May 24th -- Off to Alaska


Off to Alaska
Up at 3:15 am today to get a 4:10 Uber to the airport for our on-time flights to Vancouver (5:50 am to DFW; 9:15 am to Vancouver).  Once in Vancouver, we went through Canadian customs and were met by Princess Cruise personnel for our motor coach ride to the pier.  The Canadian passport/customs contract was very efficient by using a totally electronic system analogous to what the US uses for global entry.  At the pier, we checked-in for our Island Princess ship and then proceeded through security to US passport control.  Fortunate for us, an official walked along the very long line that led to a packet passport control hall and asked if anyone had Global Entry cards.  We had taken ours along, because I knew we were going between the US and Canada and those cards are used between US/Canada/Mexico in passport control.  He then directed us to a line that had no one and we were directed to an officer who swiped out passports and waved us on to the exit for boarding of the ship. 
Once on board the Island Princess we proceeded to our room, D704 (9th floor, AFT).  Our Premier Suite was ready and equipped with a welcome fruit basket, canapes, complimentary mini-bar, and fresh flowers.  The room was great (see pictures) with a large balcony on the Port side of the ship.  




 Because it was now about 2 pm, we went to the Horizon Court on the 14th floor (Forward) and had buffet lunch.  The buffet is available daily from 5:30 am until midnight and covers breakfast, lunch, light snack, and dinner.  With our Premier Suite, we always have access to the Horizon court, but can have made-to-order breakfast at Sabatini’s, lunch at Bordeaux Dining Room, and dinner at Bordeaux Dining Room, Sabatini’s, and Bayou Café & Steakhouse.  There are also numerous specialty dining areas (burger bar, pizza station, Swirls ice cream bar, the grill & Pizzeria) available.  At 3:45 pm, we had the mandatory muster station session and life jacket practice.  The ship left Vancouver at 5:15 pm and we had 5:30 pm dinner reservations at the Bayou Café & Steakhouse for dinner.  Normally, this restaurant and Sabatini’s has a $29 cover, but the cover was waiver tonight for the Premier Suite occupants.  Dinner was great – oysters Bienville, chicken jambalaya (Bev), mixed salad (Larry), Alaskan halibut (Bev), Grilled Copper River Salmon (Larry), asparagus, and banana/whisky pound cake with orange glaze (Larry).  By the time we got back to our room, it was about 8:30 pm (10:30 pm B’ham time) and we were tired.  So, good night. 
Relaing Before Dinner

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