Monday Afternoon Hypnosis 3/1/10

What a strange week this has been! Where has this month gone? It seems like yesterday it was the first week of February. I hope this year will not keep that same pace up or I will age faster than intended. I know I am sort of old already, but let me stop every now and then and smell the peppers! (I mean Roses) My food senses have been going wild! I love to play with food and I have been cooking some insane food! Check out "Cookin with John" for some great recipe ideas. New recipes are updated weekly. My wife is back in Big D full time while our home in San Antonio is looking for the perfect home buyer. I know everyone has different things that they believe in and those beliefs are their own. I had a friend of mine on Facebook who recommended that I go to a Christian book store and buy a statue of St. Joseph and bury it in the yard and your house will sell pretty quickly. I was not sure of this as I thought it would be sac religious, but I was very wrong as I researched this process. I went out and bought my very own St Joseph statue with a burial bag and buried him in the yard. The instructions say to bury him head first facing the street with his feet facing the heavens. Then you say a prayer and then your home will sell. Once your home sells you de- earth St. Joseph and you place him in your new home. I have never heard of this and I am willing to believe! I will keep you posted of our progress. The Travel Business has been all over the place. There has been a lot of interest and quoting, but not very many bookings this week. I love what I do and will always have a positive "Cruisitude" If you want a non biased hard working travel agent to take all of your researching headaches away; I have one to recommend to you. All kidding aside if you have travel questions or need recommendations I am here for you. As a Cruise Planner and a Tour/Resort Specialist you will be in good hands. Test me out sometime! I bet you will be very impressed. It’s time to get your beverage on as we get ready for day 4 on the Norwegian Pearl. I decided to go the martini route today. Are you ready for a "Hypnotize Me"? Your ingredients consist of 3oz(s)Ketel One Vodka, 1 oz Strawberry Vodka, 1 oz Hypnotiq (Hpnotiq is an exquisite blend of premium vodka, natural tropical fruit juices and a hint of Cognac), 1 oz Strawberry Liqueur, 1 oz Grape Pucker and 3 Drop(s)Dry Vermouth. Did I say all liquor? Take your favorite martini shaker and fill with ice, then add all of the ingredients and put the lid on. Get your groove on and shake your bootie! Take your favorite chilled martini glasses and pour. This is one potent drink and now I know why you are hypnotized after you drink this. I guess I can officially say I have been hypnotized! That was a crazy drink! Day 4 on the Norwegian Pearl begins with a hop, skip and a jump on deck 7! This walking and prune juice is going to get the best of me! I must keep going. Our port of call today is St. Thomas. Can you say paradise? We decided to eat breakfast at the Blue Lagoon Cafe. It is a 24 hour a la cart cafe. My breakfast consisted of a croissant scramble, hash browns, bacon and prune juice. It was simple and hit the spot. St. Thomas is known for shopping and Magen's Bay. St. Thomas is a shopper’s paradise. Havensight and Downtown Main Street are the prime shopping areas. The beaches in St. Thomas are known worldwide. National Geographic has rated Magen's Bay one of the top 10 beaches in the world. Although all the beaches on the island are public, there is a charge of $3 to enter Magen's Bay. Morning Star beach is also lovely, well worth a visit and it tends to be a little less crowed. Taxis are available on the pier and generally charged per person. There are no meters in the taxis so negotiate the fare in advance. We decided to go the taxi route and venture out and see what St. Thomas was all about. We were very lucky and hooked up with a local driver named Ever-Ready. He does a 3 hour tour of the island with many stops and photo opportunities. The island of St. Thomas is 3 miles by 12 miles. There are no manufactures on the island. They also have one of the world’s largest saltwater to freshwater conversion plants as there is no fresh water on the island. Medical care is free to all of those who live on the island. They are still in the re-building stage from the last four hurricanes that have hit the island. Most of the people cannot afford to rebuild their homes as the costs are too high. The Governor is in charge of the island. We went to Blackbeard’s Castle and to the St. Peter Great House on the World Famous Mountain Top. The St. Peter Great House provided great views of Megan's Bay, St John’s and St Croix. We were able to take some breath taking photos from here as well. One thing that the St. Peter Great House is famous for is the Banana Daiquiri! I am not sure what all of the ingredients were except a lot of dark rum and fresh bananas. It was just awesome! I am glad that we took the 3 hour tour of the island. Ever-Ready was a wealth of information as we developed a true appreciation for the island. We head back to some of the shopping areas and check out some of the local bargains. There were some great deals and everything was a little crowed as the Oasis of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas, Carnival Liberty and the Costa Atlantica were all in port. We decided to go back on board the Pearl to eat lunch. Why spend extra money when all of your food is included with your cruise? You can come and go to the ship as long as she is at the pier. After lunch Pea, Pod and I decided to walk around the pier area for a while. We found this small beach hut bar with live music and Caribe Beer buckets for $10. Good music and a good cold beer! What could be better? St. Thomas had been awesome and with so many things to do on the ship we headed back. We decided that the pool was calling our name. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the pool. Pea and Pod played in some of the pool games with the cruise staff. It was pretty funny watching some of the stunts they did. Sailing on a cruise ship makes it so easy to visit all of these different ports of call and you only unpack once on your floating resort. Before dinner tonight we were going to visit the Star Bar. From 6 - 7 they offer 2 for 1 martini’s and in my opinion one of the best drink deals on the ship. I had a Pear Pleasure, Pea had a Cocotini and my wife had a Raspberry Fruitini. This was just an awesome start to a great evening. We met back up with Pod and headed to Indigos for dinner. My meal would start off with a potato goat cheese tart and some chicken french onion soup. Then it was off to tilapia topped off with a lemon butter sauce and capers. Dessert was this yummy chocolate cream cake with a warm chocolate sauce. I am in food heaven! I think I need to take a walk. All of this food is getting a little heavy. The show tonight is Sea Legs, A Showgirl Revue. Showgirls perform to the music of Frank Sinatra and Beyonce. Then it is off to the Caribbean Deck Party for Hot Dancing under the stars. It is shake your bootie time! For those of you who know me I am a terrible dancer and shaker. It was fun to watch though! Our night ends at the blackjack table. I broke even so I was ok with that. Wow, what a day this has been. As you can see you can do as much or as little as you want. It is your vacation and the choice is all yours. St. Thomas I thank you for allowing me to visit and see the true beauty of the island and the people who live here. I think next time I visit St. Thomas I will visit the St. Peter Great House again and then go hang out at Magen's Bay. I heard they make some awesome pizza beachside. My heavenly bed is calling my name. Tomorrow we are headed to Tortola (B.V.I) I can't wait to see what day 5 brings us on this awesome journey! I appreciate all of those who are following and if you know someone who likes to travel I would be honored if you would forward them a link to "Travelin with John" Until we unite again remember to always love your Travel Agent. He needs lots of love! Remember that my services, research and recommendations are always No Charge! If you know someone who travels send them my way. You know they will be taken care of. Keep your Cruisitude in check and most important is to Travel Your Way!

Saturday Morning Trick or Treat 10/31/09

Are you kidding me? The last two weeks have been a little more productive in the travel business. Hoo Ya! I am hoping that I finish the year with a bang! Remember to always love your travel agent. "College Football Dad" has been at home watching college football while Pod has been on the road for a few weeks. It's pretty hard to watch on the tube or ESPN 360. I am not a good TV watcher when Pod is on the field. I do a lot of pacing. Our weather has been hot, cool, hot and cool again. I wish Mother Nature would make up her mind. Royal Caribbean has her big new ship The Oasis of the Seas getting ready to hit the water's in November. You have got to check this floating city out! When you have time make sure you check out my website and biz page. We have a ton of year end specials and early booking specials for travel next year. You will also find great tips on travel. How is your Cruisitude? Mine is doing just fine! I know, enough of the business stuff. I thought I would save this part of our trip for Halloween. Before our journey to the dark side begins, let's do a little Trick or Treat! It is Halloween, so why not. Are you ready for the Trick? Start with 1 oz. Amaretto, 1 1/2 oz. Vodka, Vanilla, 1/2 oz. Triple Sec, 1 dash Grenadine and fill with Orange Juice. Pour vodka, triple sec, amaretto, grenadine into a tall glass filled with your favorite ice. Top with orange juice and stir. Take four or five small Halloween candies, and stick them on a skewer. Place skewer on top of glass. I told you it would be a Treat. There you have it, a Trick or Treat! Our night is going to start with one of the stupidest things I have ever done. I have been convinced by our traveling party that we need to do a night kayak excursion in the pitch dark. How stupid do you think I am? Well I guess pretty stupid! They keep telling me that it is going to be so awesome looking at the water glow as you paddle. I guess that could be cool, but in the dark? Vieques is known for one of the best Bioluminescence Bays in the world. What the heck did you just say? Bioluminescence who, what? Bioluminescence is the phenomenon where light or glow is created by a living creature by internal chemical reaction. Approximately 80% of all marine life creates bioluminescence to some degree. This is done to achieve different survival strategies which include mating, predator avoidance and feeding. When a particular species of plankton concentrates in very high numbers in rare areas around the world, the results are stunning. The Bioluminescent Bay is located in the Mosquito Bay area in Vieques and is, perhaps, the brightest in the world! With over 750,000 tiny dinoflagellates per gallon of water that light up when they are touched! Imagine a lake full of Tinker Bells fairy dust! Pure magic, the experience is actually indescribable. So here is the deal! We all meet at Blue Caribe Kayaks for the details of our journey. The sun was just starting to go down and I was getting a little nervous not knowing what to expect. Can I take a cooler? We are given a life jacket and a whistle. Why in the heck do I need a whistle? Ok, now it s beginning to make sense. I am getting in a kayak in the dark and in case I get lost I blow a whistle. This is not starting out good. If I am lost in the ocean who is going to hear me? I just got my first glimpse of the kayaks that we will be using. It has a preformed area for your butt and feet. Whose butt did they use to make that mold? I am supposed to fit which part of my butt in this thing? Why do you sit up in the air instead of down in it some? It looks pretty wobbly to me. My two sons are with me so I better suck this up and get in the van. It took about 20 minutes of driving through the jungle before we reached our departure point. I know why they call this Mosquito Bay. I was getting bit left and right. I guess when they told us not to use Mosquito spray with DEET in it because it could damage the critters in the water that we would have a mosquito problem. As I am standing there with the rest of the group including my wife, two sons, mother, brother, sister-in-law and her mom and dad I realize that I do not see any water. We are in this jungle area with who knows what type of animals and they tell us that we are going to shove off through this small opening of mangroves. I am really thinking snakes and spiders now. Pea and Pod get their kayak and the tour helpers shove them out into the darkness. I kid you not, you cannot see anything. Ok, that looks pretty easy. The only problem is that I weigh a little more than they do and I take up more room in my kayak and I have a water proof camera around my neck with this stupid whistle. It comes to my turn to walk out in the mangroves for my shot out in the dark. I take my position and there I go. Through the jungle in to the wide open ocean I head. Why did I get pushed so hard? No more than 10 feet and I had already fallen out of my kayak. This is not good! I could still stand up, but barely. Every time I tried to get in the kayak it kept moving. I finally was able to get in by sliding on it with my stomach. There is no telling how many bruises I am going to have. This is going to be the longest two hours of my life. All of the sudden Janet comes shooting by and I about fall out again. Something has to be wrong with my kayak. I have finally got some balance and the moon is out and I can see a few people and the tour guides said to follow them out. It was really cool to see your paddle and the other kayaks with this light glowing with every move you made. We were going out in to the bay for about one mile and they would let us get in the water for about 15 minutes before we headed back. Do they know we are in a bay that goes into the ocean that has sharks in it? This has to be a bad dream. I started to paddle and was doing ok I thought. It seemed like I was always going to the right and the harder I paddled the worse it was. Pea and Pod would circle back every so often to check on me. I was in last place for most of the time and I still had my whistle. It was a close competition with Janet and Carol at times. I did catch up to Janet and Carol for a little bit. They kept laughing at me and the next thing I know Carol (mom) has fallen out. I made my way over to help, but what the heck was I going to do? When you are in water over your head and your kayak will not stay still, it is a task that I cannot complete. If I fall out again I am sure that a shark or something will eventually get me. Remember it is dark and there is salt in the water. Thank goodness one of the tour guides was close by and helped her get back in. It seemed like forever but I finally caught the rest of the group as they were all swimming in the middle of the bay making water angels. They had tied all of the kayaks together. I had made it this far, so I better get in and experience this Bioluminescence thing first hand. I knew I could get out of the kayak. I had no clue how I was going to get back in. Every movement you made with your arms or legs would light up with this blue glow. It was really cool to see, but I was still nervous about my re-entry into my kayak.. Well it is that time and I am not feeling good about my chances. I tried several times and could not do it. It would be nice if they had some steps to help you get back in. HaHa! With two tour guides and a few desperate attempts I was able to get all of me back in. We had paddled out in a bit of a head wind so the return trip would surely go faster. Wrong! I was having paddling issues and it did not matter how I paddled I kept going in circles. How do I get out of this paddle spin? Really, how do you paddle in circles? Pea and Pod came back to check on me and I said more cuss words than I even knew were in my dictionary. They tried to be encouraging, but I was not in the mood for it. Why is everyone laughing at me? I finally got my alignment corrected and started to make some head way. Every now and then I would still just go in circles. I could not figure this thing out. My brother (Donnie) came back to check on me and he could not stop laughing at me either. It served him right for laughing because a few minutes later he fell out of his kayak. He was able to get back into his pretty easy though. I think I got a lemon kayak. Can I return mine for a new one? I told everyone to leave me alone. Every time they came to check on me something happens. Sure as shoot I fell out again. I guess I am going to just hang on and swim with this darn kayak. I saw one on the tour guides off in the distance so I blew my whistle and they helped me get back in. This was it. I have had enough of this. I have got to get past this mental thing I have going on with my kayak. It seemed like several more hours, but the next thing I knew I had made it back to our pick up point. Thank goodness the wind kept me on the right course. I thought for sure I would end up out at sea. As soon as I got close enough I jumped out and got to shore as fast as I could. I think I have died and gone to heaven. I have my feet on the ground. My family finally got to see me in an environment where I am not very good at and they have never laughed so hard in their entire lives. We piled back in to the vans and everyone talked about their experience. I did not say a word. I was still in a kayak coma! I needed a beer in the worst way. 20 minutes later after our return we found this burger dive and I chugged more beers than I could count so I could get my nerves back in check. I was glad that I did this, but I will never do this again. Everyone else said it was one of the highlights of their trip. I really would highly recommend this trip, but make sure you get a kayak that is formed to your butt shape! If you ever want to take a trip to the dark side call me and I can give you all of the details and help you book your trip. I am going to end our trip here. What a blast we have had. I hope you have enjoyed this ride with me in Puerto Rico/Vieques. I am not sure where our journeys will take us next, but where ever they are it will be a fun ride. I truly appreciate all of you who are reading and following. Please leave me a comment sometime so I know who is reading. I would be honored if you share this with a friend. Hang on for our next wild ride. Until we unite again remember to always love your Travel Agent. He needs lots of love. Keep your Cruisitude in check and most important is to Travel Your Way!

Saturday Morning Satin Sheets 8/8/09

This has been a very interesting week for sure. We thought we had our house sold and then we don't. Life is too short to dwell on the past. Do the right things, continue to move forward in a positive direction and good things will happen. I am a firm believer. I will jump to my sales side for a moment. I promise I will get back to the story very soon. We really do have some great specials going on right now at Fantasy Cruise & Travel along with some great travel tools to make things super simple. If you know someone else who is also looking for a great travel agent to personally take care of everything for them, please pass them my information. There will always be a gift from me for a referral. For those of you who are Facebook fans, I would love for you to become a Fan of Fantasy Cruise & Travel. There is lots of information at your fingertips. If you tweet on Twitter you can also find some great information. Just look for cruisetravelguy. When you make it over to Facebook, make sure to search for Fantasy Cruise & Travel. If for no other reason, you get to see these funny pictures of a Pink Flamingo. You heard me! It's me stylin' like a Pink Flamingo. I officially became a member of The Pink Flamingo Club this week. You have to look at the picture for an explanation. I also need to throw out a special thanks to Heather at Travel Impressions. As always, I need to check your Cruisitude. How is yours going this week? Mine is strutting! Just a quick thank you for everyone’s support! I am in a better place because of you. OK, now back to the good stuff! With this being Saturday morning I thought I would start it off with Satin Sheets. Pillow talk? Don't leave me! It's going to get good now. Even though I do not own a pair/set of satin sheets, I can sure enough make one. Got you thinking for a minute, didn't I? You thought I was going off on a different direction. Well I am! Are you ready for Satin Sheets? Here is the silkiness of it. Take the following: 1 oz Kahlua, 1 oz Bailey's Irish cream, 1 oz Chocolate liqueur (Godiva) Ice & Milk! Combine Kahlua, Bailey's, and the Godiva chocolate liqueur over ice. Add milk to fill the glass and stir or shake. Now that is a way to start off this Saturday morning. You gotta love Satin Sheets! Especially in the summer. Even though the Alaskan portion of our trip is over, our Seattle portion is just starting. The disembarkation from the Princess Coral was very easy. As soon as we got off the ship we boarded our bus for our 3 hour journey into Seattle. We have never been to Seattle before and were looking forward to seeing this grand city. Our bus takes us to the Seattle airport. This is where we will get our rental car. We are going to be exploring the Seattle area for the next 3 days. Our home base for this trip will be in Woodinville. This town is north of Seattle by about 20 to 30 minutes. Our hotel of choice was the Willow Lodge. This is a Washington wine and culinary resort. This lodge is ranked #80 in the world and #12 in the US & Canada by Travel Leisure Magazine. They also had Fireside Cellars where you could sample some of Washington States wines or eat at the Barking Frog. The Barking Frog is a casual bistro featuring country fresh Northwest cuisine. Right next door is The Herbfarm Restaurant, rated in the top 50 restaurants in the world by Travel + Leisure magazine. According to Gourmet magazine, “you’ll be glad you booked a room at the luxurious Willows Lodge next door after one of The Herbfarm’s fabulous 9-course dinners”. Enjoy! Even though the Herbfarm was not open during the week we were there I hope to come back and experience this amazing place. This place was awesome. It was just far enough away, but so close to everything we wanted to do in Seattle. We were stuck right between three wineries and one brewery. Go figure, me next to wineries and breweries. You bet! The wineries were Columbia Winery, Silver Lake Winery and Chateau Ste. Michelle. The most incredible architecture and landscape I have seen. I have been to Napa several times and I would put Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia Winery right up there. Please do not get Columbia Winery confused with Columbia Crest. Oh, and the wine tastings were awesome. We spent a couple of hours at each winery. Washington State really has some good wines. You should check them out. We were also right next to Redhook Brewery! It is one of the nation's most highly-regarded micro brews. They actually have a restaurant at Redhook Brewery. We ate there for lunch one day. It was called Forecasters Public House. We had some appetizers and burgers (awesome) while I sampled a few of the brews. Janet stuck with the wine. I had the sampler tray which consisted of six different beers. Very nice beers! The other cool thing was we got to go on a tour of the brewery. All for $1.00, woo hoo! We walked around the different stations and sampled some more of the beers as we toured. Janet does not drink beer, so for some reason I got two each time. Do I hear a nap? Can you believe this though? All of this within 20 minutes of Seattle! Our morning started off with a trip into Seattle to visit the World Famous Pike Place Market. I am in heaven. We wanted to see all of it and needed some food for our bellies. You have to have energy to walk around this place. We had heard about Lowell's and it did not disappoint us. We ate on the second floor called "The View Lounge" We had a great view of the water. This place was buzzing! We had the most incredible breakfast. Now we were fueled for our adventure. I could not wait any longer. There were so many options. Janet choose the pancakes and I had there special breakfast sandwich. It was so worth the wait to get a table. You have to try this place. I had to go see them throw the fish! We headed off to The World Famous Pike Place Fish Market. The seafood was so fresh! Once you pick out your fish the fish monger on the front side takes your fish and throws it to the guys behind the counter. This was really cool. We continued to watch for a while as the fish kept flying. Pike Place Market is awesome. There were so many things to buy and look at. They had more fresh seafood than you could ever imagine. Italian markets were they had so many fresh varieties of pastas, tons of fresh vegetables, and so many different flowers to choose from. Can I live next door? What a special place. I wish every city had something like this. Did I mention the original Starbucks is across the street? Well it is. Number 1! This is where I first became a lover of the Pike Place Roast. The best stuff ever! Take a real good look at the original Starbucks logo. You will not see it anywhere else and something is exposed. I am not kidding, take a look for yourself. There are so many different places and shops. I am still in heaven. After several hours of walking around we had worked up an appetite for my wife’s favorite comfort food. Clam Chowder! We did not have to look far until we found the cream of the crop. The Chowder House! It is located at the Alley of Pike Place Market. This clam chowder has won first-place awards everywhere in the country and is the only chowder to have accomplished this fete on both coasts. We are still in heaven! We spend a few more hours walking around Pike Place. Now it is time to head back towards Woodinville. We are not only food, travel, and wine junkies, we are sports junkies. On our return to the Willows Lodge we stop at the University of Washington. I wanted to go look in Husky Stadium. Did not know how I was going to do that, but upon arrival it looked like there was a soccer camp going on. We just acted like parents and we were going to pick up our child. We walked around on the field. It is a beautiful stadium. Tonight was going to be a movie night, so we picked up a bottle of wine and some local sausage and cheeses and headed back to our room. What a day it had been. The next day we headed back down to Pike Place Market to do it all over again. It is still just as awesome as it was yesterday. We still had two stadiums to go look at, so we took off on our 2 mile walk towards the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Mariners stadiums (Safeco Field). We lucked out again on the Seahawks stadium (Quest Field). They were having a youth football camp. We walked right through the gate and walked around for a bit. An outdoor football stadium is the only way to watch a game. Even though we could not look in the Mariners stadium it was still an awesome site. Now it is time for our walk back. This time we caught one of the local transit buses and got part of the way back. Now it was time to sample another favorite food of ours. Oysters! We choose The Brooklyn Oyster & Seafood House. We sat at the bar where the oysters were located at. That is what they call an oyster bar! They had a special of six different oysters times 2. This made it perfect for us to get to try some different oysters from the Northwest region. After a couple of dozen oysters and a couple of beers and Janet's glass of wine we were set to see more of Seattle. This was going to be our last night in Seattle and we wanted to make it special. We selected Palisade's on the opposite side of Elliott Bay Marina. This place was incredible. We got there a little before dark so we could see the sunset and you do need reservations for this restaurant. We had a great table overlooking the bay with the city of Seattle in the background. You cannot believe the view. We were going to take our time and enjoy the last night of our trip. The food was outstanding. The wine was good. The crab cakes were to die for. Oh my goodness! I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone. It's a keeper for me. As our trip slowly comes to an end we reflect on the awesome memories that we have made. I would highly recommend that you don't wait until your 25th wedding anniversary to experience Alaska and the Northwest. We are headed back to San Antonio and we know our family and dogs will be glad to see us. What a bucket list trip of a lifetime. Now that is a tongue twister! I hope you have enjoyed this ride with me to Alaska & Seattle. I truly appreciate all of you who are reading and following. Leave me a comment and share this with a friend. I would love for you to become a follower. You will be surprised were our journey takes us next. Hang on for the weekly ride. Until we unite again remember to love a travel agent. Keep your Cruisitude in check and always Travel Your Way!

Tuesday Afternoon Texas Prairie Fire 7/28/09

The week has started a bit more active. This is a good thing! Remember to tell your friends and neighbors to love a Travel Agent too. We always need love. It also helps keep our Cruisitude on track! If you have been watching the news lately, you know that in South Texas it is hotter than H E double heck. No rain in sight and triple digit temps. Watering restrictions to boot! It is like we have a barrier around us. Oh well, what are you going to do? While researching for this week’s beverage, I said what the heck. I might as well just join the heat and sit on the porch for a while. The only rain I am going to get is the sweat off of my forehead! So, let me introduce you to a Texas Prairie Fire. No, the grass is not on fire yet, but it could at anytime. It won't be long and we really will have Texas Tumbleweeds blowing down the street. Get your fire extinguishers out. Here is the skinny. Get your Tequila of choice (Mine is Cabo Wabo out of the freezer), Lime juice, and Tabasco sauce. Pour a 3/4 shot of Tequila in shot glass, top off with lime juice, splash in Tabasco sauce, and shoot. Are you on fire yet? Just a little kick to remind you that summer is here and is on fire. Our journey continues out of Ketchikan on our way to Vancouver. So sad that our days are coming to an end, but so filled with memories to support me for a lifetime. Our trip has two nights left and we hope to make the most of them. The Princess Coral will cover 506 nautical miles on this part of our trip. Our travels will take us past Prince Rupert, British Columbia. This is where the Canada wilderness starts. They say on British Columbia’s North Coast you don’t control nature, you pay attention to her every mood. As we continue our travels at sea, we head into the Hecate Strait. This channel of western British Columbia, Canada, separates the Queen Charlotte Islands from coastal islands off the mainland of the province. The scenery is quite spectacular.
It made it really nice that we have a balcony and could just sit back with a glass of wine and chill. There is nothing quite like this experience, along with the view. As we leave the Hecate Strait, we make our way into the Queen Charlotte Sound. Soon we will be heading into the Queen Charlotte Strait. From there we continue into the Johnstone Strait. For unexplained reasons, Killer Whales like to rub the smooth rocks along the shore at Robson Bright. This part of Johnstone Strait is very popular with researchers studying the behavior of Killer Whales. I did not see any here like we saw in Juneau. We cruise past Vancouver Island for quite a long time and will be in Vancouver in the morning. As I sit on our balcony, I have time to reflect on some of the many things we did on the ship. The Coral has so many things to offer everyone. The food was fantastic. Go on a diet before you cruise, so you can eat as much as you want. They will keep feeding you until you say stop. We chose Anytime Dining. We wanted to eat on our schedule. After a few evenings of dining we found the perfect table for two. All I had to do was tell them what time we wanted to eat and they told me when that table was available. It was so easy to do. I highly recommend this option when you cruise. Our waiters took great care of us. They always remembered our names and what we liked. We ate at one of the specialty restaurants. The restaurant we choose was Sabatini's. This evening would take about 2 hours as we would go through tastings of Italy. I think we ate 15 different items. Way too much food and worth the very small up charge. Most mornings we could not wait to see what the drink of the day or the activities were. Most of our evenings would start off with that special drink at the martini bar. There were way too many combinations and it was a cool way to people watch. During our sea days when we were not on our balcony, we played bingo and competed in many of the fun events that took place through out the ship. There were so many things that you could participate in. It was up to you how active you wanted to be. They had things for all ages. We enjoyed the wine tastings, along with the behind the scenes tour of the kitchen. The shows at night were awesome. The midnight buffets were spectacular. The unlimited pizza was heaven! I wish this could be my house. Alaska is the most incredible place in the world. I would hope if you have never been that this is on your bucket list. I want to add it back to my bucket. Our last night on this grand ship ends with great food and wine as we sit at the back of the ship and remember all of the amazing things that we did. As we wake up this morning we are presented the beautiful view of Vancouver.
Vancouver is awesome! I hope to come visit her again. After breakfast we await our turn to disembark the Coral. Even though this part of our trip is coming to an end, we are going to spend a few days in Seattle. I hope you have enjoyed our journey so far. I sure have! Travel Agent Love! Remember a trip like this is possible and I am here to help. Until we hookup again in Seattle, Happy Travelin' and always Travel Your Way! How happy is your Cruisitude? Mine is grinning ear to ear!