Sailing from Seward

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As light as the sky is in the morning, we seem to have no problem rising by 5AM; which, as it turns out was plenty of time to get to mass a block away at the 7:30AM mass at the cathedral. The service was quite nice and friendly; but, this was obviously not the mass with a choir or music or singing and even the hymns were spoken. A family of ten sat in the pew bench in front of us and the five boys and three girls ranging in age from two to eighteen were all very well behaved; well, the 2^ndto youngest did get into a bit of trouble though we have no idea what he did wrong. However he must have done something to annoy his mother, and she just gave him a stern look, pointed at him, and gave him one come hither “you get over here” gesture with her finger, and his eyes drooped and he obediently slunk over beside his mom with nary a word being spoken. You couldn’t help but compare in your mind these kids with those we’d seen on the train the day before.



After mass we walked to Sack’s which we knew opened at 9AM. Half a dozen breakfast places within walking distance were closed on Sundays, and we didn’t want to contend with the crowds at the hotel restaurant. We needed to wait a few minutes before they opened. It was an upscale bistro type place with a limited menu. Sharon asked for the French Toast (with just the bread and whipped cream). I decided to try the Eggs Benedict with the house made crab cakes, and they were surprisingly good, as were the potatoes that were served with them. For once, Sharon was poaching from my plate; but, she did share a slice of her baguette French Toast with me.



We were to catch the bus to the railway station at noon; so, we waited in the lobby which was teaming with people heading for the Train Station to journey to Seward and board the Zaandam. Finally a lady comes through the lobby asking if anyone is there with “H4” on their HAL train vouchers, and Sharon checks, and that would be us. Everyone else in the lobby had “H5”. She hurried us onto the motor coach and we got to know what it’s like to get on a bus where everyone is thinking “There’s always two in every group (who can’t follow instructions).” Except of course, we had followed the instructions. The bus was half full and the dispatcher told the driver, “You might as well go now.” He drove around the block and pulled up by another hotel were a veritable throng of people were waiting. It took forever for them to start boarding, and once they were all on board, there were five people missing. So we waited, it seems like we waited twenty minutes or more. It is past 12:30PM when the train is supposed to leave; but the driver assured everyone, “Don’t worry, the train won’t depart without us.” I only wish that we were as sure of that as he seemed to be; but, then he didn’t have a cruise to catch in Seward. Two additional people did finally come running up and we took the short drive to the train. We were the only people on our bus headed for “Car 4 and all those “H5” people that we’d left behind at the hotel were already in our Car 4; which, begs the question why we were separated from them. This train didn’t have the nice comfortable airline-like forward facing seating; rather, it had tables with two narrow seats on one side facing forward and two narrow seats on the other side facing backwards. We had to walk all the way to the other end of the car from where we got onto the train to get to our Table 2 on the left side of the train; and, wouldn’t you know that the forward-facing seats had already been claimed. Can you guess by whom? Yep, those two ladies, Ann and Sadie that we keep bumping into. I guess we’re going to get to know them even better.



I had my “unlimited drink” bottle for HAL trains with me; and, so did Ann. That was one of the first things they did was to fill them up for us (mine with Coca-Cola). They started the lunch service once the train started to move, and starting with Table 1, it wasn’t long before Sharon and I got our Turkey sandwiches and Alaska chips (Sharon got hers without lettuce, tomato, onion or any of that good stuff). We believe the kids from the day before were on a much earlier train and may have had an outing to Kenai fjords. I think Sharon was hoping the orca’s might get a little something extra to eat. We had a beautiful ride through the coastal mountains and had a great view of Spencer Glacier against a backdrop of a brilliant blue sky accented by a barrage of clouds that ranged from the whimsical to threatening. But we saw no wildlife along this run, which seemed unusual; because, not a single moose or bear or beluga or even a bald eagle revealed themselves to us.



During the train trip to Seward they did some expedited boarding, visiting each table, checking passports, electronically recording the passport info, taking new security photos and even giving everyone their room keys for boarding the ship and getting into your stateroom. I keep calling them cabins; but, HAL always refers to them as staterooms. I’m not sure what the difference is (I’m sure that there is one). Once we arrived at nearly 6PM, over a full hour late, it was a short walk over to the ship to have our carry-on luggage scanned. They wanted everything stuffed into your bags (cell phones and such) and the whole lot was scanned. It took me a bit to get everything sorted to my likes once I passed through the metal detector, and Sharon was waiting for me impatiently when I was finally ready to continue; but, at least I knew that I had everything.



We found our room and for once we’re not on the third floor or deck. We’re on the starboard side of the ship this time, instead of the port side. We’re towards the middle rather than the stern. And we’ve an inside cabin instead of an outside cabin. Other than that, everything’s pretty much the same though it is slightly larger since it’s not on the deck with the walk around promenade. We’re going to be so confused trying to get around this ship. I had hoped to get the laundry ready, since our bags all made it to the cabin before us. But Sharon said that there wasn’t time; because, the Lifeboat drill was at 7:15, and besides, she wanted to eat. She was all for eating in the Lido; but, I didn’t come on a cruise to eat cafeteria style so she said we needed to go right to the dining room and eat now or it would have to be later after the drill. So we did, and got there just in time to be the second couple turned away because it was now too close to the lifeboat drill, and there wouldn’t be time to serve us dinner. So, we went back to our stateroom.



I decided to give it a go and get the laundry ready. Unfortunately, first I had to locate the dirty laundry from the various bags, and at this point, there seem to be some in every bag. Sharon opened her bags and pulled out the dirty clothes in them and added them to my pile. Sharon pointed out that we should put the passports in the safe so they wouldn’t be lost; so, I secured them and locked the safe. Then I decided to start putting clothes away as I looked for my dirty laundry. It was about now that the first alarm sounded, commencing the lifeboat drill and alerting passengers to return to their cabins and await further instructions. She then pointed out that since we’d taken everything out of her suitcase, we could stow her other bag which was also empty now inside it and stow that under the bed so the steward could get in . So, I did that. She then noticed that her jewelry bag was on the bed and that should be in the safe too; so, I opened the safe and secured those items as well. I then decided to remove items that I needed from my suit case, stuffed the extra cubes and bags in it and stowed it under my side of the bed. As I was taking things out of the suitcases, I was identifying my clothes that were clean and putting them into the closets. I was searching for the items to be washed, and those that would need to wait since we had too much to stuff into a single bag. Speaking of bag, I had the laundry sheet; but, I couldn’t find the laundry bag. It seems that I checked everywhere that I could imagine searching for that darn laundry bag. I can see Sharon shaking her head and rolling her eyes at her absent-minded husband, and all I am thinking is “Why do these things always happen to me!” Then Sharon suggested that it might be in my suitcase. So, I retrieved that suitcase from under the bed, which is not easily done squeezing it between the bed and wall. But there was no laundry bag in my suitcase. And now the second alarm sounded, ending all passenger services, and alerting passengers to remain in their cabins awaiting instructions. I’m trying to find that darn bag and then she had the brilliant idea that it might be in her suitcase; so, I got to repeat, getting her suitcase, again finding no laundry bag, and again getting it back under the bed. She then suggests that I might have put it in the cubby-hole cabinet that serves as an end table that we decided to use for the remaining dirty laundry. I pulled all of the laundry out; but, again couldn’t find that elusive laundry bag; so, I stuff everything back in that little make shift hamper. And then Sharon asks, “What is that on your foot?” At first, I don’t see anything; but, then I realize, that just might be the laundry bag. Neither of us have any idea where it was hiding, or if it was draped around my foot the whole time; but, at least we can finish the laundry. I stuff the laundry bag, recording the number of each type of clothing, and mark it for 4-STAR service. Sharon again suggested eating in the Lido after the drill since the Dining Room would be crowded; but, I indicated I wouldn’t be joining her in the Lido. So, then she insisted that we need to proceed directly from the Lifeboat Drill to the Dining Room. I sighed, and said, “Okay; but, I will need to take a shower now then.” “You don’t have time for that!” And I started to take my shower, I was drenched after shuffling those suitcases around. Just as I’m finishing my shower the third alarm sounds, and two seconds later I hear the cabin door slam and off she goes to the lifeboat drill. I get dressed while the Cruise Director is giving instructions of what one should do during an actual drill. I finish putting my shoes on and the Cruise Director gave the final instructions, “Passengers should now proceed to their assigned lifeboat stations.” And two seconds later I’m out the door and on my way to Life Boat Station Number 5. I check in, it isn’t until the drill is over that I locate Sharon. She is not a happy camper, at least from the expression on her face. She greets me with “You don’t think you did anything wrong, do you?” She suggests heading to the rear of the boat on the lower promenade; but, there are throngs milling around after the drill. We eventually do get to the Dining Room and to our surprise, almost nobody is there. They gave us a choice seating for two at the rear of the dining room; and, I suspect we were both thinking “Why couldn’t they have seated us at a table for six?” I knew better than to ask Sharon to order any appetizer for me. By the end of dinner though the tensions of us to get moved into our cabin seemed somehow to have subsided by the time I finished my prosciutto appetizer, and we can now laugh at “The Incident”. I also had the seared scallops. Sharon had the roast pork chop and I had the rockfish. Now the funny thing is (at least to Sharon) is that since they’d already gotten the cabin ready the laundry didn’t get picked up till the next morning anyway. She’s already decided she’ll go somewhere else on the ship when I unpack the next time ?



Sharon decided that there was time to pop in the casino and say hey to Bob (of her favorite Fisherman Bob slot machine). Wouldn’t you know, they’d just opened the casino and some other lady grabbed that machine right in front of her… Greedy Gus! Alas, there is always Lobstermania. It took her just a few spins to come up with a triple jackpot on her wheels to win the $25 mini-jackpot. I kept an eye on Bob for Sharon and watched that lady put $20 into that machine without so much as a single payout, and I was wondering what Sharon sees in Bob anyway. Sharon played her winnings down to par and decided to quit a few pennies to the good. I told her that Bob was waiting for her. “Do you think I should play?” “It is whether I think you should play that matters, it’s whether you want to play with Bob?” She did of course. She slipped her room key and payout slip into the machine, spun the wheel, and instantly hit the triple mini-jackpot for $27.62 on that machine. She didn’t see the seething glare that she was getting from the lady sitting two chairs to her right who had just abandoned $20 in that machine, and now Sharon was taking that… and more! Okay, so maybe there is a chance that I’ll get lucky tonight after all! She player her bankroll down; but when it got down to a $10 profit it was time to go to the show.



This is the opening show where the Cruise Director Jordan introduced the band, musicians around the ship including a new piano bar player in The Mix from who was playing three weeks ago, and the singers including the lead singer whom he identified as “his brother” Christopher. Sharon said, “He didn’t say that he was his brother on the last cruise!” They do have some similar features and facial hair, and may be hard to distinguish if they’re not side by side. We enjoyed the show, and then it was time for Sharon to go back to the cabin and unpack.

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