California Vacation - Day 03 (Cruise Embarkation)

 

I am writing this entry on the day I embarked upon my California Cruise.  Although nothing major went wrong, I have a bone to pick with Princess Cruises in regard to dining reservations.  But I'll get to that later....

This morning was the second day in a row where I woke up early, and couldn't fall back to sleep.  While I was getting showered and dressed, the bellman came to take my suitcase to the bus.  Well, I wasn't expecting him at this time, so I finished what I was doing, packed up everything I had left out, and went to the Starbucks upstairs to get what passed for breakfast.  Then, I settled down in front of the "logistics lady" (Princess outsources the logistics of moving people from the airport to the hotel, from the hotel to the cruise terminal, and from the cruise terminal to the airport.)  That's where I met the bellman again, and he moved my bags to the staging area, While sitting down, a widowed traveler struck up a conversation, and I talked too much - I could see she was bored.  So I let her be, and waited until it was time to board the bus.   

Around 10:45, the bus came, and both we (the passengers) and our luggage were corralled into the bus and delivered to San Pedro to board the ship.  I was prepared for the security line, and when the lady checked my passport, I said "Yes, that's me!" in a deep voice.  The next thing she did was to compliment me on my looks.  From there, it was a quick run to get on the ship, while taking forever to find an open elevator to get to my cabin - but I did, by moving to another elevator bank. The cabin surprised me with how much room it had for storage.  Yes, the bathroom seemed tiny.  But at least, the shower had a place I could put my foot while shaving my legs.

Now, this is where I got a little annoyed - making dining reservations.    I couldn't make them before getting on the ship, and the good reservations were impossible to get.  So I have to play catch as catch can, so that I can get a seat at a non-buffet restaurant.  AARGH!  At least, the main dining rooms are decent, and I don't mind eating alone that much.  But I'll have to see about one reservation that was supposedly to have been made - it still hasn't shown up online.  

By the time I finished dinner, I was too tired to go to the theater to watch the provided entertainment. I ended up going back to my room, stripped and fell asleep....