Cruising Alaska, Day 7 - at sea and arrival in Vancouver

Cruising Day 7 – At Sea

Woke up to the knock on the door at 6:15am. Coffee has arrived. Ray had a bad night sleeping so I did not turn on any lights and let him sleep for another half an hour. Hard to believe that a whole week has gone by and today is our last day cruising. Everyone has had a blast. Definitely a “do again”.

Today everyone was pretty tired from all our activities. Jason felt rough getting my cold, Garrett was kept awake by someone snoring. lol . I managed a 45 minute nap and then all the kids, minus Jason, came to the room and played some cards on the deck.

Garrett sporting the Hugh Hefner look. lol

You could sure tell that the air was warmer again going south, back to shorts for the guys.

Ray and Garrett went for a hot tub and I went to get some drinks to have on our deck. Another fabulous day. Ray and I decided to have lunch at the Pinnacle Grill as we were tired of the offerings at the Lido Market. Fabulous food.

Beef Carpacio

Grilled Jumbo Prawns on crostini

Seafood Cioppino

All was absolutely delicious.

Kristi had booked us all at the Pinnacle Grill for dinner, again minus Jason, as he was still under the weather. Another fabulous meal. We all waddled from the table.

Kristi's hanging bacon three ways.

Delicious lobster bisque.

Scallops

Surf and Turf with lobster

Baked Alaska

After dinner Ray and I retired to our room to finish packing and have an early night. All luggage was placed outside our door to be picked up and we had only our carryone's to worry about in the morning. No towel art today as we have suitcases on the bed. lol

Day 8 - Disembarkation Vancouver

Woke up at 5:30 and stood on the deck watching the ship pass West Vancouver. A beautiful warm, calm morning although cloudy. Good morning Vancouver.

Ray took the pic above last night.

I'd made sure that Kristi and Jason were in the same disembarkation group as us so there were no hiccups catching our reserved ferry. Boy do they have everything worked out slick. We left the ship at 8am where they directed us to our waiting luggage. Gave us a porter to carry our suitcases and he walked us to immigration. We handed in our slips, were asked "what was the most expensive thing we bought" and customs took the slip and said goodbye. The easiest border crossing yet. Our porter took us straight to a waiting elevator and down we went to the car. We were off the ship, loaded in our vehicle and out of Canada Place in probably 15-20 minutes.

We ended up going for breakfast in Horseshoe Bay as we had 2 hours to wait for the ferry. An uneventful trip back home. Kristi was dropped off and then Jason took us home to Lake Cowichan. Everyone happy to see their pooches. Malc and Kathy had the house looking spotless and the dog I think, was sad to see them go. Thanks a million for looking after our fur babies.

POST CRUISE NOTES

All in all, it was a fabulous trip and we cannot wait to go again. Ray found that he did a lot more walking than was comfortable.  His hips are getting worse recently.  Even though we were mid-ship, everything else was at the bow or stern of the ship. I think the next time we cruise by ourselves it will be easier to plan "outings" and he will have more time to relax in our room in between. This time he did not want to miss any "special moments" with our kids. They did make sure he was in the hot tub at least once a day though. Having the suite was fabulous for having the space to entertain the kids. Ray's zero gravity chair would not have fit very well in just a balcony room. Our room steward was awesome bringing us anything we needed and cleaning up after 6 of us instead of 2.

The food in the Dining Room for dinners was great. We had a specific dining time of 5:30 which enabled us not having to wait for a table and lots of time after dinner to see some entertainment. Having a few meals in the specialty restaurants was fabulous. The buffet offerings in the Lido Market were pretty good too, especially for breakfast. They also had great New York Pizza and a Dive-in Burger Bar, poolside. All the bars serving specialty drinks were great too ... just not gin and tonic.(terrible tonic water) The strawberry daiquiris were awesome. We opted not to buy a beverage package and see where we would end up dollar wise for future cruises. For the two of us it would have been $1180 USD and totalling up our bills our booze bill was only about $700 for the week. Most drinks were around $11 plus tax and gratuity. Thanks to Jason finding out the "whose who" we attended Happy Hours where you paid for the first drink and got the same second one for $2 which helped. lol 

The dress code was relaxed somewhat. For the Gala nights, men were to wear dress slacks and a collared shirt and a blazer, especially in the upstairs assigned dining room. The downstairs dining room first come first serve was more relaxed so no coat for the men. Women, dresses, skirts, and slacks with fancy shirts were acceptable. Their only stipulation seemed to be shorts or distressed jeans for the most part. We saw lots of people in nice jeans and shirts for dinners. It was nice to dress up though, especially for the cruise pictures. Our suite had free laundry service which we used a couple of times when spills ended up on good clothes.

For entertainment, the kids really enjoyed the BB Kings Blues bar and Garrett and Kat saw an illusionist. We all went to the Explore Alaska National Geographic production on the mainstage. The photography was amazing. Kristi and Kat made use of the promenade deck where you can walk around the entire ship ... 3 times is a mile. Kristi and Garrett also made use of the fitness gym. There were enough quiet places for Jason to retreat to and read his book. Everyone was happy.

Would we cruise again .... ABSOLUTELY!!!!