Cruise Chronicles Part 8

June 3, 2007

 

     Eighth day and last day.  After showering, we found out that dirty clothes take more space than clean ones and our baggage could not accommodate the souvenirs we bought.  Hubby said we should stop by Metrotown to get a cheap hand carry, so we did.  It took no time to accomplish that.

 

     Of course it was raining; the whole time it was raining, both in Alaska and here in Vancouver.  We had two things to do today before catching our plane; one, go to Lyn Canyon Suspension Bridge and two, eat at Chinatown.

 

     Raining heavily at times during the entire visit to Lyn Canyon, we joined kids on school trip and random tourists like us walk the suspension bridge.  It was cold and wet, but it was fun.  I of course had pics to show.  I should say more about this experience but I simply have nothing sensible in my gray matter at this time.

 

     The Chinatown experience was very limited.  We parked on the street and went to eat, sampled a bit of Chinese cuisine, which is nothing new to us really.  Here too we bought some souvenir shirts.

 

     I was getting worried that we might miss our flight.  We had enough time, however, as there was enough time to even shop at the duty-free shops. 

 

     Finally, boarded.  The flight was a bit bumpy in the take-off and a little rough.  But by the grace of God, we landed safe, sound, and relieved in SFO.

 

 

Here ends the Cruise Chronicles.

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Cruise Chronicles Part 5

May 31, 2007

 

     Fifth day and Skagway day.  Today we did not request for room service breakfast because we knew we had plenty of time to eat in the café before going ashore.  We woke up after seven and after last night’s stomach trouble, I found myself feeling fine and ready to start the day.  Showered and powdered, we dressed warmly after our experiences in Ketchikan and Juneau.  The sky was dry, thank heavens.  But the wind was howling making it really, really cold, bitterly cold.  There was a shuttle outside the gangway that charges $1.50 every ride.  The ride included some narration about the town’s history.  We found out that we took the shuttle when the town was about 10-15 minutes walk away. 

 

 

     Skagway is called the gateway to Klondike.  It sits in Alaska coast and the town comprised of five blocks lengthwise and 27 blocks crosswise. The downtown is seven blocks with Broadway as the main drag.  The downtown area is under Parks services.  The buildings in Broadway are all preserved and/or renovated buildings from the days of the Klondike gold rush.  The only stone building belongs to Wells Fargo/Bank of Alaska on Broadway.  This is a tourist town.  According to the locals, there are 850 people in this town.  Today with four cruise ships on dock and with each one carrying about 2,500 passengers and crews, this picturesque coastal town swells.  Tourists are like ants smelling some sweets.  It is something to behold.  It’s like a scene out of a movie.  This quiet town of old Victorian buildings framed by the snowy peaks of the mountain on the background gets swamped by all these camera-toting tourists shooting pictures in the middle of the street.  I am one of them today.

 

 

     We first walked around town.  Yes, there was a Starbucks.  Much as I am a fan of this overpriced coffee chain, not all locations deserve/need one.  This is one of those locations that the presence of Starbucks ruins the idyllic setting.  We went inside the train station debating about whether to shell out $98/pp to ride the Yukon White Pass rail along the picturesque Alaskan mountainside.  We finally said it was too much money to spend.  Further down the town, we chanced upon one of the shops that advertise private tours.  This one is called Klondike tours.  This is a shuttle tour about 2.5 hours long running parallel with the train route but on the road going up to the Alaskan border with British Columbia. 

 

 

     The tour was awesome at $45/pp.  Jaime our driver/tour guide is a transplant from Yreka, California.  She first took us to pan for gold.  We collected about 5 gold specks (We believed were planted there purposely to satisfy tourists).  We took to the road again and stop at mountainside to gaze at beautiful mountain peaks, waterfalls, mountain goats, and the backcountry of Alaska and British Columbia.  The vista was magnificent.  I guess my pictures will speak for themselves.

 

 

     Just like every one else, we did come back to the ship for lunch.  Why pay extra outside when there is plenty of free food inside 15 minutes walk away (that is probably why the small tourist town of Skagway does not have a successful restaurant business)?  Our shopping was done in the morning too before lunch.  We bought some souvenirs and found thankfully an internet spot where one can buy an hour’s worth of internet time for $6.  When we first arrived, one of the computers still had time and we emailed our family and check some news for about 30 minutes.  We asked the store clerk if we could return later and use our minutes, whatever is remaining; except that we still had all of them.  We returned to use half of it after our tour and thought we could get half our money back but the storeowner said they don’t give refund.  Hubby just passed it on to Pablo, our cabin attendant.

 

     We just had our usual afternoon ritual of LAS TRAMBLAS tapas and desserts afterwards.  We had bread pudding tonight.  Then watched the show by an Alaskan native.  He brought some CDs to sell after the show.  WE bought one.  WE both support local individual artist and this man is one.   

 

Cruise Chronicles Part 4

May 30, 2007

 

     Fourth day and Juneau day.  Our day began with the ringing of the telephone signaling the arrival of our breakfast in bed.  Room service, I noticed, every time on port day comes in earlier than requested.  We turned on channel 23, which covers the boat’s front.  We noted that it is a cloudy day in Juneau.  It was raining quite heavily in Ketchikan, why would Juneau be any different.  What we thought was a drizzle was actually a heavier downpour.  Our boat docked a ways out this time around.  There were three others docked in Juneau and another one was spotted as we were getting back to the boat. 

 

     We caught one of those Alaska Gray Line buses, which apparently been commissioned by NCL to shuttle cruisers back and forth.  On the way to downtown, we spotted the tram up to Mt. Roberts.  While I always thought we’d try this ride, the weather was not cooperative.  I know, I know that there are still some sights to be had despite the gloomy weather.  It was quite beautiful though.  Cruisers descended to the downtown area like ants out for feeding.  Every one looked eager to taste a bit of what this Alaskan capital had to offer in all this “liquid sunshine”, which I thought was humor borne out of desperation? 

 

 

 

 

     We were dropped off at the tram station, which is located coast side. Here along this road are the main tourist traps, overpriced smoked salmon (which I will not buy, it’s much, much cheaper at Costco), ubiquitous souvenir stores plying t-shirts, thimbles, mugs, pens, stuffed toys, postcards (which I had to have at each place I go), etc. 

 

 

 

 

     Also, lining up along the coast are different tour booths.  We were going back and forth with a city tour/glacier tour or simply a glacier tour.  Actually, it’s more of a city bus ride to Glacier Park.  Glacier Park is 8 miles away and costs 6 dollars one way.  We did well with saving money.  Once there, Mendenhall Glacier Park is such a sight to behold.  It is awe-inspiring, too beautiful and too magnificent for words.  It is both big and beautiful, amazing as a matter of fact.  It was of course still pouring.  Despite that minor inconvenience, every visitor was more eager to savor this experience of a lifetime and with no regards to one’s safety trekked closer to the glacier, as close as the park service allowed. 

 

 

     I have never seen anything like it in my lifetime. I have never in my wildest dream ever thought I would be lucky enough to see it.  I have seen this in magazines and mostly in calendars, but seeing it in person is beyond words.  I once heard someone say, SOME VISTAS DEFY PHOTOGRAPHY.  This is one of those very few vistas.  That did not deter us; it even made us become voracious photographers.  We captured it in various angles in as many different lights as possible. 

 

 

     We climbed up to the visitor center, which was the first visitor center to be built in a national park.   This point was courtesy of our very Southern driver, who claimed he couldn’t get away from Alaska.  He loved it so much he just had to come back.  I don’t blame him. 

 

     I bought postcards at the visitor center.  Then followed the trail called Photographic Trail, where one can get a closer look at the glacier.  Now, there are floating icebergs on the lake.  Some are bluish; others are just white.  We found out that white is snow and blue is ice so some of those floating in the lake are glacier ice.  The whole time we were there – which was about 2 hours – the rain had continued to pour on with a very brief moment stoppage.  It was not a thing to be bothered with.  We had come this far to be bothered by rain.  By the left side of the glacier is a roaring waterfall, which signals that there is melting glacier somewhere to have caused this. 

 

     While savoring the moment of watching the glacier along the banks of the lake, a little girl from Dallas with her sister collected some chunks of ice, a large one, and carried it with her.  She wanted to take it home with her.  Of course, I did what I came to do – gawk at the incredible scenery and take pictures, both of the natural wonder before me and of my fellow onlookers whose cameras were working double time.  Thank heavens for digital camera.  Hubby was busily taking footage of the beauty.  It was a misty, cold, wet, gloomy day in Mendenhall Glacier Park, but it was a very, very good day.

 

     By chance, we got into the same bus on the way back to town.  Again he pointed out some places of interests.  After being dropped into the Mt. Robert’s Tramway parking lot, where all the buses drop off and pick up cruisers, we managed to do a little shopping for our loved ones back home. 

 

     Juneau is the capital of the great state of Alaska, but it was disappointing in a way that very little of this capital city was shown to us.  Sure, there is a city tour, that we did not take, but from where we were, all that were available to us were stores, jewelry stores, and souvenir shops. 

 

     Our little time in Juneau went by quickly.  After freshening up a bit, we went to lunch at Seven Seas again.  The restaurant was getting full and we had to share our table with a charming young Chinese couple from Hong Kong, who decided to take the cruise at the last minute.  They were visiting some family in Vancouver and saw the cruise ship and somehow decided to do it.  What a fun thing to do. They were very nice couple that was both into IT.

 

     After lunch, we had to take a little nap.  Except that again, hubby had nap and I had Law and Order.  During the commercial break about half an hour or so later, I checked what’s happening with the ship via channel 23.  There I saw the captain explaining that we are in Tracy Arm, a fjord, and floating icebergs were all around the ship.  I immediately woken hubby up and we went to level 6, and there it was glorious scenery before us – chunks of ice of varying sizes floating all around the ship, the mountain range in the background all shrouded with mist and fog and cloud, the weather gloomy and gray, the wind slapping our faces and body with icy whip, and the rain continues to come down.  But the cruisers were all vying for a good position to watch and shoot.  Watch and shoot we did for a very long time.  Long enough to make my camera battery lose juice.  I went back to the room to see if I packed extra batteries, other than the rechargeable set that I brought just in case.  Yet, these ones I failed to charge.  They needed to be charged prior to first usage.  Afraid I was missing too much as it is, I went to the galleria store to buy four double A batteries, they only had two left.  All were sold out (we found out later from some guy in the elevator that he too needed battery change and had to immediately get some from the store, which probably happened to more than one guy since the store was left with only 2 double A batteries).

 

 

 

 

     We were supposed to go sail to Sawyer Glacier but the captain made an announcement that there was too much ice floating for us to get through and that we needed to turn back.  Well, they did issue statement in the bulletin that passage through Sawyer Glacier depends on ice flow.  I guess, it was not our day to see it.  The view however was breathtakingly awesome.  There was a part of the scenery that reminded us of Rivendell, except that Rivendell is a digital creation and this is naturally existing, here with all its grandeur and mysticism for every one to enjoy and experience and hopefully to be able to capture in some way digitally to bring home and share with family and friends.  I have plenty to share in my blog.

 

 

 

     Dinnertime was at SEVEN SEAS.  We had the window seat, fortunately.  As always, it was a good meal, but I was not really hungry.  At 7 pm, we had our usual daily tapas at LAS TRAMBLAS, where we managed to catch Rick Stickney’s 7 pm performance.  We brought the syrah that Roy picked up in Juneau and had to pay 15 dollars corkage fee.  I really hate paying corkage fee.  I see no sense in this rule. 

 

      We finished dinner in time to catch the start of tonight’s performance called Que Noche, song and dance extravaganza, much like the ones my students at CHS perform for the whole student body.  They are as good as these performers are.

      I was really tired and getting under the weather.  After the show, I decided to forego my nightly shower in favor of a good night’s sleep.  I was having a good night sleep when after an hour or so, I woke up with an upset stomach and had to use the bathroom.  It was not enough, I also vomited, which I hated to do and I very rarely do.  Now, here I am doing this because I am waiting for my stomach to settle down. 

      Tomorrow is Skagway day, all day.  The advertised tour are all very expensive and way beyond our budget.  We were told that Skagway is just one big street and all that you needed to see was in that one big street.  I have seen photographs of it and I intend to take a lot of photos because I intend to enter a Skagway photo contest, one I saw in the Internet. 

 

     Well, I may stay up a bit more as my stomach is still sour.  I have been eating too much.  Well, more from Skagway tomorrow.  I hope it clears up a bit.  At least not too much rain

 

 

Cruise Chronicles Part 3

May 29, 2007

 

     Third day and Ketchikan Day.  We were awakened by the ringing of the telephone quite early.  When I answered the phone, the voice on the other end was apologetic for serving our room-service breakfast earlier than requested.  I was not aware how early it was until I checked my watch and saw it was a quarter to six.  A quarter to six!!!! Who wakes up at quarter to six on their holiday?  Well, apparently, the boat is docked in Ketchikan already and the crew is ready to see us off.  We did manage to take our time with breakfast and left for shore at about 7 am.  We were quite surprised to find out it was drizzling outside, which made us to return to our cabin for the umbrella we purposely brought for just this purpose.  My first impression of Ketchikan is quite good.  I mean I am fond of these preserved little towns.  This one however is so picturesque.  It sits by the coast and has a snow-peaked mountain range as a background.  Everywhere you look is green, must be from all the “liquid sunshine” they are getting.  Apparently, they own the title of the rainiest town in US.

 

     Ketchikan is known for two things: the very first town in Alaska and SALMON CAPITAL.           

 

     After disembarking, we found the visitors center a few feet from the plank, so we had to sign up for the tour we most wanted for the price we were willing to pay.  We found the NORTHERN TOURS, which included some nature walks (albeit very short), eagle sightings and possible bear sightings as well, but most importantly it included the Totem Pole Park.

 

     We were first driven around the small town with the van driver doubling as the tour guide and narrator.  He pointed out the schools, the salmon hatcheries and packing place, the creek where they spawn (we were a couple of weeks early to experience any salmon-related activities).  He proceeded to drive away from the town proper and stopped by the road and pointed at a tree where a large bald eagle was sitting atop a tree across from the branch where his nest sits.  We were all thrilled to spot an eagle, except for this middle aged guy who says he is from Oregon and claimed to see a lot of bald eagle where he came from.  The rest of the group went down and clicked to our hearts content.  The group consisted of an Asian couple with their two young children, one is about 2 or 3 years old and the younger is about 6 or 7 months old, the Oregon man, a nice kissing couple, who keeps sucking face every chance they get, and an elderly couple from New Zealand and who belongs to the Ryndam Holland ship that is docked next to ours on the shore and of course my husband and I.  We later found out that bald eagles really thrive here, probably from all the salmon available to them, as we spotted quite a few of them in a very short time.

 

     We drove along the coast and the driver Josh pointed out points of interests and other sidelights.  His laugh was infectious and the wonderful lady from NZ said so too.  We were then shown RAINBOW FALLS, which is located along the road.  It was a nice little stop by the road.  We took photos and it was raining nonstop now.  Not too heavy but not light to be considered a drizzle, although Josh did point out that to Ketchikan residents this is a drizzle. After all the photos were taken and obviously Josh was following his schedules to the letter, we were ushered in the van for our next stop, which was a place where the possibility of bear sighting is at its highest.  No luck today, although we did sighted another eagle, which was still a baby under 5 years, per Josh, because only eagles over five years develop the white feathers in their head, ergo bald.  The nature part of this tour continues with a stop alongside the coast where a small patch of a rainforest sampling was found.  Here Josh pointed out the five different types of trees found in Ketchikan; I managed to remember one – red alder.  He continued his lecture on the leaves found here that the Native Americans who inhabit this island used for native remedy.  Here also we were shown the two eagles nests high atop two trees across the road where we were all gawking at trees and posing by them.  Apparently, bald eagles live about 50 years and they mate with one mate for life and nest at the same nest forever. We were told one of those nests was roughly 100 years old.  The eagles pass the nest to the next generation, because apparently eagles are lazy nest builders. 

 

     The totem pole park was the next stop.  Here we lingered a bit longer.  Will research more on this park and will probably add it to my blog.  The park boasts of totem poles signifying different occasions.  It was a good photo op.  Here also, we were shown carvers at work on another totem pole.  

 

     The tour winded down to another tour of the downtown area passing by Creek Street (in the old days was red light district) where Dolly’s House, a famous bordello is lovingly preserved for tourism.  Creek Street is named because it is alongside the creek and the houses are on stilts.  This area is very charming. When turning your back on Creek Street, you will be face to face with the coast and all the cruise ships docked there, there were four including ours today.  Either way, it is a very pretty.

 

     When the tour concluded (it was the $40 dollar tour), we still had two hours to browse and shop.  We entered a few shops, checked the Creek Street on foot and browsed some more, got a triple Americano to go, sampled reindeer meat and smoked salmon, and bought some too, managed to shop pasalubongs to family and bosses, and even snagged a deal of 19.99 jacket (reversible, water resistant) with Ketchikan embroidered on its chest portion. 

 

     With 30 minutes to spare, we decided to embark, much to hubby’s dismay.  He wanted to get as much as Ketchikan as allowed.  We did stay aboard and went up to the deck to get some more shooting and footage.  I can only imagine how glorious it would be to spend a couple of days here in the summer time, when there is less rain.  We did not even have time to see the glacier.  Not enough time for any one to do that.

 

     It was lunchtime and we thought SEVEN SEAS sounded a good idea.  Apparently, a lot of our shipmates thought the same thing.  There was a line outside the restaurant when we got to level 5.  The line went fast and we got seated a seat away from the window.  We could never get a window seat, sigh.  Like yesterday, the service was excellent and the food terrific.  I had fried calamari for appetizers, blueberry soup for the second course, and skewered mahi-mahi for my main course with yummy basic chocolate ice cream for desserts.  Hubby had some sort of fruit for appetizers, a corn chowder sort of soup, the Indian dish for entrée and warm apple cobbler for desserts.  I enjoyed the lazy eating at this restaurant.  The couple in the next table, a mother and daughter, were very friendly.  The daughter was taking her mother to this cruise for her 91^st b/day, which was last February.  The woman was very friendly and chatted with us all through lunch.  They are from Vancouver and we hit her up for some tips on what to do in Vancouver in such a short time.  She did give us some helpful hints.  She also shared with us her fondness for San Francisco, which she has visited many times.  Lunch was over and we both decided that a nap was in order.  Hubby did get his nap.  I was there in bed feeling a bit under the weather with my stomach upset probably from all the pills I took after lunch.  I stayed in bed watching TV part of the time and the other half just trying to get some sleep. 

 

     Not too long after, naptime was over and we decided to eat.  What else is there to do?  The weather has not cleared and it still rains constantly.  We had some teacakes and sandwiches that accompanied our tea.  This is the second day we did the teatime.  It is not bad really. 

 

     By 5:30, it was tapas time again. While their selection varies very little from day to day, we enjoy not only the food, but also the atmosphere.  There are two Filipinas working here, one is taking care of the food from that side of the bar, and the other one is the server; her name is Lovely.  It is a quiet place and we simply love the ambience and the down time it gives us.

 

     At 7:30, we caught the comedy show at the Stardust Lounge by a comedian from San Francisco.  It was a lot of laughs.  We made reservation at Pacific Heights for dinner at 8:30, but there were no tables available at that time.  We were asked to return in 10 minutes; we came back after 20 and still no tables by the windows were available.  At 9:00, we were seated by the window.  I had some fruit medley with a little bit of ricotta cheese for appetizer; hubby had the mussels.  I had pizza, hubby had the perch for main course and I had the poached pear for desserts and hubbyhad the coconut pavlova, which is simply a scoop of vanilla ice cream sitting atop a meringue with sauce of something with grand marnier.  It was a good dinner.

 

     The day as a whole was a good one.  Tomorrow we dock in Juneau.  We were told not to shop in Juneau, as there are better selections and lower prices in Skagway, not to mention, our time in the latter is far longer than the former.  It is 12:00 in a couple of minutes and again hubby is snoring to his nose’s content for over an hour.  I will probably find a difficult time catching some sleep; the boat is constantly rocking.  Not really strong, but it does give me a headache.  Well, hoping that the day is better weather-wise tomorrow.  That’s all for now.

 

 

 

 

Cruise Chronicles Part I

 

 

May 27, 2007

 

   

  The first day of our vacation . We started the day quite early by waking up at 4:30 am.  An hour later, brother R and SIL A were on our doorstep to drive us to the airport.  Brother offered to drive us because they were getting up early that day anyway to visit and sympathize with a friend who just returned from his mother’s funeral in the Philippines. They were going to the opposite direction, but insisted that it would not be any trouble at all to take us to the airport.  We were grateful. We had plenty of time to catch our flight.  A slight delay was experienced when my stash of toiletries were meticulously checked.  Apparently, I am clueless with regards to the current dos and don’ts of carry-on toiletries.  I was quite pissed because some rules make no sense really.  These rules should be available to all airline websites (I found out later on that they did post these requirements) so it could easily be accessible to online reservationists.  Anyway, alls well that ends well.  I, however, lost my brand new St. Ives facial scrub.  No big deal, you say, hey, I love that product, $3.50 or not.

 

     The saving grace for the day was the smooth and relatively pain free flight to Vancouver.  I have never been on a “domestic” flight before and have no clue whatsoever what to expect and while at first I was dismayed upon seeing how small the plane really was on the inside – it looked humongous on the outside – the ride was quite fun.  The clouds were aplenty and were cotton like.  The little girl on the seat behind us even said GOOD MORNING GOD quite loudly when she saw the clouds.  And that put my mind at ease and my heart stopped pounding and returned to its normal rhythm (I am one of those who could not remain calm before a flight).

 

     Vancouver greeted us with the most pleasant weather.  While the forecast called for drizzle, it was all sunshine as we landed.  We had – we believed – enough time to kill to see the famed Stanley Park before boarding the ship (that is until we saw how big the park really is).  We had a choice to take a taxi, which would cost us about 40 bucks or just take the airport shuttle that would take us to the Bayshore area; this information was from the airport info center. So, we tried to save a few Canadian dollars and take the $15.00 airporter shuttle ride to Stanley Park.  The fine print of this deal was that a transfer was required since there was no straight trip to the Bayshore area, where Stanley Park is.

 

     Stanley Park is Vancouver’s answer to our Golden Gate Park.  However, with our carry-ons with us, we had very limited mobility.  We did, however, found time to snap some shots.  On this day, there was a huge walk benefiting the Rape Relief Program and a huge number of people were in attendance.  We saw the mass throng at a section of the park close to the water where the eats were being served.  We saw this on our taxi ride to the ship terminal.

 

     Vancouver has a feel that is so San Francisco like.  Stanley Park is so much like Golden Gate Park, at first glance.  The city is so green, which I truly liked. And I have not seen a freeway.  Is there no freeway in Canada? 

 

     Our cruise ship was docked at a pier in a place called Canada Place, which again has a vibe that is reminiscent of Pier 39 of San Francisco.  We vowed to check it out on our way back.

 

     There was very little hassle on boarding the ship, except for a short moment when we could not find our tickets.  And when my passport won’t scan necessitating a manual input of information at two different checkpoints.  Again, all’s well that ends well and we were on the way to climbing on board, and we did with no delay whatsoever.

 

     For the next seven days, home is stateroom 9305, which seems to be always on the wrong corridor or at the end of a very long corridor. I don’t mind really, the extra step I take will be more beneficial after all the caloric intake I will surely impose on my body.

 

     Upon arrival inside the boat, I noticed that it is better than the first cruise ship I had, Carnival.  For one, this is a freestyle cruising, no schedules to follow with regards to eating or other activities.

 

     When the mandatory safety boat drills were over, we hightailed it to the deck 12, where it was announced that a welcome bbq and some entertainment await us.  It was still early; we did not see the bbq set up so we thought we’d try GARDEN CAFÉ, where they have a buffet style dining, with different stations for rotisserie, desserts, breads, salads and greens, and voila, an Indian food section.  We could not pass up a free Indian food.  We had two slices (these were the size of a ¼ of a whole size Nan) with some curry and another veggie dish.  Raitha is something I wont pass up either.  This we enjoyed on deck 12 just outside the tapas place LAS RAMBLAS, which we checked if we could get something to eat.  But alas, they were closed still.  We made a mental note to come and eat there when they open at 5:30.

 

     The ship finally sailed out of Vancouver port around 5:30 and we found ourselves still on deck watching it sail away along with a lot of our other shipmates.  Like me, they were keen on snapping shots of the Lion’s Gate Bridge, which outside of the color, reminds me of Golden Gate Bridge.

 

     More eating followed.  Well, actually we tried to really just snack our way around the restaurants by trying a little of this and a little of that.  We went to get a cocktail, whose name has escaped me for a moment, because it came with a souvenir cocktail glass.  We sampled the bbq offering with three different kinds of sausages, some coleslaw, a roll, a serving of American potato salad (yes they called it that).  We caught their show at 9 pm where they featured all their entertainment from every restaurants, bars, etc.  Two of those were Filipino groups, the guitar-playing BROTHERS AND FRIENDS and the band called KENOSIS.  The cruise director was very funny and nicknamed one man, SEXY. 

 

     When the show was over, we again made a beeline to the GARDEN CAFE for some fruits and a raspberry mousse, which if I know my desserts is of mediocre quality.  Well, can’t win them all.  One of my pet peeve is that all the drinks are for sale.  The food is free but the drinks will cause you an arm and a leg.

 

     Tomorrow is sea day, which means we will be sailing all day and with our room service order already filled out and the form hanging outside our door, we will have plenty of time to catch up with some needed zzzz.  Hubby is presently snoring in bed while I am typing away a couple of feet from him.  It is 12:05 and I am still up, has taken that much needed shower – I could smell all of San Francisco and Vancouver on me- and the boat starts to roll.  I just wish that I would not get sick just like I did the first time I went cruising.  Hoping for a great day tomorrow with just lazing around and hopefully win one of those darn raffle.  I never win any of those; I wonder why I even stay when I know that the odds will never be in my favor each time. 

 

     I guess it’s time to catch up on my beauty rest too.  I had a very long day, literally.  It was a very good day, though.  Can’t wait to see how my photos turned out.  Unfortunately, we brought this laptop where I am typing away now, but forgot to load the new soft ware or bring the cable.  Well, you can’t win them all.