Day Two: Boarding the Ship!!

Let's see, it seems I last left off with us arriving back in Vancouver City....

Once we got off the ferry, we found our hotel, thanks to our trusty GPS (don't leave home without it!!). At the hotel we hooked up with Debbie (she was at the front desk when Steve was checking in!!), her mom Jeanette, her sister Katie and her friend Teri. Here's a picture from our hotel room (there was a festival going on at the park -- see the tents??)....


Once we all got settled in we decided to meet in the hotel bar to figure out our next move. At the recommendation of the bartender, we went to a local restaurant that was a couple of blocks away. Since Deb's mom couldn't walk that far, she, Katie and Teri took a cab. Steve, Deb and I walked. After waiting a LONG time in a loud and crowded restaurant we were seated. The food was just OK, but we had a lot of fun. We progressed back to the hotel bar in the same fashion in which we left, to await Bill's arrival. Once he got there and we all visited for a bit, it was time to hit the hay and get ready for the next part of our great adventure .... THE CRUISE!!!

The next morning our newly expanded entourage met in the lobby for the trip to the port. We now had, in addition to the above mentioned group, Dan and LaFaye (Bill & Deb's friends), Dan's brother and sister-in-law, and LaFaye's mom and neice. We had to take SEVERAL taxies to the terminal, but decided to just get on with the process of checking in, so we didn't all stand in line together. We decided we would have plenty of time to visit once we got on board the ship. Steve and I decided after the fact that we made TWO tactical errors in our thinking:

1. We had Deb's mom and sister with us and once we got to the terminal, Katie got a wheelchair for Jeanette. Now that she was in the chair, she was considered by the cruise folks to be "handicapped". This placed her at the front of the line and onboard the ship immediately. Steve and I had the option of going along with her as part of her group. We declined so as not to "take advantage of the system".....BIG MISTAKE!!! They were on the ship a full 2 hours before we were. We've learned our lesson for next time!!!

and

2. We didn't realize it was going to take SEVERAL hours of waiting in line to get onto the ship. We would have definitely all stood together to visit and make the time go by more quickly. As it was, Steve and I had to "make do" with watching people and "critiquing" them. It's tough to be perfect!!! LOL

Once on the ship we all found our way to our staterooms and entered our requests to have the partitions removed from our balconies......let the fun times begin!!! The partitions were different from the last ship and it entailed simply opening a door between balconies. This was completed very quickly and easily, so we stood on our private deck to watch the ship begin the voyage.....

We sailed at 5:00 and were at sea all night and all of the next day, which was Sunday, May 11. Sunday was not only Mother's Day, but also Bill's birthday. We didn't make a big deal out of Mother's Day, in deference to Katie. This was her first Mother's Day since her son, Brad, died in a tragic accident. She had a rough day, but we all tried to keep her feelings in mind. We did, however, celebrate Bill's birthday in royal style. The cruise folks decorated their stateroom door with balloons and a sign and we gave him gifts at breakfast and I have to say, he seemed to enjoy the book I made for him. Thank you everyone for your photographic contributions for this project. Be sure to ask him to see the book. It is a lot of fun to "walk down memory lane" with the pictures!!


We enjoyed our day at sea and looked forward to our first destination, which wad Ketchican. I'll continue my version of this saga at another time. Right now Katie and I have some power shopping to do......

Be good and take care of each other.

Love ya!!


THANK YOU, BRYAN!!