July 13--Off to Sea!

We got up early and met the taxi that Joyce had arranged for at Darrell’s on Sunday night. It was an over-sized van, so we fit easily with all of our luggage. We took a back way to the train station, so Joyce was a bit nervous, but it all worked out just fine. We got our luggage arranged and each person pulled their own into the station. The lines were long and a little confusing, but since we had already printed our boarding passes, we were able to quickly move through the line.

We had time to sit among the homeless people getting a nap and get ourselves together for the train trip to Vancouver.

The train to Vancouver was nice. Our seats were a together in the lower part of the car with handicapped seating so there were fewer people and it was quieter. Sandi and Joyce went exploring to find something to eat and discovered a lounge car with comfortable seats and facing big windows. There was room for Paul and Sydney to walk around. We all took turns napping, talking and viewing the scenery. Joyce got instructions on Sydney’s Dogs DS game.

We arrived at the Vancouver train station a few minutes late, but that was no problem as we had plenty of time to get to the ship terminal. The line to go through customs was long, but with all passengers now having passports, the line moved well.

After exiting the customs area, we gathered and Alan went in search of a taxi to the cruise terminal. The woman he talked to assured him there would be room for us and all our luggage. When the taxis arrived it was clear only 3 of us and our luggage would fit in the small cars. The drivers recommended we wait for the minivan taxi that should be arriving soon. The minivan came within about 5 minutes and was able to take most of the big luggage and the Welch’s and Dunnuck’s. The Schaeffer’s and their small luggage fit in a small car.

The complication to all this was Sandi and the kids thought the wait would be longer so they had went to a McDonald’s in the train station. When the van was loaded, the Dunnuck’s and Welch’s left for the cruise terminal. Joyce wasn’t sure we should be leaving the Schaeffer’s, but Alan assured her they could take care of themselves. We were all happy to see their taxi pull up inside the cruise terminal just a few minutes after ours.

As we exited the taxis there was a mad scramble to get the tags on our luggage with appropriate cabin numbers so the luggage handlers could deliver the luggage later. Our carry on was screened and we were off to customs – US this time - which was a little strange since we went through Canadian customs less than an hour ago. We completed a health form asking if we had a cold or sore throat - not sure who would admit to that at this point! We were issued a cruise card which gets us into our cabin and also serves as a credit card on the ship as well as our ID to get on and off the ship. With all the completed, we were ready to board! We made our way to the Emerald deck, cabins 324, 320, 318 and 316.

When we got to our cabins it was after 1 p.m. local time and all were hungry, except Sandi and the kids. We were ready to take advantage of all the food we have already paid for! We made our way to deck 14 to the Horizon buffet for lunch. We were not disappointed! We were greeted with a variety of fresh fruits, vegetable, fish, breads, and hot entrée items.

After eating, we went back to our cabins and began settling in. We broke into individual family units to explore the ship and unpack. Of course, the kids quickly discovered the two swimming pools and accompanying hot tubs. If there was ever any doubt about where either of them would be for the rest of the cruise, the pools were a pretty good first place to look!

When Alan booked the cruise, there was a significant savings on the CruiseTour land package the Dunnuck’s and Welch’s were taking at the conclusion of the cruise if a Captain’s Circle member was booking the room. The travel agent has suggested we book the rooms with Alan and Dad in one room and Joyce and Mom in another to get this savings. She said we could switch rooms on the ship. We went to passenger services and was able to make the switch. They gave Dad and Joyce temporary cards to access the cabins until noon the next day when a new cruise card could be issues.

The cabins are small and have the tiniest shower, but there is lots of storage space. The empty suitcases fit under the bed giving the cabin a more lived in look and feel. After exploring the ship and getting our things put away in our stateroom, it was time for muster. This is the drill for emergency evacuation from the ship. At the signal, all passengers take the life preserver from their stateroom and walk to the muster station. The elevators are blocked off as they would be in an emergency, so all must use the stairs. Our muster station was the Princess theatre, one floor below our stateroom. All went smoothly, we received our instructions and returned to our staterooms to put away the life preservers and hope we would not need them.

At 4:30, we were sailing. Soon we were counting down to getting under the bridge and being on our way to Alaska!


We chose the traditional seating for dinner. Traditional seating had two seating times, 6 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. The other option is anytime seating which is a first-come, first-served seating like a restaurant. We decided traditional seating would work best for a group of 8 people. With traditional seating we have a table reserved for us at 7:45 p.m. each evening. We could always choose to eat at the Horizon buffet if we didn’t feel like a more formal sit down dinner.

Tonight’s dress was smart casual. We met our waiter, Cesar and junior waiter, Joseph. Paul and Sydney were a little unsure of what to order with all the choices on the menu, many of which didn’t sound like anything they had eaten before. The idea of courses was also a new concept. They were presented with a placemat with a children’s menu printed on it and the adult dinner menu. They played it safe and ordered from the kid’s menu.

For dessert, Sydney ordered a volcano, which was an ice cream sundae with vanilla and chocolate ice cream, banana, chocolate syrup and a cherry. Sydney doesn’t like bananas so she asked they be omitted. Cesar then asked her how many cherries she wanted and she asked for 5. The volcano arrived and it was huge! Cesar then brought a small silver bowl and asked if Sydney would like sprinkles. We all enjoyed the look of delight on Sydney’s face when she saw the sprinkles!

After dinner the Schaeffers and Welches went to the on board entertainment. Tonight’s show featured some song and dance numbers and a comedian. The comedian had us all laughing at jokes about life on a cruise in tiny staterooms, packing for the trip and the differences between men and women as we planned for the trip. By the end of the show it was approximately 10:45 p.m., and the end of a full day that started in Seattle very early.