Our 2008 Return to the Pearl - May 11, 2008 (Victoria and Home)

[Cruisin' Nana]

SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2008, VICTORIA

 

 

We love to keep the balcony door open and have the sound of the water lull us to sleep. The cool, crisp air, the cozy duvet, and the sound of the water make it very difficult to drag out of bed in the morning. We had to turn our clocks forward an hour during the night, and it was 8:30 before we could muster the energy to get up and get out for breakfast at the Summer Palace. The skies were almost completely clear of clouds, and it was a beautiful sunny day. The temperature was in the mid-50s. We spent most of the morning in the cabin working on updates to this journal. This turned out to be a bigger production than I had realized.

 

We ate lunch at the Blue Lagoon and stopped afterwards at the shops to ask the jeweler to attach the charms I bought in Skagway to my charm bracelet. That took maybe 5 minutes, then we meandered around the ship for a while. We tried going into the Spinnaker Lounge to watch our progress, but a private party had it booked. This was the second time this happened during our week on the ship. Just my humble opinion, but I feel that private parties should be held in venues that are closed, such as Le Bistro or other restaurants that aren’t being used to serve a meal, instead of public places that are supposed to be available 24 hours for use by anyone. We spent the rest of the afternoon getting our bags packed and ready to put in the passageway by our doors for the 2:00 a.m. pick-up. They are delivered to the terminal where we get them after our arrival in Seattle on Sunday.

 

We arrived in Victoria an hour early, but had to wait for the Princess ship to dock before we could. Due to a slight delay in clearing customs, we were roughly a ½ hour late leaving the ship for our excursion in Victoria. “Victoria Highlights” is an excursion we do not recommend because, frankly, it is boring. We felt as if we were being driven around by a real estate agent showing us properties. We rode through downtown and the bus driver pointed out a few places of interest, then we went up to Mt. Tolmie where we stood around watching the tour buses fight for space. Then we rode through some neighborhoods, by several golf courses, and then back to the ship. Of course, because we left late on our excursion, we were a few minutes late getting to our 9:00 reservation at Mambos, but they held the table for us. We had the chicken quesadillas, tortilla soup, beef burrito, and I had the vanilla ice cream covered with chocolate sauce and almonds. I love their pico de gallo!!!

 

After stuffing ourselves, we waddled around the deck to enjoy a beautiful warm night with a cool breeze off the water. Victoria is a very beautiful quaint city and port. When we finally made our way back to our room around 11:30, we got ready for bed and put our bags in the hallway for pick-up.

 

SUNDAY, MAY 18, 2008, SEATTLE AND HOME

 

 

We woke to the sound of the ship docking in Seattle around 6:00 a.m. It was a beautiful sunny day with temps in the 70’s. We could see Mt. Rainier in the distance. We went to the Summer Palace for breakfast, but waffles and omelets were not on the menu this morning! Only quick to fix items to send us on our way home. After we ate, we went back to the cabin to sit on our balcony and watch the boat traffic in the Sound. Apparently, disembarkation went very smoothly, because we were scheduled to disembark at 9:00 (signified by the colored tag we were assigned), but our color was called around 8:40 instead. We were off the ship and through customs by 9:00.

 

This is when the long process for picking up the rental car through Thrifty at the pier began. Thrifty has a desk in the Pier 66 terminal to process the rental paperwork. Then, we had to wait about 30 minutes for a shuttle to pick us up and take us to Pier 48 where the cars are kept. At Pier 48, it was another 30 minutes just to pick up the key to the car. There were only two clerks working, and they must have been new and didn’t know the system.

 

We drove around West Seattle for a while and then ate lunch. We headed to the airport to turn in the rental car a few hours later. Turning the car in at the SeaTac lot took all of 5 minutes and the shuttle got us to the Continental terminal in another 10 minutes. The service at the airport far exceeds the service at the pier. Having the new arrangement at the pier probably still has a lot of bugs to be worked out.

 

Our flight back to Houston did not leave until 5:38 p.m. It was a little turbulent but we made it and walked into our house at 1:00 a.m. After we walked into the big welcome home we received from our 3 dogs, we went directly to bed and to sleep.

 

I’m sure I have left out many details in the interest of time and space, but I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

[retiredAF]

Sounds like you really enjoyed your trip and I appreciate you taking the time to post such a detailed review.

[Sooners]

Welcome home Pat!!! I enjoyed reading your detailed review. It took me back to last year when we sailed together!:D

[buggins0402]

Great detailed review - we were on her as well last week. Even with the nasty weather the first few days everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

[Sooners]

Any news on 2.0?

[brunolvr]

Haven't had a chance to read your entire review yet (time to fix dinner) but I must know--did they have the chilled fruit soups available?

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us!:)

[electricron]

I enjoyed your review.

[HappiestWhenCruising]

This was a well written review. I felt I was along with you on your cruise!

I am also very happy to hear that you were staying in one of the cabins that we will be in in July. We have an aft on the 9th floor. No one else has commented on this room before (that I have seen). So my question is about how much room you had on your balcony vs. the one above or below you. I read from several other posters that the 9th floor aft balconys seem to be smaller. Can you respond to this? Also, we will be needing to use the sofa bed for my daughter. Was the room big enough for this, or would you think that leaving the sofa open to a bed is going to make it hard to get out to the balcony? Its a shame you had to put up with ashes everywhere. Isn't that what ashtrays are supposed to be for? Maybe they used them, but it was just windy. Ok, last question, did you ever see any porpoises swimming in the wake of the ship or any whales from the back. Sorry, I thought of one more. How was viewing the glaciers back there. Sorry if you reported on this in another post. I didn't think I read anything about it, yet. In other words, could you view the glaciers ok from back there, or did you feel you needed to go up top?

Thanks in advance. Just an overanxious traveller here!

[Travel Lover]

Wow Pat,

I loved reading all your reviews.... I cannot believe the details you put into it. It must have taken you a long time !!!

Was it just the two of you this go around?

It sounds like you missed us all :-)

 

Sounds wonderful.

[WannaCruise08]

Thanks for all your wonderful detailed review! You are such a dear to share so much with us--it is really really helpful. Glad you had a great time!

 

:)

[Cruisin' Nana]

I am so glad y'all enjoyed my review. As I told my last year cruising buddies, after reading it again, I felt like we were the most boring people in the world! :o

 

Jeff, did not hear anything about 2.0. When we first walked up to get our key cards, they asked us if we were in a balcony or mini-suite and when we said yes, they directed us to a shorter line. I was hoping this was a good sign. But there were no plush robes in the room and we did not have special treatment for making restaurant reservations. Hope they get it in place for you this week!!

 

Chilled soups are on the menu. The only one I had was the pumpkin soup and it was good.

 

Chief (Cruisin' Lawdog) and I were the only ones on this trip, so we had plenty of room in the balcony cabin. Last year, we had our 15-year-old grandson with us in a balcony cabin and when the sofa bed is extended, it is quite crowded with little room to get to the balcony. However, it's only a week and we made the best of it. The sofa bed is only extended at night. When the stewards come in to turn down the beds, they open it and make it up. Then in the morning when they come in to make up the room, they close it up again.

 

I think all balcony rooms have the same size balcony and it is not huge, but I think you will find you have sufficient room. Of course, if it is rainy and windy, the balcony is of little use. The balconies on the mini-suites are definitely bigger because the room is wider.

 

We actually felt we needed to go to the upper decks to watch the glaciers. The ship slowly "inch-by-inch" turned from port (left) to starboard (right) counter-clockwise so the back of the ship did not stay in front of the glaciers for an extended period of time.

 

The only time it was windy on our balcony was when the wind was blowing from behind the ship which was very rare.

 

I was very disappointed that we did not see any dall porpoise. I don't know if they were seen by anyone else or not. The very few times whales were spotted we were not in our cabin, so we did not see them from there.

 

Hi Sandy, we DID miss all y'all! It was kind of lonely on the ship without you! We didn't even go bowling - especially after the horrible score I had last year when the ship was barely rolling!

[reedski'scruise]

Hey Sandy,

they did have the chilled fruit soups! They were good.:)

Bobbie

[brunolvr]

Hey Sandy' date='

they did have the chilled fruit soups! They were good.:)

Bobbie[/quote']

 

Great! Thanks, Bobbie! Can't wait to enjoy them once again!

[judyf]

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

 

I really enjoying reading it.