FEBRUARY 13 & 14TH

February 13-14
We spent Saturday doing our usual ship board routine and consulting again with the purser to be sure we are listed as still being on the world cruise but taking a medical “leave” in LA to rejoin in Honolulu. Each time one of us has gone down, we’ve been assured it’s in the computer and each time we go down again, it isn’t right. It has not been a good sign that we’ve got luggage tags to disembark and our cabin steward keeps asking us if we are going to vacate our room.
Packing
We packed a duffle bag with things to drop off in LA. That didn’t take long! And then we left our stuff in the cabin in good order.
Trivia
Yep we won, big time. These haven’t been the easiest trivia quizzes and so the scores are always low. We had a tie breaker which we eventually lost this morning but we won by several points over the next highest team this afternoon. I dread trying to assemble a good team when we return as 2 are leaving in LA and of course, we are gone for 6 days too.
Dinner
With all it’s good byes. We’re losing Glen and Mickie back to the cold frozen Wisconsin tundra. The rest of us remain on the cruise.
Entertainment
This was a hilarious guy who would get info from folks in the audience and then make up songs with lyrics referring to this information. Very difficult to do and extremely clever. So it was worth going to.
February 14, Valentine’s day and our 26th wedding anniversary
We woke up early and finally saw the dawn peeking over the So Cal Coastline. I’m struck by how any heavy cranes are visible in the Long Beach and LA ports. Our ship berthed a few slips away from the usual site of Princess ships; that slot was occupied by the Golden Princess.
Room service delivered, bless their hearts because on disembarking days no room service is usually available.
Getting off the ship
Well first of all EVERYONE on the ship had to show up personally with their passport for Customs and Border Patrol inspection and interview. Some folks were getting some tough questions too. The supervisor of all these folks is about 4’8” tall too. We passed and reminded ourselves to keep our passports instead of relinquishing them as we usually do.
Eventually we made it to the Caberet Lounge after spending hours watching the process of tieing up the ship and the various forklifts and supply trucks setting their goods on the pier. One lady was sent to an ambulance and that went quickly. She was the first one off the ship and quickly the lines of folks in order of timing began to trail off the ship.
Our turn to leave
I suppose it’s only fair to say that the logistics of embarking and disembarking numerous passengers, staff and entertainers from a vessel of any size is a logistical nightmare. So now we go from that kind position to reality.
Despite all our efforts, when I put my cruise card into the machine, all kinds of awful bells and whistles went off. So back to the purser we went. Everything in the computer was OK we were told. She we merged into the long line again. This time I let Ed go first. Guess what? ( I know you’re going to get it right) BELLS AND WHISTLES! This is getting old. We are routed visually back to the purser who is hollering to the ghurka on security to let us go, it’s OK. So F I N A L L Y we are released from our metal cage.
Jeff picked us up and we went to Brent’s for brunch (it’ll be a long time for bagels). Then home to unpack and repack the duffle with things we want for backup on the rest of the cruise. Yes, we planned it this way. Ed has collected probably 150# of diet sodas, plus other toiletries and such. I drove back down to the ship with him to hold the car in case of parking problems. He got a porter (a small but very powerful—he tells me—woman) to help him get the stuff to the ship. There were places of a few feet where she was not allowed to go (go figure). Without recounting the whole miserable story, he had to run the gauntlet to get back on the ship including the fact that despite a transit slip, he was out of the ship’s computer.
Eventually he managed to get to the cabin and store most of the sodas and other things out of the way so that if the staff decide to do repairs in the cabin while we’re gone, it will be minimal disruption.
Supper with family
We were late after all this order but eventually Mike and Trudy, Jeff and Lisa, and Pat and Sylvia joined us at Marie Callender’s for a celebration meal. We had found a 3 legged pig, a sign of good luck in Peru and Chile as it turns out, for Mike as that is his favorite joke. It took him a while to notice the significance since he initially didn’t notice that it only had 3 legs.
Grocery shopping for the bananas for cereal and milk and then we were home and to bed.
Celebrating our anniversary
In our zeal to get the stuff on the ship, the cards I made for our anniversary and Valentine’s Day were taken to the ship so Ed will have to wait until Honolulu to get them. We agreed we didn’t feel cheated because we didn’t get each other anything nor do an anniversary routine. Whew!