The bellman knocked on our door at 7:30 for our luggage,
although the bus would not arrive until 9:00 to leave the hotel for the
ship. We had breakfast in the hotel, and
we had a feeling of elegance having breakfast in such an ornate dining
room. The eggs Benedict were
wonderful. After breakfast the wait was
brief until we boarded the bus for the ship.
As the driver pulled the bus away, I asked him if everyone was on
board. He suddenly stopped the bus and
made a head count, and said, no, everyone was not there. Soon some others arrived and we were
off. If I had not asked him my question,
I guess they would have been left behind.
The ferry crossing was uneventful except for one thing -- we decided to
pay $12 to sit in a luxury section with comfortable chairs and snacks
provided. It was well worth the
price. After leaving the ferry, the
driver took us a different route back downtown to the pier where the ship was
waiting, and it was very interesting to see a different part of Vancouver. It is a very pretty town, and so orderly and
clean.
Boarding the ship was uneventful; although the lines were
quite long the process moved quickly.
When we arrived at our room, we felt “at home”. A feeling of comfort, both physical and
emotional, came over us. We freshened up
and went for a walk and a bite to eat at the cafeteria on the top deck while we
waited for our luggage to arrive in our room.
At 4:00 p.m. the ship held its mandatory safety drill. We discovered that somehow our dinner
reservations were “free style”, which means any dining room at any time. When we went to dinner at 8:00 p.m. the lines
were long at the first two dining rooms, but when we arrived at the Santa Fe
dining room , we were seated right away with a very interesting elderly couple
who were originally from Uzbekistan.
They came to America in 1991, after the fall of communism, and lived in
Pennsylvania until a couple of years ago, when they moved to Florida. They told us about living in Uzbekistan,
which they loved until Stalin came to power.
After that they said that living was very hard. They had relatives in the U.S. but they were
not permitted to visit, or ever to leave the country together; the thought was
that if one was left behind, the other would return, too. Eventually, they were permitted to immigrate
to the U.S. and they have been very happy.
One of the great things about traveling is the interesting people one
meets.
In the evening, we skipped the comedian, and went to sleep
early.
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