This was supposed to be a relaxing sea day. Well, we had to forget that. First order of business was showing up at 7 a.m. to stand in a line and get tickets for our face-to-face immigration interview. That information is listed in the GOOD TO KNOW section.
Our original plan was to sleep in, explore the ship and take in some of the entertainment. First disaster, Carl did not set the alarm correctly and it didn’t go off. He threw on some clothes and headed for deck 5 where he got a ticket for group 19. We were told there were 50 people in each group. This proved disastrous. Our plan for the first day in San Francisco was to have a nice breakfast, head outside to stroll on Pier 39 and do a bit of shopping. The boat docked at 9:30. Our ferry to Sausalito, right beside Pier 39, left at 11:30. No problem, right? Wrong.
We learned more. Immigration wasn’t even showing up until 10:30. The odds of our catching the ferry became slight indeed. The next ferry wasn’t until 1:45. Although we always got a free internet package on Princess, that was not true of Royal Caribbean. We were out at sea with no cell and no internet. First order of business was letting our friends know we would likely not make the ferry. That email cost $28, the price for one-day service on the ship.
My followup trip to the ticket desk proved enlightening if not productive. I learned there was nothing they could do. There were other people who needed off the boat for important reasons, such as business meetings. They got the same story. The immigration process could take 30 minutes to as long as 2 hours. Further, it wouldn’t have mattered if the alarm went off, there was a tremendous line to get tickets before 6:30, so they started handing them out early.
We devised a plan. If we missed the ferry (likely), there were loads of taxis lined up alongside the ship in Vancouver and Victoria. We looked up the fares and decided we would resort to a 15-mile taxi ride across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito as a last resort.
All this made for a lot of stress on a day we hoped to relax.
I decided to go to a cupcake decorating class only to find it was full. I should have registered and paid beforehand. Our lucky streak just kept going.
Then things went a little better. I did a napkin-folding class while not in the best of moods. Carl played in a slot tournament. I spent a lot of the afternoon embroidering and reading my Butchart Gardens book. The only view we had from our balcony was fog. The fog horn continued to blare every five minutes, day and night.
We decided to attend an acupuncture lecture. When the acupuncturist asked how our day was going, I was honest. He said he understood completely. His day off in San Francisco was to be spent with friends. He could not get off the boat as he was afraid they wouldn’t let him back on. I’m not really understanding this whole concept. We never had to go through immigration to go on an excursion, only when our cruise ended. An announcement came over the loudspeaker that they still had immigration tickets available. So these people did not intend to get off. Supposedly, they would have to appear before immigration. I kind of doubt that happened.
We went to the early song and dance show, the best-attended production to date. So far, we’ve had two bad days and one good. Tomorrow morning is also looking stressful. Our vacation is getting a poor rating.
My piece of embroidery is finished!