September 8, 2007 (Day Two): At Sea, Heading North

Our first full day on board the Vision of the Seas was spent sailing north along the west coast of Vancouver Island and then heading northwest along the coasts of the islands of the Queen Charlotte Islands. We had breakfast in our stateroom ("free", but we'd brought a thick stack of $2 bills to tip the servers) and then spent the day poking around the ship. We'd heard that one good place to get away from the madding crowds was the "relaxation room" at the very rear of the ship on Deck 9, part of the Day Spa. It was really meant for guests who were waiting for their spa appointments (massages, kelp wraps, pedicures, butt muscle realignments, you name it) but no one was on guard stopping us, so we hung out there for a while.

When that palled, we went out to the pool deck and found no one using the pool. Quite a difference from the chair-hog-ridden pool decks you'd find on a tropical cruise, eh? Jay, obstinate to the end, decided he would use the pool. With the ship cruising through northern waters at 22+ knots, there was no end of wind and even Jay couldn't take it for long. The pool was warm, but the experience still got boring pretty darn quickly. We both found that we preferred the adults-only 'solarium' pool, complete with glass roof and odd Mayan-style decorations, forward of the day spa at the rear of the ship.

After some time spent peering at the passing islands with our binoculars, time finally came for us to put on our finery; it was Formal Night, one of two nights on the ship when attire for the dining room was supposed to be black tie, or at least a suit, for men, and evening gowns or dresses for women. While stories abound of sociopathic twits who simply refuse to put on anything other than torn jeans or shorts showing up for formal night and insisting on spoiling the ambience, we really didn't see much of that this time around. The average Vision passenger on our cruise was retired or close to it, and even on the semi-formal or casual nights, people tended to dress like they were out for a nice meal. We had a fun time with the fancy drinks and desserts; Carole even bought a drink served in a glass that had a battery and flashing multicolored LED in the base. Fancy, fancy, eh? (We kept the glass. It still works. Lord only knows when we'll use it again.)

After dinner, Carole wasn't feeling 100% and we wound up back at the room, just planning on relaxing. When we got there, we found that a representative of the Towel Animals had put in an appearance. The stuffed animals we'd brought along (we don't have children of our own; allow us our whimsy, OK?) seemed mildly perplexed by the strange critter.