Pacific Coast Cruise 9-26-15 Los Angeles

It's always a sad day when you wake up and realize you have to hurry up, eat breakfast and then wait for your number to be called and leave the ship not to return. And it was hot and muggy in Los Angeles when we got off the Jewel of the Seas  (totally stole this picture from Melissa!).

We had to wait about an hour before the ExecuCar arrived and it was a quick ride to the airport.

Speaking of airport, the Los Angeles International Airport Terminal 6 is under construction and there is very few places to sit at the gates. It was pathetic. And what was worse was there were only two places to eat. We ordered 2 cheeseburgers, that came with fries, and 2 bottles of water, and it was $35. HIGHWAY ROBBERY. They should be ashamed of themselves. SeaTac isn't allowed to charge any more than what's charged at restaurants/fast food restaurants outside the airport. They should all be that way.

We had a "hot dogger" pilot! We made it to Seattle 30 minutes early and then after we landed he hauled without hardly slowing down across all the airstrips and came blazing into our gate. It was quite funny!

We picked up a rental car to drive to Bellingham, dropped off Tracy, picked up our car, drove back to SeaTac to drop off the rental car, then drove home to Sunland. Boy it was a long day. We got home a little before 12:30 a.m.

Pacific Coast Cruise 9-25-15 Santa Barbara

Since there wasn't a lot going on in this town, I decided not to get off the ship. It was a tender port and there were 13 ticket numbers called before all others were able to go ashore.

Jim went ashore while us girls hung out at Cafe-Lattitudes for awhile. While we were there a baby humpback came by to entertain us. It was hard to get good pictures/video since the sun was in our eyes. In the 5 minutes of video I took, this is only the best breach I got!

After lunch, I spent the afternoon in the cabin packing and reading until time to head to The Vortex for one last get together with Audrey & Sam! They are staying on the ship for a b2b.

We will definitely miss these two young men! Who will serve me dinner every night? Then who will take their little tool and scrape all the bread crumbs off the table before bringing dessert? Valento, on the left, the assistant waiter; Meckinson, on the right, the head waiter.

We remembered that as Diamond C&A status we got free photos so after dinner we found our pictures. Tracy got the one of her & Melissa, I got the one of Jim & I, and Jim got the one taken of the 5 of us when we boarded the ship on day 1.

We got our suitcases out into the hall before we went to bed so they could be picked up and delivered off the ship in the morning.  :(

Pacific Coast Cruise 9-24-15 Monterey

The first thing I heard when I opened my balcony door this morning was sea lion barking! And since this was a tender port, we weren't even close to where they were sunning themselves!

Jim & I went ashore after breakfast. This is where Cannery Row is, one of his favorite movies! It was about a half hour walk from the port where we were dropped off. We walked the Row, took some pictures, walked back to the port, and returned to the ship. It was warm and muggy.

It was pretty quiet at the pool this afternoon. Those big dark windows at the are The Vortex - where we go for drinks before dinner.

After lunch and a shower, I spent the afternoon in the cabin before meeting up with Audrey, Sam & Tracy in The Vortex for drinks before dinner. We have such fun watching the Coast Guard keep all the little boats away from our ship! The guy standing in front of that little orange boat with his hands on the big gun is very intimidating I'm sure when it's coming full speed at you!

After dinner we went to the shops since we had $29 left of OBC to spend. I bought a lime green small Guess purse which took me over by $35.

We had another towel animal tonight:

Pacific Coast Cruise 9-23-15 San Francisco, Day 2

We've never stayed overnight on a ship docked before so there was no rockin' or rollin' but apparently I still slept pretty good since I don't remember waking up until this morning.

After coffee and breakfast, Jim & I walked off the ship and headed down the wharf again towards Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square and a big half circle pier to get a good photo op of Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. It was warm enough that we didn't need sweatshirts today. 

And finally, how could I pass up this photo op? After all, it's Marshawn Lynch! When the guys in the store saw Tracy taking my picture they stared laughing and tried to shoo us away. After she took my picture, I informed the guys that we had Kam Chancellor back today and they told me I had ruined their entire day!

The guys in the cruise terminal teased me too about being a Seahawk fan. They weren't so happy after I gave them the news about Kam being back!

We met up with Audrey & Sam in The Vortex before dinner again. I was able to get a few pictures as we went under the Golden Gate Bridge. I didn't get any picures but the Coast Guard had two armed boats escorting out of San Francisco. We have no idea why.

You can't see them but there were people up on the bridge waving as we passed underneath! 

Once we got out into open water, we were fortunate enough to watch whales breaching. It was quite unexpected! Then right as we were leaving for dinner, a school of porpoises swam by! What an evening! And to top it off, Audrey introduced us to a new drink: caparushka (spelling?). Muddled lime in simple syrup with vodka over ice. My of my is it good!

It was an early evening again after dinner. We had a towel animal, which we never could figure out what it was!

Pacific Coast Cruise 9-22-15 San Francisco, Day 1

We had a wake up call for 5:50 to make sure we were up to see the ship going under the Golden Gate Bridge. Needless to say, we barely made it and only saw it from inside. The ship made it to San Francisco quicker than the Captain said it would!

After breakfast in the Diamond Lounge dining room, Jim & I walked down the waterfront to Pier 39 and farther. We weren't interested in taking the HoHo bus since we've been all over San Francisco with our son & d-i-l when they lived down here.

Alcatraz:

 The sea lions are a noisy bunch:

 #24 Seattle Seahawks Marshawn Lynch is known as "Beast Mode". Not surprised to see this for sale since he's from across the bay in Oakland:

Jim & I went to the Vortex for drinks before dinner. I thought I saw friends we met on our trans Atlantic on the Legend of the Seas in April 2014 (Audrey & Sam) but only saw her, couldn't see him, so couldn't be sure. Jim walked over and couldn't tell. We called Tracy to come join us and I pointed the lady out to Tracy and she said no it wasn't her. I was almost positive it was Audrey but since they had convinced me it wasn't, I gave up UNTIL they got up to leave and lo and behold it was Audrey & Sam! We didn't have time to visit since it was time to head down to dinner but arranged to meet tomorrow night before dinner! We're so glad to finally run into them. We did an excursion in Ponta Delgada, Portugal with them and had the best day! The only people missing were Valerie & Ian.

We had another good dinner in the dining room. Meckinson is such a great waiter - he's made it fun going to the dining room. Plus the food has been so good. We found out he's 35, married and has an 18 month old son. He talks to his wife every day and has worked for RCI 11 years. He's on a 7 month contract and will get 3 months off when he goes home in January. 

Pacific Coast Cruise 9-20-15 Astoria, Oregon

This early to bed is becoming a habit - I haven't decided if it's good or bad though! I woke in the night and this ship was rockin' and rollin'! I wondered if we'd be able to get in through the Columbia River bar to port in Astoria.

When I opened the curtains this morning the first thing I saw was the pilot boat pulling up to our ship so I knew we'd make it in through the bar!

We had to clear Customs before we could leave the ship.

After that we took the bus into town and went to the Columbia Maritime Museum.

Jim really enjoyed it. He's watched many documentaries on TV about this bar and it was fun for him to visit this museum and see the history.

Me, I enjoyed the Astoria Sunday Market! There were lots of craftsmen selling their wares (of course I had to buy kettle corn,  candied almonds and homemade peanutbutter cups)!

One of my favorite things I saw:

I want Jim to make me at least four of these next spring although I can decide which style back I like!

We went to the Vortex for Diamond C&A drinks before dinner.

We are really enjoying our waiter in the dining room, Meklinson:

After dinner, we booked a "Next Cruise" for 2017. We're looking at an east coast trip from New York up to Canada and Nova Scotia and Newfoundland (or something like that)!

We were sad, but not surprised, that the Seahawks lost to the Packers tonight.

Pacific Coast Cruise 9-21-15 Sea Day

We only have one sea day this cruise. Before we headed down to breakfast in the Windjammer, we made up a bag full of dirty laundry. Don't want to go home with a suitcase full of dirty clothes, only half full of dirty clothes!

I sat on Deck 5 (Cafe-Lattitudes) and worked on my Seahawks quilt most of the morning until it was time to head to lunch in the dining room. We've been enjoying the dining room for most of our meals this cruise - surprise, surprise!

As we've been traveling south we've been able to see land. We're only 28 miles off shore. We had a very quiet afternoon (Jim napped and I read). I don't think I left the cabin until it was time for dinner at 6:45.

As we pulled away from Astoria, everyone was at the railing taking pictures. Here's Tracy & Melissa at their railing (Tracy's waving):

After dinner we went to the show - David Aiken, comedien/juggler. Not only was he a good juggler, he was hilarious! He's been working for Royal Caribbean for 30 years. We were sure glad we went!

We received another towel animal tonight:

Pacific Coast Cruise 9-19-15 Victoria, B.C.

We had an early night last night after a long, exciting day boarding the ship and leaving Vancouver. I woke during the night to perfect quiet. The ship wasn't running and we must have just been floating out in international waters since it's probably only an hour travel time to Victoria!

We had a lazy morning until time to leave the ship. Rebecca and Andreas were picking us up at 11:30 to go to lunch. We went to a bar called The Snub in a fancy hotel - Oak Bay. This was our view:

After lunch, we went to their house and picked up Allie Jane and Kitty and took them for a long walk in an off-leash dog park. I really wouldn't call this place a park. It was more like woods with walking paths all through it and it surrounds a lake. It's huge. 

Here's Allie Jane (she's a Great Dane):

Here's Kitty (she's half Great Dane half Bull Mastiff): Kitty isn't as tall as Allie but she's thicker in the body.

After we took the dogs home, we stopped for a cocktail before heading back to the ship. We had a fun day with Rebecca and Andreas!

We had another early night after dinner in the Windjammer. This cruising is hard work! 

We had a towel animal tonight:

Pacific Coast Cruise 9-18-15 Boarding Day

I woke up at 12:38, after going to bed shortly after 8:00 last night, thinking I'd slept all night. Oops, guess I'd just slept really hard! I didn't think I'd be able to go back to sleep but I woke up again about 6:30.

The shuttle picked us up shortly before 10:00 and we were at the cruise terminal by a little after 10:30. We only had about a 5 minute wait to check in and then we were able to board the ship immediately. We headed for Cafe-Lattitudes  so the girls could get a coffee.

We had lunch outside the Windjammer in the back. It was a bit cool and rainy but we were under cover so it was okay.

Our Muster station was in Portofinos restaurant. We've never had Muster where we'very been inside much less got to sit at tables!

We watched sailaway from behind the Windjammer and waited outside long enough to go under Vancouver's big bridge.

We headed to the Sky Bar for drinks afterwards.

Then it was My Time Dining in the dining room for dinner at 6:30. It turned out to be very good. Jim ended up having 3 desserts! 

Pacific Coast Cruise 9-17-15 Travel Day

We drove to Tracy's yesterday over Highway 2 (Steven's Pass). There was hardly any traffic and once we got to I-5 past Everett the rush hour traffic was over. What a nice way to go to Bellingham.

This morning we had breakfast at IHOP before Tracy & I got pedicures. Instead of calling a taxi, we had a Town Car pick us up and take us to the airport. Quick Shuttle Bus Service picked us up at 1:00 and by the time we got through Customs and made one other stop, we got off at River Rock Casino which is about a half mile from Hampton Inn Vancouver-Airport so we just walked over. Melissa and Brenda got in from California about an hour after we got here. Fortunately there is a Burger King across the street so we didn't have to go far for dinner!

We don't have much of a view tonight since we're in an industrial area around the airport.