Tuesday, March 31, 2020

January 12, 2020 – San Francisco, CA – Partly Cloudy – 54F

A hellish night of bounce, shimmy, and shudder but somehow, we both got some sleep.  I was up before dawn and was happy that we had actually arrived in San Francisco.  We weren’t quite there but at around 6:30 AM, the bow thruster confirmed our arrival.



I had breakfast up in Horizon Court.  A little more hectic than usual but I did get all my usual menu items – no lox today for Ellen.

At around 9:00 AM, we grabbed our Passports, old sea pass cards, and our new sea pass cards and scanned off the ship (the old cards were now cancelled). 

It was chilly but clear in the Bay Area today and we needed to find a store to get a new curling iron – Ellen’s had stopped functioning a week ago.  We walked up the street to Bay St. crossed and walked a few blocks to the North Pointe Shopping MallSafeway had no curling irons but we did buy a six pack of spring water.  Our next stop was Ross, where we did find a curling iron.  I also bought a clearance hoodie (from Phat Store - it was an S but it fit) to combat the wintry condition on the ship.  Two wins.

We walked back - made all the more difficult by my schlepping six pounds of water - and had to wait a few minutes for the ship to clear.


Our cabin would not be cleaned and straightened up today because everyone was involved in readying the ship for the new crowd. We did drop off our purchases.

We had lunch today in the Da Vinci Dining Room – a very good Tuscan Bean Soup, a salad, and a pasta (didn’t like it as it was too sweet).

After lunch, I did a load of laundry in the Guest Laundry on Deck 8 Aft.  When I got there, the doors were locked. The folks readying the rooms didn’t have a key so I called Guest Services (6000) and told them and they said the laundry wouldn’t open until the guests embarked.  I was on my way back to the room (about a 1000 steps), when two guys in the white sailor type outfits stopped me and asked me if I was going to do the laundry and they said they would unlock the door for me (I am guessing the Guest Services told them).  They did open the door and I used my sea pass card to purchase a wash and dry (each $3) and a detergent box ($1.50).  The wash cycle was 25 minutes (just enough time to go the room and then turn around and come back).  The dry cycle was 30 minutes.  The clothes were mostly dry and we hung up the moist items in the room.  The laundry worked well but it was clearly a bit pricey.  Next time, we bring our own detergent.

By this time, I had about 11,000 steps on my pedometer.

We went out on Deck 7 to check out the view and to continue my iconic picture series.


The ship is ice cold because the doors are open for embarking passengers.  One5 had a wedding going on and it was too cold outside on Deck 15.  We wound up back in the room until we attended the lifeboat drill at 3:20 PM – All aboard was 3:30 PM and soon we were making a daytime departure.

We had dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room – very good Veggie Spring Rolls (double order), a strange iceberg type salad, cold Pina Colada Soup (surprising good) and the same sweet tomato sauce based pasta, which I didn’t eat. A nice ice cream sundae for dessert. Ellen had the quiche for dinner (it was OK).  My new hoodie prevented me from getting frostbite.

We wanted to hear Jan Gulbicki in the Wheelhouse Bar but he didn’t show up for his show.  The background music there was so loud that some guests complained and the waiter told me they were trying to turn it down.

We listed to The Supersonics for a while sitting outside the Explorers Lounge. 


They went from soft and nice to loud and unlistenable so we departed for the cabin.

We watched the passage through the Golden Gate Bridge through the window in our stateroom.


This is our new itinerary for the next cruise to Mexico.


The seas are smooth tonight - at least, so far.

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