Blake and Marla take Golden Princess to Hawaii 2012 Day 1

Blake and Marla Cruise to Hawaii

February 15, 2012

Wednesday

Well I was up bright and early again for a walk about Downtown Disney. This time I walked all around California Adventure by going down to Katella and then around to the Disney front gates on Harbor Boulevard. It was time to check out a few of the neighbour hotels and pick some places to stay on our return. Actually Marla and I discussed that our best choice would be to stay in a Disney Resort if at all possible and the Paradise Pier seemed to suit our needs foremost.

Soon it was 10:30am and we were all packed, checked out and ready to go. Our sweaters from yesterday's shopping in Adventureland showed up and we double checked the room to make sure we didn't lose or leave anything. I looked out and there was a SuperShuttle just waiting so I checked it and it was for us. He wasn't supposed to be there until 11am but going now seemed like a good thing. We only had one other pickup over at the Ramada Maingate and we were off to San Pedro. It is a long drive from Disneyland to San Pedro Harbor. But after about an hour on the freeways we saw our ship sitting at the pier. Just as we got out of the shuttle it began to rain, then it began to pour, soon it was torrential. But by then the people with the wheelchairs were out to give Marla a hand and we began the boarding process.

Two things I really don't like about cruising is the boarding and disembarkation process to and from the ship. Boarding is a long drawn out matter of waiting. We were marshaled into a large hall where our tickets were processed, then through security, and finally to a staging area where all the wheelchairs pushers would take their people onto the ship. The guy who was helping Marla through the process was a really nice retired fellow. He had lived in San Pedro all his life and was very helpful. The waiting room reminded me of a biblical scene of people heading to purgatory. Most of the people were older; many in wheelchairs or with walkers. It was like heaven's waiting room. True this is a longer than usual trip and many people cannot take this much time off unless they are retired. But this is another one of those cases of Marla and I with our 35 years of marriage will be considered newlyweds.

Finally we were moving onto the ship. It had only taken just over an hour so it wasn't as bad as I was making it sound. We immediately went to our room Lido 218 and got settled. It would be a while for our bags to show up so we went to the Horizon Buffet and picked out some lunch or in this case breakfast for Marla. The steward didn't set up our room for a double bed but he had it done before we got back from the Lido. Who says it doesn't rain in Southern California? It poured buckets. We went upstairs to check out the Sanctuary but it was just way too wet. So we went back to our room to hang out for a while until our bags arrived.

The bags showed up and I unpacked everything. Marla got about seven of the eight available drawers and gave me the last little draw. In the meantime I took over a cabinet in the closet. By the time all the unpacking was done we had met our cabin steward Cosme. We were ready for some supper. But first the ship had to leave the port.

As the ship made way out of port the rain stopped leaving us with just cloudy skies. Hopefully this will be an omen of no rain this voyage.

We were on the same Port side of the ship as we were a few years ago when we were on the NCL Star sailing to Mexico. It is interesting looking at all the containers being loaded and unloaded on the docks and wondering “how do they keep track of them all.” It was also interesting to check out the sites as we moved along the waterway leading to the sea. At one of the docks we heard this incredibly loud honking or barking only to realize it was the call of a sea lion expressing an opinion as it echoed underneath the piers. Then when we passed the final trucks waiting for containers to be loaded we received a salute of horn honking from the truckers. A fitting send off as we were to travel away from San Pedro and Los Angeles.

When three o'clock came around all the sirens and bells went off. Seven short blasts and one long horn sounded that it was time to gather our life jackets and head downstairs to the seventh floor and the Casino which would serve to be our muster station in case of emergency. After a few jokes from other passengers about Italian Captains and Costa ships we settled in for our lesson on how to put on the life jacket, step off the boat and otherwise listen to the crew. This drill is one of those things which we shall not really ever have to do – I hope.

Soon we were out in open water and sailing into the sunset. As we approached the island of Catalina we could see a pod of whales outside of our balcony. They were not very close but near enough for us to see the occasional spray of air as they breathed.

It was a good day and I was happy to be underway.

To see more of our cruise pictures go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/56705607@N00/sets/72157629549289969/