First things first; I completed my Pilates Acadamy Level 3
Comprehensive Certification a week and a half before we left, so the part where
I leave all sorts of things at home (toothbrush charger, kindle, heated eye mask, tbd) is not my fault.
Because the cruise left from Vancouver BC, a short flight
from Portland, Dave and I thought it would be fine to fly up late that morning.
This was a very unusual move for us as we are nervous travelers and like to be
everywhere very early. As it turned out, between the flight being delayed and
the entire city of Vancouver being under construction, things were way tighter
than we liked. The cruise line asks that all passengers be checked in by 2:30;
we arrived at the cruise ship terminal at 2:27. Which meant we had the very
strange experience of rushing through the cavernouse rooms and hallways with smiling people every 10 feet pointing us on to the next hallway. Needless to say we
made it on board and were even able to attend the cocktail party for Mariners
with at least 3 stars, which is how many we have.
The thing is, at this point we don’t know how long we’ll be
on board. The cruise we’re on – the 5 day repositioning cruise which moves the
ship from its summer itineraries in Alaska down to San Diego for its fall
voyages – continues onto a 51 day round trip of the South Pacific, going to
many cool places. We are waitlisted. At the cocktail party we ended up chatting
with the hotel manager, and when we told her we were waitlisted she asked for
our room number and said she’d look into it, which seems promising.
After the cocktail party we did some touring of the ship. We
were last on this ship for a 15 day Panama Canal Cruise in February of 2023,
but they seem to have replaced much of the carpeting (they often do that after
I sail on the ship) and it all seemed very unfamiliar, except for the parts
that seemed familiar. We also took a cruise after that on a P&O ship in
Australia (BEST cabin ever), and the two ships blended together in our heads.
While we were touring I noticed the Navigator
App saying that our next scheduled event was the first seating of dinner – we thought
we were waitlisted but it turns out we weren’t. So we did some unpacking and
headed off to dinner, where we were seated at a 6-top with Larry and Laura from
Alberta, who are on the cruise for the 50
th anniversary of United
Floors, a Canadian flloring supply company. The other couple did not show up.
Larry and Laura turned out to be very good tablemates and we stayed at dinner
watching the scenery – our table is next to the windows at the rear of the dining
room, which is the farthest aft on the ship, so the scenery and sunset were
both lovely.
After dinner we went to see the comedian, Steven Scott, who
was good at imitating noises with his mouth and was pretty good. Then we went
to the Ocean Bar for some music and chair dancing, then out for a walk to the
Sky Deck where it was dark but very windy, and then back for more music and
chair dancing. And that was the first day.
