2. Cruise-Eng

Here we go again!

We (Suley, Julie & Sandra) were invited by Mum and Dad (Ann & Tony) to join them on a "magic cruise" aboard the Norwegian Star. In addition to a five-day cruise from Vancouver, BC to Los Angeles, CA there was also a special Magic Convention (PCAM) with 250 magicians on board! Mind you there were probably 800 other (normal) passengers too.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself again...

First, we arrived in Victoria a few days ago on the 20th Sept and were treated to a ROYAL feast by Grandma. It was such a nice visit and good to catch up! We have not been in Victoria for a couple of years and have there been changes! Unbelievable development and growth everywhere. Sigh. I guess everything changes with time! We also got to see our dear friends, Henry & Allison and their delightful children. Never enough time left for visiting but at least we got a glimpse of these cutie kids! We also got in a visit with Uncle Jack & Auntie Bessie, before we repacked our bags and prepared for our cruise.

Sandra arrived in Vancouver a few days before us on the 23rd and she visited a few friends, too.

This particular morning: RISE AND SHINE. What kind of vacation has you getting up at 7 am every morning? Today was no different...up early we were ready to roll by 8.45 AM. We got a ride by Trent in his HUGE Suburban (all of us plus our bags and he still had a spare row in the back!) to the Bus Station where there were a ton of others all getting ready to get onto a cruise ship! What a zoo. Saw many other PCAMers like Doug and Holly, Don, Rob and Monica. We then made our way to the ferry and finally we were in Vancouver. Yes, of course, card tricks ensued at the dining table!

Boy and I thought the bus line was a zoo. There were reportedly, 12,000 of When we made our way to Canada Place where the Cruise Ships dock, we realized we were not the only ship in town! There were FOUR cruise ships all departing from the same terminal at more or less, the same time! us at the terminal. We were supposed to meet up with Sandra at this terminal...Luckily Sandra and I have a special, innate, psychic-like form of sisterly communication system called cell phones and we texted and voiced our coordinates and actually met up quite easily.

After long waits through security and then again in a terminal "holding" area, we finally checked in with Norwegian Cruise Line aboard the Star. Saw a TON of familiar faces and friends while waiting, so it was kind of fun to visit in the various lines and take a lot of goofy pictures to kill time. Whew! They took our credit and passport information and downloaded it onto our room key and attached a digital photo of us in their system. Much better for getting on and off the boat!

Once we found our rooms and got ourselves somewhat sorted out (we had to wait for our bags to show up to our cabins) we took a tour of the massive ship. We found lots of neat nooks and crannies and took a tour of the spa, gym (as if) and the other rooms like the theatre, dining halls and poolside deck.

After the quick tour of the ship, we had to go back to our cabins to get lifevests to do the mandatory safety drill. Amazingly smooth, fast, and actually kinda funny!

We got our bags (Annie was still missing one of her bags) and got changed (it was always quite a fashion show). DINNER CALLS! We had our first show quite early so we had an early dinner (thank god Mum and Dad stuffed us silly on the ferry from Victoria to Vancouver!) at 5.30 at the beautiful Versailles Restaurant. It was one of the 13 on board. A scrumptious meal and absolutely amazing service by Felipe. As we enjoyed the sunset, we left the Port of Vancouver...For none other than the Port of Victoria! Sigh. Yes, we just spent 8 hours travelling from Victoria, getting to our cabins only to float back to Victoria. Glorious sunset though.

After dinner, we dashed up to the Spinnaker Lounge (Deck 12, Forward) to catch our first show of the convention, by Lisa Menna. We then rushed outta there back to the Stardust Theatre (Deck 7, Forward) to catch the welcome aboard show with a very entertaining cruise director, Kieron and the hilarious funny-man Greg Otto.

By now we are seriously bagged, so we took another leisurely tour of the ship back to the lounge for a drink and catching up with PCAM friends.

A late night but a nice surprise to find our cabins turned down for us! I can get used to this!