Aboard the Majestic Princess

We boarded the Majestic Princess at Canada Place in Vancouver about 2 pm Saturday.

The throngs seeking the lunch buffet had already boarded and the longest line had only five people in front of us.

Staterooms were ready and we found our mini-suite without difficulty. It looks pleasant and comfortable.

The good-size bathroom even boasts a tub.

Our small balcony offers a good view of the sails atop Canada Place.

After unpacking, we wandered around the ship, checking out the view of Vancouver from the stern.

We found time for some Dan-dan Noodles before engaging in some people-watching.

This ship was originally built for the Chinese market, and the signage is mostly bilingual.

Its sponsors at the 2017 launch  were Chinese NBA star Yao Ming and his women’s basketball star wife Ye Li. That’s their symbolic Champagne bottle.

Our dinner venue was The Catch by Rudi, a decent restaurant that suffers from a noisy location. We’ve already canceled our second reservation there.

Appetizers included a “seafood tower” for Kathy, and a smallish serving of Calamari for Brian.

For our mains, Kathy’s choice was a seafood pasta, and Brian’s a surf and turf specialty,

We even found room for dessert.

Sunday morning found us docked in Victoria, the picturesque capital of British Columbia. We managed a two-mile walk along the ocean, getting a good look at our ship from a distance.

This was our last walk on dry land until we dock in San Diego Wednesday morning. Time to break out our favor seasick pills.

A Quick Coastal Cruise on Princess

Over the past few decades we've sailed on various cruise lines, but we're not serious cruisers, averaging one cruise a year, and occasionally two.

Our first ocean cruise was an Alaska cruise on Princess in the 1990s with members of Kathy's family. Since then, we've sailed once on Disney and with Cunard on the Queen Mary II, twice on Celebrity, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, Holland America a bunch of times, and Oceania a whole bunch more. 

We were pretty well "cruised out" before discovering Oceania, a new line in the early 2000s with small (650-passenger) ships, great cuisine, and an attractive loyalty program (we're Platinum, superior to Gold but not as exalted as Diamond, let alone the President's Circle).

Today, however, we're embarking for the second time in around three decades on Princess, a five-night cruise on the Majestic Princess, a 3500-passenger vessel that will sail first from Vancouver to Victoria, and then down the Pacific Coast to dock at San Diego before we disembark at San Pedro.

Why this cruise? It will be our second bargain cruise promoted by a regional travel agent, Travel With Alan!, who puts together some exceedingly good package deals. This one includes an upgrade to a so-called mini-suite with a balcony, paid gratuities and internet, a drink package, and several other perks. Princess, like most large cruise lines, charges extra for almost everything (including bottled water!), so our package deal protects us from most of the nickle-and-diming that we find so annoying.

We saved even more by dropping the travel agent's transfer package. We'll park our car at the Park'N Fly at YVR, take the Vancouver Skytrain's Canada Line from the airport to the Waterfront Station, about 20 minutes, and walk the block or so from there to Canada Place, where we'll board our ship. That saves a drive into the heart of downtown Vancouver and its hefty parking prices.

Coming home, we'll arrange our own transfer from San Pedro to LAX, fly back to YVR, pick up our car, and drive back home. It couldn't be much easier.

We have no major plans other than to explore the ship, try out the specialty restaurants, and generally enjoy ourselves. It will probably take most of this short cruise to explore the ship. 

This will serve both as a warmup and a contrast to a river cruise in Portugal and a transatlantic cruise from Lisbon to Miami next month.

It seems like a good start, especially on this sunny Northwest day. 

 

Oh, the Places We've Gone

“You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go! 

We still have some travel planned for the remainder of 2024, and this year we managed to visit one country, Cyprus, for the very first time way back in January. It seems timely to revisit a post we used to update annually, in which we documented for our own amusement the number of countries we've visited. For example, here's what we wrote back in December 2017.

We once ran into a couple on a cruise who were strangely proud of having visited 130 "countries" and realized we never wanted to be "those people." It's more common (and a more difficult question) to be asked about our favorite region, country, or city. Still, people do ask us "How Many?" from time to time.

At a birthday party for two old friends this past weekend, another guest asked us how many countries we'd visited. Brian came up with the number 86, off by four. We'll have to keep the correct number in mind in case someone asks us another time. Oh, and Happy Birthday Don and Pat!

 For sovereign countries we base our list on this website, which lists 195 sovereign states in the world. As of September 2024, we've visited 82 of them:

Antigua

Argentina

Australia

Austria

Bahamas

Barbados

Belgium

Belize

Brazil

Cambodia

Canada

Cape Verde
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia

Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark

Dominica 

Dominican Republic
Egypt
Estonia

Fiji
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Holy See (Vatican City)
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India

Indonesia
Ireland
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Korea (North) - DMZ tour only
Korea (South)
Lesotho
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mexico
Monaco

Montenegro
Morocco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Panama
Peru
Poland
Portugal

Qatar
Russia
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Senegal (plane refueling at Dakar - did not formally enter)
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain

Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
Swaziland

Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Vietnam
Zimbabwe 

 

Based on the Travelers' Century Club, which currently lists a generous total of 330 countries and territories, we've visited a total of 110 as of September 2024. Wanna count 'em all?

Pacific Ocean (6/40)
Australia

Fiji Islands
French Polynesia (Tahiti,Tuamotu, Austral, Gambier)
Hawaiian Islands
New Zealand
Tasmania

North America (4/6)

Alaska
Canada
Mexico
U.S. (continental)

Central America (5/7)
Belize (British Honduras)
Costa Rica
Guatemala
Honduras
Panama
 

South America (6/14)
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Colombia

Peru
Uruguay
 

Caribbean (16/31)
Antigua & Deps. (Barbuda, Redonda)
Bahamas
Barbados
Cayman Islands

Dominica 
Dominican Republic
Jamaica
Leeward Islands, French (St. Martin)
Puerto Rico
St. Barts
St. Kitts
St. Lucia
St. Maarten (formerly Netherlands Antilles)
Turks and Caicos Islands
Virgin Islands, U.S. (St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas)
Virgin Islands, British (Tortola, etc.)
 

Atlantic Ocean (6/14)
Azores Islands
Bermuda
Canary Islands
Cape Verde Islands
Iceland
Madeira
 

Europe and Mediterranean (41/68)
Austria
Belgium
Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Minorca)

Corsica
Croatia

Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany

Gibraltar
Greece

Greek Aegean Islands (Patmos)

Greek Ionian Islands (Corfu, etc.)
Hungary
Ireland (Eire)
Ireland, Northern (Ulster)
Italy

Liechtenstein 

Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco

Montenegro
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Sicily
Scotland
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey in Europe (Istanbul)
Vatican City
Wales

 

Antarctica (0/7)

None

Africa (7/55)
Egypt in Africa
Lesotho
Morocco
Senegal (plane refueling at Dakar)
South Africa
Swaziland
Zimbabwe

 
Middle East (2/21)

Qatar 
United Arab Emirates
 

Indian Ocean (1/15)
The Maldives   

 

Asia (16/52) 

Cambodia 

China, People's Rep. 

Hong Kong 

India 

Indonesia (Java)

Japan 

Korea, North (DMZ tour only) 

Korea, South 

Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali, Timor, Indonesia)

Malaysia 

Singapore 

Sri Lanka (Ceylon)  

Taiwan 

Thailand 

Turkey in Asia 

Vietnam

 

As we've often written, who's counting? Well, we are, but only once a year or less. The US and Canadian immigration officers who check our passports as part of our Nexus and Global Entry renewal interviews appear both impressed and amused by our list.

Our travels in 2024 (along with an IHG credit card and reciprocal status between United Airlines and Marriott Hotels) have enabled us to re-qualify for Alaska Airlines MVP Gold 100K for 2024. We're also "Lifetime" Gold on United Airlines after flying a million miles on UA. 

 

Our ongoing hotel status includes Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Marriott Gold, and IHG Platinum, so we have the basic tools to travel in some style.

Besides, we sometimes sufer from jet lag even when we stay home, so why not travel?