It's usually more fun writing about things that don't go so well. This was one of the things that didn't go so well. It wasn't fun and it scared the Hell out of me.
Wanda had a fall about 10 minutes after we got on the ship. We dropped our backpacks in the cabin and left for the Pursers Desk. It was our first attempt to change her card status from Gold to Platinum. We were walking down the mid ship staircase. I was on one side, she on the other. We were almost at the bottom of the stairs on deck 9 when she fell forward, missed the last three or four steps, and landed on both knees and her right hand. She quickly rolled over/fell on her right side.
There was a two foot round piece of plastic banding circling her right ankle.
It's that 1 1/2" wide plastic strapping that's used to secure a box. The stuff that shreds instead of breaks when you try to cut it. It was obviously missed in clean up and was laying on the stairs. She must have stepped in the circle with one foot then caught the other. When she stepped forward she went down hard.
Within seconds several Princess employees responded to our noise. I regret several things but you know what they say about hindsight. Wanda was OK, she was bruised but not broken. She wanted to get up and get away from there. Falling is embarrassing, I know. I've done it several times. I should have keep the strapping and got the names of the employees, I did not.
Ten minutes later we decided to file an accident report.
The big issue is the way we were treated. Or, our perception of the way we were treated. From having to pay for any medical, “You can dispute the charges later” to an almost accusing sort of tone from security and the clinic staff. "How much have you had to drink today?" I guess I can understand the “cover our ass” mentality but it still stung us.
We had dinner plans with everyone but she wasn't up to it. Wanda spent the afternoon and evening in bed. I had an excellent dinner, salmon, and went back up to the cabin. We watched the Monday Night Football game, Green Bay got hosed, and turned in early.
Tuesday morning Wanda was out at 5:30 stretching and walking off the fall.
This was our full day at sea, we would be docking in San Francisco at 10 AM tomorrow.
For anyone interested in a movie, "Big Miracle" "The Three Stooges" Friends With Kids" and "The Avengers" were showing in various places. There were also lectures, bingo, an art auction, and a few demonstrations. The casino was open, of course. But, the weather was, at least to me, totally unexpected. Many of the passengers were taking advantage of it.
This was a few hundred miles out of Vancouver. About a quarter of the way home, along the coast of Oregon?
Look at the railing on the right side second level, it looks like someone is leaning an arm on it. That is one of my favorite places on the ship. Sitting in a lounge chair listening to and watching the wake is hypnotic. The aft pool is one of three or four, depending on the ship. Princess fills their pools with fresh water, others use salt.
Earlier I wrote I don't think I would do this again. I wouldn't do a seven day followed by a one day and a two day cruise. Both the short cruises had lots of down time. Waiting to get on, waiting to get off, thinking about getting on, thinking about getting off. Packing, unpacking. Schlepping luggage, you get the picture.
After a week long cruise the short ones were almost more trouble than they were worth. I said, almost. Mary wrote reminding me the short cruises were good for credit toward your Captain's Circle, and they are. Princess counts cruise numbers and/or days at sea. The right set of circumstances may make taking a short coastal cruise cost effective.
I would do the two day on it's own. Spending a few days in Vancouver then taking a cruise back to San Francisco would be wonderful.
Since we all would be scattering in the morning we were going to meet for dinner. In all probability we wouldn't see each other again until June. Wanda and I are not big 'sunshine' people (that doesn't sound very good) I mean we don't enjoy laying in the sun cooking like pieces of bacon, maybe bacon for her. I would be a chicken breast. (Jewish, remember) We walked around the ship, got some pictures and headed out for our mini adventure. We were going exploring.
When on our first cruise on Star we discovered a small miniature golf course on part of the top deck . It wasn't much of a course but it was fun. A year later on our next cruise we had a heck of a time finding it. It was a different ship, in a different place, through a door and up a narrow passageway. It was deserted, of course. It was so damn hard to find, even with a map. Now, back on Star, after lunch we went looking for the golf course. Except, the ship didn't have miniature golf, it now had, The Lawn Court.
One of the things about cruising is, if it works keep it, get it, refine it. If it doesn't work, get rid of it. This goes for competition as well. Passengers like big movie screens, other lines install them. Soft serve ice cream is popular, other lines serve it. One of the competing lines has real grass lawns on the top decks of it's new ships. The Lawn Court sounds nice.
OK, not everything is a winner. One of these days Princess will get something very popular up here, topless sun bathing?
Another favorite spot on the ship is the indoor/outdoor pool area.
The roof slides back. I've only seen it open a few times. There is an outdoor pool right next to this. On another cruise we had some rough water one evening. Not bad enough to close the pool but things were sloshing around pretty good. Wanda and I walked by this area and the pool was full of kids, body surfing. They would ride the waves getting tossed from end to end and side to side and squeal with delight. Listening to the kids laughing was infectious. We had fun just watching them.
One of the many life lessons I have learned over the years is, be here now. You know, enjoy the moment, this is it, today is a present, etc. etc. etc. I wish I could always practice what I preach but sometimes I can't. Rather then fully enjoy the day I kept thinking about Wanda, that fall scared me, a lot. And I was thinking about home and what tomorrow would bring.
We have three inside cats and Silvia. She lives across the street in the 'fire house' or the house that burned down. We took her in. We also have been feeding and giving shelter to Sparky Lee for several years. We have a very responsible house/cat watcher person but the closer we get to home to more I start to worry.
One of these days Nicholas, our 16 year old grandson will stay here at the house. Then I'll worry about him having half the teenagers in town over for a party, but, he's a good kid and I don't think he would do that. Maybe a third or a quarter of the teenagers, but not half. I think I would feel very secure with him here. And I know the cats would like the company.
In spite of my concerns about the house and the cats Wanda and I had a very enjoyable day. There wasn't a damn thing I could do to change tomorrow's outcome, we were going to get off the ship.
It's odd, food on one cruise ship can be better, or worse, than another. Same line, almost the same ship, different outcome. We sailed Star to Mexico a few years ago and I thought the food was fantastic. This sailing was more of the same. We may have been slightly disappointed on Golden but this ship more than made up for it. From the restaurants to the Horizon court buffet the selections and quality were outstanding.
Now I'm wondering how in the world I could spend ten days on cruise ships and not once have a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon?
The day soon passed, we did our final shopping for trinkets. It may seem hokey but we save pins and magnets. We met for dinner. I didn't want to say good-bye. "See you later" I heard myself say as we walked out of the restaurant. A short while later we were back in the cabin. I glanced out the balcony door, it was almost the end of our day.
Tomorrow: San Francisco
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