Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Cruise synopsis
....finally, the long awaited summary!!

By date:

June 17: arrived in San Francisco, ate lunch, dropped off luggage by means of a porter, checked in with security and all that. Got ID cards that had our name, room number, cruise number, etc etc, a room key for our rooms. Was on by 1 pm or around that time and spent sometime exploring the ship. Later on, dad and my bro got sea sick, but got better by eating some green apples slices and crackers at dinner (no joke, it works!!)

June 18: Our first full sea day. the sea was still a bit choppy from the prior storms to the cruise, so it was interesting getting our sea legs. Got a little queasy myself, but stopped it from full blown sea sickness by wearing wristbands. We lounged about on the lounge on deck chairs. Tonight was the first of 2 formal dinner nights, so we all got gussied up. :)

June 19: today we attended a cooking demonstration, by the head cook (he promised us a tour of the galley later in the week). Also during the day, i attended a photo class with my mom, and 2 trivia games, and a lecture on Alaska and general stuff about the land. Dinner was great!

Before I forget, our two waiters, like most of employees, were not native to the USA. They were attentive, funny, and had an excellent grasp on english.

Then, while the rest of my family went to see National Treasure in the little theatre, I went to the Stage Door, the bar and dance area. Just sat for a whole hour, really. it was a great place to people watch.

June 20: Today was our first port of call, Sitka, Alaska. By way of boat (tenders, officially), we made our way ashore and explored the town and took many pictures. It was so picturesque over there. On the way back, dad, brian and I got some icecream.

Useless trivia: Alaska sells more ice cream than any other state.

We ate dinner, then went to a performance, Shake, Rattle, and Roll. It was excellent, considering that the dance team dances on a boat. :) Then, as became my nightly habit, went to the Stage door and actually got over my shyness and got down to dancing. (wierd, but I grew to look forward to it!)

June 21: Our second port of call, Haines. Their claim to fame: the movie White Fang was filmed there (though I have never seen it). They even have the set there, cause it was a lot of wood that was need to build those sets, and moved them to their town fair place. Now they rent the buildings out, including to one brewer. Our tour had a chance to sample some of his drinks and then some smoked salmon. Other than than, the town was picturesque, but not as much as Sitka. Went back on board, had dinner that evening, went back to Stage door.

June 22: Today was our next port, Tracy Arm, though we never got off ship, as it is an inlet, or a fjord that we went in and had to back out of. The best part was the huge glacier at the end of it. HOwever, it was cold outside and started to develop an earache, so went inside and read Murder on the Orient Express while the others stayed outside. Had dinner, though it was more exotic than I liked (included frog legs and escargo). Stopped in Stage door for a few minutes then went to bed.

June 23: Our port of call was Juneau, which was blatantly tourist, though still with natural beauty. Most of the stores were shirt stores, jewelry stores, Diamond stores, fur stores and licqueur stores. Went on a tour with my mom to Mendenhall Glacier while my dad and brother went dog sledding.

Ate dinner then went to bed.

June 24: Todays highlights were, in order, 2 rounds of trivia and the second formal night. Other than that, I was lazy. Hey, its vacation, ya know!

June 25: the port of call: Victoria, Canada. The city was absolutely gorgeous, and reminded us of old europe. met a friend of moms (she has a a xanga site). We rode a horse drawn trolly into town, then walked around the port and explored some stores.

The best part of dinner was desert, Smoked Alaska. It was so rich and creamy that it was all I could do to finish the last few bites. then we attended that evenings show, and afterwards I went to the Backstage door and then to bed.

June 26: today was the final day for activities, so we ended up playing T.V tunes Triva and Family Feud. Rested, packed, and ate dinner (our luggage was taken while we dined). Dinner was sad, as we said good bye to our faithful waiters. I attended the last night of dancing and had a blast, then went to bed.

June 27: Today was a day of waiting. We had to wait in a line to pass immigration inspection, and then gather our hand baggage and wait in a lounge for hours. The most annoying thing was that an amazing number of people lagged in getting that done, holding up the line. then, we disembarked by color groups (ours was Cream 2), and we were on shore. it was 10 am by then, and it wasn't until noon that our ride came and took us home.


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