North to Alaska: Day 1

Day 1

Vancouver to Inside Passage

8/24/11

We arrived by plane in Vancouver, early Wednesday morning, having spent the night in Seattle. All the connections went well and much to our pleasant surprise our luggage was waiting for us undisturbed on the carousel. We were fortunate upon arrival at not having been sent to a brightly lit room surrounded by Canadian customs officials wondering why we were transporting five bottles of wine across the border when we were limited to four. We dodged that bullet. Just as promised, the friendly Holland America representative was waiting for us at the exit and we were soon on a bus headed for our cruise ship, the Volendam.

At the dock, upon presenting our boarding documents , we were told in no uncertain terms, that “we were special.” Unbeknownst to us, the cabin that we had purchased on this cruise afforded us a status that is reserved solely for the cruising elite. We would be given “gold keycards” instead of the ordinary blue, that would allow us a number of perks and more importantly entry into the exclusive Neptune lounge, where we would have access to our own personal concierge, a full assortment of treats, and a place to get away from the rest of the riff raff on this ship who could only dream of such luxury. In truth, the only reason that we ended up with this cabin was that by time we ended up committing to this trip, all the cheaper cabins were taken. Well, regardless, we were committed to doing our best at adapting to this level of luxury.

As gold key holders, we were escorted immediately onto the ship, ahead of the huddled masses, sitting there pathetically on wooden benches in their roped off area, munching on day old sandwiches in brown paper bags, clutching thermos bottles with fingerless gloves, wearing long woolen coats, with a motley collection of luggage without wheels by their feet, barely secured with tattered straps,. Yes we were led past this sad collection of humanity and as they glared at Kris and me, my only thought was, “Thank G-d for the Neptune lounge.”

Awaiting us in our cabin, was a bottle of champagne, and once we had assured ourselves that it was entirely free, we consumed it in a matter of minutes. The accommodations were first rate. We had a very large room with a couch, dressing area, king sized bed and balcony. Had we brought 6 full sized suitcases, instead of two, (a carry on and a checked bag), we still could not have filled up all of the drawer space available to us.

We eventually emerged from our cabin and went to the special lunch for members of the “Mariners Club” in the Rotterdam Dining room. That was another discovery we made upon embarkation. We were told that since we had cruised with Holland America before we were now one star members of the Mariners Club. Indeed there was a star on our gold key cards. The only problem was that we had only taken one cruise before this, and that was on the Princess line, Holland’s competitor. After a very brief amount of thought, we decided not to protest this error. Indeed we were “special.” At least that’s what we were told this by Holland at the start of the cruise. The more perks the perkier!

After our special lunch, our activities included an official tour of the ship followed by the mandatory safety drill by our lifeboat number 4. After that we stood on deck while the Volendam left the harbor. We were preceded by another ship which after drafting in its wake for a while, we eventually overtook , and never saw again. (One rumor was that it hit an iceberg and sank.). Vancouver was a magnificent sight. It was sunny and people were out running and biking along the shoreline of Stanley Park. It would be our last glimpse of civilization for a while.

We were invited to an exclusive cocktail party, with the captain and his crew, for the select few of us that held the treasured gold keys, in the Neptune lounge. After putting on our best, and our only “smart casual” attire, we headed to the Neptune lounge where instead of my hoped for conversation with the captain regarding my theory on the effects of Coriolis forces on the rise and fall of the stock market, we were stuck talking to the “future cruise director” regarding all the wonderful cruises that Holland America had to offer; all while attempting to consume as much free alcohol as possible before staggering over to the Rottendam room for our 7:45 seating.

In the Rottendam, we were shown to our assigned seats overlooking the stern of the boat at table number 30, where we met our assigned table mates, Donna and Roscoe. We would be eating our dinners together with these two for the remainder of the cruise. They were a lovely elderly couple, very friendly, eager to chat. I enjoyed them. It’s a mystery to us that after this meal, in spite of our being assigned to the same table, we never saw them again for the remainder of the cruise. After dinner we wandered about the ship in search of entertainment, and settled on a movie playing on level 4, called “The Oceans.” Fantastic photography. I dreamed that night about being eaten by sharks.