We woke up early, It was like 6:30AM Vancouver time I think. Karin was calling us to talk to us.
We talked to her and then Kimberly wanted to go to Tim Horton's for breakfast. We walked down there and I got an apple juice and a breakfast sandwhich. Kimberly had a coffee. Kimberly said it was very good coffee, but not the best ever. (her evaluation of coffees is always entertaining to me)
I was not feeling super great (not enough sleep for all the activity I think)
So we returned to the hotel, I took a nap for a couple more hours and Kimberly went exploring.
Kimberly wanted to go shopping at a few of the botique stores before we got on the boat so I got up and we went walking.
We visited the drug store again to buy some liter colas and a couple other items we were now missing from our luggage (just stuff we neglected to pack - like chap stick and hair spray).
We visited the Lush store and a few other stores.
We got a call from Jon and Teri asking if we would like a ride to the boat pier. That sounded like a good idea so we agreed to do that and we finished up shopping and headed back to the hotel to check out.
-- Amazingly my cricket phone which has the package with 30 minutes of US roaming was working in Vancouver--
I was very glad I had the phone... as free wifi was hard (impossible) to come by....
Corey and Nadia showed up with Jon and Teri, We got all the luggage put in the car and headed down to the pier. Nadia had a port pass because she worked for the port authority so we were able to get in with no issues. Not that I think we should have had much problem anyway though.
As we pulled up to the boat, it was HUGE like a 13 story building floating on the water.
Notable was a gang plank sicking out of the side of the boat opposite to the side that it was docked on... it was way up in the air like 4th floor maybe and went to nothing -- I though of "if they have a problem with you they are just going to make you walk the plank"
We stopped and some guys immediately took our baggage and put it in some cages for transfer to the boat. Note -- on a cruise if there is anything in your bags that you might need for the next 8 hours or so -- do not give the bag to these guys as your bag may not show up in your room for a long long time (I ended up going to dinner in shorts because my main bag with all my clothes did not show up with our other 5 bags. It was at our room after dinner though)
We went through check-in - all went pretty smoothly. Waited in line and line and another line to get on the boat. They took our pictures for a picture to try to sell us later, and then as we boarded the boat they took our picture to go with our seapass card (room key - on board credit card)
We finally made it into the 3rd floor "lobby" of the ship large marble staircase there. We were greeted with champagne. After a moment of looking at it all they offer up someone to show us a mini tour and then to our room. We accept and they show us a few things in the area, including the Olympic restaurant - which required a reservation and additional fee for dinner (not some thing that we chose to participate in)
Finally the guide takes us up to the 7th floor, and we walk and walk and walk some more down the hallway of doors. Our room was in the front of the ship in the middle of the ship. We got to the room and the first impression is "wow this room is small"
Two twin beds pushed together made up the bed. with a night stand on each side. a small desk was waiting with ice and some glasses. We had a small table and a could chairs. (you could hardly walk around any thing without bumping into something. And then later on when you add in your luggage and clothes the moving room is gone. it gets down right crowded. Bathroom was small with a simple toilet, sink and shower. Bathroom probably took up 1/4 of the room in the suite.
We decided to go exploring on the ship. We walked all around, there was an offer for a giveaway at the spa, so we went to turn in our entry forms. I wanted to get a coke cup so we went to find that. $5 a day for all you can drink coke which came with a neat little insulated cup and a sticker that went on my seapass card.
$5 a day x 7 days was $35 but then they added a 15% gratuity charge so the total came out over $40 for a week of all you can drink coke --- I was getting cokes for anyone and everyone that wanted one for that price.
We walked all over the ship, found deck 13 - which had a sign that said it was reserved for topless sun bathing -- that sounded neat when it was warm in Vancouver -- but then you had to consider that 80-90% of the boat was dinosaurs whom you would not want to see topless and then every day after we left Vancouver - you pretty much needed a jacket to be out on the deck. (the deck would probably be used on a cruise to a warmer location such as Hawaii or Caribbean)
Kimberly bought a bon voyage mixed drink in a nice collectors glass. We had a little bite to eat at the poolside cafe - Quesadillas that were quite good, although after watching them make them I decided that if you just asked they would probably put chopped steak and whatever else you asked for on the quesadilla instead of just the stuff they had for quesadillas ( later in the voyage we put this to the test and it was very successful - delicious steak quesadillas)
We explored for quite a while. We had dinner at 6 in the main dinning room. There was a mandatory safety briefing at 5 and you had to be present to win at the drawing in the spa.
So we went to the safety brief to go over how to wear your life jacket, and what to do in the event of an emergency. We went to Muster Station A, which was in the Main Theater on the 4th and 5th floors. This couple sitting behind us was arguing about where the muster station was. The one lady (who was correct) was saying that you were supposed to report to the theater in the event of an emergency - the man just kept saying this is not the real muster station - you would go to the life boats in the event of an emergency (which was WRONG) ... they went on and on through the entire briefing. Finally we all funneled out to the lifeboat stations and they made a few announcements about in the event of a real emergency we would probably be at different boats and .... It was a bunch of info that most people probably forgot as soon as the safety brief was over.
We went back up to our room and stowed our life jackets in the closet. We then headed out to the spa for the drawing -- we did not win anything - bummer.... During the drawing the boat started pulling away from the docks. There were a couple of people on treadmills (which were right up against the front windows -- and apparently the movement of the boat was disorienting for the runners as they kept wobbling and grabbing the side rails of the tread mill and the boat spun around out of dock and got underway.
Then we headed down to dinner. We were escorted to our dinner table where we would be eating our evening meal each day of the cruise.
Our table had Jon and Teri, ourselves, and Mark, Robin, and their two children Ryan and Nina.
Our waiter Marlon was there to help us into our chair and give us a menu. Then our assistant waiter Selvin showed up to get us water and deliver bread.
Marlon and Selvin would come to take very good care of us each evening at dinner.
At first I was overwhelmed with the daunting array of silverware and stemware on the table. We had appetizer fork and knife, salad fork and knife, soup spoon, entre fork and knife. Dessert spoon, coffee spoon. Water glass, wine glass (and some nights a champagne glass would show up)
Took me 3 days to figure out how all the silverware worked.
The menu was also crazy -- You were presented with appetizers, salads, soups, entes, and desserts. Marlon told us to order one from each category. So Jon Teri, Kimberly and I worked together to try all the different appetizers and stuff -- which we found out later was unnecessary. You can order as many of anything on the menu as you would like ... if you want to try all the appetizers then order them all they will bring them out for you. if you want 3 lobster dinners on lobster night -- just ask for them. (but our great waiter Marlon anticipated us liking the lobster and brought extra without us asking -- one reason he was so great)
