Victoria to San Fransisco

Saturday, October 01, 2022
San Francisco, California, United States
Thursday, September 29. Arrive Astoria, Or at 11am. 69 am mostly cloudy, pm sunny!!
We found out late yesterday that our tour in Astoria has been canceled. Apparently the infrastructure has a limited number of buses, so they use their school busses to service the summer cruise ships. Oops, school is now in session! We had already canceled an all day tour (which was also canceled)  and rescheduled to a pub crawl, so no worries, we can easily construct our our pub crawl on board. After breakfast we went to the Observation Lounge as we knew the approach into Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River is both beautiful and challenging. Unexpectedly, by 10am the lounge started filling up and the crew started circulating with trays of Bloody Mary’s and Mimosas. Just icing on the cake! After we docked, US customs officials came on board and everyone had to do a face-to-face inspection. After that, with the weather being finally perfect, we had lunch and lounged by the pool, in the sun for the afternoon. Beer and Margaritas included! We, along with O&L we’re invited to dinner with the Food and Beverage Manager, Donald, who was on the World and Arctic cruises. We met for a cocktail, then watched them take the pilot off by helicopter (!!!) on our way to dinner. We had a very nice time at dinner with Donald and the Head of Housekeeping. They seem to be an Item. We lingered so long with over dinner that we missed the show. Oh, well, we went back to the room and finally opened the Welcome bottle of Champagne.
Friday, September 30. At sea. 65; dense fog early, then bright sun.
After breakfast it was finally nice enough to bask in the sunshine on our balcony and watch the sea float by for a bit. We did get to the Boutiques to blow the last of our ship board credit. By 11 it turned into the most spectacular Sea Day, with a cloudless sky, a view of the California coast off to the east, a gentle breeze and gorgeous  pacific blue waters. We hung out on the pool deck mostly enjoying the sunshine til mid-afternoon. Harty and Lissy had arranged for a “Harty Cocktail Party” in their luxurious suite for us, Kidds and Sara and Kieth, so we all went there at 5pm. We lingered there fairly long before all 8 of us went to dinner on CR. After dinner, we did go to the show, which was the fantastically talented pianist. Love Sea days!
Saturday, October 1. San Francisco. 65 and foggy am, 75 sunny in Napa pm.
We arrived at 7am, so missed the Bridge, but did see Alcatraz as we sailed in, in the fog. Our tour “Sonoma a s Wine Country”, departed at 9:15. This tour, which was an add on cost was touted as being tours and tastings at 2 wineries.  It is a nice mini tour of the city just to get from the cruise terminal out of town. Then it is beautiful crossing the Golden Gate and traveling out to Sonoma. The fog lingered until just about as we arrived at our first venue. We pulled in to NOT a winery, but a roadside shack that does wine tastings of the ever so popular Kivelstadt wines (????). We were there about an hour in an outdoor kind of beer garden, and were served tastings of 3 different wines. They were ok. We met a fun couple from Southern California, Ron and Monika, who we hung with the rest of the tour. After this tasting, we drove to Sonoma where we were set free for 1:15 to get lunch and shop. We found a nice bistro and had a cheese plate and beer with our new friends. After lunch, we proceeded to the next venue, also NOT a winery, but another, but somewhat nicer, tasting garden. Here we were treated to 4 different Muscardini wines (??). We then headed back for  a scenic 1:15 hour ride back to the city. 

Comments

DP
2022-10-02

You’ll be welcomed home with beautiful weather in the low country!

2025-02-11

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank