So, after a cold, misty, and windy day at sea yesterday (with a scary air evacuation by helicopter last night of one guest), we expected a cold and foggy San Francisco today.
We were pleasantly surprised when we woke up to find that the day would be sunny with a high of 67. This is our last port before our disembarkation in Vancouver.
I’m really not sure why we didn’t get off the ship today. Even though we talked about doing some things, I guess we were just not “feeling it.”
The last time we were here we enjoyed walking around Fisherman’s Wharf and watching the sea lions. We have also been to Muir Woods and Sausalito.
On previous trips as a teenager and later as an adult attending conferences here, I have enjoyed the Cable cars, Chinatown, the Japanese Tea Gardens, Lombard Street, and walking the Golden Gate Bridge. I recommend doing them all.
We spent the day on the balcony watching the seals (maybe sea lions) swimming in the harbor. We took some photos as we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge continuing on to the North.
So today was a disembarkation day for a number of guests. We were sad to have to say good-bye to some of the friends we made this trip. There are still some who, like us, are traveling on to Vancouver.
The people who are embarking today are either doing a 5-day quick get-away and will disembark in Vancouver or they plan to stay on and also do the first sailing to Alaska by the Koningsdam.
Everyone had to meet with Customs in the World Stage today. We all got a letter that told us when to go. In-transit guests would be last. I guess some in-transit guests were too anxious to get off the ship and explore because the Cruise Director kept announcing for in-transit guests to get out of the line.
Once the Cruise Director announced that it was our turn, we joined the line. The line was long, but it moved quickly. We had to show up with our passport and our ship card. Once we were approved by Customs, we had a green sticker applied to our ship card and could leave the ship if we wanted.
We did not. We went to the NY Deli for sandwiches and spent a quiet afternoon people-watching. Why didn’t we get into the pool? Even though it was a beautiful day in San Diego, the weather had turned considerably cooler. The new people were coming in with hoodies, leggings and sweatshirts. I began to believe I had planned poorly, wardrobe-wise, for the next few days.
If you do go to San Diego, I highly recommend the Zoo, the Gaslight District, Old Town, and Coronado Island to visit. Be sure to leave a whole day just for the Zoo.
Today was King’s Day in the Netherlands. It is their national holiday celebrating the reigning Dutch Monarch’s birthday today. The ship would be celebrating tonight with their Orange Party.
I have never seen the Orange Party held on embarkation day, but the embarkation just happened to fall on his birthday so … Party On! I guess many of the embarking passengers had already gotten notified of this happening as they came on board sporting all manner of orange attire and some looked like they had started partying the night before.
I had a feeling that the vibe for these next five days was going to be very different than the last 17 days.
