922

PART 1 of 9: In August of 2009, I (Sharon) deserted my husband Joe and our puppy Dobby (at the time we had had her for about a month and a half) to go on a cruise to Alaska with the choir of which I was a member at the time (we were booked to sing on the ship). Some of my writing style has changed since 2009, some of my snark is exactly the same and heaven knows that cameras and photos have improved in the past 8 years, but here is the trip report I wrote about those adventures…the good, the bad and the ugly! 

Friday, August 14, 2009 (Pre-Day 1)

After waking up at 6:30am on Thursday morning and going to bed at midnight. I woke up at an ungodly 4:30am. It was so early that even Dobby, my daily 7:00am alarm clock in the form of a 4.5-month-old toy poodle, looked at me as if to say,  “what are you doing up so EARLY?” (I did admittedly take some small bit of satisfaction at ME waking HER up for her morning potty, for a change – and to say goodbye, of course).

Joe drove me to the airport and I met up with my singing friends “Carlene” and “Stewart” while I was waiting on line at Starbucks – but not before I saw the brand-spanking-new (well, to me – I don’t know how long it’s actually been there) Famiglia Pizza in Terminal A. Yay, we finally got a straight-from-NYC Famous Famiglia Pizza in Orlando again, after the one near Walt Disney World closed! Unfortunately, it’s in the terminal Joe and I hardly ever visit. Sigh.

Our plane took off on time and, joy of joys, whoever was supposed to sit between Carlene & I either didn’t show up or sat somewhere else. So we had plenty of extra room for our “stuff.”

They served breakfast around 10am. Well, they sold breakfast, anyway. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a nearly 6-hour flight; if you want something more substantial than one 1.4 oz oatmeal raisin cookie and a 1 oz bag of pretzels and soy beans, you’re going to have to pay for it. And, sucker that I am, I did. For $6 I got hash browns, sweet sausage and reconstituted egg product. Let’s just say the hot tea was good.

The rest of the (long, LONG) flight was thankfully uneventful and we arrived in Seattle around the time we were supposed to, if not a little earlier. We had reservations for the QuickShuttle shuttle bus but with a little more than an hour to wait for it, I took the opportunity to buy a salad, apple and Dasani water to go (lest anyone think I made 100% healthy choices, I also got a package of chocolate & peanut butter M&Ms, too).

I have no idea what our route was to Vancouver – I’ve never been to Washington State, let alone Seattle (nor Vancouver, for that matter) so short of the one famous needle-topped building and chain stores, I have no idea of anything about where we were or to what places we went. I saw signs that said we were on I-5 for quite a while, if that means anything to anyone. But otherwise, the trip to Vancouver was alternating cities, towns, mountains and naps. Oh, and the little old Spanish-speaking lady in the front row who never shut up. Ever. For the whole trip. She yak yak yak’d with her daughter(?) for the entire trip. ¡Ay, Dios mio!

We eventually made it over the border (Border Patrol Dude: “Why are you coming to Canada?” Me: “Because that’s where the cruise ship leaves from”) and they did indeed let us in. I even got the Border Patrol Dude to stamp my passport – something he says he never does. But hey, I asked, LOL!

After stops at a few other hotels AND Vancouver’s airport, we finally arrived at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel, where we were scheduled for a 1-night stay and where, at some point, we would hopefully meet the rest of the choir.  It was a REALLY nice place, with two towers that were each 30-something stories high. We were in the South Tower, on the 14th floor. My room, which was originally supposed to be a double (long story), was an interesting L-shaped corner room with 2 double beds that overlooked a busy section of Vancouver.

After dropping off our stuff, Carleen, Stewart & I went in search of food, since all of our meals all day had been small and far between…so we were starving! The only problem was that we didn’t know the city at all so we pretty much just picked a direction and started going straight. We bypassed some icky-looking places that sold pizza, paninis, Viet-Tai, etc., checked out the place that a homeless woman recommended (no, really!) and eventually came upon a nice restaurant called the Bacchus Restaurant & Lounge, located at the Wedgewood Hotel & Spa. There were LOTS of people in the main dining area – so much so that we were seated in the back. Or so we thought. But it eventually dawned on us that our sitting so far away from everyone else may have been less so because of lack of space and moreso because we were very underdressed for the establishment. Think a tiny step above a “nice” restaurant that’s “dressy casual” and then there was us, in varying degrees of jeans, sneakers, stretchy pants, polo shirts and Hawaiian shirts. Fortunately, they were still willing to take our money, LOL! Anyway, the food was delicious…I had a steak, Stewart had the NY Strip and Carlene got the duck – we didn’t have a complaint about any of it.

We wandered back to our hotel and, after spending some time on the free internet (YAY!) on the 3rd floor, I walked around and looked for fellow choir people – ANY choir people because, if nothing else, we had no idea of what time or where we were meeting the next morning, to travel to the ship. I finally met up with “Caroline” and “Sue” at the bar (most of the choir people were from the U.K. Two British people at the bar? Coulda knocked me over with a feather…). and they gave me the lo-down…have the bags ready inside our rooms at 11am, tags attached, and meet outside at noon. Got it! Went back to the room, called Carlene and Stewart to let them know the plan and then, with most of this blog mostly written, I could FINALLY go to bed!

Next Throw Back Thursday: Driving to the ship and our first day at sea!