NCL PEARL/ENCORE CRUISE ESCAPES CRUISE-SEPTEMBER 21 2009

Boarding began at 1pm. Thank goodness I asked Carla, our office Cruise Specialist what was the easiest way to get to the pier, because much to my surprise Vancouver has another port besides Canada Place!! My pier was located in East Vancouver, and was about a $20 cab from downtown.

I felt a bit silly standing in line by myself, and I had many comments from people standing around me, such as "are you travelling alone?" and "wow, you're brave to be taking a cruise alone".  I also got some funny looks, but this only added to my excitement. I later found out that our tour leader, Stephanie Vasquez was line stalking me, as she was too standing alone and figured I must be on the fam. Too funny.

NCL had a computer problem, so it took about 2 hours to get onboard. They were very apologetic, and at each check point (security/check in) they were very efficient. I would say they handled the problem well, and we were able to leave just a bit behind schedule.

I found my cabin quite easily, keeping in mind that the fish on the floor swim to the front of the ship (this came in handy later after late night Martini's). I was quite impressed with my outside cabin. The window was a nice size, and the bathroom was great! I liked how the shower and the toliet each had it's own room, and for once I didn't feel like I'd be getting ready in a box.

My highlight of this day was sailing underneath the Lion's Gate Bridge. It really was spectacular to see Vancouver drifting away (and the Steele's Travel office..haha. I waved at you guys, but you didn't see me).

I took a walk around the ship to get aquainted with everything. I was very impressed with the number of treadmills in the gym (which was about to become my best friend as I'm training for a marathon), the Spa was beautiful and there was definitely a lot to do with a bowling alley and a rock climbing wall!!

That night, I met my fam group at a Encore Cruise Escapes Cocktail party. We exchanged stories, and well..got aquainted with the help of some cocktails. After that we had dinner at 'Summer Palace' which is one of the two main dining rooms that you can sit down and order food from a menu. Did I mention you can sit with whoever you want? and show up whenever you want?? This was a great perk!! The dining room was beautiful, the food was really yummy and the service was excellent.

That night, we headed off to Bliss Nightclub. It's a really cool nightclub with beds and lots of comfy seating and bowling alleys!! We watched a Cabaret show, and shortly after headed off to bed.

Up next, Astoria Oregon and my chance to cross off some items from my bucket list. More about this
tomorrow.

P.S- I'll explain the Hippo picture. On each floor there's pictures of animals in the staircases. I again, became really good friends with the stairs because of my upcoming marathon..so I saw a lot of these animals, and the hippo was my favourite!

All in all, a great first day.