This is Part 2 of Rex & Pam's hilarious Cruise Journal (Part 1 was the Pre-Inaugural cruise)
Please enjoy their experiences during the Sapphire Princess's Inaugural -- a 7-night, round-trip Seattle Alaskan Cruise
Pam:
All this eating is really starting to wear me out. I need more exercise. It’s difficult to acclimate to the climate of the ship. If you dress for the upper decks you need to be bundled; but should you wear that same stuff into the atrium you are going to swelter….at least if you are a female anywhere near my age you will.
I love sea days. That’s what I cruise for. Almost anything else a cruise offers can be had at home, but not the sea days. I bought 3 port of call t-shirts today at 3 for 30 dollars. They are screened and not embroidered. We didn’t have room in our luggage for sleepwear as you might guess so I needed something. Going out on the balcony in my pj’s (or lack thereof) scared some lady on her caribe balcony. At least, I think it scared her. She made a shrill screaming sound followed by what I can only describe as what a cackling woodpecker might sound like.
Our air-conditioner does not work. Since we are in Alaskan waters we can keep the cabin cool by leaving the balcony door open but that is not ideal. The air is quite chilly at night. This would not be easy to deal with in the
When the TV that did not work was replaced, whoever did it marred the wood a little bit. If I had some liquid gold scratch cover I’d use it but Rex forgot to pack that.
The seas are rough, so all the pools have been closed thus far today. The Calypso pool however is not only covered with the netting…it has been drained and sanitized...baby poop!?! Never did find out the reason. I am only speculating.
We met our fellow cruise critics today, Dick and Mary, Eric and Lisa, Bronwyn and Stewart, Karl and Ruth….all nice and interesting people. I hope I didn’t scare them. We’ll see over the next few days I suppose. The martini of the day (I’ve never had a martini before this cruise) went to my head. Besides that, I was wearing long silk underwear under my clothes. That fact, along with these instantaneous flashes of volcanic heat I’ve been experiencing the last month or so made me rather “flushed” feeling. This may also have something to do with my thing the A/C is not working in our cabin. 8^/
I made an open cruise booking today after our get together. Rex and I have always packed for and yet never participated in formal night. It is approximately 45 minutes until the Captain’s welcome aboard cocktail party and we plan to attend decked out in all our “faded” glory. We’ll see…..
We’re back. We dressed formally, but many did not. I saw some bizarre outfits too….mostly on the women…strange combinations of fabrics that to me didn’t compliment each other all wrapped up with a shawl.
We had dinner in the Pacific Moon tonight. We now have been to all the themed dining rooms. Though we haven’t dined from all the themed menus. It was our best experience thus far in the PC dining rooms. We did not make reservations but waited until
They came to repair our air-conditioner today. I’ll let you know how it is after I’ve had a nights sleep in here with the balcony door closed. It seems better to me right now (Mental note to self-Look up formula for converting Celsius to Fahrenheit).
Are you supposed to brush your teeth after eating the chocolate on your pillow?
Pam:
We have docked! We are the first ship in. I can see 2 others behind us but can’t tell what they are yet. My hair is sticking straight up. Rex cut it for me yesterday to help tame it, I had forgotten that something about the Alaskan climate makes my hair go wild (er). It’s a good thing the people on their balconies are looking at the scenery. Otherwise the woodpecker thing might start up again.
The Veendam, Norwegian Sun and the Infinity are in port with us.
It’s time to go shopping again. I need some new gel inserts for my shoes. The heel inserts I bought in
The shower curtain loves me. I know this by the way it hugs me. When I rebuke its advances it comes back even stronger giving me a full body hug. It is quite aggressive. I fear it is going to wrap me up and sling me to the floor. Fiberglass does not attract magnets. Where’s the duct tape Rex?
Before I forget to mention it, the pool is open today and the weather is beautiful for those who wish to swim.
We did the historic walking tour in
We attended the captain’s circle most-traveled-passengers-cocktail-party this evening. We chatted with the captain and his senior officers and were served our beverage of choice along with canapés. Very nice. There was a lady who has taken 46 Princess cruises! We posed with the captain for pictures. I kissed him on the cheek and Rex had him do the rabbit ear thing. The captain was very hesitant to do that. He was concerned that the hand gesture might have a different connotation as it does in his native
Had to take a break. The sunset is gorgeous. The photos I just took won’t do it justice of course. Digital cameras are great but they can’t capture what the eyes can in
We had our laundry done on the ship and it was returned today. The majority of the clothes were mine! Rex keeps wearing the same thing over and over again trying to save his other 50 outfits for I don’t know what. I finally had to resort to an underhanded technique to get him to put his jeans in the dirty clothes bag. I told him I knew he was wearing them over and over because they were stretched out…he he. He put them in the dirty clothes. I hope he doesn’t injure himself trying to squeeze into the clean pair tomorrow. I was more clever. I brought multiple sizes of clothes to insure I’d have something that fits on the flight back to
We aren’t much into the shows. We enjoy is the natural scenery. But people we have talked to are really enjoying the shows, especially the ventriloquist. It appears he is hilarious. I’m glad. It cuts down on the number of people out on balconies trying to summon the whales by making noises from parts of their bodies. Of course we are enjoying the live music in the atrium. All the musicians are wonderful.
We cruise Tracy Arm tomorrow and then dock in
Pam:
On the 9th day after God had rested, he realized there was still work to do and he said, “Let there be
I just noticed that Rex dug his jeans out of the dirty clothes. I should have known. We are in
The pizza is much better now. You can tell by the crowds at the counter. It’s more like a
Andrew, our steward keeps leaving pool towels. Being AR (that’s anal retentive for the non initiates), I kept putting them away in the cabinet. We now have eight. I’ll leave him a note. They are crowding Rex’s clothes that he isn’t wearing. We have discovered that if you don’t hear the tapping at the door and room service or technicians enter, they do not even flinch at nakedness and will have conversation whether you like it or not. Andrew however laughs heartily. 8^) So I’ve decided to go out on the balcony to dress. I am starting to enjoy the woodpecker lady though after cackling for quite awhile she made a gagging sound and I was concerned about her.
Pam:
We are back on our balcony. It is
Rex:
The delayed
Pam:
After riding the Tram back down we strolled around a little. I needed a T-shirt that would substitute as a nightgown hoping the cackler would approve. We spotted the Red Dog Saloon and off we headed in that direction. We hit them at a good time because the perfect table for 2, in the front corner by the small stage was vacant. It was cold beer, good music, and lots of fun. The singer/guitar player (sorry, can’t remember his name) was entertaining. He was playing all of our favorites like “Redneck Mother”. He made good-natured fun of us tourists. We strolled back to the ship just before sail away.
It was late so dinner had to be in the
Pam:
We were among the first people to disembark around
So off we headed on a quest into the wilderness looking for cinnamon rolls, a gaze at the world’s smallest desert, a view of
Rex:
I have always wanted to see a bear in the wild and have many times been in places where they are known to exist. The hook-up just never happened to me. Of course, bears are known to exist in the
Another Alaska/Yukon factor for me is the all the railroad stuff. I am a “certified” rail-fan. That’s naf-liar spelled backwards. Anyway, there are a million train photo-ops for folks who like trains. Carcross is the little town that in Y2K had the big Join-the-Nation-by-Railway-Golden-Spike reenactment celebration. I was in choo-choo heaven.
The nice lady at the Carcross visitor’s place told us about some of the stops that we might want to check out. She confirmed the wonder of the cinnamon rolls with which Pam had become internet-familiar. She said that
We continued north toward
The truth be told, I have never enjoyed cinnamon rolls. The New Truth* is that I have never before had a cinnamon roll. When the lady served them I told her that we had in fact not ordered any stuffed bean chairs and furthermore bean chairs were now considered to be old fashioned in most of the civilized world except for dorm rooms. Yes, we ate one each. I wanted another but Pam reminded me of recent unpleasant experiences wherein I had begged for a stomach pump.
*New Truth: A statement a politician makes after recent revelations.
We drove on to Emerald Lake: Wow. What would it be like to live in that beautiful log house that overlooked the lake? How big is the lake; 30 acres? 40 acres? More? The clean clear emerald-colored water. The little desert: Can you believe this? We were saturated and satiated. I confessed to Pam that I had no room for fish-and-chips and she noted that the time had gotten on and that maybe we should head homeward to Skagway and the Sapphire. Okay I’ll give up my fish-and-chips if I get to watch the next whatever playoffs without so much as one mention of the fact that she (she being Pam) cannot park her dearly beloved 4-Runner in the garage. So we turned ‘round and headed back.
Pam said she would take the wheel for the return. I normally don’t have an appreciation for other drivers and that’s why I don’t like to enjoy a Bloody Mary whilst stuffed (read: sardine-crammed) on an airline seat because at any moment the captain might say, “It appears that I and my co-captain have an allergy to packages of small stale-flavor-free peanut/salt-pretzel-things and we need a “certified” person to come into the cockpit, safely land the airplane, and save an entire airplane full of cruising persons.
The going-back looking at the other-side-of-stuff-view return-trip to Skagway was different and just as awesome as the getting-there trip. I was relaxed, not driving, and had full confidence that Pam had not eaten any small stale-flavor-free peanut/salt-pretzel things. Again, we drove past the little desert. Goodbye bean-chair cinnamon rolls, Emerald Lake, and who cares about fish-and-chips, I’m going back to the unparalleled, highly caloric Princess Sapphire.
I turned off the camera and let the seat back. The weather was warm and the view was clear. I was so relaxed, and mentally full. I could not hope for more. Pam had set the cruise control. We were on a vacation of a lifetime. You could call me “Okay Man”. I’m looking at this and I’m looking at that. Wow.
Then, out of nowhere, casually walking across the highway about a thousand or so feet in front of us there he was. I thought I was dreaming. In a very calm and thoughtful manner I spit-screamed, “BEAR”! I could not believe it. It was an actual bear. By the time we got to the place where the bear had entered the tree line he was nowhere to be seen. So we waited for a few minutes and decided to drive away because he had no doubt continued his walk and would not reappear. So we drove on and as I was telling Pam how wonderful it was to finally see the bear she said, “We’re going back”. She turned the car around and pulled to the side where we had seen the bear. Just as she stopped the car there he was again.
This time he was about 20 feet from the car (my side of the car and the window was down). I was taking pictures and my heart was racing. It seemed that he was putting on a performance. He sat down awhile to eat berries and stood up several times to look at us. He even charged toward the tree line a couple of times. He was solid black, approximately six feet tall, and very healthy looking. It was as if I was having a conversation with him. We had been watching him for about 10 minutes or so when he apparently decided that we had seen enough. As he casually walked away toward the tree line I said “Thank you”. He stopped, looked back to us then continued on, disappearing into the brush/tree line. We waited a few minutes hoping that he would return but he was probably hinting for us to go on. I thought of my grandfather who was known to be a charming host as well as a very outspoken man. When guests would linger longer than he wished he would say to my grandmother, “ Well, Mama we’d better go to bed so these nice people can go home”.
We drove on and snapped pictures of more beautiful scenery. There were more railroad things to see. I was trying to take it all in. There was a Princess calling my name and the world’s prettiest tour guide was driving. Again and again I thought of the bear. It all seemed so complete. Now I am really certified.
06/18/04 A Day at Sea
Pam:
Sea days are my favorite. I can sit and watch the ocean for hours perfectly content. I love the view, the motion and the smell of the ocean. I wish Princess would offer a 14-day roundtrip from Seattle to Anchorage…or further. I would not need many more port days; I’d like to cruise all the glaciers in one trip.
We are going to try to get more pictures of ship-life today though I know by now many have been posted. We’ve taken well over a thousand pictures thus far. I’ve been importing each night and organizing them so I won’t have that giant chore when we return home. I think packing my laptop has been helpful and though I know some of you just can’t understand it, I’ll bring it again. It only takes a few minutes each evening to save hours of work if put off until the end of the cruise. We are finished with our homebrewed coffee. (Hint: If you bring your own mini-coffeemaker, order a carafe of hot water so you can make 2 pots), Forgive me if I’ve already mentioned this…I’m MI (memory impaired) remember? Fresh squeezed orange juice and Greygoose make a great start to the day and probably also explains our difficulty in staying up much past midnight. I really prefer drinking on an empty stomach but have not managed to do that thus far on the cruise. I prefer eating on an empty stomach but I’m failing at that also.
The blow dryer is like all blow dryers on ships. It makes a lot of noise but doesn’t blow. That really BLOWS don’t you think? I don’t really use blow dryers much anyway. Not since Rex used mine to get the charcoal lit and now if I use it, my hair smells like smoke and lighter fluid.
I have discovered that it is perfect for warming chilly feet however. It’s like having your very own in-cabin SPA. I put the TV on the Latin music channel, lie upside down on the bed so the cord will reach, close my eyes and Rex blow-dries my cold feet. Can life get much better than that? It’s included in the price of the cruise!
After lunch we were enjoying the pool when we heard, “Code Alpha, Starboard, Neptune Pool. There in front of us a man, probably in his mid-forties was having what appeared to be a heart attack. The staff was in attendance almost immediately and an IV was inserted. I was amazed at the response time. I couldn’t help it; tears started streaming down my cheeks. I thought he had died. Finally, I saw him raise his knee and knew he was at least stable. He was whisked away on stretcher. I do not know the outcome but hope for the best.
It was another formal night. We dressed and had our picture taken. We attended another Captains Circle cocktail party. Invitations were sent and people entered Club Fusion every half hour. These parties were for every member of the Captains Circle regardless of number of cruises. There were 359 members, 65 platinum and 8 elite. (These numbers are not carved in stone, as my memory is no better than it was at the beginning of the cruise). The small number surprised me considering there are 2900+ people on the ship. We had cocktails with Lisa and Eric, enjoying their company. Rex has apparently been sneaking out at night because when we stroll through the ship, hoards of women are greeting him by name. Some things never change.
We returned to our cabin and changed into more comfortable garb, as many passengers were casually dressed. We ordered room service so Rex could eat his weight in Lobster without embarrassment. (4 Lobster dinners) Delicious!
06/19/04 Victoria
Pam:
I saw many Orcas this morning before the heavy fog rolled in. A pod passed close to the ship right under the balcony. I got a good view but there was no time to grab the camera. It was all too quick.
We are staying on the ship in Victoria this go around. After all, we were just here last week and this is our last night on the ship. No regrets on disembarking tomorrow. We will spend the day in Seattle. We plan to visit Seattle center and the Space Needle. We’ve had a long vacation and we miss our puppies. They are giving Rex some Godiva chocolate for Father’s Day. He has eaten my pillow chocolate every day of the cruise.
We chose the Santa Fe for our last dinner as we both like guacamole. We had the Love Boat Dream for desert. 8^) Truth is we could have walked in anywhere as the ship was deserted. We took this opportunity to take more photos and finally returned to our cabin. We were already packed as we took the fog opportunity to get a jump on things. We kept our packed luggage in our cabin however until we were in for the night. You never know when you might need your espresso machine.
New Captains Circle cards were delivered to our cabin along with lapel pins. Tres cool. As the British say, “We have arrived”. A Crystal trivet was also given to each cabin commemorating the inaugural sailing of the Sapphire. We are content and very satisfied with our cruise.
06/20/04 Seattle
Pam:
Since we did not have a plane to catch, we were assigned a late disembarkation color. We were on the ship until after 10 AM. We could already see the 6/20 passengers arriving and chomping at the bit. We had our final all-you-can-cram-down-your-throat buffet feast then waited it out in the wheelhouse bar. When our color was called we were off the ship, through customs and checked into our hotel in no time.
I miss my dogs.
After checking in at the Westin Room 3833, we walked to Seattle Center. We ascended the space needle and snapped a lot of photos. We walked around the park, toured the Science Center where I played like all the other kids. Rex got bored and I told him once again he does not make a good tourist. We walked, and walked, and walked. Of course, we had a cold one in the Experience Music Building…at least I think that’s where we were. There is a great fountain for the Seattle kids to play in. We rode the bus provided by the monorail service back to the Westin.
Speaking of the Westin, I think they might not give Priceline folks the best of rooms though we did have the best of views. Our first room had a Murphy bed that was not particularly comfortable but we could look out over the Sapphire. The second room had 2 doubles, no king or queens available. The furnishings were worn and the white duvets were not so white. Our view of the space needle was great though.
We showered and went out again on a quest for perfect fried shrimp. This is a vacation ritual that Rex makes me endure each trip we take. Usually we end up stopping at the grocery store close to home and buying shrimp for Rex to cook because he is never satisfied. We walked towards the Space Needle and took a left toward Pier 66 and walked to the waterfront where we took another left. Pier 66 is really nice. We walked along the waterfront scoping out restaurants and shops until we wound up at Ivar’s. There is a sidewalk fast food part and an indoor ocean view sit-down full service restaurant. We discovered that the food is the same, just twice as expensive indoors. We opted for the outdoor fast food service. We each had some huge fried prawns and chips. They were fantastic. Rex then had fish and chips. My mouth said more but my stomach said no, so I declined the second round. We walked back to the Westin and by this time I was trudging. It was 10:30 PM. It was a full post-cruise day. Back in the room we fell asleep to a movie I can’t remember.
06/21/04 Homecoming
Rex:
It’s so good to be home. There has obviously been lots of rain that has urged the kudzu to cover most of the red Georgia clay.
The dog reunion was grand and once again I renewed my pledge to be the man they think I am.
I am thinking of our vacation. The beautiful shiny new Sapphire Princess. All the attentive service. The great weather. Exploring. The food. The food. The food and all the other stuff about which we have written.
I remember going to the laundromat each night after Pam went to sleep. I only had one pair of jeans that fit comfortably so I had to wash and dry them each night so that I could wear them the next day. Even that was not an unpleasant experience thanks to the conversation with all the different ladies who were doing the same thing.
We’re already talking about our next Alaskan cruise. I hope there’s a bear that wants to continue a conversation.
The End