Monday 20th May - Day four - Skagway, BC, Yukon

Woke at 4 and by 430 was writing out postcards like crazy on Deck 10. 45 postcards ready to go by 6 am. Dorothy came and we chatted and had breakfast at the buffet. We were all going on the train today at 10 so were excited about that. I wanted to get to a post office so headed out around 8 into town. Caught the mini shuttle to the end of the ship where I caught the town shuttle into town for 5 dollars you get an all day pass which consists of a stamp on your hand. They put it higher on my arm so that it would not get washed off over the course of the day.

The post office did not open till 830 so I went to a restaurant and used the facilities, I then went to purchase something as one should and the young girl, when I said it was the law that you had to buy something when you use the facilities with out purchasing something in the restaurant, said” it is not the law in Washington” I said Washington? I thought we were in Alaska?  She was very young.  It was a beautiful morning in Skagway and they had flowers blooming. I over heard one resident say that spring was a month late.

The post office opened and they did not have any stamps? but there was a shop down the road that did have some they thought. that store did not open till 9 so I went into some of the other shops that had free items and bought a northern lights pendant for too much although it is very pretty.  Popped into another shop and picked up the kids glow in the dark t-shirts.

The shop with the stamps opened and I bought them out along with a few more post cards. The girl behind the counter helped me put the stamps on 42 of the postcards after which I hurried up the street and mailed them and caught the town shuttle back to the dock for 930 where D,D&S were waiting for me. It seemed that we were taking a bus tour to start and then the train back into Alaska.

Davey on bus 108 was our guide and he was very good. We went to the gold panning place. Bigfoot was our A to B guy and two ton Tom showed us how to pan with a flourish. He was very, very slim and tall. But also very funny. I never realized how many bad puns and jokes there were about gold panning. 

We all found gold and most of us bought the little necklace to hold our gold. They gave us lunch, which was pretty good and we left our names on the wall along with the hundreds of other names that had been left over the years. went outside and took some photos by the river. 

Back on the bus and we were off to the border with a few picture stops along the way. It was a beautiful clear day, something that I guess happens very rarely in Skagway so we got views that most tourists don’t’ get.  at one point I traded seats with Dorothy on the other side of the bus as the heights and drop offs were really bothering me.

The Saw Tooth Mountains were clear and gorgeous at one of our photo stops and we appreciated seeing them very much. As we went higher there was more and more snow and with the sunshine I actually thought at one point I was going to go snow blind so was looking through my fingers like the Inuit do to cut the glare. (it works pretty good too).

We went through 4 levels of environments, Tundra, alpine, temperate rainforest and sea level. Wonderful. Dave kept up a running  chatter about this and that. Wiki pedia says' The White Pass Trail, was one of the two main passes used by prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush.  The White Pass was an easier route to Lake Bennett than the Chilkoot Trail a few kilometers to the west, but it harbored a criminal element that preyed on the cheechakos (newcomers to the Klondike). These con artists were believed to be members of the infamous Soapy Smith gang from Skagway, Alaska. In 1898 Smith was killed at the famed Shootout on the Juneau Wharf and his gang were run out of Skagway and the White Pass.

 So many horses died during the Gold rush that the trail became known as the "Dead Horse Trail". The trail ended at Lake Bennett, where the prospectors built or purchased rafts or boats to float down the Yukon River to the Klondike Gold Fields near Dawson City. 

The White Pass and Yukon route narrow gauge railroad was built 1898-1900 through White Pass. The southern end of the Klondike Highway also uses the White Pass and parallels the railway.

Both the Chilkoot Trail and White Pass had starvation, as well as insanity, and of course, death. Many of the starving people on the White Pass trail found the bodies of horses, and were so hungry, they ate them. Many of the people went insane on the White Pass, probably due to the rotting of the bodies in the snow, or because of the lack of vegtables, making it possible they had  scurvy.'

We went over the US border into BC and then into the Yukon and the suspension bridge, very pretty  wiki pedia says ' The Yukon Suspension Bridge is a pedestrian cable  suspension bridge located on mile 46.5 on the South  Klondike highway in Northern BC. It is 200 ft (60.96 metres) long and stretches 57 ft (17.36 metres) over the Tutshi River Canyon. There is an admission charge and it is visited by over 25 000 people every summer between the months of May and September.

The Yukon Suspension Bridge was completed in 2006 by Surespan Construction Group. The bridge's initial estimated cost for construction was one million Canadian dollars but due to the remote location and limitations on building supplies upon completion costs grew to three million Canadian dollars. In 2011 the bridge was privately acquired and now is locally owned and operated.

Due to the Yukon Suspension Bridge's isolated location there were challenges in the construction. The bridge was erected using galvanized steel cables, and required a helicopter to install the far side towers before it could be suspended over the river. This costly method was the only way to get the cables across because the other side of the canyon was completely inaccessible. 

Design of the interpretive areas and main building are done entirely in wood, since concrete is not available in these remote conditions where temperatures during winter reach -38° Celsius (-36.4° Fahrenheit).' It was not that cold when we were there thank goodness.

There were several fun picture taking spots including a stuffed polar bear? I believe that it was a younger bear  but still very capable of  killing me if it were alive. I took pictures, bought some t-shirts and postcards, had a washroom break and then back to the bus. there were five buses in the parking lot along the highway and the view towards the yukon and whitehorse was spectacular. 
Then our little excursion was over and we were back n the bus and back  to Fraser BC where we caught the train. 

Wikipedia says 'The White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&Y, WP&YR) is a Canadian and U.S. Class II 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railroad linking the port of Skagway Alaska with  Whitehorse the capital of the yukon. An isolated system, it has no direct connection to any other railroad. Equipment, freight and passengers are ferried by ship through the Port of Skagway, and via road through a few of the stops along its route.

The railroad began construction in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush as a means of reaching the goldfields. With its completion in 1900, it became the primary route to the interior of the Yukon, supplanting the Chilkoot Trail and other routes. The route continued operation until 1982, and in 1988 was partially revived as a heritage railway.

Today, the railroad is a subsidiary of Clublink and operated by the Pacific and Arctic Railway and Navigation Company (in Alaska), the British Columbia Yukon Railway Company (in BC) and the British Yukon Railway Company, originally known as the British Yukon Mining, Trading and Transportation Company (in Yukon), which use the trade name White Pass and Yukon Route.

The line was born of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897. The most popular route taken by prospectors to the gold fields in Dawson City was a treacherous route from the port in Skagway, Alaska across the mountains to the Canadian border at the summit of the Chilcoot Pass or the White Pass. There, the prospectors were not allowed across by Canadian authorities unless they had one ton of supplies. This usually required several trips across the passes. There was a need for better transportation than pack horses used over the White Pass or human portage over the Chilkoot Pass. This need generated numerous railroad schemes. In 1897, the Canadian government received 32 proposals for Yukon railroads, and most were never realized.

In 1897, three separate companies were organized to build a rail link from Skagway to Fort Selkirk,Yukon, 325 miles (523 km) away. Largely financed by British investors, a railroad was soon under construction. A 3 ft (914 mm) gauge was chosen by the railway contract builder  Michael James Heney. The narrow roadbed required by narrow gauge greatly reduced costs when the roadbed was blasted in solid rock. Even so, 450 tons of explosives were used to reach White Pass summit. The narrow gauge also permitted tighter radii to be used on curves, making the task easier by allowing the railroad to follow the landscape more, rather than having to be blasted through it.

Construction started in May 1898, but they encountered roadblocks in dealing with the local city government and the town's crime boss, Soapy Smith. The President, Samuel H. Graves (1852–1911), was elected as chairman of the vigilante organization that was trying to expel Soapy and his gang of confidence men and rogues. On the evening of July 8, 1898, Soapy Smith was killed in the  Shootout on Juneau Wharf with guards at one of the vigilante's meetings. Samuel Graves witnessed the shooting. The railroad helped block off the escape routes of the gang, aiding in their capture, and the remaining roadblocks in Skagway subsided.

On July 21, 1898, an excursion train hauled passengers for 4 miles (6.4 km) out of Skagway, the first train to operate in Alaska. On July 30, 1898, the charter rights and concessions of the three companies were acquired by the White Pass & Yukon Railway Company Limited, a new company organized in London. Construction reached the 2,885-foot (879.3 m) summit of White Pass, 20 miles (32 km) away from Skagway, by mid-February 1899. The railway reached Bennett BC, on July 6, 1899. 

Very cool old narrow gauge track that follows the trail the gold rushers used way back when..Bye to Davey with a small tip and we were going back down to Skagway. Breathtaking drops, bridges, tunnels and scenery!  the sheer dropoffs on the train did not bother me like when I was on the bus, wierd eh?  I bought the souvenir set of hat, DVD and book that you can only get onboard the train.

Back in town we shopped and got our free things  Shirley found her chocolate earrings and I found some Alaska black diamond earrings,  back to the ship on the shuttle and drop off our stuff. Ran in to the head housekeeper and asked about laundry and she helped us out after a bit of discussion. we would give them our clothes at 10 that night and they would give us back our clothes by 8 am the next day. I have enough clothes that I will not be trapped in the room tomorrow morning while waiting for the return of our clothes.

Deck 10 for dinner instead of the main dining room that was nice and quiet and fairly quick too as it is buffet so you can just pick up what you want and most people are at the sit down restaurants. I wanted sush but they actually did not have that much for non fish eating vegetarians.

  I wanted to go to the very top of the ship so we bundled up and went up. It was great.  I have been very careful taking pictures as I don’t have my charger for my battery (it is in My luggage) and I would like to be able to take some photos of the glacier. 

We came back in as Shirley was getting cold and found a nice spot in the back of deck 10 to watch the boat pull out of port. Watched a tug maneuver a barge semi full of sea containers, (probably full of jewelry and stamps), in to the dock and then we pulled out, backed out actually. Very, very slowly.  like backing out an extremely large car . Beautiful.

 I went back to the room at that point and had a shower. I still had the oil in my hair from the head massage and I needed it. Sorted things out. Found all my receipts  (have to figure out if I need to call Visa to increase my card limit so that I can get off the ship) and wrote post cards. Went to bed but did not fall asleep right away as I had had a cup of tea and was a little wired, but that did not last long.

Sunday 19th May - Day three- Juneau and whale watching.

Woke at 4 and was having tea on deck 10 by 415  journaling yesterday and enjoying the morning even though is was a little grey and misty.

   Dorothy came around 630 and we went up to the cosmo lounge and sat and listened to Dirk talk about the area that we were in/going through. He is our good looking shipboard naturalist announcer of interest. While there we met Dave, the retired english bobby from just outside London. He told us his tale of woe which was possibly more horrendous than our own.

When we were getting to the port yesterday there was a sign separating the US and Canada Passport holders from the international and Visa holders. We Canadians and US went into our very long line and they went into another, we thought. Turned out that they went into a room where they were seated and waited for up to 3 hours until we were all processed and then they formed up into their queues and went through the boarding process that we had gone through, which took hours more and because there was not really anyone there controlling the lines, there were line jumpers, sometimes through no fault of their own, which caused many bad feelings amongst those in the lines. The ship had left two hours late as the boarding process had been so long and now we knew who were the last people on board. 

Dorothy was ashamed for the port authority and apologized for the terrible process that Dave  and his wife and all the international people had to go through. I was shocked and dismayed that thier boarding process was even worse than our own. Dave told us of other cruises he had been on and how smoothly they went. Dorothy and I of course never having cruised before had no idea that is was not always like that.

  Dirk told us, everyone that was sitting up in the Cosmo lounge that when we went around a bend we would be able to see a glacier just for a moment off to the right. Dave, Dorothy and I went out at what seemed the appropriate time to get a photo of said glacier and almost missed it as we were looking the wrong direction. But at the last moment by luck we spotted it and got a lovely shot of it. 

Pauline and Dave(?)were also going on the whale watching tour that day and gave us gloves and myself a sweater to wear on the tour. It was a little grey and rainy and windy and cool so I appreciated it very much.

We went to check on D and S. They were up and gone for breakfast. While I was in the stateroom the phone rang and it was the concierge, Mateau,  letting us know that we would in fact, not be getting our luggage in either Juneau or Skagway but rather in Ketchikan our last stop two days before we got off the ship. I figured that instead of running around the ship trying to find D&S I would let them know when we met at the Red dog saloon after our tour.

Getting off the ship was a little crazy . Dorothy and I had a tour we were going on so we lined up in the crush at and waited some not very patiently to get off the ship. After that it was easy they held up placards and pointed out which direction we would be going in.. Found our bus that left a wee bit late as people were still trying to get off the boat.

Bus ride for 20 minutes and we were at the marina and on the St Phillip, all the boats were named after Russian orthodox saints, and out to sea in 10 more minutes after the great safety talk. Very pretty, but it was raining and it started to snow a little.  The boat was a catamaran with two floors the lower one inside completely and the upper half enclosed and half open. 

Once we had traveled for about 15-20 minutes  going around an island and up the channel , the sun came out and the wind died down and it was beautiful. We saw hump back whales and headed over to see if they would  rise again and stay in the area but they did not so we carried on to a wonderful rocky beach area where there were sea-lions. A whole lot of sea-lions.

Our tall young good looking naturalist onboard was very good at giving us lots of information on the area and the wildlife.

We left the sea-lions and saw some more humpbacks who also disappeared. Now when one sees a humpback whale what one mostly sees is a portion of the pack above the water. how one can tell if it is the same whale that one has seen before from a bit of back is beyond me.

Suddenly the tour got much more interesting as came upon a small pod of three killer whales. Very exciting. We stayed with the Orca for quite some time until we came upon a grouping of about 4 tour boats and decided that it was too much for the whales to deal with and headed back to the dock. What a great experience.

 Back to town to meet D&S at the red dog saloon where I ordered an Alaskan beer and potato skins. I let them know what Mateau had said and we discussed that for a while. what could we do really. nothing but have a good time and hope that we did in fact get our luggage at some point.

We found a pharmacy and then wandered our way through a few stores picking up the free gifts that some were offering.  I picked up about 30 postcards in different shops, Then we all kind of split up in different directions. Diane one-way, me another and Dorothy and Shirley in another. 

I bought a beautiful reversible alpaca sweater even though it was expensive. It was great, Two outfits for the price of two outfits. I got the kids each a t-shirt and more post cards. 

We met back on board ship and got ready for dinner at the Metropolitan again. We all had tales to tell. There had been a fair in town so Pat and Don went there. 

After dinner Dorothy and I had an appointment at the spa up on deck 8. Filled out the paper work and then were brought to the change room where the floors were as cold as ice. Had a wonderful mini facial, a head and shoulder massage, and a foot and hand massage. I think I fell asleep. Then they tell you about the wonderful products that you can and should be using so with the massages and the products my bill came to 190 $ ouch. It was nice though.

 Back through the casino where we caught the last act of the show and looked at the Pandora look-alike jewelry that they had on sale. Decided not to get it but the real thing. Aurora has a Pandora bracelet so now I know what to get her for birthdays and Christmases. Diane was already in bed with a robe over her head so I slipped into my bed very quietly and fell asleep so fast I don’t remember turning off the light but I must have. Skagway Tomorrow.

Saturday 18 May - The inside passage ? - Day 2

I slept pretty well  only woke up once at around 3 to use the loo and Diane was awake and asked me to check the hallway for our luggage. It was not there. I went back to sleep until 5 and then got up and went for tea and to start journaling in this computer as I didn’t have my journal, it was in my suitcase. This was to become a phrase that we used often.

Went up to deck 10 and settled in. There were three other people sitting along the windows  I got about 2 and a half pages done when Dorothy showed up. She said that she had been one of the three people sitting there and I must have missed her.  We went exploring. Up to the 11th  deck, over to the end of the 8th deck. We found the library, the computer sign up room (where I bought 24 minutes of computer time at 65 cents a minute) and the pools, both inside and outside, hot tubs and more restaurants.

 The weather was a little rough and so the ship was a little unsteady. Sometimes, when walking, it was like you were a drunken sailor. Luckily I was not affected. Dorothy and I are the early birds. We went for another cuppa and then went down to our staterooms to see if the Diane and Dorothy were awake. They were up already so we got ready to go and have breakfast. 

 It was in the level 5 metropolitan restaurant , the upper level of the restaurant that we had dinner in the night before.  I had the funniest looking eggs benedict that I have ever seen. They were tasty though so who cares what they look like.

We met some lovely people from Scotland whose names we did not get, but they were a lot of fun. Dorothy did not eat, as she was not feeling well. Queasy, said she was fine when we were walking but not when we were just sitting,  so she went back to the stateroom to lay down. 
After breakfast we went down to check on the status of our luggage and they gave us laundry vouchers?  ?  and what were we supposed to wear while we were getting our laundry done? There are robes in the staterooms but... what? Then we said we would like to pick up something else to wear and the young man  Mateu, told us to go look at the shops and come back with prices and they would see what they could do for us.

With that little bit of progress there we went to the hospital on deck one for Shirley who had put her medications into her luggage at the port prior to boarding rather than carry them around in her purse. We were not even 200 yards from the boat at that point. What could go wrong? We did not know that there were two boats loading at the same time. The doctor took a little while, but that was ok as he was very good looking and with a lovely south African accent. She is diabetic but can control it with her eating so he told her to just be very sensible until we got our luggage and then gave her some of her other medications to tide her over.

We went back to check on Dorothy and she was feeling better as long as she looked at the horizon. She  took a gravol and said that the desk had called they found our luggage!!! it was on the other ship and that they were trying to arrange to have it airlifted to either Juneau  for Sunday or Skagway. for Monday and they would like us to come up to the desk to discuss it. Off we went to see what we could discuss.

When we got there I said to the young girl at customer relations that I was so glad they were giving us a free cruise in compensation. The look on her face was great. She sent us over to Mateau who was taking care of a group of 6 other people whose luggage was also missing,  where I repeated the statement. Mateu just smiled and explained where our luggage was and what they were doing to try and get it to us.  I guess the free cruise was not on the table as an option. Mateau told us to go and look at the shops and decide what we needed, write it down and come back to see them with the list and he would see what they could do for us.

We were not sure what we might find amongst the t shirts and sandals for our formal dinner that night but we did come up with a list. I picked a black t-shirt with a bling starfish, a white t-shirt with a bling design on it, a pair of  black pants and blue sweater, a black scarf and some earring that almost but not quite matched.. the pants were a little too long but they would have to do. I wanted to try the items on but the single change room was full of boxes of hangars so I just slipped them on right there in a quiet corner of the shop. we made a list of how much things cost and then we all went back down stairs to see Mateau. 

We told him we each needed about $200. He seemed quite surprised and said that he would have to speak with his supervisor. In a moment Sandra and Mateau came out and brought us back to a little back room to negotiate as it were.  There was a small sign on the wall that said “$5 dollar charge for whining”  I asked her if the sign was being enforced on this occasion,

She said that although the ship was not actually responsible to do anything as that was what insurance was for and we had all signed the waiver when we bought our ticket , the company could offer us each $100. I said that would be fine for me but that the others needed a coat in order to leave the ship in Juneau.  So she said she would give each of us $150 which made me very happy and the others pretty happy.  The office would credit each of our cards with  $150 and we could just go and pick up what we needed.  I went to shake hands with Sandra and learned that they do the knuckle bump in lieu of handshakes on board.

We went back down stairs to see how Dorothy was fairing and she was not there. We went up to deck 10 and there she was having a small bite to eat. So we all grabbed a tea or coffee and chatted about the events of the morning.

Then we went shopping. I spent  $158 and got the 2 t’s, a pair of pants, a sweater, a scarf and some underwear. The prices on board were actually not that bad.  Back to our stateroom to change and then  off to lunch. Diane hates lines but we decided to go to Deck 10 buffet anyway. We will go to Deck 4 restaurant tomorrow. 
After lunch Dorothy and I went up to the Cosmo lunge to have dessert and discovered that there was only drinks. Ginger ales worked and we sat at the front and top of the ship enjoying the view. It was raining and or misty with only brief patches of clearing but it was still very coastal pretty.

I went back downstairs to fetch my computer to try and catch up with journaling and did manage to get a few more lines in. There was this rather annoying gentleman who insisted on asking me questions about what computer system I was using and talking to me from behind me while I was typing.  Diane and Shirley came along eating ice cream cones complaining about being blown off the deck as they walked to the lounge on the outside deck, which was, I am very sure, very windy and cool.

I had brought along the binoculars I had bought at the port and Dorothy was enjoying them very much.. I could never figure out where we were. I thought that we were in the inside passage but it didn't look familiar at all. We all went for tea and ended up having dessert and tea. Yummy. Great views and the sun was out and the sea was blue..... loverly!

We decided to go and see about shore excursions for the next day in Juneau. Diane and Shirley would stay on shore and shop and browse and Dorothy and I were going to go whale watching on a catamaran. Into another line up, not too long, and we booked our trip. we realized that it was getting closer to our first formal dinner. We were ready,,,, ha ha,,,,, with our blingy t-shirts and scarves.  We were not going to win best dressed but we were, at least, going in clean clothes.

Dinner was lovely again. Pat and Don joined us and we all had a great time. After dinner we went to the show. An impressionist singer. Pretty good and fun. That ended around 930 and then to the casino where Diane and Dorothy lost a bit of money, maybe 25 total, but had fun doing it.

Friday 17 May - Day one- boarding the ship

All packed except for the last minute items. I would, very bravely, be checking my bag through at the airport so that I didn’t have to crush all my clothes into a smaller space for carry on size. Actually slept pretty well considering how excited I was.

Our trip has begun. I was up at 530. and got the garbage ready to go out, made the beds, packed up those last minute things and took my time about it too. I didn’t have to leave until 7. The plan was to take the LRT to Century plaza and than catch the airport bus from there (Only $5) by 6 so thought I would call a taxi to get me to the U of A Lrt. The cab showed up about 5 minutes after I called so I was rushing a bit to get things out. Got to the LRT by the Hospital and the Train came right away. Got to Century park and the bus came right away. Got to the airport, checked in, converted my cash and it was only about 645 so had a bite to eat and downloaded a few books into my new kobo and read. Diane was there about 730 and did all of her checking in and we met around 8.We had a lovely cuppa tea, both being very excited about the whole trip.

We wandered around the new airport expansion after security and were very impressed by the living wall.

The flight went well and I even caught a 15 min power snooze. Shirley and Dorothy met us at the baggage claim and we were like little catholic schoolgirls, all excited about the trip. Got our luggage and caught the sky train to downtown Vancouver. We were given directions to walk two blocks to Canada place where the cruise terminal was. But when we got outside we did not know which way to go being faced with three directions and no sight of water. A young man asked us what we were looking for and guided us there. I gave him 5 dollars for his able assistance. I would have given him more but he didn’t offer to drag my bag.  

We were getting closer and more excited. Our goal was in sight. as we walked toward the entry way which seems to be located in an underground parade next to the bay. a gentleman walked toward us and said “don’t hurry, the line is very long” ... I did not see any line at all so was puzzled by this seemly cryptic statement. We continued on and came to the location to check our bags. there were several attendants assisting people to label their luggage with the proper information. One attendant helped us out by writing our tags out and affixing them to our bags that were then taken and put on a cart destined for our ship. We continued on with only a few articles. 

I had Waldo, my most lovely leather and multi coloured plaid rabbit fur bag given to me by my good friend Brenda for my birthday just the week before, which I kept in the luggage rolly cart with my laptop computer which is very old and heavy. We entered the building and stanchions funneled us into line. the line appeared to go forever but I saw lights and thought (turned out mistakenly) that there was the finish line  for our journey.

 ..not allowing our enthusiasm to fade by the sight of ‘the line’ which snaked around the very large room into about 15 lines with what could have been easily 1500 people. We maintained our happy demeanor. Chatting with and laughing and meeting the people around us. I met Fred and Janet from Newark NJ. They were going on the other cruise that was embarking at 6 for a longer cruise and then onto a land tour to end up in Fairbanks where they would fly home from there. they had been up for a long time.

There were people from all over the world in that long line. South Africa, Australia, all parts of Asia and Canada and US and Europe. Extraordinary.. we stood and shuffled and walked and finally got to where I could see that the lights I had thought were the check in was really a store to buy souvenirs.  The line dance continued. chat, shuffle, chat shuffle, turn around, pull the cart shuffle shuffle shuffle!

 There was a kiosk in the middle of the line selling binoculars. Derek, a lovely gentleman assisted me with my purchase. they are nice and I will be able to see all those unknown things I am expecting  to see very clearly now. I saw Derek on three different occasions as the line snaked around again and again. We were getting closer to the glazed glass wall and the door through which looked like security. surely after that we would be on the ship.

Wrong. After security we went to US customs with a line holding about 500 people.

We had found that the two ships being boarded today were each at about 2400 people so if they started boarding people at 11 and they had to board 4800 people and for us it was 230 they must be loading people very slowly. We chatted with Fred and Janet each time as we passed each other. Once we went through customs, which took quite a while and the customs agent told us a cute but rather off color joke about computer passwords, we thought yea we are here! But no. There was a moment of quiet with no line of people in front of us but that did not last long. Then we were in line again to check in to the ship. Met a nice lady from North Carolina who was with a couple who were celebrating their 50th. Nice. 

It was finally our turn. We checked in and each received our own card which we would use for paying for things on the cruise, our room key, and now we were really going to go on the ship although we were definitely deflated  and ready to sit down. We went into the ship finally around 3 in the afternoon and we were greeted in the main foyer on the 3 deck with champagne which was very tasty. Shirley had to sit down so we found her a chair and drank our champagne, Diane had two glasses and then we went to our rooms. 

We were side by side and the room was loverly. Initially our beds were together but our room attendant came and while we were at the Fire boat Muster drill orientation he changed it to two beds. We went to dinner and had a lovely dinner. After dinner we decided to go and poke around the ship a little bit. Found lots of things. Shops that were not open yet as we had not left port and they could not open until we set sail. 

We found other cafes and restaurants and got totally confused as to where we were on board. When we got back to our room around 830 we discovered that we did not have our luggage. We asked our room attendant if he could find it or us and we waited..... and waited...... and waited. Then we called him. He came back saying that he could not find it..... He does not have a phone and so had to come all the way back to our room. I felt bad. He went away again and a little later came back and told us to go and report it to the customer relations as he could not locate our luggage anywhere. Diane and I went up and talked to the people 'up there'. 

The gentleman was not very supportive telling us things like sometimes people don’t get their luggage back until the last day as the people who took it into their staterooms (by accident?) just hang on to it until the last day! or just being seemingly very passive about our dilemma. “ it is on the ship,  it will turn up”. Then he said “ some people get very impatient about receiving their luggage” !!?? well yea!  a young lady gave us some things to tide us over: 4 celebrity T shirts, 4 combs, 5 toothbrushes, 5 toothpastes and 5 razors? What.... we might need an emergency leg shave? We told them maybe it got on the other ship and they said they had to check our ship first before calling the other ship, like with missing persons you had to investigate the disappearance for 24 hours. Diane thought that was just ship pride but nevertheless that was what we had to do. We gave them a description of our luggage and went back to our stateroom with our emergency supplies..

at around 1030 we called it a night and tried to get some sleep in our new t-shirt PJs. luckily I fell asleep right away but poor Diane woke every hour and checked outside our door for our poor lost luggage.