This day I’ve been planning for and dreaming about since October of 2023 has finally arrived. My sons and I [and our respective people] are all together under the roof of a single hotel, and a beautiful, medium-sized ship, the Holland America ms Eurodam, is on its way down from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, to pick us up from Pier 91 in Smith Cove Cruise Terminal. I’m abuzz with excitement.
I woke around 4:30 or 5:00 and sat by the window looking out over Elliott Bay. The day wasn’t beautiful, as it had been the day before, but at least it wasn’t 90 degrees and it wasn’t raining.
We went down to Bacco Cafe for breakfast. Jas had a ham and cheese omelet, and I enjoyed the spinach and goat cheese omelet. Afterwards, we met up with Tyler, Leslie, Miss C, and Cynthia as they were finishing their breakfast, seated on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. Then, feeling we had been eating nonstop, Jas and I did one more walkaround of the Market area, then walked some of the streets in the area, looking for a store where I could pick up a couple of necessities I had forgotten to pack. We happened upon a No Kings protest, which made us happy. We ducked into Target, then walked down the hill for one more walk around the Market before heading up to finish prepping our luggage.
I had arranged for transfer to the terminal from Airman Transportation. Our driver, Vitalii, picked us up in an 11-passenger van. We pulled away from the hotel at 11:00 and arrived at the terminal at 11:30, despite the heavy traffic and omnipresent tourists ignoring lights and signs. We joined the line that seemed like it would take forever, and before we knew it, we were up the escalator and into the priority line. At 12:00 on the nose we set foot onto the Holland America Eurodam. Jas and I went to our cabin, and the “kids” went to their adjacent staterooms, popped the cork on the complimentary sparkling wine, and got serious about vacationing!
After unpacking and settling our belongings into their appropriate spaces, we walked over from our starboard cabin to Tyler’s and Scott’s port cabins, and soon we were all on the verandah, telling jokes and stories. The steward opened the veranda wall door between the staterooms, and we just had a good old time, sipping wine and telling stories.
To say I was excited for this cruise to be happening is a gross understatement, but at the same time I wanted my sons to know this trip was not All About Mom. My goal was for them to see the incredible beauty that is Alaska, to see and appreciate this place I had fallen in love with on this, my third cruise up the Inside Passage. So I was just kind of hanging back—letting them vacation with minimal input from Mom.
I had read on one of the Holland America Line (HAL) Facebook groups that, if you want to have a meal in one of the upcharge restaurants (Pinnacle Grill—steakhouse, Tamarind—Asian, and Canaletto—Italian), it’s a wise move to make your reservation for the first night of the cruise. Most diners will have been at the sail-way party, eating appetizers and drinking free cocktails. They won’t have thought much about dinner, and most of the tables will already have been booked a month in advance. I’ve always enjoyed Pinnacle Grill and wanted my guys to experience this fine dining restaurant that’s been part of all my cruises on HAL. I had booked ahead, but maybe not far enough ahead, ending up with an 8:00 p.m. reservation when our bodies were not yet running on Pacific time. And even though I had instructed my travel agent to ensure with HAL that our three cabins were linked in the computer, somehow that didn’t happen. For some reason, the kitchen was running slow that night and our meals were very slow to come out. It seems our dinner lasted over two hours. When I look back in my memories of that night, it seems like the camera in my brain was on slo-motion.
The food was delicious, the company was delightful, the conversation was filled with laughter. But I’ve since decided that I’m not going to Pinnacle Grill on the first night again. All of us were fading, especially to two old folks. I think we were asleep in ten minutes after arriving in our room.
