Bon voyage

This is Karen blogging today, while Dorothy looks after the photos for today’s blog.

Today we are finally going on the ship … yeah!  We got to sleep in a bit longer and enjoyed breakfast from the restaurant downstairs.  Since we were ready to go early,  we took a drive around North Vancouver to Lynn Canyon Park.  It’s a beautiful woodsy park, with a suspension bridge similar to Capilano.  Dorothy and I walked 1/2 way across the bridge to shoot some photos of the waterfalls.  All was good until a crowd of bouncy type people joined us on the bridge.

We headed to Canada Place, and got the first view of our ship, the ms Zuiderdam.  My niece Marie was waiting for us at Canada Place to see us off, which was so great.  Check-in was a breeze, and took maybe 15 to 20 minutes, with priority service for wheelchair passengers.  Our rooms are awesome.  Nana & Papa’s is quite large, with enough room to maneouver a wheelchair around.  The balcony is the best.  Our room is next door, and our balconies are connected to make one huge balcony.  Since we’re at a curve in the ship, we have the most amazing view in many directions. 

Lunch was at the Lido buffet, and Nana & Papa had their first dining extravaganza on a cruise ship.  Great food at the buffet.  So many choices.  We ate outside on the back deck by the pool.  After we finished un-packing and settling in, Marie came back from downtown to give us a big waving send-off.  Thanks Marie!

We attended the life jacket drill, and then sailed out just before 5:00, under the Lion’s Gate Bridge.  Magnificent!!!  The view of Vancouver was outstanding.  We went back to the room to enjoy the view from the balcony, which is also outstanding. 

Tonight we had dinner at the Vista Dining Room, at the back of the ship.  We sat at a table with an interesting couple from Brisbane, Australia, who are here on a 23 day tour of BC and Alaska.  The restaurant was exquisite.  The food was amazing.  For  appetizers we had:  fresh fruit medley (Nana and Dorothy), sweet tomato and fresh buffalo mozzarella (Karen).  For soups and salads we had:  double baked potato soup (Papa), chilled mixed berry soup (Dorothy and Karen), Ceasar salad (Nana).  For entrees we had:  Alaskan King crab legs  (Nana), roasted chicken with sausage cornbread stuffing (Dorothy), salmon with basil,  tomatoes and capers (Karen), grilled Coho salmon (Papa).  For dessert we had:  vanilla ice cream (Papa), strawberry romanoff (Nana), and red velvet cake (Dorothy and Karen).  What a feast.  And this is only day one.

After dinner we checked out the casino.  We will definitely be going back there to do some damage.  And then through the shops, where Nana got to try out charging purchases to her room!  Followed by a stop at the movie theater, where they show current movies many times per day, and actually serve popcorn!  We finished the evening at tonight’s show in the show room, where we enjoyed some good entertainment.

Apparently we need to get up early, because there is so much to see.  Off to bed now … room service should be knocking on the door soon, to deliver our very early pre-breakfast!