Alaska 2010

Great flights yesterday. We left the house at 4:40 in the morning, looking forward to spending the next 5.5 hours stuffed in an aluminum cigar can. But factor in that all the flights were on time, all our luggage made the same flights we did, and we got upgraded to first class, net result was great flights.

The ship left from Vancouver, so we had the double pleasure of going through Canadian customs, spending a grand total of 40 minutes riding in a bus across the city, only to clear US customs to board the ship. Customs is so much fun! Mooooo. The bus driver gave us a running commentary, including his opinion of government, the recent Winter Olympics, housing prices, urban planning, other drivers and pedestrians, and anything else that came to mind. He detoured slightly to show us some of Vancouvers more “interesting” neighborhoods, including what is billed as the World's only steam powered clock. (Darryl – we want one!) He wouldn't let Phil off to take pictures, but he was more than happy to stop in the middle of the street for the same purpose.

And then the first view of our ship. Coral Princess, at 91,627 gross tons and 1970 passengers is twice as big as any ship we've been on so far, so we're looking forward to expanding our horizons. In a week we'll know which we prefer.