Vancouver, Canada

Hello from the most gorgeous day in Vancouver! No matter which direction I turned it was just spectacular.

Hey, we’ve stayed in the Pan Pacific Hotel!

Got to watch sea planes taking off and landing

Adhering to my take back-my-own-schedule schedule I skipped my typical morning breakfast inside and went to the buffet. And enjoyed eating it at the back of the ship outside.

The view from my breakfast table

Just like for dinner last night, breakfast
was in my own private outside dining area.

Pictures and a short video filmed from the ship are as close as I got to the city today. Thankfully we’ve been here many times before on days as nice as this.

With my front tire needing a NASCAR style tires-only pitstop I had no choice but to stay on board.

It’s this spot I’m most worried about

It was a great day spent just sitting in a lounge chair in the warm sunshine. And once evening hit, dinner of beef stew over mashed potatoes from the buffet was eaten at my private outdoor dining area. 

I stayed until the sun started dropping behind the sails of Canada Place before heading in. 

Now we’re up with two sea days in a row as we make our way back to San Francisco. See you tomorrow.

Seattle, Washington

Hello from Seattle! It was a cool and cloudy start to the day.

Princess home ports at Pier 91 which requires a taxi to get to the city but were so lucky to have docked at Pier 66, close to the city. 

Like, right there

It was a long day in port so I was able to wait until later in the day to go out.

Hot dog lunch by the pool before heading out

As I sat eating the hot dog in the warm Seattle sun I more closely inspected my front tire. I left home knowing it was bald and I’d be needing to replace it once I returned from this trip. But the rough pavement throughout this month long adventure has been wearing it past the bald stage and into the hang-on-just-a-few-more-days stage.

The oh sh** stage

I still have some required scootering (all around the ship) and more required to get home (San Francisco cruise port, two airports) so I can’t take any chances of it completely going when I’m out and about on the streets of Seattle. I’ve been here dozens of times already (and have written about many of the visits on the blog) so I stayed onboard enjoying the sunshine and an empty ship. 

Ferris wheel, Mariners baseball park, and Mt. Rainer? 
Been there, done that.

Pike Place Market and nearby parks and the waterfront?
Yep, there too. 

Space Needle? Yup, all the way to the top. 

It really was a glorious day to stay on board. I made my way to my pre-dinner drinks, and switched things up this time and went with a mai tai.

I skipped the dining room and went to the buffet. I picked up some pork, garlic rice, and a little ham and cheese pocket kind of thing. It was delicious.

A view like this made it even better.

I had the whole back of the ship to myself.

Tomorrow we’ll be in Vancouver, Canada. See you there!

Astoria, Oregon

Hello from a short visit to Astoria, Oregon. Although our arrival was scheduled at 4:30 AM to accommodate the tides, our view still looked like this until noon.

We should be docked straight ahead.

The ship wide announcement and the letter slipped under the door had the explanation.

As we waited and waited to get ashore the inside spaces got really packed. As would be expected the shore excursions and guest services counters had very long lines. I retreated to Skywalkers but it was pretty full as well.

Still not docked

Looking for fresh air I rolled around outside Deck 7 for a while, but it was just so cold I just couldn’t do it anymore and eventually had to come back to the cabin to get warmed up. 

Cold and windy no matter which direction I looked

Once the ship was docked I waited about an hour for the crowds to die down - and the weather to clear up - and then I went out and about. 

View from the ship

Here are just a few things I saw today…

I also saw someone dumpster diving for food and a used prophylactic on the ground. Definitely no pictures on those.

I went down the Riverwalk path as far as I could until it turned into the section where it shared the trolley tracks. A boardwalk and rail tracks all in one with a scooter? Nah, I’ll pass.

When I got back to the ship there was a (cue the sarcasm) little bitty bit of a backed up line. Thankfully after a while officers came around and started pulling mobility people out to go to a second shorter and less steep gangway.

Yikes

The line originated at the back of the taller red roof building

When I got back on board, I grabbed a quick snack of tortilla chips and salsa and had some of my chocolate covered strawberries before finishing up my movie while showering and dressing for drinks and dinner.

I tried a Baked Alaska martini tonight.

The great day exploring the port area in addition to the new martini and vegetarian samosa canapé must have given me some clarity. For as I was sitting outside freezing while waiting for my 7:00 dinner time (fresh air is always preferable to breathing inside crowd air during my wait) I realized I was doing something I didn’t want to do. Why should I get so cold just so I can go to a meal I really don’t want? I let the dining room know I wouldn’t be coming, and not just tonight but at least the next couple as well.

11th time having these specific choices
on a Princess ship so far this calendar year

Then I went and grabbed a slice of pepperoni and vegetarian pizza and took it back to my cabin. Covered up with a warm blanket and had dinner in. 

And realized it’s time to take back my schedule and not have to work my entire evening around getting dressed for drinks and dinner. 

Up tomorrow, we’ll be in Seattle. See you in the city!

Sea Day

Hello from a very sunny, very windy, and very cold sea day off the northern California coast.

50 degrees with 28 mph winds. BRRR

Even though it was so cold I still balanced my inside time with outside time. In the morning I bounced between breakfast, the Promenade Deck, the casino, and back to the Promenade Deck. 

Cold the entire day

My afternoon started with another Most Traveled Guest Luncheon for those 40 guests on board with the most days with Princess. We have a new chef onboard as of last week and the menu is different and quite tasty.

Did you know ensalada de pulpo was octopus salad?
I didn’t. 

Surf and turf

Delicious rhubarb dessert that had
rhubarb in the center of the ball.

After the luncheon I went back to the cabin to charge my phone for a little bit and then bundled up and went outside to Deck 16 for the afternoon movie. Can you tell what I watched?

The original Top Gun

Straight from Top Gun I went to my pre-dinner drinks. 

Lemon Drop Martini as usual

Even though tonight was formal night with a formal night dinner I went with the baked chicken again. It’s a nice small portion and mighty tasty. Somehow I forgot the picture. Didn’t forget to take the picture of the two plates of chocolate covered strawberries I found upon returning to my cabin, though. One was from the officer who hosted my table at the luncheon and the other from the casino. (The casino also sent a bottle of sparkling wine but I gave it to my cabin steward before taking a photo.)

Thanks to the tides we have a very early 4:30 AM arrival in Astoria tomorrow. You can bet I’ll be sleeping until long past then and I’ll wait to see on the weather before I make any solid plans for the day. See you then!

San Francisco Turnaround Day

Hello again from San Francisco, where I am ending one cruise and beginning another.

Awake by 6:00 AM. Go me.

There really wasn’t a reason for me to get up so early other than to check the weather. 

Looks to be a sunny day = go out and be a tourist 

Cold and cloudy = stay on board

It didn’t take long for the day to shake out. Sitting up in Skywalkers on deck 18 gave me the best vantage point of what was to come. Both before the immigration process and after things continued to look, well, definitely not sunny.

Dirty windows or not, you can see it’s dreary out there

I skipped my typical salmon in the dining room and had a hamburger in there instead. Since my clothes DID arrive to my cabin unlike last week, after lunch I spent a few minutes unpacking and sorting through the first day’s paperwork. 

Always important itinerary torn from the Princess Patter

Another thing I had in my paperwork was information on this week’s casino cruise. First on the schedule was the cocktail party where we would find out more about the going-ons. While I did have one drink and one Diet Coke, the time there was mostly a casino hosts schmoozing-with-the-high-rollers session. Pretty interesting to watch.

Some kind of a rum punch

Afterwards I tried to head back to Skywalkers for sailaway but they already had it shut down for the Elite Lounge. So I wound up in a lounger outside at Movies Under the Stars while keeping a close eye on the menacing clouds.

Rain, rain, stay away

And wouldn’t you know it as soon as we started sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge we hit the blue skies. But boy was it cold.

The Captain tells us we’ll have some rough seas tonight as we head north to Astoria, Oregon. But before Astoria we have a sea day tomorrow. See you then.