In a lifeboat off the Canadian coast

It was pointed out to me that as far as my followers are concerned, I must be in a lifeboat drifting off the Canadian coast because I didn't finish up my cruise journal.

I'm still alive and have been back in the States for almost 2 weeks.  I just forgot to finish up.  My bad.

Ok, it's now Sunday and our ship, the Royal Princess is still moseying in a leisurely pace towards Victoria, BC.  We weren't docking in Victoria until 12:00pm (noon) so we kind of joked that everyone from the deckhands to the busboys and cabin stewards were given a chance to steer the ship to kill some time and maybe take it off some sweet jumps which is what I'm pretty sure is what caused my mal de mer the night before.

After breakfast, we put on our walking/running shoes and hit the jogging track to burn off the excess calories.  13 times around the jogging track was the equivalent of 1 nautical mile so around and around and around we went.  Lisa had wanted to experience as many on board activities as she could so she played bingo, took a line-dancing class

worked on the jigsaw puzzle in the ship's library, lounged in a deck chair, went online in the internet cafe and hit a couple of golf balls up on the top deck.  She and I also decided to soak in the jacuzzi and go for a swim in the pool.  The water was nice and warm and very buoyant as we splashed around in our running shorts and tank tops because none of us had brought a swimsuit.

We were nearing land although we were never actually very far from land the entire voyage, so we headed back to our cabin to shower and get ready to experience Victoria, the capital of British Columbia.

We got off the ship and had our passports ready so we could be allowed to enter Canada

We had arranged to take a tour of Victoria from the vantage point of an English double-decker bus

and we enjoyed our tour and the commentary of our tour guide, a delightful little English guy named, "Poppy" until the freezing-ass Arctic winds blowing in from the ocean forced us to abandon the top open deck and scurry down into the enclosed lower level of the bus.

We were dropped back off at the dock in time to enjoy lunch back on the ship before heading back to town to hoof it around on our own.  We walked and walked and walked, going in, you guessed it, home decor shops.  Again.  We also saw the Legislature, or Capital building

and wandered through the famous Empress Hotel, 

which is known for its Afternoon Tea, which we didn't do since a) it was rather expensive and 2) I didn't bring my hat and gloves and if I can't be properly dressed for Tea, then I'll have to pass.  We saw a number of people milling about, dressed in an odd Victorian/Goth/Pirate/Gypsy/Mad Scientist combination of clothing and discovered that a Steampunk Convention was being held at the Empress.  I had only first heard about Steampunk (Google it) barely two weeks earlier and here I got to see examples live and in person.

So we're walking around the waterfront, looking at all the boats all decorated for the next day's Victoria Day celebrations and suddenly, all I want, more than anything, is soft-serve ice cream.  I dunno why I had this incredible craving but a craving I had and I NEEDED to get some soft-serve vanilla ice cream stat!  Luckily, there was an ice cream stand that happened to have what I needed so I got my fix and enjoyed it immensely.  Sadly, there wasn't really enough time to see more of the attractions that Victoria had to offer.  I did think Victoria was absolutely charming and I definitely would love to go back and spend a couple of days.

We were pretty tired after all that walking so it was time to head back to the ship and rest up before dinner and to do our packing.

I did learn a couple of things while on this cruise:

- Dramamine only works if you take it BEFORE you get seasick.
- Dramamine is a great sleep aid.  Maybe that's how it works:  it knocks you out so you don't feel the pitch and roll of the ship.
- Opening your eyes underwater in a saltwater pool is a bad idea. 
- I can overcome my serious acrophobia. Sometimes. 
- My Sketchers "Shape Up" shoes were what was causing my hip, knee and ankle pain.


Despite my seasickness, I thought this was a great trip.  None of us were interested in partypartyparty and dancing all night or gambling.  We aren't middle-aged "Woo! Girls." At least not on this trip.  This was all about relaxing and sightseeing and just enjoying ourselves and that we did.