Planes, Trains & Antitussives, Alaksan Wonder Cruise - All done! Complete 11/21

[franandaj]

I can understand. But I am sure that by June you will have a clearer picture of how things are shaping up!

Yes, I'm sure I will. Plus hopefully we will have some good financial things going on by then as well.

And since you already committed to a long cruise, you could just do a TA instead. They are sometimes only 12 days, so that gives you a little wiggle room of a night in Europe! Who knows, you might even end up with some really nice DISers on board! (I am thinking transatlantic in 2018...)

That would be the only remaining Itinerary that would be of interest (besides the special Hawaiian cruises) that we would not have done. Which way were you thinking for 2018? That might be something we could actually plan on!

I think that is a most excellent possibility (more specifically thinking westbound transatlantic in 2018)

Hmmmm.....I would be more up for an East Bound, but who knows? Have they released those itineraries yet? I completely ignored the last itinerary release even though Fran told me I could book something. I really want to get the old house cleaned out.

 

[franandaj]

Day 11

After waking up at 4AM, I went back to sleep until around 6:30, when I realized that we must be pulling into Vancouver Harbor. I looked out the window and indeed we had just sailed under the Lion's Gate bridge. The time had come to begin the last of the packing up. I got dressed and headed to shutters first. At 7AM pre ordered picture packages we available to be picked up. I got in line and when it got to the front they couldn't find my CD. It turns out they had Fran's first name and my last name. Since they couldn't identify us as a passenger on the ship, they didn't make my CD.

I bought one of the photos of my Mom and Dad from formal night and went back to the room. They told me to come back before breakfast to pick up the CD. They said that it would be ready in 15-20 minutes. Back in the room, I set a timer on my phone, but within 10 minutes I got a call asking if we were still in the stateroom and they brought the disk to the room.

We were all packed up by 8:15, but breakfast was not until 8:45 so we sat around playing on phones and tablets until 8:30 when it was time to go. When we got to Parrot Cay, there was a line, but within moments they opened up the door and started seating people.







It was obviously the "last day breakfast". Our orders were taken right away and the food arrived lickety split. In fact we got our entrees before the platter with the pastries came by. I got the Eggs for the Road (as usual), two eggs over easy, bacon and sausage, hash brown and English Muffin.



When the pastry tray came by I took a cinnamon roll.





Fran got Blueberry Pancakes with a side of bacon.



She chose a cherry pastry and cheese danish. Evidently I didn't get a picture. She also got a side of fruit.



My parents were catching Disney transport back to the airport so they took off just as soon as they were finished. Fran and I hit the facilities and then we heard the "get off the ship" announcement. I don't know why we are always the last to exit, but I'm used to it. After leaving the ship we found our luggage. We were just about to start carrying it when a porter came by and picked up our luggage. Customs was a breeze and we were through in no time. Instead of taking us through the main taxi line, he took us directly to the front of the line. We bypassed a HUGE line and went directly to an accessible cab. We drove the scooter into the back and then the cabbie proceeded to pile the luggage on top of it. We got everything in and took off for our hotel. It was crazy busy there and took us a little while to get out of the terminal.





About two blocks out from the hotel, the cab started to fill up with a smoky haze. Immediately the cab driver pulled over and jumped out, Fran did too. I tried to open my door and it was jammed, it wouldn't open! My lungs were feeling weird and the limo drivers for the hotel we stopped in front of grabbed the door and yanked it open. I jumped out with my purse and envisioned our luggage and everything going up in flames.

He opened the back of the cab and it didn't look like flames were spreading.

Everyone thought the scooter caught on fire and started to take the luggage out. Then the limo driver backed the scooter out. Obviously it wasn't burnt up if it was running, but everything had this icky residue all over it.

Turns out the fire extinguisher had gone off when a piece of luggage fell on it. With all our luggage out of the car, the cab driver just took off!

The limo drivers tried to get us another cab and the first one left because he didn't want to deal with the scooter. Another guy with an accessible cab showed up but I told him how I wanted it loaded and I didn't want to do it like the last one. I should have taken even more of an active role in supposing the loading as I found out later. I play the "jenga" game of loading at home all the time and think i do a pretty good job of it. We got everything loaded and finally made it to the hotel. When the cabbie opened up the back of the van the chassis of the scooter fell out and on to the pavement.

Oy.

An event I would come to regret.

This was the sentiment that I had at the time. You see after the scooter part fell out of the cab, Fran's scooter was making a weird noise when it rolled. Sometime after we got back home I took it down to the repair store to see what was wrong. I couldn't get it to make the noise. Then a guy larger than me rode it and I slightly heard the noise. I explained that we had just gotten off a cruise (not that the chassis hit the pavement) and they said humidity can cause that noise. We haven't had a problem with it since!

Due to the fire extinguisher incident, our luggage was a mess as was the scooter. Luckily the room was ready. The bellmen tried to clean up the luggage for us before taking it up to the room.

It was a nice room. Not huge but certainly comfortable, especially the bed.













Our View, Fran had talked about going over to the Costco later in the day.





Fran laid down while I cleaned off the scooter, the luggage, our beverages and everything else. That s*** got everywhere!



Once things were cleaned up, I checked out the restaurant situation on my phone. We didn't have (more like want to put on) the kind of clothes required for the fancy restaurant, and besides it was only open evenings. We decided that the food court was our best option, that was in the Casino part of the resort which was over a bridge from the hotel and train stop.









I went in thinking a burger sounded good, but once I got there, the burgers looked like bad fast food burgers. We ended up at the noodle place for a bowl of noodle soup with Soya Chicken.



And some pork and vegetable dumplings.



It hit the spot. We checked out the black jack situation, $10 minimum bet, the good news is that was in CDN dollars so only $7-8. But there were no blackjack tables with two open spaces. Plus Fran was tired and wanted to go back to the room and take a nap. We also checked out Lulu's Lounge and the menu looked decent. On our way back to the hotel we checked out the buffet. We're too spoiled with our Vegas buffets and decided we'll go with the lounge for dinner.

When we got back to the room Fran slept and I caught up on my Journal and worked on uploading photos for the Naked Jim TR. That was around 2PM. The WiFi wasn't as fast as I thought and uploading was pretty slow. Before posting the first installment of this TR, I wanted to make sure that I had the next in the Naked Jim series ready to go. I didn't actually finish uploading all the pictures for the day, but I did finally settle on a title for this TR.

Then about 7PM we decided to go down for dinner. We split a burger and fries, not a great burger, but it was serviceable.











We did eat everything in sight as we were obviously hungry.

We wanted to play some Blackjack and the lowest minimum tables we could find were $10, but even then we could not find one table at that minimum with more than one seat open. It seemed that the locals were out whooping it up on a Monday night. Sure we could have played tables with a $15, $25, or $50 minimum but we only had $100 CDN left of the $300 we had exchanged in the US. We had about $200 US cash that we could have exchanged but knowing we had to tip various porters and bellmen on our return journey, we just threw in the towel on the table games. We did have $10 in free slot play, so we did that, and Fran threw in a few extra dollars in her machine before calling it quits and heading back to the room. She promised me a trip to Vegas so that we could feed our Blackjack habit. Just when that will be I have no idea! We still are not done getting our stuff out of the old house, but we are working away. It’s just been difficult at we’ve had a heat wave for a lot of the summer and there’s no sign of it letting up! The AC in the old house is not nearly as good as the new one.

I was probably asleep before 9:30PM while Fran used my computer that was already set up and logged into WiFi to relist all our eBay auctions from before the trip that didn't sell. We had a couple things sell while we were gone so I had a few things to ship on Thursday after we got back.

 

[Malia78]

Have they released those itineraries yet?

I totally flipped them. I actually want EB.
Not released yet- EB in next 2018 release and then WB after that.

My reasons for EB are more days on the ship and I would like to tack on a post-trip to Sweden to see some dear college friends. If it debarks at Copenhagen, that's a hop away.

 

[Malia78]

That was a unique kind of crazy debarkation morning. I'm glad there wasn't any serious or permanent damage to the scooter.

I wonder if your hotel was by the Best Western we stayed at because we had a Costco right across the street too--my sister, BIL and I walked over there for some sampling and tried Costco poutine.

 

[bcwife76]

Wow, talk about a crazy cab situation!!! Ugh, what a lovely mess to clean up Not a fab ending, grrrr..

RiverRock! The buffet is actually really REALLY good. My husbands' work had their Christmas party there last year, we gorged ourselves silly lol

 

[rndmr2]

That was nice of them to bring the Picture CD to your room

Breakfast looked great as usual, that bacon looks nice and crispy.

You got lucky with that porter getting you to the front of the line

Wow that was a crazy situation with the fire extinguisher! That was nice of the bellmen to try to clean the luggage some for you, glad you were able to get it all cleaned up and there was no lasting damage to the scooter.

That is a nice room. Too bad you weren't able to play any blackjack.

 

[Flossbolna]

That would be the only remaining Itinerary that would be of interest (besides the special Hawaiian cruises) that we would not have done. Which way were you thinking for 2018? That might be something we could actually plan on!

I totally flipped them. I actually want EB.
Not released yet- EB in next 2018 release and then WB after that.

My reasons for EB are more days on the ship and I would like to tack on a post-trip to Sweden to see some dear college friends. If it debarks at Copenhagen, that's a hop away.

For us it is really just an idea I am thinking of. Michael and I are more thinking westbound because the time change works to your advantage (gaining one hour for six days sounds quie nice!). But to me it would ultimately depend on the itinerary. I am really not that interested in the Eastbound northern Atlantic itineraries that much. Ports like Amsterdam, Le Havre and such have no interest for me (because I have been there before). But I am also not that keen on the very short Westbounds cruises they had recently that mainly only stop in Madeira and Castaway Cay... But in general I found out that I am more of a warm weather cruiser as I love spending time on deck and in the pools.

 

[dgbg100106]

And Alison had to leave the ship in just her skivvies the next day.

This is one of my biggest fears when I am packing... But it did make me laugh...

 

[dgbg100106]

Day 11

After waking up at 4AM, I went back to sleep until around 6:30, when I realized that we must be pulling into Vancouver Harbor. I looked out the window and indeed we had just sailed under the Lion's Gate bridge. The time had come to begin the last of the packing up. I got dressed and headed to shutters first. At 7AM pre ordered picture packages we available to be picked up. I got in line and when it got to the front they couldn't find my CD. It turns out they had Fran's first name and my last name. Since they couldn't identify us as a passenger on the ship, they didn't make my CD.

I bought one of the photos of my Mom and Dad from formal night and went back to the room. They told me to come back before breakfast to pick up the CD. They said that it would be ready in 15-20 minutes. Back in the room, I set a timer on my phone, but within 10 minutes I got a call asking if we were still in the stateroom and they brought the disk to the room.

We were all packed up by 8:15, but breakfast was not until 8:45 so we sat around playing on phones and tablets until 8:30 when it was time to go. When we got to Parrot Cay, there was a line, but within moments they opened up the door and started seating people.







It was obviously the "last day breakfast". Our orders were taken right away and the food arrived lickety split. In fact we got our entrees before the platter with the pastries came by. I got the Eggs for the Road (as usual), two eggs over easy, bacon and sausage, hash brown and English Muffin.



When the pastry tray came by I took a cinnamon roll.





Fran got Blueberry Pancakes with a side of bacon.



She chose a cherry pastry and cheese danish. Evidently I didn't get a picture. She also got a side of fruit.



My parents were catching Disney transport back to the airport so they took off just as soon as they were finished. Fran and I hit the facilities and then we heard the "get off the ship" announcement. I don't know why we are always the last to exit, but I'm used to it. After leaving the ship we found our luggage. We were just about to start carrying it when a porter came by and picked up our luggage. Customs was a breeze and we were through in no time. Instead of taking us through the main taxi line, he took us directly to the front of the line. We bypassed a HUGE line and went directly to an accessible cab. We drove the scooter into the back and then the cabbie proceeded to pile the luggage on top of it. We got everything in and took off for our hotel. It was crazy busy there and took us a little while to get out of the terminal.





About two blocks out from the hotel, the cab started to fill up with a smoky haze. Immediately the cab driver pulled over and jumped out, Fran did too. I tried to open my door and it was jammed, it wouldn't open! My lungs were feeling weird and the limo drivers for the hotel we stopped in front of grabbed the door and yanked it open. I jumped out with my purse and envisioned our luggage and everything going up in flames.

He opened the back of the cab and it didn't look like flames were spreading.

Everyone thought the scooter caught on fire and started to take the luggage out. Then the limo driver backed the scooter out. Obviously it wasn't burnt up if it was running, but everything had this icky residue all over it.

Turns out the fire extinguisher had gone off when a piece of luggage fell on it. With all our luggage out of the car, the cab driver just took off!

The limo drivers tried to get us another cab and the first one left because he didn't want to deal with the scooter. Another guy with an accessible cab showed up but I told him how I wanted it loaded and I didn't want to do it like the last one. I should have taken even more of an active role in supposing the loading as I found out later. I play the "jenga" game of loading at home all the time and think i do a pretty good job of it. We got everything loaded and finally made it to the hotel. When the cabbie opened up the back of the van the chassis of the scooter fell out and on to the pavement.

Oy.

An event I would come to regret.

This was the sentiment that I had at the time. You see after the scooter part fell out of the cab, Fran's scooter was making a weird noise when it rolled. Sometime after we got back home I took it down to the repair store to see what was wrong. I couldn't get it to make the noise. Then a guy larger than me rode it and I slightly heard the noise. I explained that we had just gotten off a cruise (not that the chassis hit the pavement) and they said humidity can cause that noise. We haven't had a problem with it since!

Due to the fire extinguisher incident, our luggage was a mess as was the scooter. Luckily the room was ready. The bellmen tried to clean up the luggage for us before taking it up to the room.

It was a nice room. Not huge but certainly comfortable, especially the bed.













Our View, Fran had talked about going over to the Costco later in the day.





Fran laid down while I cleaned off the scooter, the luggage, our beverages and everything else. That s*** got everywhere!



Once things were cleaned up, I checked out the restaurant situation on my phone. We didn't have (more like want to put on) the kind of clothes required for the fancy restaurant, and besides it was only open evenings. We decided that the food court was our best option, that was in the Casino part of the resort which was over a bridge from the hotel and train stop.









I went in thinking a burger sounded good, but once I got there, the burgers looked like bad fast food burgers. We ended up at the noodle place for a bowl of noodle soup with Soya Chicken.



And some pork and vegetable dumplings.



It hit the spot. We checked out the black jack situation, $10 minimum bet, the good news is that was in CDN dollars so only $7-8. But there were no blackjack tables with two open spaces. Plus Fran was tired and wanted to go back to the room and take a nap. We also checked out Lulu's Lounge and the menu looked decent. On our way back to the hotel we checked out the buffet. We're too spoiled with our Vegas buffets and decided we'll go with the lounge for dinner.

When we got back to the room Fran slept and I caught up on my Journal and worked on uploading photos for the Naked Jim TR. That was around 2PM. The WiFi wasn't as fast as I thought and uploading was pretty slow. Before posting the first installment of this TR, I wanted to make sure that I had the next in the Naked Jim series ready to go. I didn't actually finish uploading all the pictures for the day, but I did finally settle on a title for this TR.

Then about 7PM we decided to go down for dinner. We split a burger and fries, not a great burger, but it was serviceable.











We did eat everything in sight as we were obviously hungry.

We wanted to play some Blackjack and the lowest minimum tables we could find were $10, but even then we could not find one table at that minimum with more than one seat open. It seemed that the locals were out whooping it up on a Monday night. Sure we could have played tables with a $15, $25, or $50 minimum but we only had $100 CDN left of the $300 we had exchanged in the US. We had about $200 US cash that we could have exchanged but knowing we had to tip various porters and bellmen on our return journey, we just threw in the towel on the table games. We did have $10 in free slot play, so we did that, and Fran threw in a few extra dollars in her machine before calling it quits and heading back to the room. She promised me a trip to Vegas so that we could feed our Blackjack habit. Just when that will be I have no idea! We still are not done getting our stuff out of the old house, but we are working away. It’s just been difficult at we’ve had a heat wave for a lot of the summer and there’s no sign of it letting up! The AC in the old house is not nearly as good as the new one.

I was probably asleep before 9:30PM while Fran used my computer that was already set up and logged into WiFi to relist all our eBay auctions from before the trip that didn't sell. We had a couple things sell while we were gone so I had a few things to ship on Thursday after we got back.

what a crazy day.. With the photo cd issues, extinguisher going off on everything, and then not able to feed your blackjack habit...

I just glad you room was ready and you both got some food and rested.

 

[Pinkocto]

I forgot you weren't going right back home, yay! Sad that the cruise is over of course. Nice that they brought you the photo cd.

Oh my goodness about the taxi and fire extinguisher

Too bad about the blackjack. A Vegas trip sounds like great fun.

Was the port far from the airport? I haven't figured out what to do pre-cruise yet.

 

[Pinkocto]

I can understand. But I am sure that by June you will have a clearer picture of how things are shaping up!

And since you already committed to a long cruise, you could just do a TA instead. They are sometimes only 12 days, so that gives you a little wiggle room of a night in Europe! Who knows, you might even end up with some really nice DISers on board! (I am thinking transatlantic in 2018...)

I think that is a most excellent possibility (more specifically thinking westbound transatlantic in 2018)

I'm hoping to book this when it comes out.

 

[pkondz]

I'm not even sure I could identify a modern pop song if you played it for me.

I'm pretty much the same. But with two teen daughters in the house, I do hear new stuff from time to time.

So far you are the only one who has commented.

Ah! So it's official then. All the male readers who commented take the tags off.

Well your Momma raised you right, cookin' and all, bein' courteous and stuff. And here you call yourself a buffoon!

I'm a cookin', courteous buffoon.

Well you have to understand how the DCL movie channels work. There is a classic Disney Animation channel, a modern Disney Animation Channel, a Pixar Channel, and a Disney Live Action Channel. I believe I came in midway through Peter Pan, when that ended I didn't want to see the next one on the "Classic" channel, so I switched to Pixar where the Incredibles were already underway. I think I had seen the beginning earlier in the cruise so I caught the last half to the end. Then I went back to see Snow White, and I believe that Fran made me turn off the TV in the beginning to middle of Alice in Wonderland. It was probably a good three hours of packing though. We had a lot of fragile things that needed to be dispersed amongst the various suitcases.

Okay, that was funny. I was nodding my head, thinking "Oh, so it didn't take that long, then." And then you go and tag on "it was probably a good three hours..."

It's very obvious. There are a lot of Indian customers on the ships. Often times they eat a strict Vegetarian or Vegan diet and the chefs prepare whole meals for their tables which are nothing like what is being served in the main dining room. I've sat next to their tables before and the smell of their exotic dishes is incredible!

I wonder if it's because too many people were saying "I'll have what she's having."

Ha They actually warn you against this in the "disembarking video". I had an outfit reserved for the next day. And BTW, I didn't even have my skivvies!

It's commando Alison!

 

[pkondz]

After waking up at 4AM

Stop doing that!!

I went back to sleep until around 6:30

That's better.

The time had come to begin the last of the packing up.

Wait... More packing?!?!?

It turns out they had Fran's first name and my last name. Since they couldn't identify us as a passenger on the ship, they didn't make my CD.

How did that happen? Your fault or theirs?

They told me to come back before breakfast to pick up the CD. They said that it would be ready in 15-20 minutes. Back in the room, I set a timer on my phone, but within 10 minutes I got a call asking if we were still in the stateroom and they brought the disk to the room.

Not bad! Not bad at all.

Needs more sausage.

I don't know why we are always the last to exit, but I'm used to it.

Because you want to extend your vacation as long as humanly possible.

Customs was a breeze and we were through in no time. Instead of taking us through the main taxi line, he took us directly to the front of the line. We bypassed a HUGE line and went directly to an accessible cab.

Score.

About two blocks out from the hotel, the cab started to fill up with a smoky haze. Immediately the cab driver pulled over and jumped out, Fran did too. I tried to open my door and it was jammed, it wouldn't open!

Yikes! How scared were you??

My lungs were feeling weird and the limo drivers for the hotel we stopped in front of grabbed the door and yanked it open. I jumped out with my purse and envisioned our luggage and everything going up in flames.

Oh, dear Lord. Thank goodness you got out, but wow. That must have felt like a lifetime.

Turns out the fire extinguisher had gone off when a piece of luggage fell on it. With all our luggage out of the car, the cab driver just took off!

WHADYA MEAN HE JUST TOOK OFF?!?!?
What the heck is with that????

When the cabbie opened up the back of the van the chassis of the scooter fell out and on to the pavement.

Oy.

An event I would come to regret.

uh oh.

I explained that we had just gotten off a cruise (not that the chassis hit the pavement) and they said humidity can cause that noise. We haven't had a problem with it since!

Oh! Well, that's not too bad then. An unnecessary trip, but a free one at least.

Due to the fire extinguisher incident, our luggage was a mess as was the scooter. Luckily the room was ready. The bellmen tried to clean up the luggage for us before taking it up to the room.

Nice of him.

Wow. You must've been cleaning for quite a while.

We decided that the food court was our best option, that was in the Casino part of the resort which was over a bridge from the hotel and train stop.

Wait. There are rooms on the other side? I didn't know that.

Looks good.

Sure we could have played tables with a $15, $25, or $50 minimum but we only had $100 CDN

Yeah, that wouldn't have lasted long, unless you got lucky, quickly.

 

[afwdwfan]

What a day... First you get evicted from the ship then a cab driver throws your crap on a sidewalk and leaves you standing there. Awesome.

That really is a weird thing to have happen. Sorry you had to go through it, but I'm glad that it wasn't actually a fire and nothing was permanently damaged. Definitely needed a good cleaning, but not damaged.

 

[Steppesister]

It's commando Alison!

We'd be quite a touring duo, then.

What a morning. Holy crap! I can't even imagine the work of trying to get that nasty stuff off of...well, everything. The packing looks just grueling! I had to do the same ordeal on our way home as well with breakable purchases and all.

Glad you made it to the hotel- but, dang, not table at the BJ for two.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Holy moly, what a day! Ouch, I cannot imagine being like your parents and flying out on the same day as disembarking from a major cruise. I need to have time to get my head back together before facing the real world.

We stayed a couple of extra days in Vancouver after our Alaska cruise (2015) thinking we would want to knock around the city some more before heading stateside. We were so tired from our "vacation" that we ended up taking a very long nap the first day off the ship. We did venture out in the evening for dinner and a short walk-about but in reality, we were so tired that all we really wanted to do was lay around the hotel and veg. We plan to do the same for our next Alaska cruise, stay an extra day and take a long, long nap.

Kate (Professor Boneless)

 

[rentayenta]

HOLY CHIT! Smoke?! Now I need to go back and read the rest. I'm glad no one was hurt even though it was such a pain in the butt.

 

[dhorner233]

So sad that the cruise is over but it looks like you had a nice time.

What a taxi ride! And then he just left you two on the side of the road!?

 

[pkondz]

We'd be quite a touring duo, then.

The pantsless twosome.

 

[franandaj]

I totally flipped them. I actually want EB.
Not released yet- EB in next 2018 release and then WB after that.

My reasons for EB are more days on the ship and I would like to tack on a post-trip to Sweden to see some dear college friends. If it debarks at Copenhagen, that's a hop away.

See I would be more inclined to do a WB, for reasons that Magdalene listed and also I would hope it departed from Barcelona. I've read enough TRs with a start in Barcelona that the city is starting to appeal to me for a visit.

That was a unique kind of crazy debarkation morning. I'm glad there wasn't any serious or permanent damage to the scooter.

I wonder if your hotel was by the Best Western we stayed at because we had a Costco right across the street too--my sister, BIL and I walked over there for some sampling and tried Costco poutine.

It's very possible. Did you stay in Richmond? Costco Poutine sounds very interesting!

Wow, talk about a crazy cab situation!!! Ugh, what a lovely mess to clean up Not a fab ending, grrrr..

RiverRock! The buffet is actually really REALLY good. My husbands' work had their Christmas party there last year, we gorged ourselves silly lol

It totally was a crazy situation, yeah and months later I was still finding that stuff on the scooter in places I never imagined. I would have to think that the buffet was beefed up at Christmas because when they let me take a look at it on our way back from lunch it was pretty slim pickin's. They had a whole section catering to Asian clientele, a small (like only half a dozen toppings) salad bar, and a couple of hot entrees. Desserts were some cookies and other little unimpressive pastries.

That was nice of them to bring the Picture CD to your room

It was and very unexpected!

Breakfast looked great as usual, that bacon looks nice and crispy.

It was very good! Although I can never eat all of it, as hard as I try.

You got lucky with that porter getting you to the front of the line

I felt really bad, like all the people in line were glaring at us.

Wow that was a crazy situation with the fire extinguisher! That was nice of the bellmen to try to clean the luggage some for you, glad you were able to get it all cleaned up and there was no lasting damage to the scooter.

It was crazy, I don't want to relive that one again.

That is a nice room. Too bad you weren't able to play any blackjack.

I know. I'm still missing it. I can't wait to go to Vegas. Now all we have to do is finish the old house.

For us it is really just an idea I am thinking of. Michael and I are more thinking westbound because the time change works to your advantage (gaining one hour for six days sounds quie nice!). But to me it would ultimately depend on the itinerary.

I was thinking Westbound as well. I hadn't considered the extra hour to gain, that would also be a bonus, but more I just envisioned sailing out of Barcelona. But it appears that next year's journey ends in New York.

I am really not that interested in the Eastbound northern Atlantic itineraries that much. Ports like Amsterdam, Le Havre and such have no interest for me (because I have been there before). But I am also not that keen on the very short Westbounds cruises they had recently that mainly only stop in Madeira and Castaway Cay... But in general I found out that I am more of a warm weather cruiser as I love spending time on deck and in the pools.

I would rather have the warm weather in most cases. However another one now on my radar is a Fall cruise to Canada.

This is one of my biggest fears when I am packing... But it did make me laugh...

I know! I always triple check to make sure that I DO have another outfit for the disembarkation day!

what a crazy day.. With the photo cd issues, extinguisher going off on everything, and then not able to feed your blackjack habit...

I just glad you room was ready and you both got some food and rested.

Yeah, I had high hopes, but in the end just sitting around the room watching TV working on the TR while Fran slept made it much easier to launch back into society. Plus we saved like 40-50,000 frequent flyer miles. Which we ended up needing for booking our trip in Feb/Mar.

I forgot you weren't going right back home, yay! Sad that the cruise is over of course. Nice that they brought you the photo cd.

Yeah that was a mile saving decision!

Oh my goodness about the taxi and fire extinguisher

Yeah, not fun.

Too bad about the blackjack. A Vegas trip sounds like great fun.

It sure would be......someday.....

Was the port far from the airport? I haven't figured out what to do pre-cruise yet.

It was not far at all, and very easy to access. Are you and your mom traveling as self contained passengers? What I mean is can you easily control all your own luggage? If so, I would highly suggest that you stay somewhere downtown within walking distance of the Port. The Pan Pacific is way too expensive (but we did it because of convenience and Fran needing to be close like that). The Fairmont is right across the street and very easy to get to the Port, and there were a few other hotels right there as well.

The reason that I suggest staying within walking distance of the port is that you can catch the Streetcar (I know they don't call it that, but it's the word that comes to mind, that Bostonion in me coming out) directly from outside of baggage claim/customs right to the terminus where the Port is located. It's inexpensive (unlike everything else in Vancouver) and very easy to use. There is plenty of public transportation (for able bodied folks) and a lot of the city is in walking distance from what I know of you and your mom. Even if you only fly in the day before, it will make your life easy to stay near the port so that you can just walk there instead of hassling with cabs and other such transportation. But I highly suggest you go a few days early and check out the sights. That is going to be one VERY LONG trip! I hope your puppies remember you when you get home!

I'm hoping to book this when it comes out.

Well, maybe I should just plan on it on booking day! Remind me when the dates come out. I am horrible with remembering these, even with all my FB groups and such. I can always cancel if we don't want to do it, but the HA rooms are all booked up by the day that Silver members can book.

I'm pretty much the same. But with two teen daughters in the house, I do hear new stuff from time to time.

I remember when I was a kid. I was on the Disco bandwagon all the way through Saturday Night Fever, and then I snapped out of it and went back to the 60s for groups like the Stones, The Doors, Led Zep, not to mention I kept up with all the new Rock and Heavy Metal Bands. However the damage was done, my Mom had discovered the Bee Gees. And since she wasn't a broke teenager, she could afford to buy EVERY FREAKIN' one of their albums. Even the imports from Australia. I could handle as a young kid to come home on the weekends and hear La Traviata blaring, or whatever other opera she was into at the time, but to have the Bee Gees crooning all day! I never brought my friends over to the house I was so embarrassed.

Ah! So it's official then. All the male readers who commented take the tags off.

Hardly.

I'm a cookin', courteous buffoon.

Okay, that was funny. I was nodding my head, thinking "Oh, so it didn't take that long, then." And then you go and tag on "it was probably a good three hours..."

Well all of those movies may have suggested that I was packing for like 8-10 hours.

I wonder if it's because too many people were saying "I'll have what she's having."

I'm pretty sure it was. They would serve entire tables family style. I know that @dolphingirl47 was seated at a table with some folks and her husband shared in a few of their dishes and thought they were quite good.

Wait... More packing?!?!?

You know, toothbrush, deodorant, tablets, phones, computer, charging cords, leftover water....

How did that happen? Your fault or theirs?

No clue.

Needs more sausage.

I couldn't even finish what they gave me.

Because you want to extend your vacation as long as humanly possible.

Either that or Fran is just slow.

Yikes! How scared were you??

Sort of like seeing my life flash by.

Oh, dear Lord. Thank goodness you got out, but wow. That must have felt like a lifetime.

Yeah, yanking at that door knob is not a time in my life I enjoy reliving!

WHADYA MEAN HE JUST TOOK OFF?!?!?
What the heck is with that????

I have NO idea.

Oh! Well, that's not too bad then. An unnecessary trip, but a free one at least.

Yeah, I was glad about that one.

Wow. You must've been cleaning for quite a while.

And the hotel towels that I used looked pretty worse for wear.

Wait. There are rooms on the other side? I didn't know that.

Was your big executive suite on the Casino side? I thought all the rooms were on the Hotel side!

Yeah, that wouldn't have lasted long, unless you got lucky, quickly.

Which rarely happens.