Pearl Review--July 19-26 Seattle to Alaska

[quercus alba]

Waiting to embark, so starting my review early!

 

Day 0: We arrived two nights before the cruise and checked in to the Homewood Suites downtown. It turned out to be a great location—a couple of blocks from the waterfront, about a mile from Pier 66, and a few blocks to Seattle Center. (There is also a Safeway just 4 blocks from the hotel so it was easy to stock up on last minute needs.)

 

There are 6 of us—my DW of 30 years, our DSs aged 23, 13, and 10, and DD, 20. She and I were up early and went for a quick jog on the waterfront—made it all the way down to Pier 66 to see the Jewel disembarking. It was a really hot, clear day for Seattle, highs of 90. We had a full day to enjoy Seattle, and got City Passes which got us into the Space Needle and the Chihuly Museum. The latter was wonderful—glad we did this instead of the Science Center. We have a good science museum at home, but the Chihuly is uniquely gorgeous, and even the youngest enjoyed it. Enjoyed the Space Needle and got some great views of the Jewel at the pier—tomorrow it would be Pearl, and US!

https://quercusatsea.shutterfly.com/pictures/142#142

 

Then we took the monorail downtown, walked to Pike Place for Beecher’s Mac & Cheese (at DD’s request) and tried to keep our group together through the Market for a bit. The Market is interesting, but really crowded, and I think I might enjoy it more by myself or just with DW—keeping track of kids was plenty stressful!

 

Eventually we regrouped, went down the stairs to the piers, and got tickets for the Argosy Harbor Cruise (also included in City Pass). We had an hour or so to kill in the shops, etc, and DD and the DSs #2&3 and I went on the Seattle Wheel. The cruise was fine, fairly relaxing, and ends at a Red Robin pier-side, so we just ate there for a real meal. After that, we walked the approx. 2 miles back to our hotel along the waterfront, enjoying the sunset and cooler temps.

 

See you next week!

[jenseib]

Have fun

[jeffregpuck]

Reading and awaiting further review!! We are on the Pearl right behind you! July 26-August 2

[MooseyMoo]

Have fun!!!!

[taliho621]

Hope you're having a great time so far. We are two weeks behind you on the Pearl.

 

But what I wanted to ask you about was the Homewood Suites. We are booked there pre-cruise as well - as I grabbed it months ago when I found a special rate. How was the hotel? Was the room crowded? There will be 5 of us, myself, DW, DS, DD and mother-in-law, so I wasn't sure about the 1-bedroom suite versus two regular hotel rooms downtown. But the price on this room alone was about the price on one regular room at other hotels. And Tripadvisor seems mostly positive.

 

Can you tell a little more about the hotel? And how did you get from the hotel to the pier?

 

Thanks.

[quercus alba]

Hope you're having a great time so far. We are two weeks behind you on the Pearl.

 

But what I wanted to ask you about was the Homewood Suites. We are booked there pre-cruise as well - as I grabbed it months ago when I found a special rate. How was the hotel? Was the room crowded? There will be 5 of us, myself, DW, DS, DD and mother-in-law, so I wasn't sure about the 1-bedroom suite versus two regular hotel rooms downtown. But the price on this room alone was about the price on one regular room at other hotels. And Tripadvisor seems mostly positive.

 

Can you tell a little more about the hotel? And how did you get from the hotel to the pier?

 

Thanks.

 

There was enough room--just. (The bigger deal was that we had 2 full-grown male brothers sharing a king one night...and you know how that goes. :rolleyes:) We stayed in one in FLL 2 years ago that had 2 bathrooms and 2 double beds in the 2nd bedroom--so I guess we were expecting that. The staff was great, but unfortunately had already given out all the rollaways for the first night. Having a 2nd bath would've been nice, but (amazingly, if you knew my kids!) everyone cooperated with staggering showers and such!

 

Hotel to pier was a $5 cab ride for me and my 2 younger boys. I didn't know such a thing existed! DW and the 2 older kids chose to walk to the pier--very easy 1 mile stroll along the waterfront. I suppose if it had been raining we would've taken 2 cabs.

 

Here's my Trip Advisor review: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g60878-d123003-r290385522-Homewood_Suites_by_Hilton_Seattle_Downtown-Seattle_Washington.html

Edited July 27, 2015 by quercus alba

[MooseyMoo]

Looking forward to your review!

 

Would you mind telling me who your Cruise Director was?

[quercus alba]

Well, we got in really late last night (actually early this morning...) and I had early meetings today, but I'll try rolling more of this review out, bit by bit...

 

Day 1, Embarkation: Still uncommonly hot in Seattle. DW and I walked up to the grocery store, then returned to the hotel to finish re-packing. The really awesome hotel receptionist called a cab to take myself, the 2 younger boys, and all our luggage to Pier 66. Fare was only $5. A bit of a warning for departing Seattle passengers--I was expecting to just hand the bags to a porter and head on into the terminal, but the baggage drop off actually required that we enter the terminal AND confirm by showing our passports and cruise docs that we were actually going to be able to board. It was kind of a long, snaking line, and I was glad I had the 2 boys with me so we could each wheel 2 bags in and accomplish the drop off.

 

By this time, DW and the 2 older ones had walked the quick mile from the hotel, so we rejoined them and entered the terminal. Again, it seemed that we had to clear at least 2 additional podiums where our passports and boarding docs were checked before finally reaching the check-in desk. There were shorter lines for Latitudes members, and when we reached the desk we unexpectedly got whisked off again to the VIP lounge. (All I could think was “Yes! Cagney’s breakfasts!” :)) We were escorted aboard quickly and easily, and went to Guest Services to rearrange our cabin assignments. We had two connecting mini-suites on Deck 11, and DW and I were separate in the booking--but we decided to let the 3 older kids share one, while DW and I kept the youngest with us. Cabins were now ready, so we dropped off our carry-ons and headed for the embarkation lunch at Cagney’s—another nice luxury. (Here’s where our tiny 10 year old started amazing us by ordering a New York strip and finishing the whole thing. Five hours later we were back at Cagney’s again, and he had another one! We can hardly get the kid to eat meat at meals at home, and here he devours 2 steaks in a single day.)

 

After lunch we stopped in to register the 2 younger ones for Splash Academy and Entourage, returned to our cabins, unpacked, and the kids hit the pool until our dinner reservations at Cagney's. We had the UDP from the spring promotion, and I'd remembered from our last Pearl cruise that the MDR was more crowded on the first evening, so I booked this well in advance. Food and service were great, as expected, and available in excess, also as expected.

 

Didn’t accomplish much else—had a little frustration with Splash Academy "Dophins", the 10-12s. I really wanted to get DS#3 oriented to it the first couple of days, to at least try it, and he finally reluctantly agreed, but we got there 10 minutes after the group had left on its activity elsewhere on the ship, so that was kyboshed. It seemed like the first couple of days you really had to plan to get kids there at certain times or they’d miss the whole session—and with one who is a bit resistant already, it just never happened. Kind of "anti-Freestyle" if you ask me...

 

Teens were a different story, though. The 13 year old decided to go to Entourage right away, found “2 cute Filipina girls from Illinois” to hang with until midnight (:eek:) and returned for pretty much every late night teen social they had! The older two also went to the first night’s “College-Aged Crowd” social, advertised for 18-25s, and had a good time--as demonsrated by their going to most of the subsequent activities listed for this group later in the cruise. I was really glad for this, as they both need a bit of a "push" to socialize with folks they don't already know, and the karaoke and other stuff they did helped for this age group.

 

Meanwhile, we were in the unusual position of going to bed with the youngest and having the other three all “out and about”. DW found it very difficult to sleep until all of her flock finally returned to the cabin next door between midnight and 0100.

Edited July 27, 2015 by quercus alba

[www3traveler]

When you can could you post the names of the Senior Officers both Bridge and Hotel.

 

Hope you had a wonderful time.

[taliho621]

Teens were a different story, though. The 13 year old decided to go to Entourage right away, found “2 cute Filipina girls from Illinois” to hang with until midnight (:eek:) and returned for pretty much every late night teen social they had! The older two also went to the first night’s “College-Aged Crowd” social, advertised for 18-25s, and had a good time--as demonsrated by their going to most of the subsequent activities listed for this group later in the cruise. I was really glad for this, as they both need a bit of a "push" to socialize with folks they don't already know, and the karaoke and other stuff they did helped for this age group.

.

 

I am wondering of you can expand a little bit on the "College Aged Crowd" activities, as we will be traveling next week with my 19-year old DD. did they advertise the events and did they have something each evening?

 

Thanks.

[quercus alba]

Looking forward to your review!

 

Would you mind telling me who your Cruise Director was?

 

Dan "the Man" Olsson

 

When you can could you post the names of the Senior Officers both Bridge and Hotel.

 

Hope you had a wonderful time.

 

Captain was Gunnar Hammerin

 

Hotel Director was Tony Rosa (remembered him as Food & Beverage Director last time I was on Pearl).

Assistant HD was Claus Pascher

Food & Beverage was Rumi Khatao

Executive Chef was Francis Gomes

[quercus alba]

I am wondering of you can expand a little bit on the "College Aged Crowd" activities, as we will be traveling next week with my 19-year old DD. did they advertise the events and did they have something each evening?

 

Thanks.

 

There was something listed in the Dailies on 6 of the 7 nights--usually starting around 9 pm in the Bliss Lounge. All I know for sure beyond that is that there was karaoke involved on at least some of the nights. I wasn't invited. ;)

 

I mentioned to Cruise Director Dan that my kids seemed to appreciate it, and he was glad to hear it and said it was something that he had just started up recently. I know that nothing like it existed 2 years ago when we cruised on Pearl--and that was even during a Spring Break week, when there appeared to be a LOT of that age group aboard.

Edited July 27, 2015 by quercus alba

[quercus alba]

Day 2: At sea.

 

I was up early—630-ish. No one else in my crew was, though. Got coffee at the Great Outdoors and saw a few orcas cross our wake. I jogged 2 miles or so on the deck 13 track, with only a couple of other passengers around. Went back to shower, found all five still sleeping soundly, and decided to do Cagney’s breakfast alone. This was now my third straight meal at Cagney’s and the servers were already asking where the rest of the family was! Saw more whales after breakfast, and some really cool giant ocean sunfish floating by on the surface close to the ship.

 

Next item on the agenda was our Meet & Greet, with about 20 attending. Captain Gunnar showed up to invite us to a bridge tour that afternoon, senior staff introduced themselves and encouraged us to speak up if we didn't like something, and there was a short sales pitch for the new spin they’re doing on the future cruise credits. (Basically there's additional incentive to purchase more than one, and they claim that it will be easier to take advantage of future promos if you book early and the promos change, I think.) After that, DW and I decided to go for a light lunch at Cagney’s (one minor complaint—I noticed that Cagney's doesn't have nearly as much variety on the suite guest lunch menu as is offered day to day in the MDR).

 

Finally, it was 2:30 and Martini Tasting time! Since last time I did this it has changed from 4-5 nearly full-sized martinis to a flight of 6 half-sized martinis, all served together on a nice tray. It's a little more variety, and still packs a heckuva whollop. I was quite buzzed, and “the Oregon ladies” from our meet & greet and I hung out for a while (and, oh yeah, missing the bridge tour the Captain had kindly offered), talking about things I will never remember until DW came to escort me home. (This was one of the rare times we had the iConcierge app working well enough to make a difference--for the first and probably only time in my life I texted the words “I am SO drunk right now” :o) I napped for awhile and we gathered the family again for dinner at Moderno. I think we walked around the Deck 7 promenade later, too--but my memory for the rest of that day is kind of fuzzy for some reason... :o

Edited July 27, 2015 by quercus alba

[mush71]

thanks for the review 3 weeks to go

[quercus alba]

Day 3: Juneau.

"Any day that starts with Crab Cakes Benedict is a good day."

 

OK, so one thing about this itinerary that I didn't like was the fairly wierd times in port--and actually I’ve kind of decided that in general I like this the least about cruising—rushing in and out of every port--and it just seems especially pronounced here in Alaska. It does help that the summer sunsets are quite late in the evening, but it still frequently feels that there's not much time to do and see things. In addition, when 3 out of 7 nights you're scheduled in port over the dinner hour, it might make one reconsider the UDP if one were actually paying for it outright. But anyway, we worked the system such that the 2 PM docking in Juneau gave us time for a noon reservation at Teppanyaki, whereas evening reservations are less available. And later, we managed to get back to ship in time to make a late Italian dinner at La Cucina, so I guess it turned out fine.

 

So Juneau has quite a bit to do if you want to. I didn't book any excursions since I have a friend in Juneau who is pretty well-connected in town. She was busy at 2 when we berthed, but directed us to walk in to town to the bottom of the Mt. Roberts tram (about a mile) and take that up the mountain while we wait. Excellent advice—about $25 pp, but worth it—great views at the top and nice nature trails. Easy to just walk up for a ticket, and minimal lines. Only downside was that it turned out uncommonly warm and sunny today, and we wished we’d gone with shorts instead of the long pants and sleeves we chose in the cooler breeze at the port!

 

After a couple of hours hiking around at the top of the mountain, we returned to the bottom to meet my friend, who salmon hatchery and fish ladder, which was absolutely teeming with jumping salmon, then to Alaskan Brewing's taproom where we got free samples of several excellent local brews, then to Mendenhall Glacier, which is magnificent, and was quite uncrowded at this time of day. It would have been good to have a bit more time to walk further into the park, but the views were gorgeous all the same. Had a nice visit with my friend and she got us back to the ship at about 8:30, in time to head up for pizza, etc., at La Cucina. This is a fairly underrated specialty restaurant, BTW, and never hard to get into. Decent variety and ample portions. My DD said she’d be happy to eat there every night. Went up to the hot tubs around 10—they were fine but it was crazy cold when you got out!

Edited July 28, 2015 by quercus alba

[Lineaway]

Got a question I don't see ever asked here. So here goes............

 

I want to see the Northern Lights. I hope to be able to see them on this cruise. A website tells me I have a good chance toward the last two days of our cruise on the Pearl (we leave this Sunday).

 

4 weeks ago I was in West Central Mn. on a lake. Each night I went outside to look for the Northern Lights. All I have is a bunch of Mosquito bites. (Deep Woods Off does not work in Mn.)

 

There is a top deck I am told that is across from a private deck on the Pearl that I may be able to see the sky w/o too many lights flooding my view. Did you notice if this is possible or do you know aboiut this deck? Does the sky get dark enough because we are so far north to see anything? There is also the anual Persied Meteor shower that Peaks in the Northwest at the end of our cruise so I hope to be able to see those too. Any comments? Or is the ship too lit up to see much of the stars??? Thanks

[quercus alba]

Got a question I don't see ever asked here. So here goes............

 

I want to see the Northern Lights. I hope to be able to see them on this cruise. A website tells me I have a good chance toward the last two days of our cruise on the Pearl (we leave this Sunday).

 

4 weeks ago I was in West Central Mn. on a lake. Each night I went outside to look for the Northern Lights. All I have is a bunch of Mosquito bites. (Deep Woods Off does not work in Mn.)

 

There is a top deck I am told that is across from a private deck on the Pearl that I may be able to see the sky w/o too many lights flooding my view. Did you notice if this is possible or do you know aboiut this deck? Does the sky get dark enough because we are so far north to see anything? There is also the anual Persied Meteor shower that Peaks in the Northwest at the end of our cruise so I hope to be able to see those too. Any comments? Or is the ship too lit up to see much of the stars??? Thanks

 

You're going to be more limited by the weather conditions and solar activity than by ship's lighting, I'm afraid. It's very frequently overcast in the Inside Passage, and it's hard to predict whether there will be a coronal mass ejection to produce significant aurora. Perseids might be an option.

 

I'll confess that I didn't go trying to look for stars--though I imagine the Deck 14 forward sundeck would be an option if it is clear. There will still be some lighting in play on the ship, I think--top decks never go completely dark.

[quercus alba]

Day 4: Skagway.

 

Full day in port. Ship gets at 8:00. I booked a train/bus excursion independently via Chilcott tours which didn’t leave until noon, so we had the morning to kill on board before strolling to the edge of town at a more leisurely pace. Train was fun, and the trip is indeed spectacular. I think if you’re only going to be in Skagway once in your life, you should do this, but was happy that we had the minibus trip back down via Klondike Highway. I think the round trip would be a little repetitive. Our bus offered to drop us at ship or downtown (not that it's a massive distance--you can easily see all of Skagway proper in a half day!) We stopped at Skagway Brewing, had some fries and local brews, and browsed shops on the way back. As with all the ports, it feels very “tourist trap”-like here—lots of jewelry that we could get cheaper at home, and junk we don’t need. Some nicer art galleries, though too, if you're into that.

 

Had also planned on taking a short hike to Lower Dewey Lake, but were too tired at that point, so just wandered back on board. La Cucina again, at DD request. Enjoyed how many times staff recognized us at the various restaurants when we’d come back. Overall got great service everywhere. Older three took off again with their age groups. Didn't do any shows or entertainment ourselves, so don't have anything to add about that.

[quercus alba]

Day 5: Glacier Bay.

 

This is what we came to Alaska for, right? I wish NCL did a bit better at prepping us. Looking back at the Daily, it does state “Glacier viewing” at 9:30, but the morning seemed to come on us very suddenly. I would have planned my morning differently if I’d known a somewhat more exact timetable—and really, it wouldn’t be that difficult to let us know more explicitly via the TVs and Daily the night before that we should expect to be at Marjorie Glacier at 9:00, etc. (I'll mention here that the Hotel and Cruise Directors invited the Meet & Greet folks to a feedback session on the last day at noon, and they were very receptive to this, though also indicated that they don't always know the day's exact schedule until they reach the Park Rangers' station around 7:00.)

 

How it played out for us was that the kids were all sleeping in, so DW and I went for a "power walk" on the Deck 7 promenade. (It was raining, overcast, and very wet, so we chose that instead of jogging on 13.) My plan had been to shower afterward and have a leisurely breakfast, but we were already starting to see ice floes and hearing Ranger announcements as we walked, so I dashed up to the room to rouse my kids, then grabbed breakfast in the Garden Cafe and ate it standing outside at Great Outdoors. By that time, we were at Marjorie, and they were announcing that the Captain had opened up the bow for viewing. It wasn't too crowded, maybe because the weather was so crappy, and I figured it would be the only time I'd be likely to get down there, so I yelled at the kids to "get going" and rushed down with my camera. I had no idea where DW was--but turned out she just kept walking and logged 8 miles while viewing the glacier from Deck 7! (And yes the kids did all get up at least in time to see Marjorie from our balcony.) Anyhow, in spite of the running around, rain, and clouds it was still spectacular. Saw several calvings, one quite large while I was on the bow. We were able to get in close to Johns Hopkins glacier as well, and saw others from a bit of a distance. Several wildlife sightings—orcas, sea lions, etc. during the trip in and out. They sailed fairly close to North Marble Island on the way out, which was crowded with sea lions, so we got a good look at that colony.

 

So anyway, my visions of sipping one of NCL's "special" coffee drinks on my balcony while viewing the glaciers was kind of unrealistic. DW and I did get our beverages later and relaxed a bit once we were outbound, then did a late lunch at Cagney's while kids went elsewhere.

 

That evening, DS #3 finally decided it would be fun to go to kids’ program, and wanted to eat at Summer Palace. I took him down and sipped some tea while he ate, then dropped him off. We had Le Bistro reservations for the evening, but DW was dealing with motion sickness, so had to pass on this, and I went for sushi and Lotus Garden fare with the older 3 kids. The waitress was the same that we had had at Teppanyaki on Tuesday, and she, as always, asked about my missing DW. (She always gets more attention from the Filipino staff since her mother was Filipina, and the staff recognize that!) When I told her how she wasn't feeling well, she made me a pot of ginger tea--the Filipino cure for all ailments--to take up to her. What a lovely gesture--and it really did help! NCL rocks.

Edited July 28, 2015 by quercus alba

[quercus alba]

Day 6: Ketchikan.

 

Again, weird port times, in this case crazy early, and leaving at 1 PM. Rained, rained, rained all morning, we didn’t care. (According to my tour book, locals say "If you can't see the top of Deer Mountain, it is raining; and if you can see the top, it will rain." Our guide confirmed that that sounded about right.)

 

Booked salmon fishing for DW and DS #3, "City Kayaking" online for the older 3 and me. Got up WAY too early—6 AM, so DW could meet her fishing boat, got right off the ship. Worked out well, we all had a good morning. DW & the youngest had a great fishing trip—caught 11 salmon between them, which will be processed and shipped home to us.

 

For the rest of us, “City Kayaking” through Southeast Sea Kayaking was a nice length—about 2 hours, across the inlet and around Gravina Island. Our guide geared us up well--head to toe waterproofing--and oriented us to the sea kayaks, which are a bit different than the open recreational kayaks I've paddled before. Saw salmon jumping, a few eagles in the trees—though honestly, that’s not a big deal for us as they’re fairly common now even in the Twin Cities metro area these days. Our locally-grown guide said she'd never been to Minnesota, and I told her it looked a lot like this--except with fresh water and fewer mountains. The kayaking really was reminiscent of canoeing in northern MN. After crossing back to town, she took us up Creek Street via water where we saw a couple of harbor seals, which delighted DD. Had time to get coffee and a snack and shop. I wandered a bit with DS#2, but lost #1 and DD somewhere in town. Thankfully they all got back to the ship on time, and we went together for lunch at Summer Palace.

 

In all our cruises, I think this is the first time we’ve done an MDR for lunch—and I honestly don't know what the heck people are complaining about! I had a hard time deciding, and ended up having a lunch of 3 “starters”--salad, soup, and fruit--without even getting to the entrees. Listen up folks: there is NO reason to complain about variety or quantity of food on this cruise!!! In fact, I thought the MDR had more variety than the “VIP” lunch at Cagney’s.

 

Afternoon was a bit of lost time, since it included yet another martini tasting :o, closely followed by helping DW with a margarita tasting…and then a nap. Kids & DW all pursued their own agendas for dinner. Sun finally started coming out as we made our way south, and DS#1 and I revisited Moderno around 9-ish.

Edited July 28, 2015 by quercus alba

[Cavetti2013]

Looks like the pearl docks in an industrial area of Juneau. Are there shuttles available to get to where the buses pickup?

[mousecrazy]

Re: Glacier Bay

 

Could you please provide an approximate timeline of the morning highlights after the rangers board at 7am - correct? Such as when the bow was opened, the "turn" in front of the glacier began/ended, etc.

 

Thanks!

 

P.S. Nice review, BTW! Thanks.

Edited July 28, 2015 by mousecrazy

[quercus alba]

Looks like the pearl docks in an industrial area of Juneau. Are there shuttles available to get to where the buses pickup?

 

There are shuttles from the dock to somewhere closer to town, but it's not an awful walk--maybe 3/4 to 1 mile to the tram base. Lots of folks did it with us.

[quercus alba]

Re: Glacier Bay

 

Could you please provide an approximate timeline of the morning highlights after the rangers board at 7am - correct? Such as when the bow was opened, the "turn" in front of the glacier began/ended, etc.

 

Thanks!

 

P.S. Nice review, BTW! Thanks.

 

We were up around Marjorie at about 9:00--like I said, it came up fast! The bow was opened at that point and the ship hung out there for about an hour and made a good turn & a half at least. Johns Hopkins was about 11:30, maybe. (I'm trying to interpret times from my digital photos...but I'm not terribly certain what time zone the camera was set on!) Hopefully from our comments there will be more timeline info furnished to you on your cruise.

[quercus alba]

Day 7: Victoria.

 

Victoria is really just a short port stop after a somewhat abbreviated sea day. Most folks either went into town for drinks or took an excursion to Butchart Gardens. We were in the former group.

 

We had the aforementioned feedback session with Cruise Director Dan, the senior hotel staff and others, which went well. Felt that our input was graciously received, even a couple of "picky" things that were brought up.

 

DW & I booked an early “make up” dinner at 5:00 Le Bistro, then walked into town through the St. James Bay neighborhood with DD and the youngest, while DS#1 went pub-crawling with friends and DS#2 stayed on board.

 

In town, DS#3 mostly just wanted to run around on the grass at the provincial capitol building while we admired the view. We then walked in to the Fairmont Empress Hotel to see what the fuss was about that. It is quite an impressive old hotel, but the Bengal Bar forbids children, and the Tea Room was booked for a private affair. The Veranda was open, though, and had seating overlooking the harbor and a really amazing sunset. Added bonus was allowing my 20 year old DD to order her first legal alcoholic beverage off the menu. (BTW—they feature a “signature cocktail” called the Empress 1908…a cocktail made with tea-infused vodka and lemon. It sounded good on paper…but in the mouth reminded me of instant Lipton iced tea mix. I regret my choice. DD had a sangria, and she enjoyed it.)

 

We started walking back just at dark, enjoyed a street performer on the waterfront, and I finally acceded to DS#3’s request to ride the “horse trolley”—we lucked out and got a half-price one-way trip back to the pier. A pleasant young local lady, a self-described “island girl”, was our driver and guide for the leisurely carriage ride.

 

Back on board, we hoped that DS#1 returned safely from his self-guided Victoria pub crawl in time (or if not, that he could figure out how to get himself on the morning ferry to Seattle the next day!) and that was pretty much the end of the cruise. Kept waking up all night thinking of how to repack everything. You know how there's a point at which you know vacation is over and you wish you could just get on with it and be home? I was there from about mid-afternoon on, unfortunately, though Victoria was a nice distraction from it.