So, it’s the big day. Today we depart to Alaska and all in our travel group were up early and doing final preparation with the normal excitement of departing on a cruise. Breakfast was quick and easy – there were some scones from the market yesterday and a quick trip through the Starbucks next door gave us sustenance for the morning. Bonus – we got to use Starbucks gift cards (which I continually forget to use), so breakfast was essentially free!
Again, we can’t say enough nice about the Pan Pacific hotel. They would pick up the luggage from our room and see that it got to our cabin in the ship without us having to touch it again – all for a “recommended” tip of $3.00 - $5.00 per bag! We called the number (obviously, they were used to this process) and 10 minutes later someone was there to take care of it as well as give us detailed directions as to where we were to go.
Our group met up in the lobby and we made our way down the hall to the cruise port (again, so much easier than other places where you must get a cab / shuttle from the hotel to the port). Typical check-in things – show your passport, boarding pass, get your picture taken, then get herded into a very large room with uncomfortable chairs until you are moved onto the ship).
One difference is that the Canadian version of TSA – indeed, every person we encountered in Vancouver, from wait staff in restaurants, shopkeepers, and TSA agents – were not only polite but were genuinely friendly, taking the time to engage in a chat if the opportunity presented itself. Although they have the typical big-city issues of homelessness, substance abuse epidemics, labor issues, etc., they seemed to have a better handle on them than we do in the US.
Oh, and the other thing – lots of people brought up whether we feel safe in the US with all of the mass shootings. This is the perception of the US in the civilized world – we risk being shot by lunatics going to the grocery store for a gallon of milk.
Back to our adventure – we were on board and enjoying cocktails and the lunch buffet by 11:30 in the morning, and our luggage was in the hall by the cabin by the time we finished lunch.
The Millennium is the sister ship to the Infinity (from our earlier trip this year to Antarctica), which has made it easy to navigate since we already learned it. The layout is virtually identical, so there’s no learning curve to figure out where we are or where we are going.
The one difference is that the cabins have been updated and they feel much, MUCH larger than they did before, even though the square footage is the same. Furniture is more compact (so you aren’t as likely to lose a toe to the corners) and it is more efficiently designed. The cubbies and drawers are more efficient, so unpacking is easier.
Our cabin has a king bed and a couchette – something akin to a very small love seat – which we suspect folds into a twin bed.
The afternoon was spent exploring the ship. Although we knew the layout, the other three in our group were novices and needed orientation. There are a lot of bars to find onboard!
We opted for dinner in the main dining room but while we were eating the earth seemed to have entered a counter-rotation because the mountains that should have been off one side of the ship were moving around to the other.
It turns out that someone left the coffee pot on, so we had to go back to Vancouver and unplug it before the city burned down.
OK, that wasn’t it – a passenger had some kind of medical emergency and had to be returned to port. Fortunately, there wasn’t any delay or change of schedule. They just rowed a little faster during the night when we were asleep to catch us up.
After dinner we wandered around a bit and opted for the comedy show in the main theater (AJ Jamal the Comedian – he was excellent) and then off to bed about 11:00 (which, to our North Carolina brains, felt like 1:00 a.m.)
One of our first observations about traveling this time around is the dependence of EVERYONE on their electronic devices. Wifi on board, while expensive, is extremely reliable. It was somewhat sketchy in February when we went south, but that may also have been due to the fact that they were trying to grab onto satellites while we were in much rougher seas.
The cruise line helps promote this electronic addiction. Rather than announcements and paper notices (which is much abbreviated from prior cruises), you are encouraged to log on to the Celebrity App, which works on board whether you purchase the Wifi package or not. It’s got a chat function that allows you to talk with your friends (old and new) on board, keeps track of appointments and excursions, and allows you to track your account (although we have no idea why anyone would want to risk that!)
Otherwise, and this may be a function of the fact that we are cruising so close to shore rather than out in the open ocean like on prior trips, cell phones seem to work just as if we were still in Hickory. Calls wanting to discuss renewing our car warranties get right through without delay.
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