Thursday, September 28, 2017- At Sea Day

Thursday, September 28, 2017- At Sea Day

The ship continued to roll through the night as the ship slipped out of SE Alaska and into the international waters off the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands.  We awoke to find the ship surrounded by gray, although visibility was probably out to 2 miles or so.  Ben spotted some more small porpoises swimming after bait on the surface looking out from our balcony.  It is hard to get motivated to get out of bed when it is gray and yucky outside, so we slept in until 8:45 when Franklin and Betty called our room to say they were headed to the Summer Palace for breakfast.  

We joined them shortly after rolling out of bed and into our clothes.  Dining in the Summer Palace is easier for Betty and Franklin because in the buffets, someone has to stake out a table to park Betty at first.  Then Franklin makes a buffet pass to get food for Betty to eat.  Then he makes a second pass to get his own food.  When it's crowded, that can take quite a bit of time.  Also, if Betty then spots something on someone else's plate that interests her, someone has to make another run to the buffet.  Service was a bit slow this morning.  It appears that Janet's omelet order somehow got lost, so that delayed her breakfast until they could resend the order.  At least it came out piping hot out of the omelet pan.  

We didn't have much on our itinerary for today's day at sea.  There was a paper airplane contest that Franklin and Ben both entered.  There were about 40participants, so they took groups of 10 and ran 4 heats.  You had 1 minute to construct your paper airplane on the stage.  Franklin and Ben both went with a standard design, hoping to do some aerodynamic fine tuning, but 1 minute wasn't really enough time to tune your plane.  It was amazing how bad some of the planes were- fluttering straight down to the ground or even flying backwards, but there were a few well made and balanced planes that soared across the lounge.  Most planes spiraled or darted straight at people in the lounge, so there was some potential for putting someone's eye out.  Franklin and Ben's planes only made it halfway or less because they were both nose heavy, but at least they weren't the worst.  The winner ended up being a cheater because he not only didn't sign up in advance, but he brought pre-made and tested planes with him.  When the gal who ran the contest explained he had to make a new plane, he did, but flew his pre-made planes in the actual contest.  Oh well, since there was no prize, it was not a high stakes contest and everyone could get their participation card signed, even if they didn't actually make an airplane.  

Ben and Janet stopped by the guest services desk to inquire about our stateroom balances. There is a separate tally for "Balance" and "Non-Refundable Stateroom Credit".  During the first day, when we were being charged port taxes for drinks, we could see the "Non-Refundable Stateroom Credit" going down appropriately, but then the "Balance tally started climbing each day, presumably because of the daily gratuity charge.  Well, it turns out that the "Non-Refundable Stateroom Credit" or onboard spending money can't be applied towards the gratuities, so you have to actually spend that on ship services and merchandise.  We elected to use that to pay for an excursion in Victoria to see the Craigdarroch Castle, which was something Janet wanted to see anyway.  We haven't seen it before in our travels to Victoria in the past.  

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch.  This time, we decided to try the buffet for variety.  We were able to find a table for Betty's scooter, and with the 3 of us helping, getting food and drinks for everyone wasn't a problem.  While we were there, Alvin, one of our regular waiters from the Summer Palace stopped by and asked if there was anything we needed.  That was sweet of him, and the first time anyone in the buffet had asked us if there was anything they could bring us.  You'd think he was following us around the ship.  While there is such a wide selection of foods in the buffet, sometimes its hard to beat a hot dog and potato chips for American comfort food.  

Since it was a slow afternoon, Ben headed to the gym, which was not busy at all.  Only 2 out of 10 treadmills had people on them.  They have nice treadmills that are equipped with USB ports, Bluetooth, and TV's that actually work.  After a quick shower, Ben took a soak in a hot tub, where he met a nice couple of Chinese Americans visiting from New York.  They had taken some cruises from New York, but lamented that they weren't very exciting, so they decided to do this Alaska cruise.  They were a little disappointed that there wasn't more of Alaska to see, but were primarily attracted to this itinerary by the price.  They were already planning on returning to do a Vancouver based Princess Alaska cruise in 2-3 years.  

We met Betty and Franklin for dinner in the Summer Palace, and were seated just outside Alvin and Mohammad's station with another server, but Alvin came by with Franklin's lemonade just as we were being seated.  Hard to beat that level of service.  Ben had a New York strip steak, Betty had the grilled salmon, Janet had veal with noodles, and Franklin had pork loin.  We had a delicious calamari appetizer before our salads, and dessert was a moist and delicious Opera cake.  Betty ordered a hazelnut bar, which looked like a solid hunk of fudge covered in chocolate.  

The stage show was a "Legends in Concert" tribute show with Michael Jackson, Tina Turner and Elvis impersonators.  They all did a pretty good job, and the Norwegian Pearl production dancers and singers filled in between the Legends numbers and provided back up vocals and dancing.  

When we returned to our rooms, we were saddened to find disembarkation instructions on the bed, along with tomorrow's program for our day in Victoria.  We have to turn our clocks back an hour, so maybe we'll be able to get up earlier for breakfast tomorrow.  

We headed out to O'Sheehan's at 11pm for our nightcap, and split an order of chicken wings and Coney Island hot dog.  Both were quite good.  The hot dog is not the same you find in the buffet, but a real gourmet hot dog topped with tasty chili and mustard.  We then sat down in the Atrium to watch "Into the Woods" on their big screen.  Then it was time to retire for the night.