It was an email from Princess that brought our attention to
this $79 three days cruise. A price like that is hard to ignore. In the end we
couldn’t do that sailing so we found another that was just a few dollars more.
We upgraded from that too, because we wanted a mid-ship cabin as the Pacific
Ocean can be rough sometimes.
The dollar amount was bumped up to $85. Still very
reasonable, so we booked it. It was a last minute deal so we couldn’t change
our mind the moment we paid for the cruise.
Life had been very stressful and I was dealing with a
difficult situation so one night at work I decided that I needed more than an
inside cabin. I called Princess and upgraded us to a balcony. I didn’t tell Deb
as I wanted it to be a surprise. It shouldn’t matter to her since I was taking
the money out of my own stash and not the family budget.
Packing Pre-Cruise
I learned a new phrase on this trip; Move over offer. I’d
never heard of such a thing. I also learned that if you wait too long to call
them back, you lose out and the offer goes away. In my own defense, the email
was a little vague. I showed it to a friend of mine at work and he said that it
looked to him like they were offering me a free seven day cruise, a total
refund of my cruise, I had booked in the form of an onboard credit and enough
money to cover the cost of the airfare, if I’d give up this cruise and book
another. The cruise line had overbooked this trip. He was right.
So I called back and left a message like I should have done
seven hours earlier. Since I didn’t see the email for three hours after it was
sent, I was now ten hours behind. I saw a problem though. I was still keeping
the balcony secret from Deb. I was on my way to bed as I work nights, but
expecting the cruise line to return my call. I told Deb, ‘please answer my
phone if it rings, oh, and don’t argue with them.’
I could see the conversation going like, “We want your
balcony stateroom so we are giving you a free seven day cruise.”
“We don’t have a balcony.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, we don’t”
“Yes, you do.”
Etc.
Deb just looked at me with that ‘I don’t argue with
everyone,’ look and said, “Okay.”
Princess was nice enough to let me know that I had missed
out. The problem was they called during a major presentation that my wife was
giving on self-publishing. I had to run out into the hall to answer the phone.
She didn’t miss a beat so I didn’t disturb her.
Still, it could be worse. I had the three day cruise and
instead of going on a seven day sometime in the future, I was going on the
three day one in a week.
We met Kim at the train station. We had talked to her on
Cruise Critic. It’s an online message board. Since we were both going on the
cruise, we agreed to share a cab in Vancouver. We recognized her right away as
she was the only one in the station with a Minnie Mouse roller bag. It was a
present, she assured us. Still it made her real easy to find.
It turns out more than half the train was going on the
cruise. Okay, it wasn’t a scientific poll, but someone asked if we were going
on the cruise and we said yes and everyone around us chimed in.
I asked the security guard at the station if the train was
going to be on time. “I doubt it,” he replied. Luckily, it was only twenty
minutes late. The train seems to always run a little late.
It was a smooth ride and we enjoyed the scenery. The seats
had tray tables so Deb and I broke out the playing cards. The couple across
from us asked what we were playing so I taught them the game. It’s called three
blind mice. Everyone was really friendly.
When we arrived in Vancouver, the announced plan was to let
the business class, in car number one, out first. The problem there was the
baggage car was in the back of train, so everyone would have to wait for them
to walk the entire length of the train, collect their bags, and then walk back the
entire length of the train then repeat the same process for car two and so on.
We were in car four so we were going to be there awhile.
A conductor came in and said, “If you don’t have luggage to
collect, you can leave the train.” We only had carry-ons so we jumped out.
Another conductor saw what she was doing and barked, “no no
no.” Apparently she should have started with the business class in car one, not
us regular folk in car four. This cat was already out of the bag, however, and I
was not going to get back in. We made it through security in record time.
We went out and flagged down a cab. It was then we notice
that Kim wasn’t with us. She was inside taking selfies all over the train
station and exchanging her money to Canadian for the fifteen minute ride to
Canada Place. I went in and got her. Then we were on our way.
When we arrived at Canada place I asked the cab driver what
the exchange rate was. He said it was pretty well even. I knew better as I sell
books in Canada and that month I only got 75 cents on the dollar. Rather than
argue with the man, I just paid him. He had a big smile on his face as he drove
away. He could have waited until he was out of sight to gloat at least.
Canada place had completely changed. Instead of going through
security first, you go and get your cruise card first. This is where we parted
ways with Kim. She had to do the regular line, but we had skip the line,
‘Priority Boarding.’ There must have been a thousand people in that line, but
there were only six in front of us.
Vancouver Sky Line from Ship
We breezed through and were at security in no time. That was
easy too, it wasn’t until we hit customs that the line came to a dead stop. It
was so bad, they directed you to a chair and had you sit down while you wait,
and it was a long wait. I have had to wait three and a half hours in line
before at Vancouver so I know how bad it is. They have made improvements, but
they still have a long way to go compared to other ports.
Deb had heard a kid complain as they passed us. “Mustard
drill, why do I have to go to the mustard drill? I don’t even like mustard.”
Ruby Princess at Canada Place
When the chairs emptied out, we were finally let free to go
through security. Once standing, the line went quickly. I was so happy to be on
the ship. I started relaxing right away. We made our way up to the stateroom
where Deb was going to get a big surprise. I let her lead the way. When she
opened the door and looked in she said, “What? This isn’t right! Clark, what
have you done?” I didn’t take her a minute to walk out on the balcony. Tears rolled
down her cheeks, “I’ve been so stressed. I really wasn’t all that excited about
an inside cabin. This is wonderful.”
Looking out, so much better than an inside
Throughout the day she would turn and say, “How did you get
away with that?”
Apparently, I suck at keeping secrets, but this time I completely
snowed her. I didn’t want to let slip, so I had not told a single soul about
the upgrade.
We made our way up to the buffet. I wasn’t impressed, to
tell you the truth. I couldn’t even pronounce some of the dishes. I tried a
little of most things. I was hoping to be wowed, but I just wasn’t. Don’t get
me wrong, the food was good and all but not as good as I have had on other Princess
ships.
We were going to have a tight squeeze, schedule wise. We had
the muster drill at four, then the cruise critic get together after that. It
wasn’t an official meet and mingle, just something we had arranged online. Then
there was an exclusive gathering that we got to go to because we are Platinum
members of the Captain’s Circle. Then dinner was at five thirty.
View from the balcony
The tight schedule got tighter when they announced that the
muster was going to be at four twenty, then it was pushed to four thirty.
Vancouver was living up to its reputation of being slow to embark passengers.
Even when we gathered for the muster I could still see people making their way
onboard. It wasn’t until four forty five until the muster started. We had to
run to put away our life jackets which was up six flights of stairs. The
elevators were jam packed. We then ran from venue to venue in a ‘Hi, Bye’
fashion and still made it on time for dinner, almost.
Back of the ship with Canada Place in the background
We had a set dining time so you have the same people for
dinner day after day. We had a couple for Los Angeles to sit with. The other
couple at our table didn’t show up. Dinner was better than lunch, but then
again, I have had some fantastic foods on Princess before and this wasn’t on
the same level. I guess my expectations were too high or the food has gone down
hill since my last cruise.
Then there was the show. It was a little comedy and a little
singing and dancing. I enjoyed it. Then off to bed.
I woke up at five and couldn’t get back to sleep so I got up
and started writing. My Princess of the Seas, who has threatened me with bodily
harm if I woke her, was let to sleep in. She hates it when I go out to explore
the ship in the middle of the night because the door slams behind me and it
disturbs her. So my writing is better for her. The problem with that is, I
can’t turn on a light, so it’s hard to see the keyboard while typing. It usually doesn’t matter because I can type
with my eyes closed, but the keyboard on my palm top is so small that it is a
two finger, hunt and peck operation.
The Atrium or Piazza as they call it
After Sunshine wakes up we go down to the dinning room to
eat. I try the frittata. Never had it before. It was good, but they put too
much mushroom in it and overwhelmed the eggs. It starts to rain so my dream of
a warm sunny vacation soaking in the pool was by the wayside.
All those people who are normally sunbathing are now
clogging the activities. That’s okay though because the more the merrier, so to
speak. We go to trivia, but only come in second. No prizes for us.
All of the activities that we are really excited about are
all scheduled at the same time so we can only do one. At this point, my
schedule is so inside out that I’m falling asleep every time I sit down. Deb
has pity on me and lets me take a nap, but she misses afternoon tea because of
me. Come to find out later it was mobbed, so maybe it wasn’t all that bad she
missed it.
Rear Pool Area
I somehow managed not open a door all the way and smash my
knee into it. It hurt really badly. After that, every time I go up some stairs
(and this ship has a lot of stairs), it gives me grief. The problem is, I have
no one to blame but myself.
The other couple that wasn’t at dinner the night before
showed up this time. It turns out that they have two houses. One in Washington
near us and one in California, near the other couple at the table. They were
able to relate to both of us.
At dinner, none of the appetizers looked go so I ordered two
main dishes. The waiter bought one for an appetizer and the other for the main
course. Both of them were on the small size so I wasn’t over full. In fact I
would have liked a little more food. Dinner was on the bland side. I had to
salt my food, which I usually don’t do on ships. One guy had a bottle of
tabasco sauce, which got passed around to two other people. That was very telling I thought.
Love that smile
My Princess of the Seas
The show was singing and dancing by the production crew.
They have some talented people for sure. Then we headed straight to bed, after
spending time on the balcony of course.
I got up at 4am and tried everything I knew of to get back
to sleep. Watching TV, reading, or just lying there for the longest time.
Nothing worked. I got up and started writing. Got day two done.
My sleeping beauty of course didn’t stir until around eight.
At that time we went to breakfast. I did try something called muesli. I have
had it in the boxes as dry cereal but nothing like this. It was all fresh
ingredients. It was an explosion of flavor. Not a good explosion, but like in
war when the good and the bad are fighting each other. The good was mostly
winning so I ignored the bad and ate it all. I had been craving some bold
flavors this cruise and I finally got some. It would be the first and the last
time for that.
I also had eggs bacon and pancakes, the usual breakfast
fare. After breakfast it was time for trivia. This time we won. Got a Princess
magnet clip. I had complained that we needed magnets and now we had some.
Big guy making a fool of himself
We watched a game on the ship. It was their take on minute
to win it. I got volunteered so I made a fool of myself and didn’t win
anything. Sigh. My task was to pick up coffee beans and transfer them with a
pair of chopsticks. Maybe Deb’s right; if I’d try to like Asian foods, I’d have
better chopstick skills.
Checking out the Ship
Lunch was just okay, except for the egg rolls. They were
nummy. By this point I was so tired that I was dizzy so I went to take a nap. I
missed afternoon tea. *Darn*. I also missed majority rules and that would have
been fun.
The sun finally came out so there was a mass migration to
the pools, hot tubs, and sun decks. When we went to the five o’clock reception,
we could see a hot tub out the window, it must have had almost twenty people in
it.
Selfie
We only had the original couple at dinner. The other ones
didn’t show up. I tried the southern fried chicken. It was bland. Even the jerk
chicken I had the night before was bland and I knew that jerk chicken should be
very, very spicy.
It might sound like I’m a foodie, I’m not. They didn’t even
put the basic stuff on this food like salt and pepper.
We then went to watch the comedian. I would give him a six
point five out of ten. Deb didn’t even like him that much.
At the Buffet
It was Deb’s turn to be tired so she went to bed. I went to
the show.
Let me start out by saying I think that singers and dancers
are talented, but they should give them better things to work with rather than
the piece of convoluted miss mash that was the show. It was called Once Upon A
Dream.
It started out with a girl singing in her bed room and had a
stalker angel hiding behind her bed. That would be enough to give someone
nightmares. I guess it was suppose to be a guardian angel, but if you find a
male angel hiding in your bedroom, watching you, are you going to be okay with
that or are you going to scream?
Then it went to an Alice and Wonderland tea party. I would
have left at that point, but by now I was boxed in as several people had come
in to fill out the row. The story went to the forest and an evil forest queen
was attacked and killed, or maybe just knocked out, by the stalker angel who
appears in every scene. That’s how you know he was stalking her.
Then it went to under the sea, Little Mermaid style. After
that the story was transposed back to Alice in wonderland. Then we end up in
Arabia, complete with two camels. The worst part was when they end up in what I
suppose was 17th century France. At this points they chopped up a
whole lot of Beatle’s songs. It was a verse here and a chorus there and they sang
them all in a hosh posh fashion with no rhyme or reason to it.
In the end the girl ends up back in her bedroom then after
she waked all of the characters come out to take a bow.
I would skip this one.
Rain Squalls
The cruise is over so fast. Sigh. Three day cruses just are
not long enough, but we have unstressed and that was the goal.
I set a wakeup call for early, but it didn’t matter as my
normal sleeplessness struck again. We were already at breakfast when the phone
would have rang anyway. We had a simple breakfast but the food wasn’t very
warm. I didn’t finish mine.
Ice Carving
Sunset on the last day of the cruise
Even though Deb just had a small amount of food it made her
sick. This became a problem later on. We were supposed to be in the second
group off the ship, but since we had an 11:30 flight, we lined up with the
first group, hoping they wouldn’t notice. They didn’t. All this was wasted
during Deb’s first stop to the bathroom. We then got into a very long taxi
line. The taxis were just trickling in and I watched as 25 minutes ticked off
the clock and we were still in line. The guys behind us had an 11:30 flight
also, but out of LAX, which is a lot further and he wasn’t as worried as I was.
I kept thinking back to Copenhagen where we barely made the flight. That trip
has scarred my emotions.
Los Angeles
Finally it was our turn. Just as we got onto the bridge from
San Pedro to Long Beach Deb announced that she was going to be sick, like right
now. Our chatty, calm taxi driver suddenly turned into Mario Andretti as we blew
past a lot of cars and trucks. He stopped at a hotel just in time. I noticed
that he left the meter running while she was in the bathroom.
The airport was a lot closer than I remembered and we
arrived there in plenty of time. We smiled when Deb printed out the boarding
passes because we had TSA precheck. That was going to save us even more time.
So we thought.
The first problem was that I have a zippered pocket in these
pants that is way down the side and it had a camera in it. I set off the alarm,
much to my surprise. I took off my shoes. I set it off again, I took off my
belt. Each time I checked my normal four pockets and there was nothing in them.
The third time the lady noticed my side pocket had a bulge, I then found the
camera.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the xray person was flagged my
cpap machine for a bag check. She would call out ‘Bag check on 3.’ There would
be no response. Three to five minutes later she would call it out again, still
no response.
The lady was flagging every fourth bag, and by this time
there was a line of people waiting for their luggage. She needed to be trained
on how to recognize things like cpap machines and hair dryers; instead she was
flagging those items for secondary screening. All the other lines that were not
TSA precheck were moving along nicely, I noticed.
The man behind me was really getting irritated and started
complaining loudly. When the secondary screener finally came up after about 22
minutes, he got an earful. He took the two people behind me and him instead of
taking us.
“Why do they get to go before us?” the man bellowed.
“If you don’t like how I do things you can talk to a
supervisor, but since I am the supervisor, it won’t do you any good.”
I could hear the screener thinking, ‘I am the god of this
airport, you should tremble before me, you mere mortal.’
I just sat there saying nothing. Arguing with those people
is like talking to a brick wall. Except the brick wall can’t make your life
miserable.
He finally found time for us after rearranging the trays, to
check my bag. He had to send it back through the xray machine even after I told
him what it was. After deciding that there was no explosives in it, and he did
check for that also, he let me go.
I turned to Deb, “Thank goodness we had precheck. It saved
us all kinds of time.”
I dozed on and off during the flight home. Deb only woke up
a time or two. “It’s nice not having to go through that safety drill,” she
commented.
She had slept through it.
Our daughter picked us up from the shuttle station and even
cooked us dinner.
The cruise itself was wonderful. The food was only so so,
but I didn’t starve to death. I loved the ship and the crew. Entertainment was
good. I would do this cruise again, the only problem was the bland food.
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Cruise Books by Deb Graham
