Now that we are back home and once again dealing with exciting things like housework and laundry (although I spent a lot of time on our vacation stressing over what to do with the mounting piles of unwashed clothes! It just never ends...), I thought I would spare you having to read about it - at least for another day...
Sunday, June 26, 2005 – 3:31 p.m.
I’m drafting this post in Word because I have not yet decided whether or not it will be worth it to purchase the Internet package on the ship. This means that there should be fewer typos here, as I won’t be writing it on the fly in Typepad, as is my usual practice. It may even turn out to be a decent post. It’s hard to tell – I made the mistake of ordering wine at lunch, and that tends to make me a little woozy. So I went down to the cappuccino bar and had a latte. So much for my vow to spend as little money as possible on beverages. (Food on the cruise is included, as are regular coffee, tea and milk. All other drinks cost extra.)
Our taxi brought us to the pier at Vancouver’s Canada Place around 11:30 a.m. We had read on CruiseCritic.com that it was a good idea to check in early for our 5:45 p.m. sailing, so that we could take care of all the paperwork, etc. before the crowds and still have the day to do a little sightseeing. (I’ve spent a lot of time on the forums there over the last few weeks – as this is our first cruise and we didn’t know what to expect.)
That advice might work in other ports, but from what we saw here in Vancouver, getting off the ship once on board would be difficult. Besides, the minute you step onto the ship (entering what looks just like a hotel lobby), they shove a glass of champagne in your hand - so why bother? (Champagne is my sister's favorite tipple, so of course we called her to find out what was taking her so long to meet us here. Apparently, arriving by cab is a lot easier, as the rest of our party had to park several blocks away and be shuttled over before going through all the customs lines to board.)
My parents booked us on Celebrity Cruise Line’s ship, the Infinity. This is a 90,000 ton floating hotel, holding close to 2,000 passengers plus an estimated 1,000 crew members. We’re all on the seventh floor – er, deck (out of 12): us, my parents, sister and brother-in-law and their kids (the two teens have a cabin of their own). Our tiny cabin (Vista deck, #7095) was not as suffocating as we thought it would be. The ship's designers have done an amazing job of creating storage space (even in the tiny bathroom), and the floor to ceiling sliding glass door that leads to our balcony makes it seem downright spacious.
Linda and Mark, my parents and the kids had still not arrived by the time we'd settled into our cabin, so we bided our time by exploring Infinity. We walked up and down the stairs to all twelve decks, located the ShipMates FunFactory, where Megan and Maddy were planning to have some fun, as well as the AquaSpa, where I purchased a day pass to try out the service they call the Persian Gardens. This is a kind of aromatherapy shower/steam/sauna area that you costs $100 for unlimited use during your cruise. A day pass (which can be upgraded to the full cruise) is just $20. This is about the only spa service I can afford, so I decided to give it a try.
The rest of our party finally arrived and we headed up to the Oceanview Cafe, where we enjoyed a cafeteria-style lunch and got a taste of the kind of service we will be appreciating for the next seven days: the waiters would not allow me to carry my own tray to our table. Other waiters came by offering us the Drink of the Day, a Bon Voyage Cocktail with souvenir glass, which Gareth accepted before he realized that it was not free. I stayed true to my diet and ordered a glass of chardonnay – even though I knew we’d have to pay for it (in more ways than one).
In two hours, all passengers must participate in a mandatory safety drill – after which, we set sail for Alaska (and presumably attend the “Bon Voyage Sail Away” party up on the pool deck. Linda just called - we're going to start the party early up at the pool bar.
We’ve been anticipating this trip for a very long time. I think it’s going to be fun.
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