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Our room was quite nice, had a nice window and a small sitting area where you can relax and watch TV. Also a small couch on one side, a glass table in the center, and across the couch a TV and one chair and a footstool. It was quite comfortable.
There are three dining areas on the ship. We were assigned to the Terrace dining room, table 67 on the 9th floor, windows all around and we were at a table of eight. Five of us were from Leisure World and one a friend, Maxine, who lives in Long Beach, and a couple, Pete and Marie, who live near LW. Two men, Archie and Lee were LW residents. 6 pm is dinner time for the first seating, 8:30 for the second. We eat at 6 pm. Dinner consists of three or four courses and then desserts; all in all it takes about two hours.
We were scheduled to get to San Francisco the next evening, Wednesday at 5:30 pm, but while we were having dinner the captain announced on the PA that they had motor trouble and two of the four motors were down, and we would not get to SF until Thursday morning about 7:30 am. We were quite disappointed as we had wanted to do the town Wednesday evening.
We got to SF Thursday morning and about 12:30 we went on a three-hour tour of SF. It was quite interesting.
We left SF about 5:30 pm on schedule.
Friday the 30th.
All day at sea, scheduled to get to Astoria, Oregon at
9am Saturday. Nancy has a friend named Pat who lives in Portland that
she knew when she lived there, when she was about ten years old. They
have kept in touch all this time. About 20 years ago we were in the area
and we did stop in to see them. Friday we called her and told her to
check if our ship would get to Astoria on time, as she intended to drive
to Astoria from Portland, about a hundred miles, to get together with us.
About 7 pm Friday the captain announced that because they were still having engine trouble we would skip Astoria and get to Seattle early about 7:30 Sunday instead of noon so we would have more time in Seattle. But Nancy was real disappointed we did not stop in astoria and get together with her friend Pat. So Friday evening she phoned Pat from the ship and told her the bad news. Both were real disappointed.
Sunday, May 2.
Got to Seattle about 8 am. At 1 pm we went on a nice
three-hour tour of the city, very nice.
So now I am up to date. This is Monday, the third, 11:45 so it's time to go for lunch; more later I hope. Today we are at sea all day, will take it easy, read some, eat too much, food is good.
Tuesday May 4.
Today we got to Prince Rupert about 11 am, had to
anchor out about a quarter mile from shore and take a tender (lifeboat)
to the shore. We were not going to take a tour so we had lunch and about
1 pm we went on shore. The weather was not nice, quite cold and raining
a little. Because of the weather we soon went to a mall. It had quite a
few stores and shops. We were trying to find some place to get and send
email. Nancy went into an insurance office and asked the girl about
email, the girl who worked there went out and got the owner. He said he
had never had that request before. He was nice and turned on the
computer and brought up his server and turned it over to Nancy. She
checked and we had several letters from David and Donna. He said "Would
you like to have them printed?" We said "Sure." He turned on the
printer and printed the letters and Nancy sent a letter to David and
Donna. We went to the store and bought about five pounds of candy, took
the shuttle back to the dock, took the tender to the ship, and had our
usual evening.
May 5, Wednesday.
At sea all day. Most of the day between islands and
mainland, lots of snow on the hills. I took some video, quite a sight.
Tonite is formal dress and time for me to get dressed.
May 6, Thursday.
Today we are in Skagway, Alaska. This is our first
stop in Alaska and as far north as we will go. The hills are all covered
with snow, the temperature is only about 45, the sky is overcast. We
expect it will rain. We did not sign up for any tours and just intended
to go downtown for a while. As we walked downtown there were several
people offering tours for a lot less than those offered on the ship, so
we decided to take a tour in a van. Only six of us were on this which made
it quite nice. They took us around town including the gold rush
cemetery; then we started up the highway that goes over the divide to
White Horse. It rained some, the view was great. I took quite a bit of
video, then it started to hail, pea size, and soon it was snowing, quite
hard for a while. We went over the divide and crossed into Canada a short
distance, turned around and back down hill to town. Again the driver
showed us the town and then took us back to the ship. It was very
interesting including the weather.
We had lunch in the afternoon, the weather cleared up real nice, the sun
was out, no wind, I walked back into town. This was great. This evening
we leave about 8 pm for Juneau.
Friday, May 7.
Got to Juneau, Alaska about 8 am. The weather was
much as it was in Skagway yesterday morning, a little rain and quite
cool. Again we did not sign up for any tours today. About 9 am we
walked downtown, lots of shops, living off the tourists. The tourist
season is just starting. For the next three months there will be
hundreds of cruise ships stopping here for a day. We found a store to
get and send email, had a letter from David, sent several letters and
went back to the ship and had lunch . After lunch I went out again and I
took a tour to the Mendenhall glacier. We had been there before and
Nancy did not care to go again but I sort of felt that if you go an
Alaska cruise you should see a glacier.
Tonight we leave Juneau at 5 pm, get to Ketchikan about noon tomorrow.
Nancy says turkey is on the menu for tonight. We always have about 5
choices. I get chicken often, a steak or fish once in a while.
Saturday. May 8.
Ketchikan. Weather the same, about every morning,
quite cool, some rain and wind, later in the day the sun would come out
for a while and then again overcast and sprinkle. About 9 am we got off
the ship, right downtown, there were several people offering tours. We
signed up for a 2 and a half hour tour. It was quite interesting. We
went to Totem Bright Park. There were lots of totem poles in the Tongass
National Park. There was a museum, also a building (replica) of the
winter lodge (clan house) which would be built in the fall by and for a
group of the natives. I took quite a bit of video here also. We saw
two men working on totem poles. They makes poles to order and ship them
all over.
This is our last stop. Tonite even though we will still be on the ship all day tomorrow, will be a sort of farewell dinner. We'll have special things on the menu and baked Alaska for dessert. It was quite spectacular.
Tomorrow at sea. Monday morning Vancouver, Canada, and we'll take a bus to Seattle and fly by United Airlines to LA. Should get there about 5:30 pm. We expect David to be there to take us home.
Got to LA on time, David was waiting for us, and brought us home.