San Diego

Today we arrived in the port of San Diego!  As usual we were all awake by 6:30 and in the dining room for breakfast by 7 am. Today I had a plate of fruit and eggs florentine!

Shortly after 8 am, we were ready to disembark the Star Princess; right across the way we saw the Crown Princess was in port too. 

The Crown Princess is on the left, and the Star, in the right. 

With maps and hand we walked about 10 minutes to get to the Santa Fe Transit terminal to pick up bus 215. I was very proud to find a direct bus that was able to take us to The San Diego zoo for only $4.50 round trip. The cruise line would have charged us $50 just to commute on their bus and we would have been restricted to their start and finish times!

The San Diego Zoo really is a world class zoo. I can see how our zoo came and studied the design of the enclosures to build our zoo into a first class operation!

We started off by taking a double decker bus tour around the zoo to see the whole layout. Then we walked around the zoo for about 4 hours. So much to see here!

Koalas.

Giant Pandas.  They said could be a 45 minute wait but we were in and out in 15 minutes!

Polar Bears and so much more!

San Diego has the benefit of growing lush vegetation around their enclosures and no harsh winters!

We took bus 215 back downtown then walked until we found a coffee shop with wifi!  P had to secure his troops!

Quite a long line to process back on the ship with two ships in port!  San Diego is beautiful, clean and friendly - I would make a return trip here!

I'll post this before supper so you can see the day's events before we set sail at supper time!

Los Angeles

Today we arrived in the port of Los Angeles around 4 am, but the ship was cleared for disembarkation at 7:30 am. We left the ship and cleared immigration (because we are back in the USA). P and I caught a cab to the enterprise car rental and of course the cab driver wanted to take us all the way to Disneyland!  Um, no thanks that would cost $150 round trip instead of my $50 car rental!

I was very proud that I navigated to Disneyland without incident. The drive took about 40 minutes. Parking in the world's largest parkade and taking the tram to the front gates took just about as long!  (Well not quite - maybe another 20 minutes). P and I didn't get inside the gates of the happiest place on earth until about 10:10 am. 

We headed to Indiana Jones to get fast pass tickets (scheduled to return between 12 and 1). Pirates of the Caribbean was our first stop. After that, we kept on walking to Splash Mountain where a 55 minute wait was posted. We decided to try our hand at the singles lineup and found virtually NO wait!

After that we visited Indiana Jones, the Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear. 

By then it was 2:30 and we wanted to give ourselves ample time to get back to the ship before it set sail!  The all aboard call was for 5:30. 

By the time took a different route back to Long Beach (by virtue of making a split decision exiting the parkade),filled up with $4.02 worth of fuel, returned the rental and got shuttled back to the cruise ship, it was 4:30 pm. A comfortable amount of time to spare!

J spent the day exploring the port area - especially enjoying the Pacific Aquarium walking distance from the ship. 

I was especially happy to re-enter the world of Internet service to read my email!  I learned my eldest JG (who is home studying for University finals) was offered a summer job with Shell!  How great is that!  I am very proud of JG!  We used the Vonage app to call her for free!

Supper was Italian night. I had a seafood appetizer, green salad and scallop and shrimp entree. P had minestrone soup, spaghetti and meatballs; J had pasta fagioli and they both had a chicken entree. 

J and I went directly to the Motor City musical production, then P joined us for the Gary Carson magician show. I believe we saw him on the Emerald Princess cruise 3 years ago. Great shows!

Time for bed and will post this at the port of San Diego!

Ensenada, Mexico

The ship arrived at 6 am and had manoeuvred to the dock by 7 am in Ensanada, Mexico. We are enjoying the sunshine on our deck this morning watching people disembark for tours.

This is a Carnival ship that pulled into port about an hour after we did!

We had pre-booked a kayaking tour with Baja Blue Diver. We left the ship at 9 am and wandered through the gardens of the Baja California while waiting to meet our guides Diego and Jonathon just a few blocks away from the ship. Another family of three from Utah joined us on the tour. 

The van ride to the kayak launch point was about 1 hour, half of which was on a very rocky road!  Beautiful rock formations around the launch point. J paddled in a single boat, P and I paddled in a double. We were all similar abilities in the kayaks, so the group stayed together!  Highlights included seeing seals and paddling through a few small caves. Good thing we had basic kayak skills as the ocean swells were pretty noteworthy and we needed to keep from crashing into the rocks!

After two hours of paddling, we headed back to the launch point and loaded the boats back in the vehicle. After the drive back to Ensenada we stopped at  the Fenex for some great fish tacos. P really liked that the fish was deep fried!

It was a great way to spend the day in Mexico!  Their are vineyards to visit in the area, but that didn't appeal to us. 

J & P went for another workout after we all had a nice long hot tub!  Supper at 5:30, then Movies under the Stars where I watched Mockingjay Part 1.  J was already asleep by 9 pm when I returned to the room!  

Need to finish my blog and get ready for Los Angeles tomorrow. You may notice a number of blogs will get published April 8th because I have had NO success with the ship's wifi. 

Alcatraz continued & Embarkation

The cell house audio tour really is a must - it is so informative. Of course there have been a number of movies made about Alcatraz - most famously "Escape from Alcatraz" starring Clint Eastwood. It details the escape of three inmates who dug their way out of their cells with spoons.

We then walked through the gardens with their lush vegetation.  Of course these weren't in the inmate area but for the wardens and staff, many of whom, lived on the island.  

Upon our return, the rain has stopped so we were happy to stand in the open air at the front of the boat and take pictures of San Francisco and the Star Princess as we approached. 

We walked off the ship and returned to our hotel on foot by way of the waterfront. We stopped at Pier 39 to view the sea lions soaking up the heat!!

Back at the hotel we grabbed our luggage and returned on foot to Pier 27 where our cruise ship was docked. 

Processing through check in was maybe 40 minutes total and we were onboard the ship by 1 pm. We went straight to our stateroom - on the Dolphin deck port side and dropped our bags. We could have left them with the porters but we were quite able to carry them ourselves. 

We were hungry for lunch so then went straight to the portofino dining room to eat.   J & P both had beef tenderloin and I had a delicious salmon!

After lunch we unpacked bags, then J & P went for a workout. Of course we attended the mandatory muster drill. 

I loved having a balcony on the port side - for the view we had as we were docked. 

You can see the sign of the Port of San Francisco in the foreground. Alcatraz is the small island on the right and the Golden Gate Bridge can be seen in the distance on the left.

Sail away was at 4:30 pm.  We had a fabulous view of downtown San Francisco as we left port. The real thrill was passing underneathe the Golden Gate Bridge!

We were assigned a table for three when we went for dinner. Waiter Reneca from Mexico was very good and assisted by Jerico.  J and I both had scallops. P had a trio of meat where he asked for more chicken instead of veal in addition to lamb. P and I both had a trio chocolate dessert that included opera cake, chocolate mousse and dark brownie. J had peanut butter ice cream. All were fabulous!

We tried our first hand a trivia and scored a respectable 50%!  That was P's goal!

I went to the 8:15 Welcome Aboard show which featured magician Garry Carson. Pretty good magic and some humour that fell a bit flat considering the full audience. 

We all went to watch the movie The Imitation Game (not under the stars) but in the Vista Lounge on Deck 7!

Bed beckons!

1st Day at Sea

The ship has a variety of different activities planned for sea days.

We awoke at 6:30 am and went down for breakfast around 7 am when the dining room opened. JG would have loved to see Eggs Benedict on the menu!  JG is at home studying for university finals. In JG"s honour I ordered eggs Benny!  J & P both had fried eggs. 

After breakfast I explored the ship and got in some walking steps at a brisk pace. J & P went to the very busy fitness centre for a workout. 

I went to the Pricess Theatre intending to attend an Interdenominational church service - with a piano player and just one other person in attendance, I decided it wouldn't be too inspiring. Instead I participated in a very crowded Zumba class where I worked up a sweat!

A fruit and vegetable carving demonstration was held in the piazza so I watched that for 15 minutes before racing off to meet J and P for another round of trivia!  We managed a more respectable 12 out of 20 this round. I did score the winning card that secured 17 out of 20!

A few minutes before noon we got in line for lunch in the dining room. It was clearly busy this day at sea!  We only had to wait about 5 minutes as they processed the people in front of us - by the time we left the dining room  there were no tables available and still a line of people waiting to eat!  I had a fresh spinach fettuccine appetizer and a chicken korma entree. P had lamb, ham and beef and a banger!  Not too much protein!  J had a rigatoni carbonara (which R would love) and vegetarian burrito. 

After lunch we headed to the Theatre to watch Birdman because we thought it was the character who was held at Alcatraz. Clearly not, so we left after 15 minutes!

J and I then went for a hot tub on the Lido deck. J and P went for their second workout of the day while I had a nap!

Tonight is formal night so John sought out an iron for his dress shirt!  We all ordered the Beef medallions and the 50th anniversary chocolate raspberry dessert!

Easter Sunday departing San Francisco

What an amazing day!  We woke up around 6 am, ate breakfast in the hotel room, left our luggage with the bellman, checked out of our room and set off on foot for Pier 33!  Our destination - Alcatraz Island tours.

We booked our 8:45 am tickets to visit the famous maximum security prison as soon as we planned this trip!  We wanted to be on the first tour boat offered on the day!

A fine rain was falling as we loaded onto the boat so we all wore our rain coats. After the 10 minute boat ride we arrived at the island. We headed straight up the pathways for the cell house block where we grabbed headphones for the audio tour. Bonus- they were free!

San Francisco

This morning we had a very civilized flight time of 11:18 am to San Francisco. When we arrived at the airport at 9 am we checked in quickly with United and breezed through customs!  Honestly, there was nobody in line at US immigration and a number of agents available to check through guests. I guess Easter Saturday is not a busy day to travel!

When we arrived at SFO, we had already decided we would take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to our hotel downtown in the Fisherman's Wharf area.  It is way more affordable than a cab and a fun way to see the city!  We took the BART to the Embarcado station and then tried to figure out how to catch the bus to our hotel. That proved too complex for our little brains so we hailed a cab to navigate the final two miles. Still the cost was about half what a cab would have cost all the way from the airport. 

When we arrived at the Holiday Inn our friends D & L and L's parents were waiting to meet us. L and I have been friends for many years. She married a native San Franciscan and left Canada about 18 years ago. It was so great to see them!  We quickly checked into our room and dropped off our luggage. 

D took us on a driving tour down Marina - where homes face the Bay and cost millions of dollars. Great views of the Bay Area for the drive. We tried to navigate our way onto the Golden Gate Bridge but traffic was too frantic. We opted instead to go visit the Fort underneath the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. We saw the huge cannons used to protect San Francisco - they were put in their 70 years before the bridge. 

We then drove along and stopped to see the stunning Palace of Fine Arts. It was originally constructed for the1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. What stunning architecture!

We then went to Ghiradelli Square where we sampled chocolate and scouted out our dessert plans following supper. L had made reservations at a seafood and beef restaurant called McCormick & Kuleto's. We had a splendid view of the Bay and Alcatraz Island from our dinner table. J had a seafood stew, P had beef steak and I had a salmon dish. Delicious food, stunning view and fabulous company! What a great evening!

While the rest of us enjoyed tea and coffee, P and J left to go buy P his ice cream dessert. We all met up in Ghiradelli Square and posed for pictures in front of a fountain. 

With tickets booked early for Alcatraz, we said good night to our friends and retired to our hotel room!  Glad I packed as many layers as I did - a storm is moving in tonight and it is windy!