On the Cruise

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

We chose to return to De Dutch Pannekoken with the rest of the family because it was so good. Once in the area of the Sylvia Hotel we remembered again how much we liked it there. Nothing wrong with the Blue Horizon but he Sylvia just has charm! After breakfast we walked back along the waterfront until we reached our hotel. Packed up our stuff and took a cab to Canada Place where we stood in the monstrous line to board our ship. It was moving, though, so I think it only took about 45 minutes from start to finish, and we got thislovely embarkation photo too. We received our cruise cards (room key and charge card in one) and went to our cabin (nice balcony!) and unpacked. Once we were settled, we toured the ship and then had lunch. They made us put on hand sanitizer before they would even let us into the buffet, which I thought was a bit presumptuous (I know how to wash my hands after all) but by the end of the vacation we didn’t think anything of it. We also got the kids registered for kids club. We watched the ship pull away from the harbor and took lots of photos of the other ship also leaving (that a classmate of Genevieve’s was on). Bye bye Vancouver, we’re going to miss you! We had our compulsory mustering, and then we got dressed and went to the dining room for dinner. We had reserved the set time so every day we would eat at 6:00 at our table. Dinner was nice, and afterwards the kids and I went to the pool and then to bed.

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

This was a sea day, so we took our time getting up in the morning and missed the formal breakfast, which annoyed Mark but the buffet was just fine. After breakfast we dropped the kids off at the kids club and then went to go read. There was a naturalist presentation at 11:00 that Genevieve wanted to see so I had to go back to the kids’ club to get her (got lost) and then get her back to the theater (lost again) and then go get Charlotte (didn’t get lost) and go back again to the theater (lost again). Good Lord! Why Mark sends me to do these errands when I have the worst sense of direction I will never understand. The big surprise was at the naturalist presentation (which was pretty lousy) I ran into my old coworker! On our same cruise. What are the odds? After the presentation we had lunch and then the kids went back to kids’ club while Mark and I went to a wine tasting. Then I went to get them and go swimming. Love that pool! So bright in that room and it feels like you’re outside but it’s not cold. Then we got spruced up for our first formal dinner. Nice photo there too. After dinner Genevieve and I went to see they Hypnotist show with my coworker and her family. It was too funny. Love the hypnotist! And then to bed.