All Aboard PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 16 July 2005 16:00
I was up bright and early, well before dawn today. I suppose I am still on Eastern Time however it could also be because I am a little excited about our cruise to Alaska, which begins today. Rick and I borrowed Karley's car to pick Mary and Helen up at the airport when their flight arrived at 9:30 AM. Mary had made plans to go on a city tour but Helen was coming back to the house to see Karley, Ian and Makai. The weather here in Vancouver is gorgeous, with an expected high of 30C, sunny with zero humidity and a perfect day to start a cruise with.

We ventured to a new restaurant, Stella's, on The Drive for lunch while Mary toured the city and later we four "sailors" cabbed it over to the ship's terminal to go through the boarding process onto The Norwegian Sun, part of the Norwegian Cruise Line. After an orientation and safety drill on the sixth floor deck, we wandered around getting acquainted with what will be our "home" for the next seven days. This is our first cruise so we were a little overwhelmed with the enormity of the vessel but we made our way to the 11th and 12th level where the "Sail Away" celebration was taking place. There we found two large pools, four hot tubs, a driving range, batting cages, a shuffle board, a basketball court and a variety of bars and restaurants. On some of the other levels there is an Internet café, a shopping arcade, a well equipped gym, a casino, a library, jogging track, spa, chapel and a couple of nightclubs as well a kids club and medical centre. Crazy!!

I will be able to access the Internet daily while here and I will try to add as many pictures as possible, when I'm not partaking in one of many activities or exploring some of the ports. Hopefully, we will have great picture taking weather and we won't get seasick (though we do have wristbands that apparently will resolve the problem if we do.) Stay tuned!!