Home and it's Sunday

I know I won't have time to write on my blog tomorrow - it's going to be a horrific day since I have to get into work in the morning, go pick my Dad up and take him for a procedure in Bellevue by noon, then dash back to work and THEN go back to pick him up. Compounded by the fact that I have to prepare for a meeting Tuesday morning .... well I just won't be able to spare the time. I have a couple of really cute pictures I want to scan but that'll have to wait until Tuesday afternoon. There are photographers on the ship snapping pictures and video and I bought a couple of them - well, the only two that they got of us actually. They're very nice. There are portrait "stations", if you will, set up every night. It's astonishing and kind of creepy, but the people seemed to love them and they were always busy.

All in all my sister and I had a better than anticipated time. The ship is very large and the ratio of staff to guests is great. Plus they all learn your name! I am sure it is pounded into them from the time they get the job and they must all have their own little tricks. My sister and I shared a name - "ShelleyKelli, how are you this morning?" "ShelleyKelli, are you having a good time?" Even if we were separate - same thing. We were one entity. Very few Americans among the staff - they were from all over the globe. Our Head Waiter was from India, waitresses from Peru and Jamaica. Just from everywhere!

The guests also ran the gamut - I saw mullet wearing weirdos and motor heads, large groups of teenagers on senior trips, the gay contingent was well represented, and a fair number of sisters and/or female friends. Not too many single guys, as in none we saw. But really, it's not the type of a trip I would imagine two straight guys going for. We weren't there to hook up anyway, but to relax and get pampered and we were that. We shared a dining table with two GREAT couples. We really really REALLY lucked out there and spent time with each of the couples after dinner. There are lots of fun things to do after dinner besides gamble, but the shows in the show rooms are pretty lame. We saw one and that was enough. Think bad Vegas.

People say that cruising is all about the food and OMG, some people must just go cruising to pig out. There is always food around and there are enough choices that you can eat healthy stuff at every meal. Our dinners (we went to the sit down fancy ones every night) were lovely. We purchased a wine package when we got on and had a wonderful assortment of mid-priced wines to choose from. We ended up loving a French white one so much that we had it three times. We slept too late most days to have the sit down breakfast but even the buffet had plenty of fruit and smoked salmon so I was happy happy happy. And speaking of sleep, while the rooms were small we were comfortable and I slept like a log! I was talking about that with one of our dining couples and the guy said that he too suffers from insomnia from time to time and had been having the best sleep in a long time. I attributed it to the slight rocking of the boat. Oh ... and drinking my weight every day probably didn't hurt. ;-)

We didn't get the brewery tour on Tuesday because it wasn't booked full, so we just stayed on the ship. Wednesday we slept so late and my sister had a spa appointment so we only got an hour or so on Catalina Island. I would like to go back there - it's very cute and reminds me of the French Quarter in New Orleans -- many of the hotels are up above the street level with shops and restaurants below. Ensenada was what I expected until we got up into the hills where the wineries were. Just lovely - all the blooming flowers and rolling green hills. The wine wasn't bad either.

We got a bit of bad advice before we got on -- one was to buy the soda package where you can drink all of your non-alcoholic drinks for one price. Well I figured I'd have a juice or diet soda or two a day, and definitely water. Guess what's NOT included. Yeah, bottled water. Totally useless. The other thing was that supposedly the drinks were very expensive so we should smuggle alcohol on board. We didn't and we didn't have to. One must always consider the source. The drinks were actually quite inexpensive surprisingly. And they were always trying to give you the glasses! I did accept a couple of very cool martini glasses but other than that -- what are you going to do with a suitcase full of bar glasses??

I didn't get to go swimming although I laid around the pool area a couple of times. The pools were full of children all of the time. Oh, and huge fat men who had no business in bathing suits. I was thankful that the children are kept busy and out of the way most of the trip. Gives the parents a break as well.

The only glitch in that well oiled machine was getting off the ship. We had to vacate our rooms by 8. We were finished with breakfast by 9 and didn't get off the ship until 1. Customs was short handed or something - never got a satisfactory answer. Plus we were the last group called off. The customs agent I spoke to said they were typically done two hours earlier than that. So .. it was ugly and I was cranky.

Spent the rest of Friday with my sister, she unpacking (since we had moved her to a new place before we got on the ship Monday) and me reading. I didn't knit one single stitch while I was away. I read. It was great although I'm itching to finish up some stuff and, of course, start more. My trip back home was not bad - I had used frequent flyer miles which meant no upgrade. However, they were selling them for $50. Oh yeah, I'll take that. Comfy seat, lots to drink, plugged into my iPod giggling like an idiot as I listened to the second season of the Ricky Gervais Show.

Tink was happy to see me although seemed unmoved by my Tinkerbell tattoo. During her camping trip with my friend she lost all of her tags. All of them - license, rabies tag, ID tag. Just one more thing to add to my HUGE list of chores today. I didn't do anything yesterday evening but order pizza and watch TV. Until the alarm goes off Monday morning I am still on vacation. Oh -- and I brought my workout clothes and running shoes with me on vacation. Let's see a show of hands ... did she use them? When will I learn? I always have such good intentions but never ever ever EVER even pull them out of my bag. My nephew stayed in my house while I was gone and surprisingly it's in pretty good shape. I have an idea he didn't move from the TV room except to use the bathroom. So really all I have to do is unpack and do laundry and give Tink a bath and go to the grocery store. Not a bad list.

We're back to typical June weather for Seattle. We had lovely weather in California but here in Seattle - clouds. And it rained so hard last night that it woke me up. Just more water to feed the already massive and rapidly growing weeds.