I may have been guilty of bragging, because when I finished
telling Jan and Mary about our last one-day cruise, plans were already set for
the next one and they were coming along.
It was a simple arrangement, take the train to Seattle,
cruise to Vancouver, then take the train home.
We picked up the Maues and drove over to the train station. I
had told some friends, John and Wendy, a long time ago how much cheaper and
easier it was to take a train to the ship instead of driving and parking. It
was fun to see them at the train station headed for their cruise. They were
going on a weeklong cruise on a Princess ship.
The train ride was so much easier than fighting traffic. We
played card games as we rolled through the landscape. The train goes right next
to the Puget Sound most of the way and had a great view. When we arrived, we
showed the Maues the station, then went outside to find a ride. We tried to
take an Uber, but the taxis were already at the train station, no waiting.
The ship loomed above us but not as large as the one John and
Wendy were taking. It was next door to ours.
Deb kept telling Jan and Mary that our staterooms would be
really small and had no windows. She didn’t want them to be disappointed. Unbeknownst
to Deb, I had upgraded to a balcony, then Holland America sent me another
upgrade opportunity, so I upgraded to a Neptune Suite. They had upgraded to an
aft facing balcony.
Jan was surprised I hadn’t told her but kept my secret.
When we arrived on the ship, I ran ahead. I had an ear to ear
smile by that time and I wanted to see her reaction.
“Clark, what have you done?” was her first reaction. She kept
saying that over and over all the way to the aft facing balcony. It was
awesome. She told me never ever to do that again. But she forgave me quickly.
The fun thing about going on a new ship is exploring it.
However, Deb and I had been on this one twice before, but Jan and Mary hadn’t,
so we enjoyed the ship through their eyes.
After the tour, we all went to our rooms. Most of us were
tired and took naps. Deb sat out and enjoyed our oversized balcony. The alarm
for the ships muster drill woke me up. I know I have to do these, but I don’t
like them. The ship wasn’t full which made for a better experience. We didn’t
get stuck in back of the group. It was over quickly, and we didn’t even have to
bring our life vests.
We watched the ship sail out of Seattle from the aft pool
area. Met a nice couple from Canada and stopped to talk to them for a few
minutes. I even exchanged email addresses. We would run in to them several
times that night.
Dinner was in the main dining room. Jan and Mary hadn’t
experienced that in many years, so we decided not to do the specialty dining.
The best part about the cruise was music row. We went to the show to watch the
dancers then on to dueling pianos. Jan wanted to go to the classical music
after that, but they were playing a really slow song and all of us were falling
asleep, so we went back to the pianos. When they closed, B.B. King Blues Club
was opening. We sat in there, but the speaker was over our head and it was
deafening. Then half the audience stood up to dance and since we were in the
front row, all we could see was wiggling bottoms. The pianos had started again,
so we went back there.
I told Jan and Mary
we were going to party all night, but all of us were out of gas by eleven. All night gets a different meaning at our age.
Back in our cabin,
Deb came out from around the corner in her pajamas. She smiled, “I got dressed
in the dressing room. I’ve never done that before.”
A long with the
normal amount of closets, there was three extra with a small desk that includes
a makeup mirror and three large mirrors right in front of the bathroom. In the
bathroom there is a shower and a separate jetted tub, two sinks. The bathroom was
in fact a lot larger than the one I have at home. I could get used to this.
After sitting out on
the balcony for a few minutes, we headed to bed.
The next morning
three of us availed ourselves of the omelet station. Deb does not like eggs for
breakfast. We were delayed clearing customs by some passengers who they needed
to talk to. It was a lengthy list the first time. “You have to come down here
or you can’t disembark.”
“Oh, darn,” I
thought. “I can do another seven to seventy days in that stateroom.”
The list got shorter
every time the announcement came on. After about five times calling people, we
were cleared to go ashore. We took our bags to the train station and checked
them in. It was nice not having to lug them everywhere. Buying tickets for the
False Creek Ferry, we took it out to the Vancouver Maritime Museum and then
Granville Island.
I love maritime
museums. There are two main ones in Canada, the one in Vancouver and the one in
Halifax. I’ve been lucky to have been to both of them. Granville Island has a
large market at which you can get all sorts of fun foods. I found butter tarts.
The last time I had a butter tart was in St. John on the East coast of Canada.
I bought four to share. Deb asked, “I thought you bought four?”
“One had a bad
accident, but the other three are still there.” They were good and I was half
tempted to eat them all before Jan and Mary found out about them, but I refrained.
We ate lunch there, each of us buying our food at a different place then taking
it to the table we staked out.
We walked around
Granville Island and looked at all the fun places to shop. Mary enjoyed the art
galleries as she is an artist. The ferry was a destination in and of itself.
You sail along, barely inches above the waterline and the driver of the boat
sits in the middle of it with his head in a rise in the center of the boat. It
only holds about a dozen people.
We walked back to the
train station after the boat ride. This too is a scenic trip once you get out of
Vancouver. We arrived home around eight that night.
Cruise Books by Deb Graham
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