Panama Cruise 2025 Day 4 October 24 San Francisco

Today we got up early and were able to get up in time to see the Golden Gate Bridge just as it was starting to get light out. We were able to get off the boat by about 8:45 am and went straight to the Muni transit truck and buy a 1 day pass for all the trolley cars, buses and Street Cars.  We went to the Embarcadero and caught an antique trolley car all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf.  Wanted to check our emails and call home to check on everything so we stopped to enjoy the waterfront park and watch the swimmers in the bay.

We then headed to Ghirardelli square home of the old Ghirardelli chocolate factory where we had booked a walking tour with San Francisco City Guides. They are a non-profit that originally started with the Public Library and now they are their own organization. We first learned of them from our friends Stefan and Sharon and had done a previous tour of the Golden Gate Bridge with them. They have over 80 tours that they do around the city and it is a great experience.  Our tour guide was Julie and when we told her that we had just come in on the ship, she had seen the ship coming into harbour that morning and had taken a picture of it and was able to send it to me by text. 

She started the tour by asking the group what are the most iconic things about San Francisco.  The answers we came up with were the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Fog, Cable cars, Dungeness Crab, Sourdough bread, Ghirardelli Chocolate and Progressive politics and we could find all these things at Fisherman’s Wharf.

We started at the Chocolate factory where we were able to get a sample of what I think is the best American chocolate. This is a picture of a statue that is in the middle of square it was done by a local artist called Ruth Asawa.  It is a breast feeding mermaid, of course it was quite controversial and they did not want to install is so her and her team snuck in late at night and installed it themselves and once it was in they couldn’t take it out. This was the progressive politics.

We then headed to the waterfront park where the sun had come out and you could see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. Julie belongs to one of the two local swim clubs called the Dolphins. This swim club had been around for over 100 years and has over two thousand members. She told us a story about a fellow who was celebrating his 81 birthday by swimming from one end of the Golden Gate bridge to the other on Saturday. She told us another about a fellow who had swam back and forth from Alcatraz 67 times. 

Alcatraz

We then walked up to where the street cars start and she told us about how in 1947 the newly elected mayor wanted to update the local transit system and get rid of the cable cars, however a lady named Friedel Klussmann ran a campaign to save them, she succeeded in saving them and now they are synonymous with San Francisco.

We then headed to a local Crab and fish market that has been in the area for over 60 years and the granddaughter of the original owner came out and told us all about how the crabs are caught.  We then went to the docks to see some of the boats, most of them don’t do a lot of commercial fishing anymore, mostly charters but they did have a few boats that look like ones from years past. We finished off the tour at Boudin Sourdough bakery. Sourdough was brought to San Francisco during the gold rush and the Boudin bakery started making it commercially. When the earthquake and fire in 1906 happened it is said that Mrs. Boudin ran back in the bakery and saved the mother starter in her apron and it still being used to this day. It is also said that sourdough made in San Francisco is gets it tangy flavour because of the fog.

Our next stop was to take an actual ride on the cable cars, as we waited in line we were able to watch how they turn the cars around. They are pushed on to a turn table where they manually turn then around to head back up the hill. 

Our first stop was Lombard St, which is the crookedest street in the US. It is difficult to get a picture of it but it has 8 hairpin turns and you can only drive one way down the street.

We then hopped back on next car and went to the Cable Car museum.  Cable cars came to San Francisco because the horse drawn carriages that were being used at the time had difficulties with the hills, they often slipped and there were cases where horses died on the streets, it was also very unsanitary with each horse depositing at least 10 lbs of droppings per day not to mention the urine.  A gentleman named Andrew Hallidie who’s father had made it big in Comstock Silver mines in Nevada started producing wire rope which the used to build bridges and later started to use in the mines to transport the ore. He called it the continuous loop and it operated like a modern day ski lift and used a gripping devise that would later be used in his design for a cable car system.

The cables run under the street and  meet at central location. The cars grip onto the cables to run, the tighter the grip the faster the car goes, the looser it slows down, when it stops brakes are applied and the grip is loosened enough to for the cable to pass through without dropping the cable.

After the museum we hopped back onto another car and went to Chinatown to check out the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, this was where fortune cookies were invented.

Saw this fellow in Chinatown delivering his goods riding his pallet jack up the hill

We then took our final cable card ride down to the end of the California line, took a picture at the I love San Fransico sign, toured the Ferry building and returned to the ship.

Saw our first autonomous vehicles, they were all over the wharf area.  Didn't take a ride but did talk to someone who did who said it was very weird not having anyone in the front.

We finished off the evening with a fantastic dinner and the ball game on the big screen, it was great to watch the Blue Jays win.

Panama Cruise 2025 Day 1 - 3 Oct 21 - Oct 23 Embarkation and Sea Days

 

We got up bright and early and Carole dropped us off at the West Coast Express and we took the train down to the waterfront.  This is the easiest way to get there. It drops you right downtown, you can see the ship from the station and it is just a quick walk to the cruise terminal.  As we approached the terminal there was a CTV crew filming the last ship if the season leave Vancouver.  We got onto the ship around 10:30, we didn’t have any bags because we were able to drop off all our suitcases, so we wandered around the ship checking everything out.

Top Deck, Movie Under the Stars Screen, Swimming Pool

Atrium in the middle of the ship

The Coral Princess is the smallest ship that Princess has, only 2000 passengers and 800 crew.  It is much shorter and not as wide as the others so it and its sisters ship the Island Princess are the only two that can go through the old locks in the Panama Canal.

After exploring we headed to the main dining room so we could have the first of the fantastic meals and the orange souffle that they only serve of embarkation day.  

It was all very delicious.  They got all our rooms ready a little early and they delivered our bags so we got to unpacking everything and getting our room set up.

My Salmon Lunch, it was delicious, it was better displayed but I had already started eating when I remembered to take a picture

The Deck 14 or Lido deck is where the outdoor pool is located they also have an indoor pool on the same deck, but it feels a little stuffy and you can really smell the chlorine. This is also where the soft serve ice cream is located.  Also the specialty desserts that you get with the packages.  Also on this deck is the burger restaurant and the Pizza place. These locations are open from lunch through to the evenings for dining.  

Princess Cruises has three basic levels which are listed below. These prices are per person per day. Since neither Len and I drink alcohol or specialty coffee,  we decided to go with no wifi, it was cheaper to stick with the Standard fare and just pay the gratuities separately.  If you drink coffee, alcohol and want wifi you might want to check out a package for your trip.

We attended the sail away party up on the Lido deck and sailed under the Lions Gate Bridge and headed out to sea.  The sun came out and we got some great pictures of the Vancouver skyline.

Sail Away Party

Stanley Park

Looking back at the Lions Gate Bridge that we sailed away under

We had a great first dinner in the Main Dining Room and then attended our first show in the Princess Theatre it was a singing duo called Ebony and Ivory and they were excellent performers and very entertaining. After this show there was a mentalist in the Universe Lounge. This lounge is two decks high and has a complete stage up front. They do a lot of the comedian shows, game shows and events in this lounge it is an excellent location that they don't have on all ships

Ebony and Ivory

We headed back to the cabin for an early night because it had been a long day.

 

1st Sea Day Oct 22

I woke up on Wednesday morning to a little rough seas so I took a seasickness pill right away and I was good for the rest of the day, no issues.

Every night you get the Princess Platter delivered to your room, which is a schedule of all the events and actvities available on board for that day. It also has information on all the resturants, shopping specials and entertainment. They aslo have an app that you connect to the ships onboard wifi that allows you to bookmark activities for later, has the menu for the MDR so you know what is being served for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Princess Cruises has a unique device called the medallion which you wear and this acts as your room key and you can also use it to locate your shipmates anywhere on the ship. They come with a lanyard to wear around your neck but we found that last time they get in the way so I purchased a silicone holder to attach it to my watch band. I had got one for Len as well but it didn't fit tightly to his copper bracelet so we ended up purchasing him a carabineer that he could attach to his belt loop.        

We went to the buffet for breakfast around 6 am and then went any found a small couch to sit on while we enjoyed our tea and coffee until it was time to go to the theatre for our first sea day activity by attending a lecture on where to find wildlife. Because this is a transition cruise to get the Coral Princess from Alaska to Ft Lauderdale for the winter this cruise has a lot of sea days, usually one day between ports or sometimes two. So Princess does a lot of enrichment talks that range from wildlife talks, space and history.

The talks today were by a scientific commentator from Quebec who discussed ways to find wildlife and then a talk about the California cities we were going to be visiting and the various excursions that were available through the ship. Learned a couple of things, though we have basically planned our own activates.  The excursions though the cruise ships our rather expensive and we like to spend more time at museums and explore smaller out of the way places.

Enrichment Lecture

We decided to try lunch today, They only serve lunch in the MDR on Sea Days, when we are in port only the buffet and the outdoor restaurants are available.  The lunch menu is basically the same everyday with a few of the main dishes added. We shared a table with 7 other people and as we were introducing ourselves we found out that  one gentleman had been married to a lady from Creston, another couple had relatives in Creston and another had stayed with people in Creston during a hockey tournament. 

Main Dining Room

After lunch we went to a game show in the Universal Lounge that was called True or Moo. They gave you obscure facts and people had to say if they thought the statement was True or False. It was quite fun. The entertainment staff is very funny and really make it easy for people to participate. 

Universal Lounge

Dinner tonight was our first formal night so we did dress up a bit and again shared a table with three other couples, two from Canada and one from New York.  If you are willing to share a table you get to eat earlier.  We are sticking to the dining room that doesn’t take reservations.  so in order to get in faster we are willing to share tables, it makes the dinner more enjoyable, however sharing a table with 8 people does make dinner go a little slower and difficult to get to the first showing of the theatre performance. We tried to attend the Encore performance by the singers and dancers from the ship but it was full,  so we decided to do the comedy show first done by a fellow called Kivi Rogers, he was hilarious, I will definitely check him out on Youtube. We were able to get into the Encore performance for their second show and it was excellent. It was very dramatic and contained some operatic type songs sung in different languages. The staff can defiantly sing. 

Encore Performance

2nd Sea Day October 22

On Thursday we woke up a little later and to very sunny skies. We had breakfast in the buffet again and then went for a walk on the Promenade deck so we could give our room steward Benny time to finish our room.  We had been having some issues with our shower, the water was a little cool but we got it fixed and figured out how the controls work. This is an older ship so I think somethings go out a little more often but they are able to fix it pretty quickly.  

After our walk headed to the theatre for a talk on sharks by the same girl from Montreal that talked about wildlife yesterday.  One interesting fact that she had that on average there are only 10 deaths by shark around the world every year compared to 1 million deaths by humans.  Also the reason why sharks bite is usually because they can’t tell the difference between wild life and humans because we look very similar looking up from the bottom of the ocean and sharks can’t taste until they bite so they don’t know we aren’t what they like to eat until they taste us.

Next stop was a fruit carving demonstration in the Atrium, two of the culinary crew using fruits and vegetables and turned it all in a very creative display.

We then went and saw a quiz show that was set up like Jeopardy, didn’t participate this time but might try it the next time. Since we ate breakfast later we skipped lunch today and decided to try tea time and to have an soft ice cream for a snack in the afternoon.  Tea time was enjoyable with little nibbles and sandwiches but really wasn't very fancy, tried it and probably won't put it back on the list of things to do

Quiz Show

Dinner was in the MDR, I unfortunately am really bad at taking pictures of my food, there will be some dessert pictures but I rarely got a picture of my actual dinner.  Dinner was excellent as always. We managed to get to the theatre earlier so that we could get a seat, and watched an instrumental show by a gentleman named Sebastian Fucci from Argentina. I wasn’t sure what to expect but he was excellent, he played the piano mainly but also the flute and the accordion. He played some Beatles, Mozart, David Foster, Metallica, Celtic and Queen. He was fantastic. 

Then it was early to bed because we have to get up early as we are sailing into San Francisco in the morning and hoping to get some pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz as we sail in.

Panama Cruise 2025 Vancouver Oct 17 - Oct 20th

So we started our latest adventure at 6 am on Friday the 17^th, said goodbye to Lukie and headed off over the first mountain passes, making a quick stop in Rock Creek to pick up a box of 1,000 pie plates for our friend Carole’s church group who make apple pies to raise money for the church. We had a little bit of rain along the way, but the Mountain passes were all really good, so no issues.  

We stopped at the Alkali Lake just out side of Osoyoos. It is called Kllilx, spotted lake, which is under the stewardship of the Sylix Okanagan people. It is a sacred medicine lake and is protected cultural heritage site. In 2001 the 56 acre site is now protected and monitored by its original caretakers.

We arrived in Maple Ridge around 3:30 pm and Carole had a delicious stew and fresh bread for us for dinner.

 

Fort Langly

On Saturday Carole, Crackers (dog), Len and myself decided to visit Fort Langley.  I had seen a reel on Facebook that said Vancouver had it’s own Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls), so we headed out in the drizzly morning and it is a really cute little town.  We walked up and down the street, visited the Farmers Market, had a fresh baked pretzel, purchased some Cranberry Mustard and Carole found a really pretty broach at an antique mall. We could visit the actual Fort Langley because unfortunately they only allow service dogs.  I highly recommend visiting, the big chestnuts trees lining the streets and the cute little shops in historic buildings make for a very enjoyable day.

 

On Sunday we went with Carole, Dale and Don to Langly and took in the Vancouver Giants game.  I guess we were good luck because they won.  Haven’t been to a hockey game in a couple of years. It is the Giants 25^th season so we got free hats when we got there. Len got a bucket of popcorn that came in an anniversary container that Don is going to use as a waste paper basket. 

 

On Monday we went on and picked up some last minute items for the trip. The little purse that I used for my credit cards and phone broke at home just before we left and I found a cute little wallet with a strap that will hold my phone, cards and cash for only $7 at Value Village and a few other items so we were set to leave early Tuesday morning.