Review of the Star repositioning cruise -- part 3

[ute_fan]

Tuesday morning we pulled into Astoria. We headed into the Columbia River about 6:30 AM, and were greeted with a beautiful lighthouse and gorgeous sunrise. That's why I can't stay up late at night -- I can't bear the thought of sleeping through the sights as we're pulling into port in the morning.

We'd arranged to rent a car in Astoria, and were planning on driving as far down the Oregon coast as we felt we possibly could. Unfortunately, by the time we went through the US immigration process, it was almost 9:30 before we got off the ship. We'd arranged to rent a car through the local Toyota dealership (Lum's) -- the regular rental car places have a very limited selection, and were overbooked by the time we decided what we wanted to do. Lum's picked us up in their shuttle, and took us to Warrenton where they had the two cars we'd reserved all ready for us. Since we had to be back on the ship by 3:30 for a 4 PM departure, we decided we didn't dare drive any further than Cannon Beach.

We stopped at Seaside on the way, and walked out onto the beach. Unfortunately, being from Utah, I'd forgotten how fast a wave could come in, and managed to get my shoes and pants soaked when a wave came much further up the beach than we'd expected. I'm still seeing salt crystals in the innersoles of my Danskos... We'd never been to the Oregon coast before, and were glad that we'd made the decision as the surrounding countryside was beautiful.

We then headed to Cannon Beach, and finally located a place to park and take pictures of Haystack Rock. I'm already planning a land vacation back to the Oregon Coast so that we'll have more time to spend driving the coastline.

We reluctantly headed back north after leaving Cannon Beach, and my DS and BIL headed for some of the historical sites. We decided to drive across the Astoria bridge instead, and found more beautiful scenery from that side of the river. We drove around the town of Astoria just a little bit, but decided we'd like to get back to the ship to eat lunch. We managed to get back just as the buffet was closing, and grabbed a quick bite to eat.

That night we decided to eat a bit later, as our lunch was so late, and there was a special showing of a Chinese Acrobat company in the Spinnaker lounge at 6:45. All 6 of us attended, but the setting of the Spinnaker Lounge didn't do the acrobats justice, as many of the seats had obscured vision. The regular show that night was a comedienne, but none of us felt like attending, so I have no idea how the show was.

Unlike our experience on the Dawn last year, where there was always a line at the main dining rooms, we were able to be seated almost immediately when we entered Aqua at 7:30. We spotted the Maitre'd, who looked familiar, and when he came by, we talked to him for a while and discovered that he'd been on the Pearl when we sailed to Alaska in 2007. It's always fun to see familiar faces among the crew members!

My DH and I managed to stay up a bit later that night, playing cards with DS and BIL, since the next day was a sea day and we didn't have to get up so early.

Wednesday morning dawned, but without my sunrise. It was very cloudy and remained cloudy and overcast all day long. Our meet and greet was scheduled for 11:30 AM in two of the conference rooms on the ship. Several of the ship's crew were in attendance, including Ray Carr, the cruise director, and several of the housekeeping/food & beverage officers. Ray cheerfully introduced them and they spent several minutes answering questions for us. We had a good turnout from the posters who had signed up, and enjoyed the opportunity to get better acquainted with several of them. We then had a gift raffle and I ended up with some lovely treats from Hawaii!

Our friend's brother and his family had traveled to Alaska on the Star about a month earlier, and came back raving about the Blue Lagoon, so our friends had been anxious to try it out. I can see why people enjoy eating there so much. The fish and chips were delicious, and we were able to stop at the buffet first to enjoy the lunchtime chilled soup selection.

Wednesday night was "dress up or not" night, so we threw on our slightly fancier clothes, and returned to Versailles for dinner. Dinner choices include Beef Wellington and the Lobster/Grouper extravaganza. I didn't feel like either of them, but the rest of our party enjoyed the lobster and I was satisfied with my "always available" steak.

[MT_DreamChaser]

Wow. It sounds like we were on the same cruise
I agree with the getting up early part. I was up about 1 1/2 hours before the rest of our group and loved watching us come in to Astoria. It was a gorgeous morning and I'd have enjoyed even more if I knew what the next several days were going to look like.

[ute_fan]

Originally Posted by MT_DreamChaser

Wow. It sounds like we were on the same cruise
I agree with the getting up early part. I was up about 1 1/2 hours before the rest of our group and loved watching us come in to Astoria. It was a gorgeous morning and I'd have enjoyed even more if I knew what the next several days were going to look like.

We saw the Pearl following our route closely. I probably would have booked that cruise if it had the same 6 day itinerary -- but didn't want to give up that extra day at sea. When did your cruise depart, and which port did you miss? Victoria??

Those next few days weren't great weather, were they?

[MT_DreamChaser]

We left Vancouver on Monday. We didn't do Victoria. I looked closely at booking the Star but since it was the one and only ship I'd been on, I wanted to see another ship. They are so alike though that it didn't make much difference I now wish we'd gone w/ the 6 days but loved every minute of the 5 we had. Well . . . except for those rocky nights. I feel for your friend. I didn't get sick to my stomach but every evening when it started swaying, it gave me a horrendous headache. Good thing it didn't start until later in the evening because by then I was about done for anyway

[ute_fan]

We'd been on the Pearl before, and even though we loved the ship, the additional day convinced us to try the Star. I hadn't realized how much similarity there was between the Dawn, the Star, and the Pearl/Jewel until we sailed on all of them.

For some reason I was expecting more difference between the Star and the Dawn, but other than restaurant names, they're very similar.

[WinnieinWA]

Thanks for your review. I'm on the Star in 2 weeks and am really looking forward to it.

[NW Pacific]

So glad you enjoyed Astoria, you indeed were here on an exceptional weather day, please come back, there is much more to see.

[ute_fan]

Originally Posted by NW Pacific

So glad you enjoyed Astoria, you indeed were here on an exceptional weather day, please come back, there is much more to see.

We're definitely planning on it -- and the weather was gorgeous! Our son has been living in the Tacoma area for the past fifteen months, and I realize that we really lucked with the weather in Victoria and Astoria.