Saturday, September 23, 2023 was, apparently, the autumnal equinox, thus the first day of autumn or Astronomical fall. Meteorological fall, I am told, began back on September 1. For us, neither date carries as much significance as September 24 which is today and the 57th anniversary of September 24, 1966. Our wedding day. I know Gail will be proof reading this so if I got it wrong I may need a CARE flight home.
Since we left Ketchikan last evening we have made good time. This morning we emerged into the open ocean south of Haida Gwai. There has been a strong wind and moderate seas. I’m convinced there are pot holes in the ocean too and every so often we hit one and the ship shudders. Looking at the waves beside the ship I can see the foam caps on the waves being blown away as mist. It’s a pretty sight with the sun making the foam and mist almost glow. We move south between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland, most of which is mountains and fjords. The sea appears calmer as we get more shelter from the island. We will weave through an archipelago of smaller islands as we make our way south. Our scheduled arrival in Victoria is 09:00 Monday morning. We are hoping for a nice day ashore but the weather forecast has not been promising but the current forecast is now suggesting the rain will end during the morning.
I have not mentioned much about the Crown Princess, our ship for this voyage. She first sailed in June 2006 but had an extensive refurbishment in 2018. The design of the ship marks its age and telltale signs of her age can be seen in stateroom decor and an occasional bit of rust. She sails well regardless of weather conditions and provides passengers with a comfortable ride. Crown Princess, indeed no Princess ship carries entertainment such as waterslides or carnival rides. The exterior decks feature swimming pools and hot tubs. There is also a large movie screen outdoors which is extremely popular in tropical locations but less so with conditions this trip.
There are three large dining rooms in use for dinner meals but only one is operational for breakfast and lunch when the ship is in port. There is a large buffet area with three serving areas. two of them operate slightly different hours to accommodate changeovers from breakfast to lunch and lunch to dinner. There is a third serving area that seems to provide speciality items. One day it was the “Crab Shack” and today it is serving a huge array of desserts. There are numerous other areas serving food. A burger place, pizza place, Ice cream shop and a cafe serving a variety of sandwiches desserts and fruit. So far everything is included as part the fare for all passengers. Bars serving juice, soft drinks and alcohol are not included but can be purchased individually or in packaged offerings. A Gastro Pub, Steak House and Italian Restaurant are available for a fixed cover charge again, individually or as part of a package of offerings.
On to the staterooms. Many comedians on cruise ships focus part of their performance on staterooms and rightfully so. Staterooms come in several classifications; inside (no windows), ocean view (windows), balcony (windows that open), mini-suites and suites with various sub-classifications depending upon where they are on the ship. Much humorous focuses on the vacuum toilet systems which can be rather surprising if it’s a first experience. The reality on ships (and planes) is that extra weight costs passengers so big pipes are a no no. Thus a vacuum system that sucks human waste from your toilet at mach 1 (that is what it sounds like). Target two is the showers. Traditionally, inside, ocean view and balcony rooms have been equipped with shower stalls. The humour suggests that the only way to use them is to soap up the walls than cram your body in and rotate. It’s not quite that bad bud if you are taller or heavier than average, they will feel cramped. The third target is often water temperature or pressure. Most often water pressure is fine but occasionally not so. Temperature, on the other hand, can be challenging. Princess showers have two controls, one for water volume and the second for temperature. Sounds perfect. Not so much. On this ship turn it up to full volume then adjust the temperature. The temperature is too cool starting from the cold end until you reach 95% of the way to the hot setting at which the flow becomes lobster boiling temp. Now when the temperature knob is turned back to cold the temp stays sizzling until it gets 95% of the way to cold. Now you spend the next few minutes doing from too cold to too hot until you find the sweet spot. Having found it you might expect that turning the water off and leaving the temperature setting alone that tomorrow you would not need to re-adjust the temperature—and you would be wrong!
Ships today have health and beauty spas and gyms with exercise machines and various group classes as well as individual services offered. Trivia is a common entertainment targeting music, theatre, geography and history to name only a few topics. There is almost always karaoke sometimes competitive versions. Almost every bar provides a venue for musical entertainers. Typical complement is a ship’s orchestra of six or eight pieces, a “party” band of three or four, a couple of duos vocal and instrumental plus one or two solo musicians. These groups rotate through the numerous venues. There is usually a main theatre stage hosting guest musicians, comedians, Vegas style shows that includes a small song and dance troupe. Dance floors associated with the bars are becoming less and less common.
On this cruise we came across a lovely husband and wife duo performing as Plus 2. They appear to have adopted us and encourage us to dance. Tonight after a really good steak dinner at the Crown Grill we went to the Wheelhouse Bar to dance for an hour with Plus 2. They made too big a thing announcing our 57th anniversary but we smiled. We also allowed a couple of the ship’s photographers to take a few posed pictures of us. Tomorrow we will see if they are worth taking home.
I have only a few photos of the trip today which I well try to post with tomorrow’s collection.
Lawrence Block
Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else.