bluenoser2

Vitamin SEA!  I love it.  So does Florence.  She's getting a little antsy in her vacay drawer (can a Zebra get ANTSy?).  And we STILL have yet to plan the next cruise.  There will be a next cruise, just don't know when or where yet.  The Mr. is casting furtive glances at RCL's Symphony of the Seas.....and then settles in with a Princess Cruise Atlas to comfort himself......I leave it to him.  I'll just report about it when it's final.  Happy day everyone!  

Wow!  We were in A611 so we probably said hi in the hallway at some point.  Next cruise I may have to  put an 8x10 glossy of Flo on our door so people know where she is!   The Mr. might not agree with that idea. But thanks for everyone's kind words.  I just enjoy reliving the  cruise through my strange review!   

And we were on the cruise that would have been this week, a few years ago, and the weather was lovely (except really cold in Halifax!).  I have a friend on the cruise this week, and she just texted me this morning that they had to cancel Saint John, much to her disappointment.  Tricky working with high tide and winds.  Just became a day at sea for them.  The weather this week wasn't great, but they've had a great time anyway.  If you're wanting to see the fall colours, it's kind of a gamble I suppose, but September 29 would probably be too early most years, but you never know!  

(Bar Harbor, October 21, 2015)

Thanks all!  And Diane, we were in Kelowna too but we forgot to get Flo out for any photo ops!   The Okanagan is my home area - born in Summerland (home of the sheep we visited which I forgot to mention!)

September 29, Saturday :DISEMBARKATION Seattle

So there it was.  Our little Ruby cruise.  The final morning – I actually had a good sleep during that incredibly long voyage from Victoria to Seattle.  We ate, we strolled the part of the Promenade deck not being used for disembarking, and we got out of our room before 8:00 like the good travelers we are.  We got ourselves to the Platinum disembarkation lounge – The Crown Grille – and stood for a bit as all the seats were taken upon our arrival.  We soon were able to sit, so  I did take the opportunity to have one last spot of tea as we waited.  Everything was done properly and in good time, and we were leaving the ship right on schedule. 

Leaving the terminal, it was interesting to see the lineup of men going up the escalator getting ready to board the Ruby for her drydock time.  I think it was 1700 workers that were going aboard.  It just didn’t look like the usual group of cruise goers!  Not that I’m stereotyping.  I wouldn’t do that.  It was just INTERESTING. 

We took Seattle Express to the airport.  Again, their service was excellent, and I highly recommend them.  The trip to the airport was much quicker than our ride to the port, since there were no stops along the way. 

There’s lots more I could regale you with, but that would be our land portion of our vacation, which really doesn’t qualify for this board.  Maybe just a few more pics of Florence, because she’d like that.  

All in all, it was a good cruise.  Not our most favourite cruise, but when you’re the west coast of North America in late September, it’s hard to compete with the Mediterranean in April for favourite voyage.  The Ruby was lovely, and we had no complaints about the service, or the ship itself.  Everything worked.  Everyone was courteous, friendly, and made our trip a great one.  The entertainment was not stellar, but that is always a very subjective topic. 

I think this cruise was the first time The Mr. and I decided we are ready to try Traditional dining rather than Anytime which we’ve always chosen up to this point.  We realize we do tend to eat at the same (early) time every night, so if it were possible to snag a table for two in Traditional dining, we might just do it next trip.  But we’ll have to wait and see how we feel about it then.  Who knows where the next voyage will take us?  We sure don’t.  The Mr. is actually looking at non-Princess cruise lines just to try something different.  But there’s that British Isles cruise taunting us as well, and that would have to be Princess….but it’s the Crown and we’ve already been on the Crown, and The Mr. doesn’t like to repeat ships.  Sigh.  I leave it all to his wisdom.  I just dress Florence.  And myself.  And that’s all I have to say about that. 
 

Florence visiting the site of the Hope B.C. landslide of 1965.  She's a bit of a history buff.

Florence visits my friend's sheep farm.  She was a bit alarmed.  I reminded her they were sheep.

She liked them when they kept their distance. 

(Definitely not time to go swimming now that it was October....Salmon Arm, B.C. )

And she couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about when we visited Adam's River....

The whole idea of the Salmon Run was lost on her, but we found it fascinating.  

We all agreed the visit to the Shuswap Pie Company was well worth it, all warm and comforting after our chilly day at the river.

She did enjoy our visit to Grouse Mountain when we returned to Vancouver.  

The snow encountered on the Coquihalla Pass was completely unnecessary however. 

Congratulations to those of you who made it to the end.  If I ever get to meet you on a future cruise, I’ll be sure to treat you to something in celebration of your patience!  Until then, Florence is waving to you from her drawer, and I bid you farewell for now!  The Mr. is off fixing something, but I’m sure he’d like to greet you warmly as well. 

(The reason you don't see many selfies....we just aren't good at taking them.   Ask our kids.)

When we arrived back at port, we noted that the Grand Princess, in its embarrassment to have parked nose in instead of backing in to its spot, had left and been replaced by the Norwegian Bliss.  This was the only time we were in an actual line-up to get back on the ship, past the checkpoint.  But we were sharing with the Star Princess line-up so that explained it. 

With VERY tired legs and feet, we didn’t even give the elevators a glance, but trudged (slowly, ever so slowly) up the stairs.  That long flight from 7 to 8 is a killer, and every time I got to 11, I just wanted to express my desire to The Mr. that he save himself and leave me behind.  I should mention that this was the day that I did cast a glance at the International Café and saw the SIGN for Chicken salad, but, no salad was present.  It just was never meant to be on this voyage. 

Back at the dining room shortly after 5:00, we had no trouble getting a “table for 2” and I use that term loosely, since the table next to us wasn’t even 2 inches away from us.  American Dinner, and The Mr. was hungry.  His last chance for Alfredo as an app and he took it.  I took the honey-garlic ribs (AS AN APP!).  When it was served, I knew it would have been perfect as a main course, but I ate every last speck of meat (because that’s what my Mama taught me “EAT THE MEAT” when dining out…), and let The Mr. tackle my fries.  I had to have the watermelon with feta and mint that I always like.  The Mr. had turkey for his main and I had surf and turf.  And there it was.  Finally.  Asparagus.  I had waited all week, and this was my only asparagus.  Everything was lovely.  For dessert we each tackled a slice of cheesecake with a Princess Love Boat Dream in the middle of the table to share.  The Cheesecake won. 

Returning to the room where the four-letter word we didn’t want to utter had to be done.  Yup.  P.A.C.K. Sigh.  Florence was clinging to the bed sheets in horror as she realized the end was near.  No more chocolates on the bed after tonight?  Could it be?  She was a little hysterical, so we paused in our packing and headed to The Voice of the Ocean finale, where I got a voting device, which meant we felt obligated to stay until the end.   Struggling to stay awake, we did stay, and I did vote.  Apparently so did 80% of the audience.  For the guy that won.  I could have left.  He didn’t need me.  Ah well….I missed the election at home while being away – had to vote for SOMEONE!

Returning to our room, we finished the P word, and obediently stuck our luggage out in the hall.  Fortunately, we did so only after making sure that what we wanted in our checked baggage was where it was supposed to be, because it disappeared so quickly there would have been no time to change our minds. 

Time for one last night time visit to Horizon Court, where we exhibited control (and preparation for re-entry) by only having cookies and lemonade.  Really.  Just the cookies.  And the lemonade.  Nothing else. 

Victoria......

Beacon Hill park is just a lovely place to stroll, so we did.  We admired ducks (I may not be a birder, but I am fairly confident that they were ducks) in the pond, and peahens on picnic tables (remind me not to lunch thereabouts).  They were terrorizing a squirrel who was trying to go about his day, when we asked ourselves, “Selves, where are the peacocks?  Where there are peahens shouldn’t there be peacocks?”  As we dragged our tired feet from their resting spot and continued on our way, stopping to admire the rosebushes, there they were.  Roses.  And peacocks.  Hiding.  In the Roses.  Like a Man Cave, except prettier.  Which you’d kind of expect.  From peacocks.  Nothing like a little visual competition.  Lots of peacocks, quietly skulking about, hiding from the peahens.  Sometimes you just need time away I guess.  Now I know, Beacon Hill is NOT Butchart Gardens, but there were some gorgeous rose gardens to gaze at, and so we did, before continuing on our hike.  I am going to call it a hike now instead of a walk because by this point, I kept checking my GPS and really just wanting to get CLOSER to the ship and not farther away. 

Serendipity reared her lovely head, and as we turned a corner, there it was.  Not the ship.  That would be too easy.  The world’s tallest totem pole.  Just standing there, minding its own business in the corner of a field.  We dutifully admired it and made our way to the walkway that would lead us, yes, closer to the ship. 

Along the way we took time to see Mile Zero of the Trans Canada Highway, most likely annoying tour bus drivers with our efforts to cross the road in doing so.  We crossed ever so apologetically of course.  Because that’s who we are. 

Then we made our way back to the ship.  Someday I will clock all the miles we walked on our port days and fully justify all the desserts we ate.  “Someday” will be a very busy day. 

Back on the street, we passed the Legislative Buildings, The Empress Hotel, and made our way to the mall for an A&W root beer while we discussed our plan of attack on Victoria.  The miles we had accumulated were starting to take a toll on my tootsies and I was glad for a sit-down break!   Not for long though, and we were off to the famous (albeit unknown to us before this jaunt) Munro Bookstore.  It was lovely inside, all old and big, and while The Mr. performed his Test of a Bookstore in the Science Fiction category, I enjoyed browsing everywhere else. Apparently it passed the test….marginally.

 Following that, we inspected the Roger’s Chocolate store, but left empty handed.  I am still finding it hard to imagine that The Mr. made it through the entire vacation without purchasing a single ounce of fudge.  It’s not like him. 

A quick stroll through Canada's oldest (and North America's second oldest) Chinatown:

We browsed in a few more shops, and then made our way back to the government buildings, before starting our big walk of the day to Beacon Hill.  The word “hill” struck a small chord of fear in me after Astoria, but looking around, I remembered Victoria wasn’t too threatening in the alpine category.  I’m a native of British Columbia and had only been to Victoria once and that did not include sightseeing to my recollection, so this was a fantastic day to walk and check everything out.  Totem poles and all. 

Victoria....the walkabout continues heading downtown on the David Foster Harbour Pathway....or as we like to call it....the path)

(An even more discrete photo of the float home neighbourhood)

Our first stop was the Robert Bateman Centre.  For those of you not in the know, Bateman is a famous Canadian artist who is renowned for his nature paintings.  This was our one and only “museum/gallery” stop on our whole trip.  Why, you ask?  Just let me tell you, because The Mr. would want me to, I know.  Long ago and far away, in the land of Ontario, Robert Bateman was a high school art teacher.  And not just any high school art teacher, but THE MR.’s high school art teacher!  There!  That’s why we had to go and why The Mr. was photographing parts of the Bateman Timeline on the wall.  I just enjoyed the whole visit, and I’m not always the best at browsing through a gallery. 

After our intake of arts and refined culture, we continued on our way to find more arts, and slightly less refined culture.  (This next one is quite possibly my favourite picture of the trip, or at least Victoria.)

Get it?

Florence got it.  Slightly less impressed than I was.  

SEPTEMBER 28, Friday:  VICTORIA, B.C.

The night before, the Captain….er…Commodore came on the public address system as we were dining.  When he said a change had to be made for the port of Victoria, a hush fell over the entire dining room.  Way to get everyone’s attention!  The proverbial pin would have been proverbially heard for sure.  He played his part well, hesitating in all the right places to make everyone panic, using words like “As you know….”  “Ruby …. going into drydock…...”  “loading supplies….”, “change must be made to our port time in Victoria”……….Well, after all that with a dining room full of people with raised steak knives, he said the magic words, “the port time has been changed….” (another dramatic pause).  The gist of it all was that instead of 11:00 – 6:00, we had from 11:00 to 8:30 p.m. in Victoria.  A cheer arose, once everyone caught up to the information.  Knives were lowered, and chatter began once again. 

So when The Mr. had chosen the location of our cabin, he excitedly told me how close it was to the self-serve laundromat, just a couple of doors away.  What?  No more dragging our laundry all the way down the hall to find that the machines were already in use?  No.  Not for us, we had a laundromat close by!  (Control your excitement, I know….some of you are SO jealous)  So when we went to use it this fine morning (we did have another week of land based travel following the cruise, which necessitated our needing to freshen up again), we discovered that the token machine was out of order.  That meant The Mr. had to travel a couple of floors down to find a token machine that worked so we could do our laundry.  It wasn’t until he returned that I mentioned, “wasn’t there a laundromat on the other side of this floor?”  He was not amused by my helpfulness.  Well, at least the machines were free to use!  Not free, available.  You know what I mean.

We breakfasted during the wash cycle and read and relaxed in our room for the dry time.  Following all that excitement we stepped it up a notch and moved our books and ourselves to the Library to do our puzzles and for me, to finish my library book before the cruise ended!  (I did.)

We went up on the forward deck to watch the approach into Victoria (and this is why we get inside rooms – we are always wanting to be in different viewing spots anyway all over the ship and we just “read” in our room) where, we would experience the warmest temperatures of the whole cruise!  Yay Canada! As our Commodore (or whoever it is that does such stuff) proved their prowess at backing into their parking spot (The Grand Princess was already there, and she did NOT back in!) we enjoyed the antics of one seagull in particular – as long as he didn’t get too close.  Come too close and we are so out of here. 

We decided on an early 11:00 lunch before leaving the ship and walked off around 11:30, and tried out this city’s pedestrian walkway – another beautifully designed path.  Gazing back at the sight of not one, not two, but three Princess ships neatly docked side by side, we tripped, and then opted to watch where we were going and headed for the downtown area.  On this voyage I saw many “float homes” which intrigued me, and there were more here at Fisherman’s Wharf.  We tried not to gawk, and maintain our cool factor, snapping photos inconspicuously. 

(Star Princess was not to be outdone and backed in proficiently as well.)

(that's a pretty discrete distance for a photo, right?  As The Mr. said, "if they didn't like people wandering all about their neighbourhood they wouldn't live here."   How do you argue with that?)

SEPTEMBER 27, Thursday:  AT SEA

Do you hear it?  That melancholy sound?  All night?  Plaintively calling out?  This is the first cruise I remember hearing the fog horn on the ship as we traveled, and I must say I liked it.  Even though I heard it during the night several times, I did not begrudge its mournful tones.  We had not one but two nights in a row where it was sounding most of the night.    Just sayin’. 

OK, and now, for something completely different, there have been cruises where my souvenirs have been collections of things people said.  Or collections of people who photo-bombed perfectly good photos, and thus made those photos way better than before!  Well, on this cruise I have only one thing someone said to add to my collection.  Here it is.  The Mr. was up on Deck 16, when he overheard a passenger ask a couple of people this: “I know the sun sets in the west, and I know we are now heading north.  So it’s late afternoon.  Why is the sun on the east side of the ship now?”  The answer?  “Ma’am, you’re facing the back of the ship.” 

(How The Mr. does selfies.)

Anyway…….it was a lazy morning for us but The Mr. still was up early for his walk.  In the dark.  In the dark fog.  In the dark slightly damp fog.  Only one side of the Promenade deck was open that morning as the other side was too wet. 

I remembered to have my omelette this morning finally, and while I did certainly enjoy it, I assured The Mr. that he is the BEST omelette maker I know, and it came nowhere near to his standard.   Florence chose to sleep in until Savio booted her out. 

We dragged Florence out of her cozy spot, and got her to do some touring around the ship with us.  

(the Library....had a little trouble with the day 7 sudoku, but I helped her.)

Most of the morning was a blur of shopping since we still had OBC to use up – we don’t normally have very much, and we hadn’t been aware of this perk in our booking until AFTER we paid in advance for our gratuities.  Being the wild and crazy Canucks that we are, with no gambling or imbibing, we still had a lot of non-refundable credit to use up!  What a dilemma!  That magnet really didn’t eat into the OBC much at all so I purchased another chai to think this all through. 

If you ever need a coach for spending very little on a cruise, we are your team.  We did it though – we spent it all and fit it all back into our luggage later.  Score.

The wind was too strong to attempt the front end of the Promenade walk (it WAS open, we just didn’t feel like braving it), so we did several laps avoiding it.  The first sea day had looked much rougher, but we didn’t feel a thing that day, and this day there was some mild motion, but not enough to affect us adversely. 

Formal night again, so in our desire to avoid pictures, we ended up at Michelangelo at 4:50 and got a table immediately.  By 5:10 the place was pretty full!  We both had the shrimp cocktail to say we had, and we both had the Beef Wellington, with the Chocolate Journey dessert to finish off.  It was really delicious. 

Since we had eaten so early, we had time to enjoy 30 minutes of Lou Gazzara’s singing talents (I DID like his singing!) in the Explorer Lounge before joining the rather extensive line-up to go to the Platinum/Elite Captain’s Circle reception.  No door prizes were won by us but it’s always fun to see how many days the most traveled have accumulated. 

Monterey, California continued........more walking!

We arrived at Cannery Row when many places were not open yet, but there was a long line-up at the Aquarium just beginning to go in.  Lots of candy stores in the area, and fun to stroll through.  The obligatory magnet was secured, and we were on our way. 

Back past the ship, we continued on our pathway and noted the Dr. Seuss-like vegetation and looked with admiration at the cacti at the State Historic Park.  

We toured the beach area and made our way through Old Monterey before going back to the ship around 12:30. 

Once on board, you KNOW what I did.  I checked the International Café.  For the elusive chicken salad.  Not there again.  It was the refrain of my voyage.  I settled for a cheeseburger after climbing up to Lido, with a side of crab cakes and salad just to redeem myself. 

In the afternoon we did our respective activities and ended up together at one point by the pool.  There was no problem on this cruise getting seats right by the pool!  Did we actually use the pool?  No, we did not.  But we could have.  We just didn’t.  The afternoon was spent happily listening to the seals in the background and enjoying the views when we chose to walk around.  The fog returned as we were preparing to leave Monterey for points north on our journey. 

We attended the 6:15 comedian show in theatre, but while I know a lot of cruisers love Steve Moris, we find a little of him goes a long way.  We do really like it when he plays guitar though!  The Mr. wasn’t up to supper tonight, so he accompanied me up to the buffet later where I ate, and he watched.  Nothing memorable, except the pecan pie for dessert! 

SEPTEMBER 26, Wednesday:  MONTEREY, California

Deciding that today we did not have to be the first off the ship, we took it easy and weren’t up to breakfast until the decadent hour of 7:00 a.m.!  Every morning I forgot about the made-for-you omelettes and today was no exception as I happily ate my oatmeal.  Yes. I said it.  Happily.  It’s who I am.  An oatmeal lover. 

It was another foggy start to the day as we checked the skies on Lido before trooping off to Michelangelo to get our numbers for a tender to get to shore.  It must have been just after 8 when we arrived in the dining room, and there were several people there but not crowded.  The staff commented that we were the wise ones, as it would get VERY busy in another hour or so.  We arrived on shore at 9:00 a.m. after grinning our way through the choruses of all the seals as we entered the harbour.  Because you just can’t be sad with seals around.  Well, I can’t.  Florence either. 

Another city with a lovely walking path close to the tender dock, after getting through all the shops designed to greet the cruise passenger (I was amazed at how many restaurant type places there were!), we headed to the right, and began our journey to Cannery Row.  Along the way, if I were a birder, and I’m not, there were several varieties of interesting birds to view on the rocks in the water below the pathway.  I can be appreciative of the species, but I really know nothing about it, as my children will attest to – “Mom what’s that bird over there?”  “I don’t know dear, but if I were going to name it, I would call it a chickadee”.   More seals, more birds, and visions of our ship in the lessening fog made for a very pleasant walk. 

Janet!  I kept thinking, wouldn't it be cool, if some day when we pull Florence out for a candid shot somewhere, someone recognized her!  We were so close, and yet so far......there's always next cruise!  Someday we will meet in person! 

SAN FRANCISCO...end of the day

We wore our feet out browsing the shops of the piers and made it back to the ship by 5:30. Yes, we had until 10:30 p.m. to spend in the great San Francisco, but I was cold, and we were tuckered out, and felt we had done all we set out to accomplish. 

After getting ready for dinner, we went to Michelangelo and (silly us) again asked as usual for a table for two.  Such a little thing (literally) to ask for but no, there was no table for two to be had.  Apparently, we were not the only ones not out to take advantage of the late evening in the big city.  We took our little pager, which by now we had affectionately named Paige since we were becoming emotionally attached to her,  and not 5 minutes later she began her dance and we were called back and sent up to Da Vinci.  Ah,  I get it, the traditional diners were the ones making use of the late stay in San Francisco!  I had some Alaskan Crab legs for dinner since it seemed the right thing to do…. but only one order, not several as I noticed some of our neighbours doing.  Tonight, I had the Princess Love Boat Dream for dessert, because I must have  it at least once on every voyage. 

That done, we looked in on the performer in the theatre, but after hearing him wax eloquent on how he followed the likes of Michael Buble, when he began singing, we didn’t hear any resemblance, and took our leave.   This voyage had the least entertaining entertainment of any we’ve been on.  Oh no!  Are we becoming jaded?  Heaven forbid.  We may have to take another Carnival voyage to snap ourselves out of it.  I’m sure one Hairy Chest contest will have us begging for Princess again. 

We returned to our little cave to rest and read (I actually DID read for the record, and it was The Mr. who had to drag himself out of a comatose state to return later for a slice of Mexican pizza up on lido and some lovely night cityscapes.  We opted out of seeing the ship go under the Golden Gate at 11:00 p.m. as it was still enrobed in fog. 

SAN FRANCISCO continues.......

After a stop in Sausalito to let out those who wished to shop there and make their own way back to San Francisco via ferry, we were returned to the tour office right on schedule, and we hiked back to the ship at that point to partake of lunch (a sausage bun for The Mr. and a Stromboli from the pizza place for me, in case anyone is interested), change and continue our walkabout.  I say change because the sunny skies looked so warm and inviting.  Why take a jacket?  I hardly needed it in Astoria!  Throwing caution to the proverbial wind, I went short-sleeved and froze my way through the afternoon.  “It’ll be better once we get away from the ship’s pier”.  “Oh, let’s walk on the sunny side of the street…that’ll make all the difference”.  Sigh. 

We headed for Ghiradelli Square and visited every Ghiradelli establishment in the vicinity but alas, no free samples anymore (they were our best unexpected treat last time in SF!), so we had to buy some.  It worked.  Their clever marketing plan worked.  We caved. 

Time for The Mr. to touch the Pacific Ocean, and then an unexpected pleasure when we came upon the Musee Mechanique at the pier.  We had seen it before, and just walked on by, but this time we entered (admission is free) and had a great time wandering through and alternately being amazed and slightly creeped out by all the old arcade games and such (I just find the fortune telling machines weird).  Just a quarter or so to use any machine, if we had more change we would have tried more of them!  I highly recommend this stop.

 Following this little treat, we headed for the Boudin Sourdough café and bakery, which I also highly recommend visiting.  We climbed upstairs to do the little self-guided tour of the baking area from above and found it interesting and mouth-watering.  After smelling all the scents of the bakery, we just had to treat ourselves to some sourdough bread so we did and proceeded to eat it at the outside tables (brrrrrr.) 

(We loved watching the guy throw big gobs of dough down to that little table on the lower floor.  He never missed!  Well, not in our watching.  It must happen SOME time though, right?)

(she looks cold doesn't she?  Should've crocheted her a sweater to match her neck piece.)

I just discovered if you hover over the title of the thread, a mini-screen will appear that gives the option of "first post" or "latest post", which is not exactly what you were asking about, but it would get you to the end of the thread and not have to go through the whole thing.  

September 25, Tuesday:  SAN FRANCISCO

Since the ship was scheduled to go under the Golden Gate Bridge at 5:30 a.m., The Mr. was up and about before 5:00 just in case.  I took my time and still found myself ready just before 5:30, so bundled up and went above to see what I could see.  Fog.  I could see fog.  Finding The Mr., and discerning that we were probably ½ hour behind schedule, I exercised my legs and my right to go to deck 5 for a chai latte (and a donut, but we’re not mentioning that), before returning to the upper decks (without the aid of elevators of course).   It was so foggy that we couldn’t really see the Golden Gate until we were practically right under it, but a cheer rose from the small crowd on deck when we passed through safely, and then we retreated to breakfast. 

Shortly after 7:00 a.m. we were given the go ahead to go ashore, so we did.  After glaring at the pirates of the photo opp torture, we enjoyed walking to Fisherman’s Wharf when the only other people around were serious joggers.  And they were.  Serious.  Not a smile anywhere to be seen.  I'd like to see those photo pirates deal with these guys.  

 Nothing was open, but we were trying to find a tour place that would let us go to Muir Woods.  Which we did.  At 8:45. They still had spaces on their 9:00 tour so we were in!  A shout out to Tower Tours which we found a block back from the Embarcadero, which had exactly the tour we were looking for.  We just wanted a way to get to Muir Woods, and back, not something that would take the whole day.  It was a 3 ½ hour tour.  Perfect.  We joined the line-up waiting for the bus which appeared on time with our excellent guide and bus driver Marco. 

I managed to stay awake for the whole trip to Muir Woods (quite a feat for me in a bus), and Marco kept up a fairly steady monologue through The Streets of San Francisco and beyond. 

(you know us and signs....)

The Golden Gate remained shrouded in fog as it did for the rest of the day.  Everywhere else, it was clear and sunny.  Marco stopped his spiel when he had to give his whole attention to the road entering Muir Woods area.  I gave my whole attention also to watching the road and not the drop-off to the side.  After navigating the challenging road to Muir Woods and parking, we were given 1 ½ hours to explore the Woods ourselves. 

We used almost all that time, with just enough left at the end to look through the gift shop.  Muir Woods is a place we have wanted to go since our last visit to San Francisco when we couldn’t because of a government shutdown.  (We did get to see Alcatraz that time just before it closed.)  The Redwoods were majestic and the woods are clean, well-maintained and easy to get around on foot.  We covered all the main pathways and took far too many pictures of trees (“We have trees in Canada…why am I taking so many pictures of trees?” questioned the Mr.).   

September 24, Monday:  Day at Sea

Awake before 6 again, (well, that IS like sleeping in until 10!) we were more than ready for breakfast at 7.  Since we liked sitting in Café Caribe so much we decided to just have our buffet items from there.  We learned that there is no pineapple in Caribe.  No prunes either.  We made the best of it, and after eating and performing dental hygiene in our room, we took books to the library to give Savio a chance to clean something, since everyone else appeared to be sleeping in.  By 9:30, we were in danger of succumbing to sleep, so we chose to do some walking on the Promenade deck.

(The Grand Princess going the oppposite direction as us.  Florence waved.)

 The first day, we hadn’t been able to do the full route, as there was maintenance happening in a short spot at the end, but today it was all clear, and after determining that 2 ½ times around the ship is a mile, we accomplished two miles.  I was surprised at the brisk pace of The Mr. until I realized that Track Position thing he loves.  Way to get him to move!  We were passing everyone – “serious walkers” I heard someone comment.  Actually, we were laughing a lot of the time, so I don’t know how they got the serious thing. 

Let me just say at this point in time, that after fears of “being the last cruise before drydock” that had been expressed in our rollcall, and after that much publicized fiasco experienced by another cruise line’s ship pre-drydock that shall remain nameless (nameless not because I’m so diplomatic or correct but mostly because I’m too lazy to look it up, and too scatterbrained to remember), we had no negative experience with regard to maintenance.  The only thing I noticed during the week were the signs saying “Wet Varnish” on some of the wood columns in the pool area.  And doesn’t “Wet Varnish” just make you want to touch it to see if it really is?  I held Florence back. 

After a little Martini making demo, and a little $10 sale in the dining room, and a little of the cooking demo, the morning was declared a success and all that remained was to choose where to have lunch.  Since it was a sea day, we decided to avoid whatever masses there might be in the buffet and try out the dining room, where our food intake must have been three times as much as we would normally have for the lunch meal.  The tortellini app would have been enough, but The Mr. (being all virtuous and all) had Chef salad, and I had a hot and spicy potato stir-fry slaw.  The Mr. does not like anything coffee, so he passed on the Espresso Chocolate cake because of the description of the espresso flavoured sauce.  Which was 3 dots on the side of the plate.  Ha!  My dessert won for prettiness AND flavour.  He had the blueberry roulade, which must have been alright since he finished it all.  But mine was still prettier.   You can decide for yourselves.  

An afternoon of “reading” and relaxing poolside, or, in my case, room-side, along with my intrepid search for the chicken salad at IC (still none), observing part of the art auction (people really buy!). We went to Club fusion to see what we might have won in the Scavenger Hunt, while at the same time hoping we didn’t, since all the prizes didn’t really suit us.  Fortunately, we won nothing, so all was well. 

 Formal night meant we needed to practice our stalwart refusal to sit for any portraits.  So far on this cruise, we had not managed to escape the embarkation/port photos, but we had yet to even see them in the mass of photos in the gallery.  Maybe we didn’t look hard enough.  Maybe (more likely) we broke their cameras. 

We got gussied up and went to the 6:15 show of the magician in the Explorers Lounge.  He was pretty good, and I’m a sucker for a heavily put on French accent, so it was enjoyable.  We visited the Commodore’s Reception in the piazza before heading to the dining room, where we were seated immediately.  The crab quiche app was a no-brainer, and I loved it.  The Duck l’orange was very good and we (I can hardly believe it myself!) didn’t stay for dessert. 

A quick side note here…The Mr. has never before travelled without a suit jacket for formal nights.  I persuaded to try it just this once, and if they denied us access to the formal night, I’d owe him a Beef Wellington or something. Maybe a lobster.  It’s not like we don’t have them in our town (with the world’s biggest lobster, as you may remember).  After glancing around the dining room, wearing his dress pants, shirt, tie and vest, he said “I worried needlessly.  I feel a little overdressed.” 

The highlight of the night…. after denying ourselves dessert at dinner, we dragged ourselves up to HC and there it was.  Right there in front of us.  Sacher Torte.  And it was good.  Very good.  Knowing that nothing could surpass that, we called it a night and turned in. 

(Astoria...still.)  We love a good sign, and Astoria was full of them.  Like this one.....

(a graphic portrayal of what will happen to you if you attempt to ride a bicycle on the train tracks)

Or this one....

That done, was our walking tour over?  Not hardly!  We decided that on the map the friendly information person gave us, the Astoria Column didn’t look too far away, and we had come this far, so we might as well walk the rest of the way.  We’re so funny.  You may smile or smirk knowingly here.  What the map doesn’t show is how UPHILL the rest of the walk is.

  I am pretty secure in my assumption that we were the only people walking up to the Column from the ship that day.  However, we did it, and when we reached the top and realized that driving a car would have necessitated a $5 parking fee -  oh how we laughed.  Or was that wheezing?  Might have been gasping for air.  I’m not sure.  I do know, that after some careful consideration, we decided against the climb up to the top of the Column to get a better view.  How much higher did we really need to be? 

We rested our feet for a bit, had a snack, and then made the return trip downhill and back to town. 

We took a different route back to the ship so as to stop at McDonald’s for a well-deserved $1 coke and free wifi.  Aren’t we the big spenders?  Yes, we had free wifi on the ship, but we didn’t know how long that would last, what with the kiddos looking after the home front and needing our advice on…well, a lot of things.  The Riverwalk is definitely the preferred way to go, but McDonald’s isn’t on it, hence our departure from the most desirable path.   The trolley also goes along the way of the Riverwalk, but we didn't take that either.  

The thighs screamed from the downhill walk (that and the fact that we DO NOT do elevators on the ship – stairs only, and we were just becoming acclimated to the rigors of deck 12 to deck 5 to search for the elusive chicken salad at International Café.    On our return, I did stop at the IC to check, but settled for a ham and cheese croissant and Thai beef salad (which was very good, but it was NOT Chicken salad!) while The Mr. trudged up to Lido for his cheeseburger.  He claimed that the burger seemed to be getting smaller than it used to be, but that may have been the stairs talking. 

Time for some r&r, so The Mr. retired to the pool area, and I found myself a tea, got a book at the library and “read” in my room.  I use the term “read” loosely, as the book was open, but the eyes were not. 

So, shortly before 5, we showed up at Michelangelo, and there were no tables for 2 left!  Imagine!  Much to the surprise of the hostess, we requested a pager, and found a lovely spot in the piazza to people watch.  Barely 15 minutes later, our little pager began vibrating in that excited “Come to the dining room RIGHT NOW” kind of way.  So we did.  Go.  And we were seated in one of those long lines of tables for 2 that really feels like a table for 12 that you don’t have to acknowledge the people beside you if you choose not to, because after all, it’s a table for two.  Being so close together created some entertainment for us as one lady, in her effort to get to her seat came very close to upsetting the next table’s water glass.  Thankfully, the lightning fast reflexes of the woman sitting there averted disaster.   Lower the Cone of Silence and Pretend You’re Alone.  We started with the Alfredo, just to make sure we didn’t miss it in the week, and it was as stellar as ever (still miss the parmesan basket, but not as much as before, having been weaned off it over the years).  Our entrée was the shrimp and scallops over yummy mashed potatoes (I don’t think that was the title in the menu, but it was our title).  For dessert The Mr. managed to get his skim milk which is always a hit or miss kind of thing, and it went ever so well with his cheesecake, which he proclaims is the best dessert of the week on Princess.  I had the crème brulee which is usually a highlight for me, but I was unable to finish mine this evening since the topping was just on the verge of tasting burnt.  That’s about as critical as I’m going to get on the food for the week, so if you’re looking for more dining room bashing, you won’t find it here.  I’m all over it. 

We missed the Oktoberfest celebrations in the piazza, but the decorations were nice.  We did go to see the comedian/musician Steve Moris.  He was pretty funny for two very tired souls such as us.  After some walking and browsing, we decided to forego the show in the theatre and headed up for “a drink of lemonade” in HC.  Well, ok, we did have some black forest cake to go with the lemonade, and after trying a piece of pie that The Mr. could NOT figure out, he returned to the buffet and returned with schnitzel and mushrooms.  Of course – what any discerning dessert goer would substitute for an unsatisfactory sweet.  The Mr. just can’t turn down a Schnitzel.  He was happy.  And so we headed off to bed after many miles accumulated and gave our toes a rest. 

(Astoria, Oregon continued...)

The well-marked pathway of the Riverwalk  shows you how far you have yet to go before reaching “downtown” which is reassuring and helpful if you’re the kind of person who second guesses themselves.  Constantly. 

(Just because of the name of the building.)

Along the way we heard a rhythmic sound which we assumed was some kind of construction tool, and  jokingly commented “sounds like a seal!”  - well, it WAS a seal!  It was actually several seals under the pilings of a building we were approaching on the water’s edge, so we spent some time enjoying their banter, and it caused me to wonder, can a person actually NOT smile when they hear a seal barking?  It’s like a banjo.  It’s sunshine.  And happiness.  Well, at least Florence agreed with me.  The Mr. just gave me that look he gives. 

Back on our trek, and without losing much track position (The Mr. is all about Track Position and NASCAR, even when we’re walking.) we made it to the downtown area.  Since it was a Sunday, we were able to browse in the market, which (as the information person at the ship told us) you can’t miss.  It’s four blocks of the main part of town.  We had a great time going through the stalls and checking things out.  Not that we bought anything other than a magnet (but an artsy magnet!) but we did appreciate it all. 

SEPTEMBER 23, Sunday: ASTORIA, Oregon

Awake after a sound sleep at 3:00 a.m. I had time to ponder why I pronounce Oregon differently than everyone else I know.  Is it because I am a native West Coast Canadian and not a true Maritimer?  Must I change my Bluenoser2 moniker?  Heaven forbid!  (I think it is actually Florence’s avatar, not mine anyway.)

Where was I?  Oh yes, awake.  We lasted until 6:30 a.m. before needing to get to breakfast in Horizon Court.  I had my chocolate pastry and knew I was good for the week.  Surprisingly, I did not have another during the voyage.  Perhaps I AM becoming complacent.  Or discerning.   Hmmm…..

We spent time on the upper decks watching the approach to Astoria.  It was a little chilly in the wind, so I trekked back down to the room to get my jacket.  By the time I returned, it was so warm I was wondering what on earth I had been thinking.  Shortly after 10:00 a.m. the ship was docked and cleared for us to go ashore.  After much waffling about whether to wear my jacket or not, the announcement claimed it was raining and jackets were recommended, so after all that agonizing I took it.  Yes, I was happy to have it a couple of times for a few minutes, but really the day was quite lovely.   We found the Riverwalk easily as we left the ship and it was a lovely well-maintained pathway along…. well, obviously…the river.   

Yep, Embarkation Day Part 3

(By the way, is there still a maximum number of photos per post on the newfangled CC?)

(The Eurodam was in hot pursuit....)

After watching our departure from Seattle from the front “secret” (shhhhh) decks and then from the aft, we headed back to our little home for the week to change for dinner.  We had booked Anytime dining, so Michelangelo would be our dining room for the week, since we like to dine early (5:00 after all, is like 9:00 p.m. for us Maritimers!).  Da Vinci, the other dining room, was not available for Anytime dining until 7:30.  We had no trouble getting a nice table for two right away.  (When we left at 6:15 there was a really long line-up. 

Mmmmm, the crab cakes.  Excellent.  One of our favourites of the whole week. 

My cold pina colada soup was perfect, and The Mr.’s melon, was, well, it was melon, all right?  He had pork tenderloin and wonder of wonders, he actually liked the sweet potato served with it.  He never likes sweet potato.  I had the Alaskan Cod on lentils, and to say that the lentils were the star of the dish shows how I felt about the cod.  It was just boring and really the only entrée I ordered that I regretted during the whole voyage. 

But.  Dessert.  (Insert drumroll.)  MILK.  CHOCOLATE.  HAZELNUT.  SOUFFLE.  There are no words.  Or pictures.  Apparently there were no pictures.  No words AND no pictures.  Because you know what they say about a picture......

By the time we had eaten and headed to the shop to purchase our obligatory magnet, the only challenge left was to stay awake past 7:00 p.m.  Since there was only one performance in the Theatre this night, we decided we should get there early.  We arrived 45 minutes before showtime and still managed to score aisle seats albeit on the far side, but there WERE a lot of people there already. By 8:15, only a few single seats remained, and they were taken quickly, with separated couples waving feebly to each other from their distant locations.

The CD was Duke from Wales, and he was just o.k. – his accent was lovely though!  Instead of the usual welcome show, it was a full production show “Magic to Do”.  I really am in no position to review this show, as it was taking all my strength to stay awake, vertical, and in NON snore mode (no fault of the show).  We lasted for 3 (maybe 4 if we did fall asleep) songs and then gave up our prime seats.  With all the people standing in the side aisle, I wondered what kind of fist fights broke out as competitions for nabbing those seats ensued.  Of course, if those standing were the 209 Canadians on board, they probably just kept apologizing, and no one took them.

In spite of our earlier explorations, it still took us a couple of tries to find the pizza.  Yes, I said we were tired, but we came to eat, and eat we would.  No matter the sacrifice.  It was no longer “cool” up on Lido – it had turned windy and downright cold, so we owed ourselves some warm pizza.  And Grandma’s chocolate cake.  And a spring roll.  And a slice of Flourless chocolate cake.  Totally unnecessary?  You bet. 

None of that chocolate kept us awake for long though, once back in our room.  Enough time to read the Patter for the next day and tuck in to enjoy the almost non-existent motion of the ship. 

Embarkation day continues.......(September 22)

After lunch we explored more and did Important Things.  Like rehearsing where the pizza is found.  Like finding International Café and noting there was no chicken salad.  Like finding somewhere to sit and relax while we waited for our room to be ready. 

Sure enough, right after 1:00 we were able to get in our room – an inside on Aloha deck.  We did notice some of the older style things, like the smaller shower and no drawer in the desk, but would that take away from our sunshine and happiness?  I think not! 

We met our room steward Savio from India who was awesome all week, aside from not being completely sure of my name at any point!  He definitely got points for trying, and I responded to pretty much anything.  Except Shauna, which one of the other stewards called me.  I do not respond to Shauna.  Anymore.  Not now.  That was the Eighties and we’re done with that.

So, they mean the pool right?  They aren't telling us not to jump or dive off the ship?  Because if that's the case, we should tell the people standing beside the sign that may not have noticed it.  

I was surprised that The Mr. agreed to schlep along on the Scavenger Hunt, so off we went to collect our stamps before he changed his mind.  We rehearsed on the way to the Spa, “no we do NOT want to tour the Spa, we would just like our stamp…please.”  (Note the return to national politeness.) When we got there they didn’t even ask us that, so we were unprepared for them seating us in the chairs and giving us a “sample” massage.  They DID stamp our cards though, and The Mr. walked away muttering “I did NOT enjoy that.” 

The Safety Assembly (were there just too many passengers calling it the Mustard Drill?) was at 3:30 and we trooped obediently off to that.  We were in The Crown Grill which was good, because I tend to fall asleep if it’s in the theatre.  While corny, I did enjoy the fact that they’re having some fun with the Love Boat theme in the safety video we were instructed to watch.  I appreciate any attempts at humour. 

We returned to our room to check whether any luggage had come.  My littlest of my two carry-on bags was there.  All by itself.  Alone.  In that big ol’ hallway.  It looked quite ridiculous to be honest.  But it was a start.  Just not much to unpack.  The Mr’s bigger bag arrived sometime after that, and mine (of course) was the last to arrive shortly before Sailaway.  How do three bags manage to get SO separated?  Must have been SOME party in the luggage area. 

After some speedy unpacking, we headed up for the grand event that is Sailaway!  Oh, the gala! Oh, the partying!  Oh, the sight of it all! Oh, the masses of humanity!  We didn't even bother trying to find a place on the dance floor.  

The band was good, and that’s pretty much all I have to say about that.

John, there was only one other ship at Pier 91 where the Ruby was.  Eurodam was there.  At the other pier (61?) which is downtown, the Norwegian Bliss was docked and we encountered them a couple of times on our trip, but I'm not sure what the itinerary was for either of those.  We didn't notice any congestion at the port because of 2 ships being there - but then, we got there pretty early before there would have been mobs of people coming.  

(Close by - the Eurodam)

Downtown at Pier 66 was the Norwegian Bliss