At about 11am we bid farewell and caught the shuttle back to the airport. Princess then put us in a cab that took us out to the port. I guess it was easier than finding a bus with a wheelchair lift. But the cab was accessible and DeeAnn and I both had an enjoyable and comfortable ride in privacy. I noticed the cab fare was about $59 for the two of us. Nice of Princess to pay for the fare and tip!
Since we are now at "Platinum" level, we a special embarkation lounge. However, it was easier and a better option for us to use the wheelchair line, as we have in past cruises. We had to wait less than a minute then we headed through security and onto the ship.
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| Our cabin, C618 |
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| Labeled so we knew we were in the right place |
The muster (lifeboat drill) at about 4:30 pm which took about 20-30 minutes. Here is where they told us how to jump off the ship in an emergency. I don't think so! We learned to wait about 30 minutes after the drill before trying to make our way back to the cabin. Everyone wants to use the elevator though most can walk. Fortunately, we were able to explore while we waited for the crows to disperse.
Our first dinner was at 5:15. We half dreaded and half looked forward to it. Our experience is that Princess usually places us at a table nowhere near the main aisles. That means we have to ask people to move in order to get to the table or to get out in case of a bathroom break, etc. We ask for special seating but it is usually ignored. Fortunately, this was our first Princess cruise that we were assigned a table we could get to and did not have to be relocated! We met out table mates, Ruth (Santa Barbara) and Rose (Daly City, CA) and Richard "Skip" and Nancy from St. Louis, MO. We look forward to meeting a new group of people at the table and getting to know them. We will be eating with them the next 15 nights, and experience has taught us it can be a very rewarding time. There were two seats empty and we later met them though they eventually moved to a different table. First night featured prime rib, one of DeeAnn's favorite meals and was pretty tasty.
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| Dinner salad |
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| Prime rib, a first night tradition |
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| Texas chili with white rice. |
After dinner, we headed back to the cabin to find our luggage waiting for us. Its always nice to see them so our stress levels can go down and our vacation can officially begin. We gradually made out way out of Los Angeles and south along the California Coast. It is alwasy nice to be rocked to sleep by the gentle rocking of the ship.
Ship Log: At 1648 the Security Officer confirmed all passengers and crew were on board, all visitors were off the ship and all stores were embarked. By 1650 we began singling up our mooring lines. Once all lines were on board, we departed Pier 93 and began moving astern into the harbor channel. Once established in the main channel, the speed was increased to 6knots as we made our departure from the harbor. At 1749 the shipped passed the breakwater and shortly afterwards we disembarked our local pilot. Once the diembarkation was complete, we set a South Easterly course through the traffic scheme and increased speed to 15knots.
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