It must have been much earlier than 7am when the Eurodam docked at Pier 91 in the port of Seattle, as it was still dark. Today is the end of the line for the 7 day Alaskan journey, but the beginning of an 18 day trip to and back from the Hawaiian Islands. To be more precise, there is a 2 night cruise from Seattle to Vancouver. These types of “mini cruises” are nick-named the booze cruises. For couple of days, the Eurodam becomes a party boat, or so we have been told. As we don’t frequent those public areas after dinner, we will probably miss that party. What is not unusual is hearing the party-goers coming back to their cabins after a night of fun and more than a little drinking. The solution to that? Earplugs.
Early in the morning, one of us attempted to finish the report from Victoria, yesterday’s port. However, something occurred with the computer that made the report and photos go “poof”….gone, disappeared forever. That is so frustrating, because we knew we had to re-do all of it from scratch. At least, we had not disposed of the port info.
Because we will be sailing onward, we received in-transit cards to show to the folks in the terminal. Also, we had to bring our passports with us to pass by the officials. There are no more US declaration cards to fill out. There was another ship debarking their passengers at this pier – the Ruby Princess. So many guests were crowding the terminal, looking for their luggage. We had none to find, so we lined up and got out to the parking lot in a few minutes. By now, the time was 9:15am, leaving us less than 2 hours to reach downtown.
From here, we had a long walk to Pike’s Market and the Hard Rock Café. Sure we could have taken a taxi, but what fun is that? It was only 9:15am, and we had until 11am to get there. The good news is that we were meeting our wonderful travel agent, Debra, who is based in Seattle where she lives. It is not often that we are here in town on a weekend, so this worked out well for her. The shoreline bike and hike trail had a detour, due to a large construction project. But it was well marked, and we followed the signs that led us to a frontage road following the railroad tracks.
Did we mention that the weather could not have been more perfect? It was partly cloudy, but not cold. Eventually, the sun peeked out, and it stayed that way for most of the day. No rain today.
Since today was Saturday, there were many locals out and about. The city has Lime Bikes for rent, like we do in Walnut Creek. It’s really taken off here, because we had to be mindful of where we walked. We guess there were about as many runners and walkers too. Once past the construction, we were back on the regular path. Benches and a few picnic tables lined the way. Estimating that our walk would be near 4 miles, we took advantage of some of those benches.
About halfway to downtown, we looked over the railings into the water, and spotted a large sea lion. Appearing to be a grey rock, we could make out his head and tail. He must have been under six feet of water at the rocky edge, simply looking at us. In a few minutes, he turned and swam away without ever surfacing. That was the only seal we saw all day.
Snapping photos all the way, we arrived to the Pike Market parking area and elevator to the top. Wow, there was a mob scene up there. Given it was a Saturday with the addition of two ball games at both stadiums today. We have never seen it so crowded. The street souvenir stands were just opening up, and trucks were delivering produce to the markets. Starbucks had a line ½ block long. Having 10 minutes to spare, we got to the Hard Rock Café to meet with our travel agent and friend, Debra.
Sure was nice to be able to spend a couple of hours with her, while enjoying a couple of entrée salads. Arriving at opening time was the best idea, because this place filled up rapidly. The ambience is fun, a bit noisy, but that’s OK for a change. The time flew by, and by 1pm, we said our goodbyes, heading back the way we came. The next time we will see Debra, it will be in January in Ft. Lauderdale before the 2019 world cruise. Believe us, that will come way too fast.
We had sun when we walked out of the restaurant, but the skies clouded up as the day progressed. Still, it was warm and balmy with no rain. So glad we did not bring the umbrellas with us. Taking our time, we got back to the terminal parking lot before 4pm. A funny thing happened on our way back to the ship. Same as last year, a shuttle driver kindly stopped and offered us a ride back to the terminal building. Yes, we thanked him for his ride. A group of pier workers (those that check people in) were waiting for this ride back to their cars. Their work for Princess was done, since we saw the ship leave well before 4pm.
Going through the security check, we by-passed the new guests checking in, and went directly to the ship. Going over our list for this next cruise, we noticed some things were missing. Since we had to turn in the customs declaration once again for Victoria’s stop tomorrow, one of us went down to the front desk to take care of that. Another funny thing happened on the way there. The lights went out. Apparently they were testing the “plug” where the ship can operate on local power, instead of our generators. The test did not work, and we lost some power for a few minutes. Sure is dark on deck one without any windows to give it light. All the ship’s TVs lost their content as well. Our new Captain, John Scott, came on the speakers explaining the blip, and promised all to be corrected soon. It was within minutes. Then there was the follow-up of our amenities for this cruise, which was booked under a separate booking number. More shipboard credit was coming, and flowers, sodas, waters, and canapies, which had already been delivered. What was missing was the bottle of welcome onboard champagne, but it arrived in a bucket of ice shortly after our request. We sipped this sparkling wine on the veranda, while the rest of the passengers had to attend the muster drill. We had been excused, because we did this just one week ago.
The remainder of the afternoon, one of us worked on photos, while the other relaxed outside, taking in the warmth from the setting sun. A complimentary shuttle was available starting at 5pm to the Westlake Center in town. Running every 30 minutes, this was nice for those who may want to go to dinner in Seattle. The last shuttle was at 9:15pm, saving passengers a lot of taxi money. Since we had reservations for the Tamarind at 8pm, we did not wish to go back to town.
Our meal in Tamarind was just as pleasant as our first time here. Service was excellent as was the food. This evening we switched up our entrees with one order of lobster and one veggie tempura. Both were really tasty. Spring rolls and Thai salads started our meal. Desserts were Thai donuts drizzled with three sauces, and one fortune cookie with coffee. We were finished after 9pm, and did have plenty of time to attend the one show at 9:30pm. However, the entertainer was comedian, Dan Chopin, and we chose not to go. Instead, we took a short walk outside to get some fresh air.
The ship left late after 11:30pm. Since we had such a long hike today, we never did hear any noise from the party-goers. We were asleep instantly.
Tomorrow’s port will be Victoria once again. Hope the weather holds up.
Bill & Mary Ann
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Report # 9 Seattle, Washington - Embarkation Day September 29, 2018 Saturday Partly cloudy & 67 degrees
