Cruise to Alaska College Fjord

written on May 27, 1996

May 18  continued

We did get dinner.  We were (each group) greeted by a waiter who would take us to the next available table.  I don’t ever remember what we had – I know we sat clear at the end of the dining room, up, nowhere near a window.  I had hoped we’d be close to a window in the future.

There was a lifeboat drill – life jacket rather.  We were requested to meet in the show lounger and bring our life jackets so that we would know what to do in the event of an emergency.

 I saw more pursers, directors, and that sort of crew that night than I did for the entire rest of the trip.  I remember thinking one of the female crew members seemed rather curt and ornery – that was the only night I saw her –  during the demonstration of the life jacket.  I don’t even know what her position was.  She was wearing a full uniform . . .

Did we go to a show that night?  I think we did.  Yes. He was a comedian.  I didn’t find him very amusing.  I left before the show had ended.  I don’t recall whether mom and grandma stayed or if they went with me.  Or exactly where I had gone after I had left the show lounge. 

I know that the boat didn’t take off at its scheduled time.  Passengers were still arriving to Seward from Anchorage

When I returned to the cabin, one of the beds had been pulled from the ceiling and there was a ladder that went up to it.  What a chore.  My new bed for the next seven days.  What a trip.

May 19 Sunday

A newsletter called the Princess Patter outlined the agenda of daily activities.  I had wondered if there would be any kind of Church services.  And they were.  Holy Mass, they called it.  I figured it was for those Christens who felt the need to attend services for Sunday worship.  I had no way of knowing that Holy Mass was going to be an everyday occurrence.

We had gone on a self-guided tour of the boat.  When we got to the princess theatre, I could see the ministers upon the stage addressing their congregation.  When the congregation stood up to sing amazing grace, I decided that I would return to the cabin and read my scriptures – not that I got a whole lot out of them.  I did attempt it though.

Grandma went to the library and got herself a book.  I went outside and took several pictures of college fjords.  It wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be.

I was thinking that we had met our dinner companions prior to the breakfast, but maybe not.  I got the eggs Florentine.  Sounded good, but they were actually kind of boring.  We had gone to see the Bridges of Madison County – I don’t know if we had gone before or after lunch – or if we had even eaten lunch that day.  I wrote that I had missed two mills [should be meals - I do know how to spell - I obviously had not communicated that to my pen] in the dining room.  I don’t know if we had gone to the café de sol for their interpretation of a snack before or after we had gone to the movie?

Anyway, after the movie let out, we noticed the movement on the boat - or at least I did.  The boat was going in one direction and my stomach was going in another.  Mom didn’t feel well either.  We had gone back to the cabin to lay down.

It was the captions welcome dinner.  We were supposed to dress up formally, so we all changed and made our way to the dining room and as we were waiting to get in, it dawned on all of us that none of us were hungry (that’s why I think maybe we did have the buffet snack) and so we decided to go see the early show instead.

We couldn’t find three seats together.  We were lucky just to find three seats.  We’d gone up to the balcony.  The show was fabulous.  The theme was called A Night On the town.  Dance periods introduced.  I like watching dance performance.  And the band was good, too.

There was a Name the Tune being played that night.  I had planned to go to it, but just didn’t feel well and went to bed.

The next morning, we went to breakfast.  Maybe that’s when I ordered eggs Florentine.  Or perhaps that is the morning I went with mom to the buffer and then with grandma to the dining room.  That’s probably what it was.  I didn’t really participate in the breakfast meal during the cruise.