The sad sea day

Sunday - September 14, 2014

Another sea day.  And as I said before, I lurve sea days.  But alas, this was the day before NCL kicks us off the ship, so it was a sad, sad day.  How do I live without someone making my bed for me?  How do I live without having access to food 24/7?  And entertainment whenever I feel like it?  The day before disembarkation is always a sad day for me.  Not the least of which because I have to pack and packing for home makes me sad (as opposed to packing for vacation, which thrills me to no end and is one of my favorite things to do). 

My brother and I opted to sleep in, and I didn't even wake up until 11 am.  I could say I was tired from all the early mornings and long days, but really, I'm just a lazy ass.  I don't believe in getting up on the weekends until at least 10 am unless there's a damn good reason (unfortunately, food is often that reason.  I just can't say no to food!).  I know my parents were up and about the ship, but I was sleeping...for the very last night, on a teeny tiny bed that's smaller than a twin.  But when one is on a ship, one does not bitch about the size of the bed.  But I was sort of kind of looking forward to sleeping on a bigger bed.  And my poor parents have been sleeping on the sofa bed.  I know my mom wasn't thrilled with it even after our room steward had added the egg crate, so she was probably excited for the plush king size bed that awaited her at the Hyatt.

The day started out foggy and kind of depressing.

But it got better!  (well, later in the afternoon)

By the time we both got up and rolled out of bed, it was lunch time!  And since we haven't had lunch in La Cucina yet, that's where we decided to go since it was our last chance to do so (sob!):

I got the smoked salmon appetizer, but was nothing like I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be just plain old smoked salmon - but it was a big ass piece of seared smoked salmon.  Everyone else got the shrimp cocktail - but I personally thought (and so did my mom) that I ended up with the best appetizer.

my smoked salmon with herbed cream cheese and toasted brioche appetizer.  This would actually make a pretty decent super light entree for someone who's not a fat ass like me.

I was not very creative and just went with the NY strip.  It was okay.  It was cooked right, but it wasn't fantastic.  It tasted like the steak in the dining room, except the truffle fries were really good.  And I'm not even a big fry eater (gasp!  I know, I love potatoes - I love them baked, roasted, chipped (?) and fried...but for some reason, I'm not a huge fan of french fries.  Oh, I'll eat them, but they're just okay).  

My mom got the fettuccini.  She said the flavors were good, but thought it was a little too rich for her.

my dad got the seared shrimp and scallops with risotto.  He was traumatized by the cheese grated on it, so being the loving daughter that I am, I picked off the big slices of cheese and ate them for him.  I'm so considerate.

Raymond got the swordfish  burger.  He thought it was a little too salty, but my mom tried it and really liked it

And of course we had to get dessert.  Duh.

I had the carrot cake.  It was good, not too sweet

my mom got the marinated berries.  But where was the almond wafer???

Raymond got the brownies.  They were okay.  Honestly, I make better brownies.  But I make some pretty phenomenal  brownies (can't cook worth a damn, but I can bake)

pineapple sorbet.  My mama got this because she wanted it too

After lunch Raymond and I wandered around the ship a bit.  We went to the photo gallery to look for our photos - but we didn't find any of us that we actually liked enough to spend $12.95 on.  Then we walked through the pool area on our way to get ice cream (hey!  we didn't have ice cream with lunch.  Okay, so he did, but I didn't) and saw that the pool area was a happening place.  Well, happening for an Alaskan cruise anyway.

excuse this crappy picture.  But there were people sitting around the pool with their arms and legs exposed

The rest of the day was spent watching Disneynature's Bears in our stateroom while we took turns packing.  We had actually caught the last half hour the day before and really enjoyed it (who doesn't love baby bears??) and we got excited when we caught it from the very beginning.  Even my brother, whom I didn't think enjoyed documentaries about bears in Alaska.  And because it took us so long to pack (we weren't exactly being efficient about it) we ended up watching Heaven is for Real as well.   In the middle of our inefficient packing/snacking/watching the movies, we also headed outside where whales were being sighted.  The scenery was also fantastic, so we spent about a half hour outside - we could hear the people on the 12th floor (above the bridge) yelling in excitement.  All the peeps with cabins on the front also stepped out - we saw lots of heads and lots of fingers pointing at where whales were spotted.   

see the water spray?  (I know, you can barely see it) - that's where the whale was.  I was using my point and shoot and wasn't fast enough.   Then again, I already have about 742 photos of whales.  

I don't know what this was - one of the chicks in the cabin down from ours started screaming "whale!"  Then it was "dolphins!" then the guy with her said it was just salmon.  Oh well.  

Tonight they had the farewell/finale show and the Sun's production crew's version of Mamma Mia.  My parents wanted to go to that show (my mom just told my dad it was about ABBA.  He has no idea what Mamma Mia is, but he knows ABBA), so we were going to meet up earlier for dinner because our friends wanted to catch the 7:15 show.  Well, we ended up dawdling a little too long and the only option left if we wanted to make the early show was the buffet.  So to the buffet we went.  

We managed to just make the 7:15 show.  Literally.  The lights came down as we sat in our seats.  It was entertaining, more so for me because my brother didn't know any ABBA or any Mamma Mia.  But Scotty Cavanaugh, the juggler, came out and did about 10-15 minutes of his stuff and Raymond enjoyed that.  Then the cruise staff came out and did "fountains", which they encouraged us to take pictures of and record.  I only had my cell on me, so I took a few really bad pictures and recorded the very last bit:

Basically they came out dressed in sheets to look like statues in a fountain (I feel bad for the poor guy who had to come out half nekkid and wear the sheet like a diaper.  Especially when the cat calls began).  They each had a pitcher of water and would spit water on each other like they were figure in a fountain.  It's funnier than it sounds, because their reactions are hilarious.

Being greedy gluttons who are already mourning the loss of food 24/7, we all trooped back to the buffet after the show.  It was actually pretty empty!

I've never seen it this empty before

and look who stopped by the almost empty buffet: the hotel director!

While bumming around our room one day Raymond ended up watching their special about the Epic, and he jabbered about it at various times during the week.  Now he wants to go and cruise on a ship the size of Disneyland.  Which for the record, I am not opposed to.  I just wonder if they'll get me a segway or something so my lazy ass won't have to walk a half hour to our room.  But he told me that aside from the captain, the hotel director is the most powerful person on the ship and most of the staff works under him.  Raymond was impressed as the hotel director of the Epic had about 1700 people working under him - he now holds the hotel director in much higher esteem than before.  But he picked a good night to go and cruise through the buffet - there were barely any people.

While Raymond and I stuffed our faces, the parents went out  back to take photos of the sunset at my dad's insistence.  He's become a big fan of sunsets.  And sunrises.  To my dismay because the man actually tries to rouse me while on vacation to watch a sunrise.  What kind of crack is he smoking???

Thus we ended our last day on the cruise ship.  We were full, happy, the boat was rocking (literally, it was rocking gently back and forth)  and we had seen everything we'd hoped (and hadn't dared hope) to see.  

The next day, we disembark and see Vancouver.

We see whales!

Wednesday - September 10, 2014

Today is our first port day!  Except we have to tender in (sob!).  Yes, first world problems.  We have a whale watching tour booked with Icy Strait Whale Adventures in Hoonah because they had great reviews on Tripadvisor.  And everyone trusts Tripadvisor.  I didn’t want to do a big boat tour because we’ve done that already (though that was in Newport Beach, not Alaska) and I didn’t want to squeeze onto a boat with 100 other people trying to squeeze my way to the front to be able to see and to be able to take photos without 80 other heads in the photos.  So I found an outfit that had great reviews and specialized in small boat tours.

Yay!  Best.  Decision.  Ever.  We had Captain Duane, who was super awesome.  He picked us up where their email said they’d be (super easy to find) and our boat (their brand new one that seats 20 - still had the new boat smell) only had 8 people on it - our group of 6 and a couple from the same cruise.  

They had hot water, instant coffee (Starbucks Via), tea bags, and hot cocoa packets (and uh, my genius dad dropped a cup of coffee within 15 minutes of getting on the boat. He said the cup was too hot. We felt really bad, and the captain's nephew cleaned it up - we tipped him $20 for that - and they were so nice about it, but still, we felt so bad that we (dad) spilled something in their new boat that's only 2 months old).  They also had little snack bags of chips we could eat.  I didn’t use it, but they had a bathroom and those who used it said it was very clean and well maintained.  The boat had a section out front (they opened it up when the boat wasn’t being driven at high speeds), huge window that could be rolled up like garage doors in the cabin area and an open area out back that was always open.  The boat was fantastic, Duane and his nephew were fantastic - everything about this was fantastic.  We saw the big boats with a hundred people squeezed onto them and felt sorry for them.  So we took photos of them.  Hehehe.

I couldn't find any photos of the windows rolled up - but they open up two at a time (4 windows on each side) - so when the windows are rolled up, it's two windows rolled up on a track that can be locked on top so you have an unobstructed view. You can stay seated on the bench and take some pretty kick ass photos or kneel on the bench and lean out. It's the lazy people's way of whale watching. We are lazy people.

do you see how empty this is?  In addition, there's my dad and his friend (see below) and my brother, who was taking the photo from the back (see his shadow?).  And those two on the left were from our cruise .  

back of the boat

another look at the windows

The exit that leads to the front "balcony" part of the boat.  The captain opened it up when we were idling or traveling at slower speeds

the only picture I had of the front of the boat.  I took lots of pictures from there, but not really of it.

Oh, and the boat carrying a gazillion other people.  I checked it - they paid $159 for a 2.5 hour tour.  We paid $165 for a 3 hour tour that ended up being a 4 hour tour because our captain was super awesome.  Here are all the sad people staring at our super empty super roomy boat that went way faster and farther than their boat:

They're so sad :(

Our boat was quite roomy, and because we only had eight people, it was very comfortable. The boat was built for 20, and honestly, I think it would still be very comfortable with 20 passengers. But as we were only 8, we all sprawled out with our stuff and we spread out around the boat.  Sometimes I was in the front, sometimes in the back, and when it got really cold and windy, I was in the cabin hanging out of the open windows.  It. was. awesome.  You could be inside the cabin where it’s a lot warmer but still take fantastic photos because they rolled the windows up.  Isn’t that the smartest thing?  

But we saw whales.  Lots and lots of whales.  And a whale got totally close to us!  It swam within 10 feet of our boat when we were stopped - it was so close my camera frame couldn’t capture all of it!  It was so cool.  We learned to look for the mist hanging around so we knew whales were present.  

this is the mist we're looking for

sea lions!  They were just chilling in the water. 

I don't know what it means when a whale is just waving his flippers around - he could have been waving hello at us...or just giving us the finger to tell us to leave him alone.

And then, are the gazillion photos of the whales.  This is like, 1% of the pictures we took.  We all took WAY.  TOO.  MANY.  PHOTOS.

You know how I said we had a whale come within 10 feet of us?  Captain Duane was really good at predicting where a whale was going to end up, so when he saw one headed our way, we began to idle and he came out front with us.  The whale was soooo close!  I couldn't even capture him in the frame!

We were fortunate enough to see 3 whales breach during our tour. Unfortunately, due to a lack of mad photo taking skills, I wasn't fast enough to capture any of those. sob! :(

After a few hours, when time was almost up, Captain Duane got a message that orcas were seen - and once he ascertained that none of us had anything planned after our excursion, he headed off to where the orcas had been spotted.  He spent an extra hour with us on the water!  And we saw orcas.  At least two of them - there may have been more, but the most we saw a at a time was two.  Before we left for our trip and talking about our itinerary, my mom expressed a wish to see orcas. I told her I didn't think we were going to see them, just humpbacks - clearly I was wrong and just talking out of my butt. But yay for orcas! This was a super extra awesome bonus.

look!  It's our ship behind the orca fin!

After the tour, we wandered around the shops at the dock, purchased some souvenirs made in China and went back onto our boat where we fell onto the food at the buffet like we crawled out of the desert after a long and arduous journey.  Which come on, when you’re on a cruise and you haven’t had food for more than an hour?  It is arduous and tortuous.  

Well...this night was the Norwegians Night Out.  So once again we got all dressed up.  Raymond and I heaed to Seven Seas, the “nicer” restaurant and waited.  And waited.  Finally I went in search of the rest of our people and found them seated in Four Seasons.  Apparently even though we’ve eaten at both restaurants, they didn’t realize they were two separate restaurants on the same floor.  Oy.  So we sat there all dolled up in the casual restaurant where the other cruisers were in their jeans and turtlenecks.  Oh well. Such is life.

I had the special, which was the flounder milanese.  It was okay - the fish was a bit dry though it was seasoned well.  The salmon tartare appetizer was okay as well. The rest of the party had the Louisiana blackened snapper and found it a little too salty.  I had the tiramisu for dessert - no complaints since it’s tiramisu.  How can you go wrong?

Here are the menus for dinner:

And here's what my brother had for dinner:

mushroom quesadilla

blackened snapper (they thought this was a bit too salty)

some super chocolately cake

After dinner we were slugs - we trudged back to our room, flopped onto our beds and watched Man of Steel while we ate the little snacks our butler left for us because we are gluttonous pigs.  :)

Oh! And we got a towel animal! (what's sad? our friends said they never got any towel animals :( doesn't that violate some kind of cruise law??)

There were a lot of activities going on - but I'm on the benevolent side of anti-social. Also, I just like laying around, something I don't get to do very much of when I'm not on vacation. So when I don't have to work, I fully take advantage of the laying around, vegging out on TV and catching up on books and movies. Even in a port intensive itinerary like Alaska. Perhaps especially in a port intensive itinerary because I gotta rest up when I can!