On Our Way

On Our Way,

We got up a little early and got ready to head to Vancouver. The trip in was uneventful and the traffic flowed well.

We stopped and had a little visit with Emmie and Leo. I had gifts in the bags for them and then we headed to the dock. Again the line flowed easily and we were ushered on right away. As we were in line to get registered and get our key cards we spied this older man. He was wearing the strangest outfit we had ever seen. It was bright and colorful and covered with native designs such as you would find in Alaska and in British Columbia. It consisted of a jacket  and pants and a hat and strange shoes.

We found our room and it is very nice. The balcony is not as wide and the table will not be as good for a champagne breakfast but it is a balcony and I know we will enjoy it.

Ken and I decided to have lunch at the International Café since it was almost time to see the Maitre d’ . While there Ken’s cell phone rang. It was Erik, he and Rosalie were on board.

Ken told them how to meet us and before we knew it there were hugs all round. I hurriedly finished my sandwich and headed up to Sabatini’s. That is where I could see about getting us a table together. Ken stayed with Erik and Rosalie .

I was given ticket number 7 and so I had to sit for awhile but the process went very quickly and I was successful. The four of us now have early dining and we are at table 134 in the  Da Vinci dining room.

When I met everyone outside of the dining room, who did we run into but the man in the strange clothes. We chatted and he posed for pictures. Apparently he bought the outfit on line and he has several more interesting modes of dress. It should be interesting to see what they are. He seems to be enjoying life. Oh he is from Maple Ridge by the way.

Erik and Rosalie already had their luggage in their room so they went to9 unpack and we invited them to come to our room for a glass of wine at five o’clock.

Ken and I returned to our room, we met our room steward. His name is Alvin Cervantes and my, oh my he is efficient. We asked for 4 wine glasses and within 5 minutes he was back with them. I also asked him for a vase for my flowers and  quick as a wink he was back with a vase complete with water in it.

We sat and enjoyed our room while we waited for time for Muster Drill and for our luggage. It had not arrived yet and I was beginning to become concerned. Then it was time to head for the Wheelhouse bar which was our muster station. On our way down the hall Ken spied our luggage. It was ready to be delivered so I headed out with an easy mind

The drill went well. We were next to a nice couple and we visited while we waited for the drill to begin.

When it was over we came back to our room right away because we needed to unpack and it was already after four and we had company coming at five and we had to get ready for dinner.

We succeeded and were putting the last items away when there was a knock on our door.

 Erik and Rosalie arrived. They told us that they had received a gift of a wonderful tropical flower arrangement and a photo package from their children. They had also received a gift of chocolate covered strawberries from Kim. They had pictures of the flowers, I am so jealous. But my small bouquet from Save On is nice too. Since our luggage had arrived I was able to use Ken’s scissors  to trim the stems and they look much better.

We enjoyed our wine and took lots of pictures as the ship sailed away. The skies were gray and the air was cool but it didn’t matter at all. We were going on a cruise!! Yeah. Our chocolate covered strawberries arrived. They are in milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate but they are very good and we enjoyed them. We toasted the journey and Erik took loads of pictures of the sail away.

About 5:20 we headed for the dining room. We were seated at a table for 6 and we met our staff right away. Our waiter is from India and I can’t spell his name but it stars with the letter S and it sounds like the dance Chautice. He is young and really handsome. He has a wonderful smile and he is really very friendly. His assistance is a young lady from Peru and her name is Ingrid.  After several minutes the last 2 people arrived at the table. They are from the Duncan area of Vancouver Island , his name is Ken and her name is Zulda I think. She is from Poland and with the accent it is hard to tell. But I will get her to write it down before the 2 weeks is over.

Dinner was great but because it was the first night confusion reigned and service was slow. But we used the time well visiting and getting to know our table mates. She said there was no way that I could be seventy, that I looked fifty so you know I really like her. I had the spring rolls, the Pina Colada soup, the bass and sugar free mango cheese cake for dessert. Ken had shrimp cocktail, Caesar salar, prime rib and sorbet for dessert.

It was seven thirty when we finished dinner but since we had forgotten out pills Ken and I came back to our room to get them. At around eight ten we headed for the Princess theatre so we could take in the welcome shoe. We were early enough that we got seats in the Royal Box which was fun. Where we sat we could see Erik and Rosalie and Ken and Zulda.  The dancers were very good as usual. They performed the number “One Night Only”

Then the cruise director  came out and introduced his staff and explained about the Patter etc.

 Then we were introduced to Al Katz who is a comedian and he will be doing a couple of shows. He is apparently the winner of Entertainer of the year for Princess.  He was good but we like Carlos Oscar better. Katz used the opportunity to make fun at the expense of the Asian people on board and we felt he took it a bit too far.

After the show we went to the International café and had a coffee and a snack. We did not have our brandy with us so we drank it without. By now it was after ten so we called it a night. The clocks go back an hour tonight.

We ordered our fruit but decided to have breakfast in the dining room. The sea is moving and we can see the lights of Vancouver Island from our balcony. It is cool and there are a few clouds. We did not see any northern lights.