Day Two – At Sea

Once past Port Angeles, Washington, we headed out on the open sea as we inch along the Canadian coast toward Ketchikan and Alaska.

Breakfast in the room. We decided to have breakfast delivered to the room. Coffee. Tea. Bagels. And a whole plate of bacon. Why? Because we could. And it’s free. I think.

Food Services Tour. At 10:45 we went to our dining room on deck three to get a tour of the kitchen and  learn about all the behind-the-scenes of  the Food Service operation. Mr. Cruise Director was there and apparently his trademark is his loud and crazy socks, so he showed them to us for the second day in a row. I think it drives the 80-year old women wild. Not sure though. I’ll have to ask one. The tour began with about ten people telling us what their jobs were and and cracking jokes. The chef told us the fish is so fresh because he has four sous chefs fishing off the back of the boat. We also learned there are 52 ways to cook an egg and the pleats in a chef’s hat represent the number of ways there are to cook eggs. Google Machine says there are 100 ways though. Most of them are doing their jobs so well they will be moving to start the newest Celebrity ship, Edge. No relation to The Edge from U2. Wait, maybe he owns it.

We never actually got our tour of the kitchen because our next session on whales started in the theatre at 11:30.

Beyond the Podium with Brent Nixon. “Discover the Whales.” Next up at 11:30 in the theatre was a lecture on humpback whales by Brent Nixon, the naturalist guy we met yesterday. Not sure what “beyond the podium” means. Maybe it’s that he didn’t have a “lectern” and was trying not to be too academic and boring. Great photos and videos of whales, but he was trying a little too hard. I think he said “you guys” about 200 times. I’m hoping I don’t come across like that when I’m talking to a bunch of high school kids. Never want to be known as the 60+-year-old-guy-who-is-trying-too hard. We did learn that there should be many opportunities to see whales, and that he’s never heard of a shore excursion ever getting “skunked” in 26 year. Supposedly we may see some from the ship tonight.

Supposedly we may see some from the ship tonight. And all throughout the trip. Stay tuned for whale sighting updates. (update: nothing)

Lunch. We think we were hungry. It was after noon. I think we were supposed to be hungry, so we wandered around a while and finally found a seat in the Ocean View Café and tried a few things. Fish and Chips. Meat and cheese plate. Chocolate frosty. Now we are really not hungry.

More wandering around the ship. We explored the ship as we walked back down to our deck. The two pool areas were interesting. One was outside and loud, the other was enclosed, much warmer and cozy. We found some seats and promptly took a nap. Lucky we haven’t seen the fun socks guy again.

Nap central.

More cool stuff we saw. The library and  a giant hanging tree.

Jay Gubitz Hour at the Martini Bar. Our daily routine has become getting attch seat at the Martini Bar around 4 p.m. and having our friend Abibbi make us a concoction.  Notice the ice on the bat itself. Wondering if they have a tiny Zamboni? People watching at its finest. 

After happy hour. We were chillin’ in our room and enjoying the view from our balcony. We looked hard, but no whale sightings so far.

“Amade” – tonight’s show. The 7 pm show in the Solstice Theatre was called “Amade” and had some connection to Mozart. Sort of good. Sort of bizarre. Some Mozart. Also included Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, Lorde, will.i.am, Bruno Mars, and even Oasis and “Wonderwall.” And a lot of people hanging and swinging from the ceiling.

Weird. Kooky. Fun. But only one number I thought was amazing. The folks flying around from the bungees were cool though. At the end of the show the Cruise Director was back with his next pair of socks. And a few announcements. Hmmm. Maybe I have to rethink my bow tie branding

Dinner at 8:30. Tonight I had the French onion soup and the tournedos of beef. Love our table mates . Dean and Joan from Indiana and Mitch an Michelle from Houston. Mitch can definitely tell a story. Parking ticket in Italy. Staying in a West Bank hotel in Jerusalem. Having Steve Perry and Journey cancel on him three times. I did find out that Joan and her first husband were accountants in Beverley Hills for over 30 years before they moved back to Indiana when his health started to fail.

Time zone change. We gain an hour tonight, but lose it once again on the way back to Victoria and Seattle.

Day three preview. Our first port of call in Alaska –  Ketchikan.