Last Port of Call
This morning we were on the move to Friday Harbor. Once we arrived we didn't have any excursions in the morning so the six of us decided to walk into town and see what we could see. It was typical of the Pacific Northwest towns we'd seen to this point and the girls went in and out of a few shops before we headed back to the ship in time for lunch.
We had been forced, because of the change of itinerary, to choose between our two previously selected excursions for our visit here....either the whale watching (for which the San Juan Islands are known for) for to take a "San Juan Islands Adventure" and see the island. The consensus was to check out the island via the bus tour. We made four stops over the next couple of hours.....we stopped at a lighthouse which obviously sat right on the water; we went to an alpaca farm; we went to the "English Camp" from the locally famous "Pig War" - an "international incident caused by the shooting, yes, you guessed it, of a pig. As the story was told the American troops and English troops would stand guard against one another all day long, but once the sun set they would mingle and party together in town....for over ten years :) And our last stop was at a quaint harbor, Roche Harbor. Got some nice photos....
Today turned out to be our final day in port. The itinerary advertised to us specifically described one day as "scenic sailing." As you can see below, on the original itinerary this was to be on Day 3 as we left Anacortes and sailed where we were today in Friday Harbor. And as you read in the description noted as, "your cruise is as much about the journey as about each destination" this scenic sailing would be narrated by the program director. But the time frame when we traveled from Anacortes (yesterday) to Friday Harbor today had been between 5:30 am and 8:30 am. So it was the general consensus that the "scenic sailing" would come as we sailed all the way back to Seattle. However, we awoke today to discover that the decision had been made to sail this long distance tonight.....we'd leave Friday Harbor while we were having dinner and arrive at 11:30 pm. Obviously everyone would NOT be on the top deck enjoying the scenery. This and several other issues came to a head this evening before playing bingo and were prompted by the announcement that regardless of what time your flight was, EVERYONE had to be off the ship by 8 am on Saturday morning. To those with late afternoon flights, or early evening flights, the thought that they couldn't spend even a couple hours in the lounge - even if they had to be out of their rooms did not set well. And of course that displeasure led to a discussion about how we as guests had given up/compromised our itinerary - largely so another ship could take our itinerary - and had been short-changed out of among other things the scenic sailing.....why couldn't the ship compromise and allow guests to stay in comfort on board for a few hours. Not much was resolved other than we were told it was a corporate decision and that they'd contact them tomorrow morning and allow guests to air their concerns.
No comments:
Post a Comment