times I've had to cancel.

As I sit up in the Crow's nest while I'm writing this, I see the Washington State Ferries sail back and forth in front of me. My thoughts about the problems at work are miles away. I came on this ship to relax and I'm accomplishing that goal.

Deb took a computer class and I met her in a cooking class, that was all after we lost trivia again. Oh well. Didn't need a deck of cards anyway.

The class was on Mediterranean cooking. I seemed more excited about it than she did. She doesn't like olive oil, but I do. Now I have some recipes to try.

We went to high tea, or was it low tea. I don't know. Wasn't much else to do that hour so I agreed to go, much to Deb's surprise. It wasn't that bad. I liked some of the treats they gave us and had some herbal tea.

A guy from the San Diego area sat down next to me. We had a good chat, so that helped too. He is getting off at home. I was feeling like the poor relation. Getting off in San Diego and watching the ship sail on to Panama.

Our door has been giving us problems so we called maintenance. The guy came, tightened two screws, sprayed a half a can of WD-40 into the latch, called it good and left. Deb says it works now, but the room has a vague odor of WD-40.

We are headed out to sea. Saw the pilot boat pull up against the ship and pick up the pilot. That means we are in open waters. Also saw a dolphin in the distance.

We arranged to have the same tablemates again at dinner. We are having some good times. Our table is by the rear window of the ship so we can see out, and it isn't as noisy back there. I still have a hard time hearing Castel when he tells stories.

Tomorrow is formal night and I don't even have a tie. Oh well, I hope the shops will have something. I thought I had brought one, but I didn't find it when we unpacked.

We lost at trivia again, then went to see the illusionist. He was really good. Castel was brought up on stage at the illusionist. I'm sure he was more than a little embarrassed. It doesn't seem his thing, but he was a good sport and played along.

Day 3 Sea Day

It has been a little stormy during the night. Instead of rocking us to sleep it just kinda jiggled us the whole night. It's foggy this morning. Can't see much of the horizon.

Deb didn’t want breakfast so I went up to the buffet by myself. I should have gone to the dining room, I think. The buffet has great omelets though. I’ll save that decision for another day.

Deb is taking all sorts of computer classes while she’s here and learning all sorts of stuff. I was going to go to the galley tour, but it was mobbed so I went up to the cabin and wrote some more. Found Deb at trivia, where, with a good team, we missed winning by one.

Went to tea again. I go for the little sandwiches and the pastries. I’m a fool for pastries. Our friends from dinner were saving us a spot, Castel and Colette, but we must have slipped in ahead of them. Would have much rather sat with them. Instead we sat with a sheepish man and an overbearing women, like the TV show Maude. She kept looking around and every time a steward was in earshot she would demand another small sandwich. They ignored her.

Speaking of table mates. We had any time dining, which means you come anytime you please. Someone mentioned that if you had reservations, you wait time would be less, so we made a reservation for the first night. That sat us next to Castel and Colette. They are retired French teachers from Ottawa. We hit it off so well, that from then on we had dinners together every night.

We skipped tonight’s show. We had seen it before and not liked it so much. Didn’t see going again, but we enjoyed to Blues Club until we went to bed.

Day 4 At Sea

Last day, sigh. So many of them are going on to the Panama Canal, I feel like a poor relation having to leave early before the best part of the trip. I do know we are busy people and another seventeen days away is impractical, but I still feel that way.

Had breakfast together with Deb in the main dining room. It wasn’t that much more delightful than the buffet. I missed my omelet so will go upstairs instead of down tomorrow.

Wasn’t a whole lot going on today. Seems to be fewer activities than on previous cruises. We did go the America’s Test Kitchen presentation on Breakfast. I know, I’m talking about food again, but there were no samples, I promise.

Kept passing by the Neptune Lounge. It’s a suite member’s, or long-time cruiser’s club. They have treats and alcohol there. So, if you go on a hundred cruises or so, you get extra food, instead of the 24 hours of food you can get on the rest of the ship. I guess I just don’t get it.

Speaking of which, I went to tea again. I hope that doesn’t make me less of a man. It’s actually fun. This time we sat next to a young couple who were also leaving in San Diego. They can almost walk home from the pier. They spent the whole time talking to us about our books. Deb brought up that we were writers. I usually don’t. They seemed interested, but I didn’t learn much about them though.

Said goodbye to Castel and Collet after dinner today. Did get their email address and promised to stay in touch.

The food has been really amazing on this ship. I have not eaten anything that I wouldn’t eat again. That usually not the case for me. I’ve been pleased. I even ordered the vegetarian dinners twice because they had eggplant. Those were good too. Normally I’m of the opinion that vegetables are food for food.

We went to the comedy show tonight. Frances Dilorinzo. She spent half the time talking about her sex life. It was more of a woman thing I guess. I did laugh a couple of times though. She kept saying, “I’ll save that for the late show.” I don’t know what she was saving but she didn’t seem to be holding back to me.

Went to the blues club after the show, but they were a little off tonight, so we made our way to the piano bar.

Day 5 End of Cruise

I turned on my phone too soon today. Was still in international roaming. Paid fifty cents a message for my friend at work to tell me that he was in a fight for his life with cancer. I turned it back off. I can deal with that when I get to San Diego. Its six in the morning as I’m writing this.

Almost glad to be stepping off the ship today because I have so many things to deal with back home.

It was fun while sailing past the Navy base, the Star-Spangled Banner played. Even the guys in the middle of docking a ship stopped what they were doing and stood at attention.

Been a great, but short cruise. Better than most. The ship is a little smaller than I like. Also, would have loved more things to do. I did get a lot of writing done, however.

The food beat all expectations. My hats off to the chef. The ports? Didn’t do anything there. We stayed on the ship in Seattle. The city tries so hard to solve the homeless problem that it attracts more homeless which increases the problem. It’s killing their tourist industry.

There were a lot more people disembarking than I thought. It was a painless process as we grabbed our bags and headed out. Somehow, I was under the impression that our flight was at three o’clock, but decided to head to the airport anyway. I could get some reading in. I talked to a shuttle van driver. His cost was $8 a person but a taxi would be $20. I thought how fun it would be sitting in his van until it filled up and still having to pay $16. The extra $4 was worth it to me.

We waited in the taxi line until one pulled up. Not the cream of the crop I have to say. It was an old Ford. The molding around the door fell out when I shut it. I opened it back up and tried, and failed to put the rubber back around the door. Got it ‘good enough’ and shut the door.

It was a hot day so I didn’t mind my window being down. When we got on the freeway though, it was a different story. The thing didn’t roll up.

I have to say I’ve been in worse taxis, but not much worse. The taxi trip to the airport cost $15 including tip.

When we printed out our boarding passes Deb noticed, our plane left at 11:30. Not only that but we arrived in Seattle at 2:40 and our connecting flight left at 2:20.

She called up the airline to complain, but they told her not to worry, the flights were married.

Married? I’ve never heard of a married flight. Don’t half of all marriages end up in separations, too? So now I have something else to worry about. I’m glad I didn’t do the Midway Museum tour like I wanted to. It was within walking distance of the ship. We would have missed our flight. I had gotten an email that they had changed our flight time, I didn’t know that meant totally messing it up.

When we boarded the plane, I noticed a man with four pink spikes of hair, sticking up about two feet each. They were so tall that two of them touched the overhead storage bin when he was seated. One protruded over the back of the seat and I felt sorry for those people sitting behind him.

We rolled away from the gate a little early, stopped for a few minutes, then the captain said, “We have a problem with our paperwork, we’re going to have to go back to the gate.”

Oh no, this is bad. We’re going to be even later!

When we arrived back, an airline employee came on the plane and asked the guy with the spiked hair and his girlfriend to disembark. They left without complaint. Afterward we were rolled back and on our way.
We're flying along and the pilot makes an annoucemtent over the PA. Then he forgets to turn off the PA and says, "I don't like that *bleep* I'm going to turn it off."
The whole plane is laughing. The PA is coming on and off as he tries to fix the problem. He's talking to the co-pilot, again not knowing the PA is back on. "I said *bleep* over the PA."
We all laugh again. I turn to Deb, "If the guy can't figure out the PA system, how is he going to land the plane?"
He managed. We arrived at Seattle ready to make a run for our next plane. I was anyway. Deb says, “This isn’t Denmark, I don’t have to run.” I guess our sprint through the Copenhagen Airport that one time is still a bad memory for her. She was also of the opinion that we could find a way home from Seattle and pick up my truck in Vancouver another day. I wasn’t of the same opinion. The good news is, our plane arrived early and the other plane left later. Still we were only at the gate a couple of minutes when they started boarding.

It was a half hour flight and we were back in Vancouver. The longest wait was for the shuttle to take us back to the hotel where my truck was parked. There was another wait at the border but not nearly as bad as we normally endure.

We took a detour to purchase a birthday cake and drop it off with the granddaughter on the way by. Her birthday was the very next day.

She didn’t know we were coming, but was texting Deb back and forth. Deb texts, “Open the door.” She takes off her headphones to hear me knocking. She was so surprised. She kept asking, “How did you get here?”

An hour later we were home. The house was still standing, and that was good.

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