Today we woke up at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown Hotel and had a nice breakfast. Then we went to take the kids to a show like the Soren show that was in New York, but when we got there, the soonest available showtime was too late for us given the cruise boarding time. Lily used her amazing influencing skills to get our money back even though the company we bought the tickets from typically does not give refunds.
While we were running around town attempting to see a show, Swathi was giving a virtual lecture from the hotel room. She said it went very well! When she was finished, Clark, Sruthi, Mani, Soren and Meera picked her up from the hotel and we all met up at the boarding place for the cruise.
Lily had a mini-panic attack because she realized at the last second she didn’t have any of the emails, texts or communications that she was told she would get as the time got closer to the cruise. She did confirm that she booked and got a confirmation number, and we did pay, but she was very concerned because we got so few communications after we bought it. She called Princess Cruise Lines and learned that they have three separate systems. And in two of the systems we were registered and good to go. But someone forgot to check a box to get us registered in their third system which was for communications.
At the end of the day, everything went fine when we checked in at the cruise ship. We said our goodbyes to Clark and Swathi who were so nice to help transport us to Vancouver, and boarded the boat (after security, customs, bag checking etc). We were all excited to be on the boat, but especially Lily, who booked everything and carried the heaviest burden of making sure nothing went awry. Thank you again Lily for booking this amazing experience.
Even though the first half of our day was a bit stressful and anticlimactic (not getting to see the show, having to battle for a refund, and I didn’t even mention the broken elevators at the hotel which caused us and many others problems), the second half of the day was completely magical.
Once on the boat we had delicious food. The kids were all so excited and loved exploring the boat together. We looked out over the ocean from the deck as we pulled off and enjoyed the incredible scenery. After lunch, we all went swimming, and then I snuck in a workout. Then we showered and got dinner. We saw a whale while eating and we continued to enjoy the wonderful food. The kids had non-stop fun being together, and we were quite the group! Ammon had fun announcing on elevators, “sorry, we have a big family!”. After dinner, we dropped the kids off at the kid zone, and then Lily, Sruthi and I sat out on the deck with blankets, and watched “Ticket to Paradise’ on the big screen. It was a wonderful movie, and I loved cuddling with Lily. We picked up the kids at 10PM, then everyone went to bed and now I’m blogging. What a day!
