Day 51 - San Francisco - Sep 14th

It was Sept 13^th for us, but we thought we’d better get used to NZ time again.  Arriving in San Francisco passing under the iconic Golden Gate Bridge is one of those things that is on many bucket lists, so staggering out of bed really early wasn’t a problem.   What was a problem was the fog.  The ship was constantly sounding the fog horn and as we approached the bridge, we couldn’t even see it.  Even travelling underneath, we could hardly see the road up above.  As we approached our pier (35), we could definitely hear seals barking, somewhere around pier 39, though we couldn’t see any.

An early breakfast was essential as the 8.00am appointment (not 8:20am) with US immigration was set in concrete.  However, seated in the theatre, awaiting the call for the interview, meant a 45 minute wait and waste of time - and the natives were definitely getting restless.  If NZ can put a couple of people on board to do all the processing on sea days, then I see no reason why the US can’t.

We were eventually sent down to the opposite end of the ship to the vista lounge for the face to face.  No fingerprints, no eye scans, just a face to face with a pleasant official who stamps the passport and clips the departure card to it.

We walked off just after 9am and caught a taxi for the short ride to the Sheraton.  Only a few blocks from pier 35, but too far to drag the cases.

We had our travel agent email to say we’d be early and as we are in the Starwood loyalty system, they had a room ready, which was great.  We just chucked our gear in and walked out the door a matter of 75 yards/metres to the Hop On Hop Off bus terminus.  Perfect!

We bought a 2 day pass each as they were just $10 more than a 1 dayer at $35.  We headed up top and looked behind us, only to see Alex and Terri and several other cruisers on the bus immediately behind!  As the Disney ship was also in, the bus company had the sense to add extra buses first thing, so our bus was full as was the one behind.

It was still rather cool and the mist was still hanging around in places.  The HOHO took us around parts of the City that included one area where the number of street people (ie drop outs etc) was very high, including the park.  We noted that Union square was on the outward and inward routes, so made a mental note to hop off tomorrow, the on again around the corner.

The bus headed out across the bridge and it was freezing!  Well, not as cold as Alaska maybe, but cold enough.  The mist seems to hang around the bridge only, as the approaches on both sides were in sunshine.  Quite strange going across the bridge and not being able to see the top!  In the background of the pic Paula took of me, you can see Alcatraz.  Incidentally, those who wanted to visit the old jail and hadn’t booked in advance, were disappointed, as the tours were full until Monday or Tuesday.

Alex & Terri were still behind us as the buses headed back into town and we noted Chinatown for later too.  As the ship was at pier 35, several got off the stop before us including Alex & Terri.  It was now lunch time and we headed for Neptune’s restaurant overlooking the inner harbour – and about 150 seals lazing around on 3 of about a dozen pontoons.   We had to wait a short while for  a table and in hindsight, we shouldn’t have bothered.

Paula’s chicken & pesto pasta wasn’t brilliant but my crumbed fish and chips were not good at all.  The crumbed fish was cheap and overcooked and the chips were not exactly pleasant either.

Wandering back we bumped into – Alex & Terri!   I grabbed  an excellent large, hot coffee from a stall (Biscoff?) that came with a fresh, wrapped malt biscuit.  It was quite cheap too at around $3.

The pier 39 shops are very attractive and although some are expensive (the Irish place for example), others were quite modestly priced, so much so, that Paula bought a fleece jacket for around $14.  We sat with A & T and watched the seals for a while, then we effectively went our separate ways.

We watched a very good street entertainer, an English guy and his sister, doing various acrobatic stunts but he had a great patter and there was  a large crowd standing around and enjoying it.   

As both our camera’s seemed to have run out of battery power and I have no spare, I bought one for a fair $35.

We ambled back to the hotel until we headed to pier 39 again to watch the sailaway at 7pm.  It was getting a bit chilly by then and we soon accumulated one or two others from the ship, including one of the dancers.

The sailaway was great as the sun disappeared and the clouds rolled in but the ship was too far away to recognise anyone but no doubt Mal was on the binoculars and we jumped up and down and waved anyway, until we were cold and hungry.  We’d spied a place selling baked potatoes almost alongside the hotel so we headed there , but were 5 minutes too late!

Back next door then to Subway...  We took our purchases back to the hotel and thoroughly enjoyed them.

We crashed quite early, but the room wasn’t as dark as I would have liked.

So far, San Francisco has been a pleasant place to be.  The cruisers will be heading on to warmer climes but when I looked into the mirror, I found that the wind and sun had had an effect on my face.  Better than pasty white I suppose.  One more day then off back home - then I suppose it is countdown to next year. 

Day 50 - The last sea day - Sep 13th

Although I had intended to revert to a light breakfast, I decided to make the most of what was on offer and hang the consequences. 

Paula failed to win the Bingo jackpot after Zumba, and predictably we failed to win the quiz again too, with our usual 13/20.  Even though I relaxed my economical web usage by doing a bit of catching up on a couple of websites, I still had a balance of over 400 minutes from the 1,000 we started with.  Composing off line is one good reason for taking a laptop on a cruise, even though the extra 3kgs makes it a bit awkward though only at the beginning and end of the trip.

Breakfast may not have been light, but lunch was, though the pastry chefs excelled themselves once again, now that normal food service has returned. 

On leaving we saw Alex & Terri playing table tennis so we joined them.  I am not too keen on doubles, but we did have some laughs  – especially when I smacked my left hand against the table when trying to get to one of Paula’s demon cross table smashes.  Others were still catching a bit of fresh air but no chance of a sun tan.

Our final afternoon quiz was once again in the crowded Wheelhouse Bar – well, in the corridor anyway.  At least we were consistent, with another 13/20!  We have decided that we need to brush up on Roman and Greek mythology.

A determined spell of packing and putting out the case for collection took up the remainder of the afternoon.  Apart from the Alaskan jacket and a book, plus a pile of Princess Patter’s, I haven’t bought much on this trip.

Our final evening meal was the full 7 of us and the the famous bomb Alaska parade, then on to singer comedian, Dan Riley.  He also played a mean guitar.  Another good entertainer.

We made our way to the atrium for our farewells, with rather heavy hearts, as we have once again made extra friends there.  Never a pleasant experience saying au Revoir and we now have our fingers crossed that Alana and Alan will be on next year’s cruise, but several of our new friends will be on next year.  That is the great thing about cruising on the same ships from the same area, you keep making new friends. 

On returning to the cabin, 2 black cards awaited us, signifying we have hit the top of the loyalty system.  Not really much use on this cruise now, but at least any future cruises have us on the top status – until such time as they lift the qualifying level anyway and create a new one.

So that is it as far as the cruise goes, but with two days in San Francisco to look forward to, the trip (and the blog) isn’t yet over.

Bed 12:15 and to our last sleep on the Dawn for a while.   

A slight hiccup

I left my heart in San Francisco – but my luggage is also still there - or doing a world flight of its own.  

Will continue with San Francisco shortly to wrap up this blog. Just as a taster, we loved it.

Day 49 - Victorious Victoria (Vancouver Island)

For our last port, the beautiful Vancouver Island, we were doing our own thing, but with a 12:30pm back on board deadline, we opted for a prompt start after a hearty breakfast.  With fine weather and just walking straight off the ship and out, an 8:20am on land was easy and we opted for the coastal walk to town.   With a slight detour due to a closed footpath (gardening work being done) the estimated 40 minutes to town was cut back to just 35.

There was a Model A Ford Rally and several cars arrived at the Empress Hotel just as we passed.

A 9am start is too early for many shops as they open at 10am, but the attraction of “Murchies Cappuccino Bar” was far too good to resist.  Unlike the Juneau experience, this was one of the best establishments ever, anywhere.  With a massive range of teas and coffees down one side, the coffee bar was doing a roaring trade down the other.   The cake cabinet was one of two and even though breakfast had only been completed an hour or so earlier, their warmed up blueberry Danish was just heavenly and the coffee was excellent too.  Total cost – just $10.80, which is cheaper than the Juneau dive.  Very pleasant service too.

By the time we left, the queue of customers stretched right to the door and there must have been getting on for 20 people in it.  Bear in mind that Victoria appears to have an abundance of decent places to refuel, the long queue tells the real story.  We wandered outside and straight into M & M.  Meg was looking for a Post Office (as usual) so I hope the grandsons appreciate the effort she goes to, just to make sure they have a card from each port.

We wandered a bit further up the street and Paula did a bit of souvenir shopping but had to use US money as she only had $20 Canadian.  Pity, as the exchange rate was very much in favour of the shop keeper and I had wandered off to an antique and collectibles shop with the credit card.  Their prices for Dinky toys made me realise that maybe I had sold some of mine off too cheaply and he had a separate cabinet with some really good ones.

We returned to the ship via James Bay village but that was a bit of a let-down, especially when we found out that Thane and Tony had bought fish and chips at the attractive harbour-side, the loop we’d missed out on our morning walk. (See first pic)

Several cruisers took the horse and carriage option and others, one of the three Hop On Hop Off buses circulating the city.  Someone also took the Daimler limousine from the ship

We needed far more time here and this ranked as one of the nicest stops on the whole cruise.

We set sail (well, departed anyway) at 1pm and having talked about it often enough, Paula and I opted for the Pizzeria and left the others on the back-deck as the pizza place shuts at 2pm.

On the next table were three American ladies of mixed sizes, we hadn’t seen before and later on that night, we saw them again.  On stage...

We didn’t do too well in the quiz again (there we were too many Aussie questions) - 13/20.

Six of us for dinner and we cracked the bottle of champagne, well, fizzy wine, enjoyed the company and a somewhat lighter meal than normal.  I managed to avoid the dinner rolls; opted for the thinner of the two soups and only ate the meat from the main.  I can’t justify the large Italian calzone, a large breakfast and a large dinner.

Off to the theatre and an act brand new to the cruise circuit.  Billed as “The Wonderelles”, on first sight, with 1950’s pink skirts, white blouses, and what can be best described as not exactly a stunning looking quartet, they turned out to be an excellent act doing 1950’s/1960’s songs.  (Three of them were seen in the pizza bar earlier.)  The orchestra’s guitarists, drummer and Sarah on piano, had a lot to do, but in the background, trumpeter Bob didn’t, so he was cheerfully echoing all their hand movements.  Funny to us. 

The group also managed to grab a couple of guys out of the audience and by often referring to their names in their act, they really did endear themselves to the audience.   Well worth seeing.

No dancing for us and bed about 11:45.

A day at sea now before San Francisco, so this blog will get wrapped up when we get back, so for a few days, this will be the last post.

As mentioned before, often the table talk is of the regular inconveniences and hiccups caused by one or two passengers.   One well known awkward couple, referred to as Humpty and Dumpty by the knitters and natterers, apparently were on a Princess tour and as they are wide, they didn’t sit together, so whoever had to share got jammed into a smaller space.

As Paula said, “They couldn’t put Humpty & Dumpty together again...”  Funny girl.            

Day 48 - A Grouse day in Vancouver- Sep 11th

Well one thing is for sure, coffee may keep some people awake but in my case, the less I drink, the less I seem to sleep!  According to Warren our cruise director I am not the only one who has suddenly developed signs of partial insomnia.  He has suggested the insomniacs meet at 3am for a game of table tennis!

He and Matt have a permanent reminder of our Alaskan visit and currently display the mugs we presented them on their desk for the morning’s “Wake Show”.  It did gain us an honourable mention and the shop prize we were promised arrived in our cabin.  An inflatable Dawn Princess for the pool/bath.

Our arrival in Vancouver was scheduled for the middle of the day so plenty of time for a full breakfast.  The chef doing omelettes now has my portion of onions and mushrooms ready without me even asking.  Typical of the great staff on this ship.

Morning trivia was a total disaster.  Our team never showed up and as Wayne the Canadian DJ had responded to a request from someone to do a Canadian trivia, that is what we got.  We suspect the winning team may have done the asking and may well have  a Canadian in their team - or did some serious swotting.  Who else but a Canadian could name Canadian ice hockey or football teams and knew who had never won the Stanley Trophy?

The sail in past Stanley Park was very pleasant and the Disney ship from Alaska was already berthed.

We assembled in the theatre for our afternoon trip and just walked straight off.  No wasteful immigration red tape and an easy exit.  Canada can do it, why not the USA?  A gentle drive through the famous Stanley Park, then across the bridge and up to Grouse Mountain.

Paula isn’t too keen on cable cars and Malcolm even less so.  They crammed about 100 people into the car and although they hadn’t booked a Princess tour, M & M made their own way to the mountain and we were happy to see them being shoved into our car at the last minute.

The run up to the top is about 7 minutes but apparently can be speeded up if required.  Paula managed it OK and so did Malcolm.  At the top there are a variety of attractions but we didn’t really have enough time to experience most of them.  People coming back down were enthusiastic at having been within touching distance of a couple of bears, so we headed straight there.  It must have been afternoon nap time as they were up a bank, virtually hidden in the undergrowth so we missed out on that treat.  The ski lift to go further up was included so we headed for that with Denise and Gayle, from our morning quiz team.

Paula wasn’t at all comfortable on the way up and we decided to head back down again so headed for the exit, back up the entry steps, only to met with a terrified Mal turning the lift into a genuine white knuckle ride.  Brave of him to get on and probably something he’ll get to laugh about one day.

We asked what it was like walking down and were told that whilst it was quicker, the steepness and the loose gravel made it a bit of  a challenge.  Mal quickly succinctly summed it up by stating that giving the option of being 50 feet up in the air and falling over a metre and a half, he’d go with the latter – much to Paula’s relief, so we walked down to the intermediate level.

By the time we had made a quick comfort stop and joined the long queue to go down, that was it.  Our coach driver wanted us back at 5pm.  The queue at the top was double what it should have been as there had been a run up the mountain, so we whilst were wearing our warm jackets, all these young, fit healthy types were in tee shirts and shorts!  The chap we spoke to had run up in 31 minutes.  Our driver had told us it was a two and a half hour walk.

Going down was fine and I chatted to a lovely English girl who now lives in Canada, having worked in the salon on a cruise ship and fallen for the Canadian shop manager.

Our driver battled the late afternoon early evening traffic and with a quick stop at Prospect point, where the bus was met by a trio of rabid raccoons, we headed back to the ship at the arranged time of 6:30.  Although it was an 11pm sailaway, we stayed on board, but others certainly explored a  bit more of Vancouver.

We opted for the buffet and I made do with prawns on rice and a welcome bottle of cider.

The vista show was mentalist,  Brent Webb.  Very clever, but not a gripping entertainer and I managed to almost nod off more than once.  So did Paula.

On to Alan & Alana’s quiz where a lady, Shirley joined us, but our score of 21/25 wasn’t quite good enough to win.

With no nana nap, bed at about 11:35pm (again) and Victoria on Vancouver Island to look forward to.  A good night’s sleep would be nice.

Only half a day for our last stop of this cruise (ignoring San Francisco) which is a shame, as the last time we were there, we didn’t get enough time to really explore.

 

 

Day 47 - At sea for a day - Sep 10th

I had another less than solid night but made Paula suffer by waking her at about 7:45am, as by then, I had already been awake for a while and cracked a couple of codeword puzzles.

I seem to have regained my appetite and even though the sea was a bit on the choppy side, I managed a substantial start to the day.  Although the ship’s movement was noticeable, we haven’t heard of anyone suffering sea sickness at all. (Not on the ship anyway.  The tender boat earlier doesn’t count.  Several experienced cruisers believe that this ship and its sister ships are far more stable than others in the fleet.  Something to consider if you are a new cruiser and worry about such things.

The morning quiz was early (9:45am) but in the Wheelhouse Bar.  It started late, as Ali who was supposed to be hosting it was suffering – we think from toothache, so Rommel had to step in.  We didn’t win.

Into the Theatre for a presentation on comedy, by Lee Bayliss.  Interesting to hear some of his philosophy and also how he got started at the Oklahoma carnival as a 16 year old, standing in for the clown.  The clown’s job was enticing people to buy whatever it is they throw at a target to dunk him, by winding up the passer’s by getting them mad enough to want to throw stuff at him, but not mad enough to and to beat him up!  Having given the regular clown a load of his own medicine, the owner realised that Lee would be an able deputy when the regular had his coffee breaks.

With the full breakfast still apparent, it was only a soup and pineapple lunch, but I suspect that my renewed interest in food has already had an adverse affect on my sylphlike figure.  (Gagging actions from Paula...)  On the way back to the cabin we saw the Golden Princess heading the other way!

We had a cracking 17/20 for the afternoon quiz, but sadly, it wasn’t enough to scoop the gold medal.

Our last formal night was a hectic one.  After dressing up for probably the last time before about July next year, we went to the theatre for the brilliant production show “The British Invasion”.  This was put on by the original cast and they received a much deserved standing ovation.  We have seen it twice before but is a top show.  We then shot straight through to the Vista lounge to meet the Captain (Ivan Jermain) for a farewell do, for those leaving at San Francisco, reputed to be about 800.  With hand sanitizers at the entrance, we were told it was a non-hand shaking evening, as they are still playing safe.  The captain’s speech contained a reference to just how much had been consumed since Sydney, such as 31 tons of beef, 32 tons of fish etc., and the equivalent of 272 litres of water per person per day!   Apparently the ship does 25ft per gallon of fuel.

On to dinner and unfortunately Meg was off colour so it was just Alex & Terri who enjoyed the food with us.  Once again, my first lobster tail was less than appetising and Allan volunteered to return it before I even asked.

The atrium balloon party at 9:30pm was a real blast and left a lot of clearing up to be done by the staff, though Paula did emerge with a bottle of the house champagne.  Pics show the amazing orchestra leader Sarah, who is tiny, but plays and conducts so well and is hugely popular with passengers and staff.  Matt, the Deputy Cruise Director – still suffering from a tooth extraction, Marcus & lead dancer Stephanie (from my neck of the woods), who are getting off in SF and Kim, who does the Zumba and quizzes etc.   

Although we were back at the cabin about 10:45, the internet was quite quick so I managed to upload the previous day’s blog and download emails.  Great news from NZ in that Hampton Downs race track has had the crowd limit restriction lifted from 20,000 to 50,000.  It may not mean too much to most of you, but it does mean that the track in  which we have a vested interest, can now attract higher profile events.

Heading now for Vancouver and slightly warmer weather as we head south again.  We don’t arrive until midday, which is a shame, but the confirmed 12 people left in Juneau will just be happy to see the ship arrive, regardless.

Query.  Why is it we can just walk off the ship in Canada, yet each time the ship enters a USA leg, we get all the entry documentation to fill in and a face to face ‘interview’?  Having gone through it all in Alaska, we have to go through it all over again in San Francisco, because we’d left the USA.  So at the exact time when we should be having breakfast and clearing out the cabin, we have to report for another farcical bit of red tape.  We have to report at 8:20am, but be out of our cabin before 8:30am for a 9:30am walk off.  We really don’t want to dwell on such things at the moment.