Seattle is waking up slowly. I have my coffee, T is still asleep… Sea gulls calling outside… the occasional ships horn. You know you are near the water.
Tina is up by 9:00… we go downstairs for breakfast then take a last walk up to Pikes Market…
Back to the hotel, get our luggage, check out, and grab a taxi for the pier… There is a long line of mostly taxis trying to get onto the pier… unload, and confusion abounds… Its not clear where to line up or where to take and drop your luggage. We drop our bag, pass through security to find no lines… check in, on to the waiting area… after a short wait they open the doors and you board… not nearly as structured as previous sailings on other lines…
On board we immediately go downstairs to the pursers desk to register for the “grand tour” a several hour ships tour that Princess has just started offering… There is a rumor that the first person on the list gets on, all others are subject to a lottery… Strangely, they first say they don’t do it on this ship and never have (but we understand they did it on the recent Mexican itinerary??), then maybe, come back later, then, yes we will on the 15th, but we don’t have a sign up sheet yet… They take our names then tell us where to write the letter with comments???? I think the pursers office has been taking customer service tips from United Airlines…
Up to the room, then after a phone call back downstairs to sign the tour list (our names are on the list, but we still have to sign… and we are not the first name… but were first to ask to be on the list.. we argue… get frustrated then abandon hope and head upstairs to find some food and to explore.
Back downstairs to the room… one of our bags has arrived… we unpack then sit on the balcony and watch the confusion below as the masses arrive… To be fair it’s on of the first cruises of the season, but it is clear that the employees don’t have full control of the situation. On the other hand, everyone (except customer service) is friendly… They are not unfriendly, just not helpful (what a concept... the unhelpful folks are the designated customer service professionals)
Down for the life boat drill, back upstairs to leave the “personal flotation devices” then up to where several groups are meeting for sail away… A beer, a glass of wine, the ship pushes off, away we go… watch the scenery, talk to friends, stop at the cabin before dinner… the last bag has arrived…
Then down to dinner…
Afterwords we check the promenade deck, and it happens, we find the highlight of our cruise (it seems strange to know absolutely that you have seen the highlight of your cruise the first evening, but I did… Off the port stern, a ship appeared out of the fog in broadside… It was a Burke Class US Navy destroyer… At 8 miles or so I couldn’t identify the specific ship, but I had intelligence… There was a specific US Navy destroyer active nearby, doing lazy circles while the crew was inspected… It was DDG 86, the Shoup, the ship our son is on… No, we didn’t see him… he would have been below decks… but for a moment we could see his ship and know he was nearby.
Back to the cabin to grab the binoculars and camera… then up to deck 15 to look for him again… at first no sighting… then, from behind a Norwegian Cruise ship following I see the destroyer… Its now either head on or tail on, falling behind… I watch for about 10 minutes until she is gone in the mists.
Back to the cabin, try to sign onto the ships internet, fail, then go downstairs where the internet staff reset my password… on to the internet… send Brian a message, then upstairs to write this…
All in all a great day.
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