Our port of call for today was San Diego, California. It was the end of a 5 day cruise for some, a continuing sailing for about 600 of us, and the beginning of a 45 day cruise for 1100 or so who boarded today. It was heavily overcast, but not really cold with a temperature of 69 degrees. Southern California is typically warmer and drier than the north part of the state. So we were surprised not to see the sun appear later in the morning.
And as always on debarkation day, the restaurants were opened at an uncivilized 6:30am to 8:30am (the Lido was even earlier at 6am). However, since we have the option of getting off the ship anytime, one of us slept until 7am. Breakfast was at the normal time of 8am for us, and several other guests.. Although we were not the last to arrive to the Pinnacle Grill, we almost felt rushed. Even our empty coffee cups were not refilled. That was most unusual. Perhaps the staff here was anxious to get off for their free time. Our meal was fine, just different. Tomorrow will be totally different since we will be getting new passengers once again.
Disembarkation began at 7:30 and ended about 9:40am. With only about 400 folks leaving, it was speedy. Taking a walk on the promenade deck, we watched as the shore crew did their jobs. All of the luggage had been taken off, and they were awaiting the new arrivals of baggage. This would probably be a good time to leave, before the thundering herd started boarding. For us, that was 10:30am, and a little too late. A river of new guests were already on the move, like salmon swimming upstream. Actually ran into some folks we knew, except for Denise and Howie, our friends who would also be joining the ship today. Bet they were already onboard.
Finally outside, we took notice of the parking lot area, which was under construction. It was not as bad as we had expected, and when the work is completed, it will be a lot nicer. The taxis were still arriving as they always do in a shorter version of the lot. We turned right, like we always do, and headed down Harbor Drive passing the Sapphire Princess, the USS Midway Naval Aircraft Carrier, and the Seaport Village. There are more than 60 shops here, as well as 19 eateries, and a hand-carved carousel. Continuing on, we made our way past the marina, where dozens of high-end sailboats and pleasure craft are moored. The San Diego Convention Center is located here, then a series of nice hotels begin. Next to the Hilton, was a large group involved with a special event on the greens. It turned out to be hundreds of real estate investors.
We always make a pass through the Hilton to access the pedestrian walkway over the highway and trains below. We ended up on the street that flanks Petco Park – the home of the San Diego Padres. Usually, we cut across the back side of this ball stadium, but it has been fenced off. So we continued walking up 10th Street towards the Gaslamp Quarter. There was a corner restaurant/sports bar where we always went to lunch when we stayed here. But do you think we could find it? Forgetting the name and street it was on, there is a possibility that it had closed during the pandemic. And just like what happened where we live, the restaurants expanded their outside dining by taking over part of the street with fenced tables and chairs. Actually, 5th Street had been closed to traffic at one point. We never did find that sport's bar, so we headed back down to the pier area. On the way we passed by what used to be Horton's Plaza, part of Westfields. It looked like it had been totally leveled since the last time we were here. Bet the next time we visit here, there will be another new high rise in its place.
It seemed like we had walked for hours, and it was time to find lunch somewhere. We ended up going to the Claim Jumper, which was a favorite lunch venue where we live. That is, until it closed forever. By now it was close to 2:45pm, and we thought since they were not busy with many customers, lunch service would be OK. Well…..that's not exactly how it went. We waited to be seated, as there did not appear to be any greeter. Eventually, someone came, seated us, handed us the menus, then disappeared. For twenty minutes. If it wasn't for their excellent house salads, we should have left. And that's what we did order, but waited another ½ hour for them to arrive. The good news was that the ample salads were very good, served with cheesy toast. Knowing that our waiter might disappear again, we asked for the bill as well. The charge for our cokes had been complimentary missing from the bill, because of the delay, which was nice.
Back to the ship by 3:45pm, it was easy to get back onboard. We relaxed on our veranda for the rest of the afternoon, and were soon happy to spot our buddies, Denise and Howie, doing the same thing on deck 4 below us. They had attended the Mariner Welcome Sparkling Wine Event in the Crow's Nest. Oddly, we did not receive an invitation to this, because the official start of our South Pacific cruise began in Vancouver. However, much to our surprise, we did have a special invite to a President's Club Reception tomorrow evening at 5pm to meet the Captain and key hotel officers and staff. Now that was nice to get, and will be a pleasure to attend.
Dinnertime in the dining room found a lot more tables filled with the newbies. Makes a difference with approximately 1700 guests now. There did not seem to be a shortage of wait staff, which was a good thing. Henk M, the Hotel Manager, stopped for a quick chat, which he often does. He is really busy these days. Anyway, starters were Caesar salad and a bowl of pork noodle soup. Something new, one of us found the broth to be a bit too spicy with something hot added like jalapeno sauce. Mains were macadamia-crusted rockfish and huli huli chicken. With a name like that, it had to be good….and it was.
The best news of the day was the fact we turned the clocks back one hour. Always most welcomed. Now we will have a total of five sea days to reach Hilo, Hawaii on October 9th, and the rocking and rolling has slowly begun.
Bill & Mary Ann
