Day 1~Embarkation

Posted on May 28, 2013May 28, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Following our Scavenger Hunt list we explored the ship finding the shopping area including the Art Gallery, the Internet Café, Sabatini’s Italian Restaurant, and finally the Lotus Spa. Beware the spa visit!

As we collected our stamp, Spa Attendant Dolly asked of we’d like to see the most relaxing place on the ship. Of course we said yes. She let us into a little room off the reception area where 4 ceramic lounge chairs were the main focus of the room. Even though we were still in traveling clothes she had us sit down on the chairs. Oh My! Heaven. The ceramic was heated and as it radiated up into my travel weary muscles I could feel the knots releasing! I hated to move. Sandy was feeling the same way. She immediately signed us up for a chocolate scrub and unlimited use of these stone beds.

I allowed myself to be convinced to have a massage as well and Sandy also agreed to have one. The fees were charged to our on board account. That makes it easy to spend without thinking about the actual cost. A dangerous side effect of the “cashless” policy.

About that time I realized I had lost my Scavenger Hunt Card. We’d accumulated all the stamps so we went looking for the Welcome Aboard Party to turn Sandy’s in. We ran into quite a few other guests looking for the same thing. Apparently the rain had canceled the party.

That was ok because now it was time for the Safety Drill/Briefing. Back to our stateroom we went to retrieve our life vests then down the stairs to our muster stations.( Sandy was worried about getting her daily walk in…Ha!) Once we were all assembled the crew performed a series of demonstrations on the use of the life vests before we had a chance to try them on ourselves. The Safety Briefing is mandatory on all cruises as a requirement of law. In view of all the recent cruise ship mishaps, I think that’s a good thing!

The Island Princess was scheduled to depart Vancouver at 4pm but was delayed for maintenance. That’s ok with me. Fix it now… not at sea!

While we were at dinner in the Bordeaux dining room around 6:30pm we finally noticed we’d begun to move. As she sailed away from Vancouver the Island Princess sailed through the Burrard Inlet with Stanley Park on the port side. Lion’s Gate Bridge spans the inlet.

What we didn’t realize at the time is that the sail away from Vancouver is ranked as one of the world’s most scenic.

It is recommended that you view the departure from the outside deck allowing at least an hour to see all the highlights.

Oops! Well we certainly enjoyed our dinner and met the first of some very interesting people even if we didn’t see all of the sights.

After dinner we made our way to our balcony before we headed to the Welcome Aboard Show in the Princess Theater.

Little did I know that this would be one of the last sunsets we’d see in quite awhile.

Posted on May 27, 2013May 27, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Well Once again I am counting my lucky stars! Sandy and I had a great trip on the Island Princess only to come home to news that Royal Caribbean passengers aboard the Grandeur of the Seas are not having such a good time!

John Bacon and Gene Sloan, USA TODAY10:59 a.m. EDT May 27, 2013

MIAMI — A fire broke out Monday aboard a cruise ship on its way to the Bahamas, but the blaze was quickly extinguished and no serious injuries were reported, Royal Caribbean Cruises said.

The ship Grandeur of the Seas did not require evacuations and continued under full power, reaching Freeport, Bahamas, this morning. Royal Caribbean said that after the fire on a rear mooring deck, passengers had to report to evacuation stations. The ship is being “evaluated,” the company said.

“Grandeur of the Seas experienced a fire this morning. Captain mustered all guests. No injuries of guests or crew reported,” the line said on Twitter.

Royal Caribbean Cruises owns several cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises.

The fire is the latest in a series of cruise ship mishaps that has shaken the industry. In February, fire in an engine room of the cruis ship Carnival Triumph left the ship dead in the water in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to a lack of propulsion, the ship was without power for essential services such as food preparation and, for a time, running water. Toilets stopped working, as did air conditioning and lighting. The vessel eventually was towed to Mobile, Ala., but not before passengers had to spend four days on board in what was described as miserable conditions.

America’s trust in cruise lines has dropped significantly in the wake of problems aboard the ships, according to a Harris poll released in March.

The survey of 2,230 U.S. adults, which took place between Feb. 19 and 21, found a 17% drop in a measurement of America’s trust in Carnival Cruise Lines following the much-publicized February incident.

Measurements of trust in rival lines including Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Holland America also dropped, though not as sharply.

All Aboard the Island Princess

Posted on May 27, 2013May 27, 2013 by Dusty Roads

We enjoyed a nice lunch before heading to the cruise terminal. I told Sandy that we had been able to have lunch on board when Joe and I went to Cozumel but that we almost missed it because it took so long to get through the lines and checked in. We thought we’d play it safe and eat a quick lunch before hand.

As expected there were lines but they moved fast. There were kiosks with vendors selling everything from luggage to binoculars to fleece vests. A sign said passengers could leave the line to shop. Wow! Two different ships were boarding but they had it down to a science. Princess employees stood at each turn directing passengers left or right.

We passed through customs and security within minutes. Then had our photo taken for ship security and were issued our room keys which double as our on board credit account. We filled out a declaration form for customs and then it was onto the ship. Much faster than in Miami! We made such good time that we could have had lunch on the ship!

We met the first of what I call the “Shipperazzi”, the ever-present ships photographers for our Embarkation Photo.

They had been terrible on Carnival, in your face everywhere! I was to find that they were much less visible on Princess. We only saw them in the dining room once and when we went to shore. That was so much nicer.

First up on our to-do list was to find our stateroom. We had reserved an ocean view room but a week before we were to leave we got an email with “changes”. The main change was that we moved from Baja Deck aft to Aloha Deck and our stateroom was listed as a balcony room. Gotta love free upgrades. Locating our deck and the hall we set off on the first of many long walks. Our stateroom was still near the rear of the ship, just on the port side instead of aft. Most of the restaurants and activities on the Island Princess were mid-ship. We would get our walking in on this trip. 🙂

Once we reached our room we found a welcome package waiting for us. It included a copy of the “Princess Patter “, a daily newsletter that lists activities, including times and locations. Every cruise I’ve taken has had some kind of daily newsletter and they are important to check in order not to miss anything and plan your day.

It includes interesting bits and pieces about the Island Princess and it’s staff. It also gave us the daily dress code for dinner in the dining rooms.

Our room did turn out to be a balcony room and our luggage was waiting for us by the door. That was quick service!

It’s the first time I’ve had a balcony on a cruise and I think I’m spoiled now. If I ever cruise again I will have to have a balcony.

It makes a world of difference and it will be a real blessing later on. But more on that when I tell you about Glacier Bay.

Also in the package was a scavenger hunt list. What a great way to introduce the ship. The scavenger hunt was a list of different places on the ship. When you found the location you got a stamp. The completed list was to be turned in at the Welcome Aboard Party for a prize. Off we went to collect our stamps.

A trip of a Lifetime

Posted on May 25, 2013May 25, 2013 by Dusty Roads

How does one start to tell a tale of a trip of a lifetime? Maybe I should just say that this was the 2nd trip of a lifetime for me. The first was The Big Island of Hawaii.

Now I can add a cruise tour to Alaska as my 2nd “Trip of a lifetime”.

This didn’t just happen overnight. This trip was in the planning and discussion and saving stages for over 2 years. We finally said lets just do it before the glacier’s melt!

A big part of it was the saving part.

This was, without a doubt, the most expensive venture I/we have undertaken yet but Alaska is so big the task of putting together a vacation there seemed overwhelming. So after my sister and I hammered out the basics of what we wanted to do and see I turned the problem over to the professionals at AAA.

The trip I am about to describe to you is the result.

The first decision was do we cruise to Alaska or fly in and vacation like we usually do on our own. Since this was my sister’s Dream Vacation I let her choose. She had only 2 requests; to see the glaciers and to spend 3 days in Denali National Park. A cruise tour would accomplish both goals.

We settled on a “shoulder season” because it’s less expensive and money was certainly a factor. In May the animals are just coming down out of their wintering grounds and having babies. In September they have the northern lights (aurora borealis). We chose to go for the animals. We also chose to go south to north to give the northern locations a chance to warm up a bit more. In Alaska a couple of days can make all the difference. As it turned out spring was about 2 weeks late this year so we had a lot more snow and cold weather than is usual for this time of the year.

I think by far the hardest decision was which cruise line to use. They all cruise to Alaska these days, even Disney, and they all offer some combination of land and sea. I was leaning toward Royal Caribbean but Sandy liked Holland America. In the end we went with the travel agent’s recommendation of Princess Cruise Lines.

I drove from my home in Massachusetts to my sister’s in New York on Saturday May 11. I left my 3 cats in the capable hands of my long time pet sitter, still this is the longest I have ever been away before. My fingers were crossed that there’d be no complications for Diane to deal with.

That Saturday night we took our mother out for Mother’s Day dinner and then headed back to my sisters for an early night. We had an early cross-country flight from Albany Airport into Vancouver in the morning. By arriving a day early we sacrificed the airport transfer but got a day in Vancouver before we had to board the ship on Monday.

Our flight was uneventful and we spotted a rainbow as we flew into a misty, wet Vancouver. Our hotel , The Best Western Sands, was a block from the waterfront and very nice.

I had been to Vancouver once before many years ago and I remember the residents being very friendly, warm and helpful. That hasn’t changed at all. I still think it is one of the most friendly cities I have ever been in. What I do think has changed is the fabric of the city. We saw a great melting pot of people of many different nationalities and ethnicities. This only serves to make an already lovely city more cosmopolitan. Vancouver has really come into its own.

Absence

Posted on May 24, 2013May 24, 2013 by Dusty Roads

You guys are awesome. I didn’t expect to be away from my blog this long but internet connections are few and far between and when I can get them they are slow and quite expensive so, my friends, please be patient a little longer as my introduction to The Great Land is coming to an end very soon. I have barely scratched the surface of all there is to see but I will share with you my experiences and observations so stay turned! 🙂