Statue on the ship.

The past 38 hours have been comparable to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride from my childhood memories of Disneyland. The ship’s WiFi is the worst we’ve seen. I can hardly upload a photo.

Up until yesterday morning, I’d never been hit with any amount of seasickness until Tuesday our first night at sea as we made our way into the Pacific Ocean from Vancouver, British Columbia.

The pier in Vancouver.

After breakfast, Wednesday morning, in the not too crowded buffet (many passengers were sick in their cabins), a wave of nausea washed over me remaining throughout the entire day and evening.

Much to our disappointment, it was a formal night. On our prior cruise ending on the 14th, the formal night dress code allowed casual dressy which is easy for us to accommodate. Whereas, the formal attire rules on the Celebrity Solstice require more dressy clothes including a long sleeve shirt with a collar for the men and a skirt, dress, or pants suit for the ladies.

With the raging seas and my queasiness, I hardly felt like dressing in anything but my jeans and tee shirt.  However, my special food was already ordered the prior night and we felt there was no other good dining option for me. 

Tom has two long sleeve shirts, one, a khaki BugsAway and two, a white BugsAqay shirt, neither of which was ideal. He opted for the white shirt and hung it in the bathroom with the shower turned to remove the wrinkles.

In any case, we made it to dinner and were allowed inside for a nice dinner at a table for six where once I ate a little, I began to feel better and enjoy the conversation and dinner.

As for the storm at sea, it quickly began to work its way up to the caliber of the extreme storm we experience in April 2013 on the Norwegian Epic when we crossed the Atlantic Ocean with 50 foot swells for three days.

The sails at the pier in Vancouver.

Tom, having spent years on the railroad traveling on wobbly trains never felt nauseous for a moment, although I did notice him losing his footing on a few occasions when no one could have remained on their feet the way the ship violently heaved to and fro.

Included today are photos from the sailing away from Vancouver and of course, the video of the wild ride at sea.  Hopefully, by the time this post uploads the storm will have ended and our usual fun will be in full swing.

Hopefully, we’ll be back tomorrow with our itinerary, updates, and photos of this beautiful ship as our journey continues on.

                                                Photo from one year ago today, September 25, 2013:

Signal too poor to post more today. 

St. Andrew’s Wesley Church in downtown Vancouver.

The “to-do” list is complete. We did it all; the laundry filled the pill cases, did the mani/pedi, packed everything, and, notified the family. This morning we’ll grab a taxi for the short drive to the Port Metro Vancouver where the Celebrity Solstice will be prepared for boarding.

As on our prior nine cruises, we prefer to arrive at the pier an hour or two earlier than suggested in the documents, allowing us plenty of time to become familiar with the ship, meet with the maître ‘d regarding my restrictive diet, sign up for the ship’s WiFi, and relax for a while in the buffet dining room for a casual bite to eat.

The church across the street from our hotel. Photo is taken through the glass on the 30th floor.

In most cases, gaining access to the cabins is restricted until around 1:30 pm, allowing staff to prepare and clean the cabins from the last cruise that most likely arrived the same morning, making way for the new passengers.

Tom says this was a Ferrari we spotted in downtown Vancouver.

Checking in for the cruise is usually relatively quick and painless especially when our early arrival allows us to avoid long lines. A few days before each cruise, we check-in online in a similar manner as when flying. 

Vancouver is often a starting point (and often ending point) for cruises to Alaska which we’ll definitely book sometime in the future.

It’s unnecessary to print the documents when passengers are able to show the bar code from their tickets on their smart phone. With no cell service, until we purchase SIM cards, we’ve printed the documents although we’d always prefer to use digital documents.

Fountain, outside our hotel.

Later today, once aboard the ship, we’ll post again with photos of the ship, our cabin, and any special features that may catch our eye. Once the muster drill (emergency procedures) is completed, we’ll attend the Sail Away Party, hosted by the cruise line. Usually, there’s another party that we’ll attend, the “Meet and Mingle” which is intended for members of CruiseCritic.com, many of whom Tom has met online.

On the first day on the ship, we check out the main dining room’s reservation process. This avoids waiting in line to be seated. On this last Royal Caribbean cruise, we’d selected 8:00 pm, primarily due to the fact that we often have breakfast and aren’t hungry until later.

Much of the produce was imported as is the case in many major grocery stores in the US. This is unlike the organic produce we’ve enjoyed in many countries throughout our travels.

Most cruise passengers (during the school season) are senior citizens as opposed to families with children.  Many seniors prefer to dine by 6 pm. We’re still full from breakfast by 6 pm and prefer to dine at 8 pm. 

With “My Time” dining, we can select dining times that work best for us allowing us the opportunity to meet new people each night at “shared” tables. Other passengers may sign up for fixed dinnertime, sitting with the same group each night.

We’re also able to choose to dine with people we’ve met when we’re arranged a time to meet in the dining room. On this last cruise, on three evenings, we dined with new friends in the specialty restaurants but, could easily have dined with them in the main dining room.

We were surprised that prices on produce were less than we’d seen two years ago in the US.

The social frenzy of cruising is the aspect we enjoy the most. As social butterflies we love meeting new people, learning from their travel experiences, and sharing our own. A cruise is the most appealing social venue we’ve encountered in our travels.

We’re grateful for all the fabulous friends we’ve made from all over the world on our most recent cruise and also, those on the past eight cruises in 2013, many of whom we happily remain in contact.

Tom eyeballed the baked goods, especially the doughnuts but decided against trying any when the cruise is imminent, a virtual food fantasy on Celebrity.

Look for us tomorrow morning which will include the itinerary for this cruise. Hopefully, we won’t have the WiFi issues we’d experienced on Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas when I was unable to get online. We’ll be out to sea for the first five days of this cruise making it necessary to access to the ship’s slow connection. As always, while in port we’ll be able to use XComGlobal’s MiFi for a strong connection and ease of use.  

Happy Day to all!

                                    No photo was posted one year ago today, September 23, 2013:
Ironically, we posted the cruise itinerary for the cruise we disembarked on September 14, 2014. For details of the post, please click here.