Pacific Coastal Cruise Travelogue #7

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Travelogue - Days 8 & 9
Catalina Island, CA (NOT) and the end of our cruise

Hello everyone! -

Friday, September 25, 2009 and Saturday, September 26, 2009

After a foggy day in San Francisco, the fog continued to follow us and got thicker and thicker through the night and into Friday morning, to the point that we were not able to go into port on Catalina Island. All of our excursions for Catalina were cancelled; and we found ourselves with an unexpected day at sea with nothing to “see” - except dense fog.

The day ended up being very relaxing and quite fun actually. Of course, we had to bring our Euchre Tournament to a conclusion. Ladies, we put our best foot forward and gave it our best shot, but the guys dominated us throughout and won overall 15-10. They deserved the trophies!

The cruise staff quickly went into action once the Captain announced that we would not be going in to Catalina and printed an additional Princess Patter for the day including many more on-board activities.
The four of us played Movie Song Trivia and came in second place; and we also played the general Trivia and we tied for First Place! All of the winners received a Princess luggage tag! Whew hew!

Because this was our last day on board the ship, Jim and I packed before we went down for dinner. Somehow packing at the end of the cruise is so much easier than at the beginning when you are trying to figure out which outfits to bring or not to bring and trying not to forget anything. At the end, you just know everything has to go into a suitcase and you’ll deal with the laundry once you arrive home.

We met up with Rob and Christie at dinner and our other four table mates, Alex (27), Peter, his mother and Gloria, her caretaker. Dinner conversation was really fun because Peter and Alex got us started playing a game. One person at the table thinks of something - anything in the world. As you start around the table, each person tells what they think the first person was thinking about. Then, the original person tells what his thought was of; and then you go around the table to each person having to justify why your answer was the best answer. It gets quite clever and very funny; and we really had fun playing that.

Dinner last night was a special Head Chef’s dinner with a pretty determined menu. You had very few choices. We mostly all started with the Goat Cheese Souffle that was absolutely heavenly. That was followed by either a salad or mushroom soup; and that was followed by a watermelon sorbet. The main course was your choice of Alaska King Crab Legs, halibut or pork tenderloin. Dessert with a
Ménage-a-Tois of a small dollop of hazelnut ice cream, a small triangle of opera cake frosted with a rich chocolate genache and the third was a strawberry cream tartlet.

We played one more game of Euchre after dinner then called it a night. We awoke in San Diego this morning to more foggy weather. We disembarked the Golden Princess with Rob & Christie graciously helping us with all of our luggage and were greeted by Clayton & Natha who picked all of us up and off we went for the most delicious breakfast you can imagine. We went to a restaurant in The Gaslamp called Richard Walkers. Both Natha and Christie had the special which is a huge apple pancake. It is delicate and light puffed pastry that is baked and filled with tender apples seasoned with lots of sugar and cinnamon. It filled their plates, and when they were served, the “pancakes” were about 3 inches tall and about 9 inches in diameter. Very impressive. We all got tastes and agreed they were delicious.

After breakfast we walked back to the car where we had to say goodbye to Rob & Christie. They were off to meet their family at Seaport Village and will get on the Golden Princess later today for their departure out of San Diego and up to Los Angeles where they will fly home to Portland tomorrow afternoon.

We had a fabulous time on both of these cruises - the one day Pacific Princess and the 7 day Golden Princess. Our two-day layover in Vancouver was magnificent and so enjoyable with all of the things we did and saw. For the most part, we could not have had better weather for being in the Northwest. Though we were disappointed in the fog and not being able to see Catalina Island, we have now added that to our Bucket List for the future.

We don’t have any other cruises booked (I know that comes as a big shocker!) - but I’m sure that will change quickly.

Until next time…happy traveling to you all!

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