North to Alaska

Friday June 13/Saturday June 14

As soon as school was out for the year, we made good our promise to take Logan on a cruise to Alaska - his parents and Jodie were joining us as well so we loaded the van with six people and all their luggage and headed for the airport. The flight was uneventful except that Grandpa's seatback entertainment centre was not working, so he read throughout the 5 hour flight while the kids watched the Lego Movie and the Muppet Movie, dining on pizza and snacks. With the three hour time change, the kids landed in Vancouver ready to go to bed.
 In the morning, overcast and drizzly, we caught the Skytrain for downtown - it was a somewhat unscenic ride through dark tunnels. Knowing that Ottawa was enjoying warm and sunny weather, we were very surprised to emerge from the Skytrain underground station to see:

It didn't take long to notice the film crews, lights, etc., surrounding the area, and we quickly realized that a lot of the 'snow' was actually quilt batting spread out over the rocks and logs. A large dump truck load of crushed ice had just been brought in from a fish packing plant and an entire block of a busy Vancouver street was blocked off - all for the purpose of filming a commercial. A sign warned us that by walking through that area, we were basically giving our permission to be included in the film! So watch for 6 puzzled looking travellers, laden down with wheeled suitcases, duffles and backpacks, staring in confusion at the rocky, woodsy scene before us! Unfortunately, we did not find out what the commercial was for..... We had a few hours before boarding time, so everyone except Grandma (who was not wearing sensible shoes!) headed for Stanley Park - here are our resident 'tree huggers' .....

Grandma wandered through the Gastown district - funky boutiques and galleries, and we all met up at the pier where MS Zuiderdam was docked and in the midst of loading food - lots and lots of food!

The boarding routine went smoothly - lots of lines, and 'hurry up and wait', but everyone was patient and were glad to finally walk up the gangplank and check out the cabins. We met to enjoy a quick lunch at the Lido Buffet before heading to the Promenade Deck for the required lifeboat drill, and then up top for the Sailaway.

Unfortunately we were scheduled for early dinner (5:30 pm) so couldn't stay on deck for all of the Sailaway - and it was overcast and misty anyway.

We were lucky enough to have window seats in the dining room, so watched the Lion's Gate Bridge fade into the background from there. Grandma and Grandpa (and Logan!) were thrilled with their upgraded cabin - ah, the 'suite' life!

Logan settled into his 'pop-up' sofa bed and was soon sound asleep.