Day 1 (continued)

Once the Emerald had entered the ocean, we went to dinner, anxious to surprise Suttipong. And he wasn't surprised at all...he had seen us in the terminal before we boarded and had waved, but we didn't see him. And if that hadn't clued him in, Surasit took care of the rest.

The three of us said the same thing all through dinner...it's like the 8 intervening months never happened. Honestly, if I couldn't pick out specific events from our time at home, it would feel like one continuous, really long cruise. It manages to feel simultaneously wonderful and weird.

We didn't even stay for coffee and dessert. G looked at me with glassy eyes and said he was done for the day. I blame singing the Love Boat theme song at 6am. I knew that would catch up with him!

So, it is with great anticipation about what fun lies ahead this winter that I'm lying in bed typing this post. I am still torn about leaving home, but it's better now that we're here. I'll miss friends from home, of course, but this year we'll be visited by several friends, mostly cruise friends we've sailed with in the past, but also a special visit by special friends in February (more on that later). There is much to look forward to!

We're moving our clocks ahead an hour to Atlantic Standard Time already tonight. We start the cruise with two sea days, and it's a good thing- it will take us both of those to figure out where we've stowed everything in this cabin!

Day 1: Fort Lauderdale

Party animals that we are, at 7:30 tonight we are totally wiped out and already tucked into bed. It's been much the same as all first days on a cruise- exciting and exhausting- and our late night yesterday and early morning today have taken their toll.

So much to tell you; will I stay awake long enough to say it all?

Before we even boarded the ship, we saw (or more truthfully, were seen by) junior waiter Surasit from Thailand. Surasit was one of the three Thai waiters who performed a dance in the Crew Talent Show last winter (I posted videos on YouTube). Hugs ensued, and the first thing he said was, "We're all here", and we knew exactly who he meant. Waiters Nicky and our own waiter Suttipong from last winter are also on board (the three Thai crew members from the dance). I couldn't believe our luck. Surasit said Sutti was working the same dining room, same area that he had last winter, and there was no doubt that we wanted a table in his area again this winter.

We boarded the ship at 11:50 this morning, one of the first 30 or so new passengers to board. We went immediately to our cabin (the same one as last winter) to drop off our carryons. I was initially disappointed to see that the two special requests I'd faxed to Princess Special Services in California, for the beds in twin configuration and a hard mattress for my bed, weren't in place. Neither were our special Elite amenities. But almost immediately I suspected that we had a room steward who had just begun his contract today. As it turns out, that was exactly the case..Johnathon from the Philippines did just come on board, probably after we did. When we did finally meet up and relayed our request, it was taken care of during muster drill. Our cabin has Princess's "new" mattresses, much more comfy than the old ones...if you don't have lower back issues. If you do, and I do, they can place a piece of plywood under the mattress that, for some reason, does the trick. That's what I have, and it's perfect. Firm support but not hard.

Our next stop was Outriggers Bar, just steps from our cabin, to purchase our soda stickers, and then we traipsed back down to the DaVinci dining room for our favorite lunch of the cruise; salmon with lemon butter sauce for me and sliced beef tenderloin for G. Afterwards, we immediately went to meet with Maitre D' Jean Paul from France to set up a reservation for a table for 2 for the duration of our cruise. We hadn't yet met Jean Paul, but he was as warm and welcoming as most Princess Maitre D's (they get that job for a reason). And, guess what? We have the same table, same dining room, same waiter as last year! We couldn't wait to surprise Sutti when we walked in for dinner.

Then it was a mad dash back to the cabin. Our big suitcases had arrived, and it was time to unpack, one person at a time. The other one of us ducked out on the back Terrace Deck to enjoy the view and the sun. Muster drill was scheduled for 3:15pm and we still hadn't unpacked everything. During muster, G nodded off twice. We were starting to fade, but soldiered on. There was more unpacking to be done. Luckily (for us), sailaway was delayed an hour, and by the time we finally sailed at 5pm, we were dressed for dinner and up in Skywalkers enjoying sunset, sailaway and margaritas, the specialty of the day. Pure perfection!

Waiting to Board

We are at Terminal 4 in Port Everglades, all checked in by 10:30am. Obviously, we'll not be boarding for at least an hour, but, after being awakened early by the Love Boat theme, catching the 10am shuttle made perfect sense.

A quick word about the La Quinta: It's a great overnight hotel, and now, with the remodeling, has a new, fresh feel. We stayed with points, so the price was certainly right. The drawback of this property is that it is in the middle of...not much. That factored into our decision to take the late flight yesterday, as there was really no place to go once we got here. (There is a Sweet Tomatoes, Wendy's and a couple of other restaurants within walking distance, but it's largely a dark walk).

The La Quinta has now contracted out the shuttle to Port Everglades. For $8 pp, it's handled by All Stars Transportation and is handled much more efficiently than in the past.

Once at Terminal 4, we were handed yellow cards (for Elite) and our health forms (we're healthy), and walked by a corral of Platinum passengers (giving us the evil eye) right to the counter for our check in. I looked at G and said, "It's sweet to be Elite!"

I wondered if we might be late boarding today, due to the fact that this is the Emerald's first time in Fort Lauderdale since last April, but so far it doesn't look like this will be the case. Hope not- we've never been here so early before!

We're being told that the remodeling of Terminal 2 will be complete on the 11th, so, if that's the case, we'll be returning in 10 days to more familiar surroundings.

Today is sunny and warm (not hot) and perfectly perfect here in Fort Lauderdale, which should make for a memorable sailaway.

More to come...

Our winter home has arrived!

At 6:30am, G has already showered and is digging through suitcases for clean clothes while singing the Love Boat theme song. I had set the alarm for 8:30am and really hadn't had any intention of seeing 6:30am. No matter...he'll be heading down to his free breakfast in a minute or two, and I can 1.) turn on the morning news (G has declared this cruise an election-free zone for us and has the TV set on the Cartoon Network, probably the only channel not covering election returns); and 2.) roll over for some more zzzzzzzzzzzz's. I don't need breakfast; in 6 hours I'll be having lunch in the dining room on the Emerald Princess!

But, quickly, before I fell back asleep, I checked the Fort Lauderdale webcam. Our winter home has arrived!!  My excitement level just shot through the roof! 

Maybe I won't get back to sleep...

We're almost there!

The hardest parts of our trip to Fort Lauderdale: the flight, the shuttle to the hotel and pushing/ pulling/ kicking our 200+ pounds of luggage into the tiny elevator and then to the very end room off a long, long carpeted hallway are behind us, and went off without a hitch. By midnight, we arrived at the La Quinta near the Fort Lauderdale airport and only 15 minutes from Port Everglades, tired but thrilled to be so close to our winter home.

Checking in for our flight, Southwest placed brightly colored tags on all our suitcases. I was afraid to ask, but it was clear that they were being highlighted as being HEAVY.  As an added insult, each bag's weight was written in big numbers on the tags;  47, 48, 48, 47 pounds. It felt akin to being publicly weighed ourselves.  I suppose some might mock our inability to pack lightly, but I've decided to instead be proud that we pretty much maximized our luggage allowance.

We had four free drink coupons expiring before we fly again, so, of course, we had to use all of them.   My Chardonnays and cheese crackers were a prelude to what lies ahead: pre-dinner drinks and sunset views from Skywalkers.

G, as predicted, slept (such a skill). I, as predicted, watched the first two episodes, Season 1 of Downton Abbey. And drank lots of wine and ate cheese crackers, which, relatively speaking, was fine dining in my book.

Arriving on Southwest at the Fort Lauderdale airport is almost as familiar to us as arriving at our home airport. Our hotel shuttle arrived while I was still on the phone calling the hotel, so you might say we had less than no wait for it. But I was so tired that I actually drifted off on the bus, just long enough to drop the water bottle I was holding in my hand. It proceeded to roll down the entire length of the bus, in the process waking up anyone else who might have also have been napping.

The La Quinta is in the process of remodeling, and our room has already been completed. It's quite nice, and it's all so new that I get the impression we might be the first ones sleeping in it. Even with only 2 ships in port tomorrow, the hotel is at 100% occupancy.

Just one more sleep! At 12:30am, I'm nearly there already.

Sailaway and our first evening on board

As we left Canada Place, there was a yoga class being held on the furthest point of the pier, and in the harbor a man on a small boat serenaded our ship with first the Canadian national anthem, and then those of the US and England played on a saxophone. The quality of the performance degraded a bit with each progressive song, but it was good fun.

Canada Place in the foreground - the cruise ship pier

We sailed out of Vancouver Harbour along the edge of Stanley Park, in amongst float planes landing and taking off. Vancouver, when seen on a sunny day from the ship with the sail-type roof of Canada Place, the cruise ship pier, in the foreground is a spectacular thing. We were on an upper deck, and Joel, a native Vancouverite who works in the Passenger Services Department was up there on his break, trying to get in a last minute phone home. He became our personal guide, pointing out the various things we were seeing along the way.  The ship passed under Lionsgate Bridge and we were on our way.

North Vancouver

Our next stop was the Elite lounge for pre-dinner drinks. If there has been any disappointment at all, it was this lounge. There is no lounge with expanisive views on the top of this ship; no Skywalkers at all. The Elite lounge was held on one side of the Explorers Lounge on Deck 7. While there are windows on one side, it is completely lacking in the kind of views Skywalkers provides on the Emerald Princess. This, coupled with the fact that, on average, this ship is filled with what are fairly novice cruisers who aren't eligible to attend made the lounge seem pretty dull compared to what we enjoyed all winter.

I was still in my traveling clothes, although G had changed into shorts during the afternoon. We decided to swing by the Bordeaux Dining Room to see what kind of wait there was for a table for two for dinner. Headwaiter Roberto told us that we could have one right away, and insisted we be seated dressed just as we were. This was a good thing, because I have a feeling that if I had gone back to the cabin to change, I would have been asleep in five minutes.

Although we had a table for two, we were seated inches away from an older couple and, of course, struck up a conversation with them. They were from upstate New York, had just celebrated their 50th anniversary and this cruise, as well as a 7-night land tour of Alaska afterward, was a gift from their four kids. We had a wonderful meal (served by waiter Tee from Thailand) talking with them. So, a table for two turned into a table for four, but we were happy.

After dinner we returned to our cabin and were met by a gorgeous view of Georgia Strait, interspersed with small islands. And sitting on the balcony enjoying it all is where I began to type today's blog entries.

The view that got my attention after dinner

G left the cabin to go to the 8:30am Welcome Aboard show, but there was no way I was going to leave that balcony. It got dark around 9pm, and after G returned we continued to sit out there until the air cooled enough to chase us in.

We were asleep about two minutes after our heads hit the pillow.

View to the east at sunset, with the Volendam in the distance

At home on the Island Princess

Once on board the beautiful Island Princess, we headed right to the dining room for a quiet lunch at a table for two by a window. The Welcome Aboard lunch menu in the dining room is our very favorite. G always gets beef tenderloins and I get the salmon with lemon dill sauce. For dessert G had a souffle and I had mixed berries (which I've come to look forward to on our Princess cruises.

At 2pm we left the dining room and headed to our BALCONY cabin. It's on Aloha Deck in the back of the ship (how did they know that was our favorite location?). Awaiting us was Choochout, our cabin attendant from Thailand...and our luggage! What a gift that was to not haul those suitcases on the train (although we'll have to on our return).

Although this balcony cabin is slightly larger than our inside cabin, it's not that much bigger, and the storage is virtually identical, with just two small drawers as the only difference. It's notable feature, of course, is the balcony, and we're lucky that there is an overhang provided by the pool deck above. Even in a strong, windy thunderstorm we will stay dry out there.

We were in the side of the ship towards the freight area, but we could see downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver, and every few minutes helicopter tours of the harbor left from the nearby shore.

We quickly unpacked and headed up to walk around the open decks, exploring the ship. Muster drill was held at 4pm; we were scheduled to sail at 4:30pm, but the captain announced we were waiting for 26 more passengers (who must have all been on one flight), and it was a little after 5pm when we finally sailed.

Yoga at Canada Place

The Volendam sailed just before us

The quickest Canadian visit on record...almost

We walked what seemed like a very long way from our gate to immigration. A 747 from Japan had arrived at the same time, and although it was crowded, the lines moved fast. We officially entered Canada at 11:10am PDT.

As we walked toward our baggage claim, G spotted a Princess representative greeting people arriving for our cruise. In reality, he was greeting people who had paid for a Princess transfer to the cruise ship. G was his usual pleasant self, talking to anyone with an ear to listen, and told the rep we were taking the Canada Line train from the airport to Canada place, the cruise ship pier downtown. The next thing we knew we were being instructed to leave our suitcases at the Princess counter in the airport after passing through customs, and they would see that our bags were taken to the ship with those of the people who'd bought Princess transfers.

!!!!!

In getting to the train, we had to cross the traffic right outside the airport, go up two levels (by elevator or escalator), purchase our tickets and get our things on the train. Not having to schlep our luggage along the way turned that process into a fun adventure.

Vancouver was enjoying one of its best weather days of the summer, and it was sunny and about 80 degrees when we arrived. That is not very often the the case, and although I was dressed too warmly, I was certainly glad it wasn't cold and rainy.

While the initial part of the train ride was above ground, most of it was spent underground (Mom- it brought back great memories of us on the Paris subway). But it was much faster- and cheaper- than a taxi, just $8.75 per person. A bargain! We rode it to the Waterfront Station at the end of the line, and then walked just a block and a half through downtown Vancouver (beautiful!) to Canada Place, the cruise ship terminal.

Our first glimpse of Canada Place

Once there, we never stopped walking through the check in process. We first had to complete the Princess health questionnaire, promising we were well enough to board (a 30 second exercise), then we passed through security, similar to what is at airports. I laid my backpack on the x-ray conveyor and my iPhone in a basket. After passing through myself, I picked up my backpack and reconnected with G, and together we went through immigration back into the US. Yes, the cruise ship was a little island of America sitting in Vancouver Harbour.

Our next and final stop was- or should have been- checking in for the cruise and getting our cruise cards. Unfortunately, after we once again presented our passports to the agent, I patted my waist, double checking that my iPhone was still in its holster attached to my waist...and it wasn't.

I had left it at security. Although we were only several hundred feet apart, It was in Canada. I was in the US. Yikes!!

I quickly grabbed my passport back from the agent and took off running back through the oncoming passengers to get back to my phone. When I reached US immigration, I was flummoxed- how should I go about leaving the US and then entering Canada, just to get to the security area, within sight of me? Luckily, a customer service rep noticed my confusion, and came over to help. I was able to tell her exactly which security scanner I had passed through, and she was able to step over a rope that separated the two countries, and retrieve my iPhone, handing it back to me (in the US).

Whew!

I made my way back to the cruise check in area, where G was waiting. He had been able to get us checked in for the cruise and get our cruise cards while I was running through the terminal. (Apparently the check in agent had enough time to glance at my passport before I grabbed it away in my rush to GET MY PHONE).

Two hours of sleep. I was eight hours into my day on two hours of sleep and it was beginning to show. But thankfully we had arrived!

Day 1: Flight to Vancouver and embarkation day

Today in a word? Wow. Just wow.

I'll start with the end of the day and then backtrack. I am sitting right now on our balcony. At 8:20pm it is completely light outside, but I can see the orange glow of twilight beginning to streak across the water. We just came from a wonderful dinner (vegetarian ragout for me; prime rib for G) in the dining room and, interested in nothing else but the scenery passing by my room, I am foregoing any further evening entertainment.

We are cruising in the Georgia Strait, a mostly north-sound passage between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia. The ship is probably cruising at about 12 knots, and the water is mirror smooth. The temperature is so warm that even dressed only in my nightgown, I am perfectly comfortable on the balcony. I have my feet propped up and am leaned back, enjoying the scenery and typing this post. Every couple of minutes the scenery is so staggering that I am using my iPhone or picking up my Nikon camera to take a photo. The mild, dry breeze is like a balm on my weary body.

Life is so very, very good.

So now that I've explained where I am, let me tell you how we got here.

When the alarm went off this morning at 4:45am, I had had just two hours of sleep. In fact, at 2:30am I debated sleeping at all or just pushing on through the night. Finally exhaustion must have won out, because I did get some rest. I don't know why my body does this; whenever I know I have to get up early for a trip, sleep eludes me at the time I need it most.

Luckily, excitement is good adrenaline, and so we managed to complete the items on our "last morning" checklist of things to do in a peaceable manner ('cause I can get pretty grumpy when I haven't had enough sleep) At 5:45am, Martha arrived and told us our limousine was ready. ;-) Now, that's a true friend!!

Since we were taking an international flight, check in at the airport needed to be completed a full hour before flight time, and took a bit longer than usual due to extra checking of passports. By the time we got through security and to our gate, we waited just a few minutes before we boarded our plane, a 64-passenger Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) 700 for the three hour flight to Vancouver. Not my first choice of aircraft for a 3-hour flight, but its non-stop service won out over larger, more comfortable planes requiring two flights.

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When we booked this flight, seat options were limited, but we managed to get two seats together one row ahead of the last row on the plane. We definitely wanted seats that reclined. When I did the preliminary check in online yesterday, I confirmed our seats and noticed that, while the seat numbers were the same, we were now in the last row of the plane, right next to the restroom in seats that didn't recline.

Ruh-roh. This didn't look good, but furtively hoping it was a mix up, I tried to distract G with "extra leg room" seats for a $44 a piece upgrade. No dice. So I decided to hope for the best. When we boarded the plane, it looked like the luck we've had with this trip had just run out- we WERE in the last row next to the restrooms. I asked the flight attendant standing there if the flight was full and she thought it was, but she would check when she did her headcount. We sat tight and didn't settle in too much...since we were in the last row we weren't holding anyone up. Finally she came back and said, "Row 9". Thinking there was one seat available, I told G to take it. The flight attendant then leaned over and whispered that there were two seats together. The luck returned!

Mt.  Rainier  from the plane

It was immediately obvious what had happened: the last row of four seats had been removed and two or three rows of seats mid-plane had been moved a bit further apart- the "extra leg room", extra $44 seats I had told G about. We were in one of those rows! This small victory kept me fueled through the flight, and although we arrived in Vancouver 30 minutes late, the friendliness of everyone at the airport kept me going.

'Our' house at night ;-)

After dinner last night (pan fried barramundi for me; prime rib for G and his yummy souffle for dessert) we headed to the Princess Theater on Decks 6 and 7 at the front of the ship for the Welcome Aboard showtime. In typical fashion, this one featured the Emerald Princess singers and dancers in a brief, but energetic performance (to 'We are Family'), concluding with pyrotechnics on stage, all designed to pull us from our travel and embarkation day weariness and inject some enthusiasm in a generally middle aged+ audience. Billy London is our cruise director (it's hard to believe, after 22 Princess cruises, we hadn't met him before), and he introduced his activities staff. This was followed by a really good comedian, Gary DeLena, who, in addition go the typical cruise ship humor about vacuum toilets, minuscule showers and rough seas also had some good, original stuff. He does a long show tonight that we may get to.

By then the two busy days and less than 3 hours sleep I got at the hotel had taken their toll, and we returned to our cabin and finished unpacking (this cabin is stuffed! G said we've NEVER brought this much on a cruise, which is saying something), and I walked 'out back', which is how we refer to the the open decks aft on the ship. It is relaxing to watch the ship's wake from 14 decks above the water, especially with the almost-full moonlight reflecting off the water. I then turned around and took this photo. This is, in one photo, where we spend most of our time while on the ship. In the foreground is the Terrace Pool, then Outriggers bar and the large seating area behind the buffet. Up two decks is our favorite hot tub, with great views of the open ocean, then the high, glassed-in area is Skywalkers nightclub where we have a special cocktail hour every evening before dinner (and with great views of our sailaways from the islands), then, at the top, where the railed area is, the jogging track around the putt putt gold course. It's 16 laps to a mile, which gives one the impression of going around in circles, but the 360 degree views make up for any monotony.

89 99 more days of this! We're not sure, even now, that we fully comprehend what this will be like.

Home sweet home

We're safely onboard, with no mishaps en route. We were in our cabin by 12:15pm and at lunch in the dining room (having a cloth napkin placed in our laps and a menu in our hands) by 12:30 We looked at each other and said, "We have 89 99 more days of this!!!!!". And that just boggles the mind. Of course, I had salmon. I will be growing gills from all the seafood I'll be eating! G had beef tenderloins. And pronounced them very tender.

Apparently an email went out to the different departments in the ship stating that we are going to be on board until February. And we were going to try to fly under the radar, letting just the maitre d' (Nicola Furlan from Italy) and our cabin steward (Cristian from Romania) know of our plans. We had no idea that someone had connected the dots of all these individual cruises into something more significant.

This is a photo of our cabin. There is a vanity you don't see and a hallway closet and bath. I'll post more photos later. The Love Boat cabins it's not, but it is perfect for us as we have quick access to the outer decks on the back of the ship.

We are awaiting sailaway right now (we're 30 minutes late already), but it's a quick sail to Eleuthera in the Bahamas and Princess' private beach resort, Princess Cays. Stay tuned for photos of that in the next few days.

Life is good.