Last Day on the Ship With Evening Stop in Victoria

Friday we awoke to a blue sky. Hurrah!! No more clouds or rain for us! Yippee!!

We walked for a while on the upper deck of the ship before going to breakfast in the dining room. Glen was ecstatic to get his own pitcher of hot chocolate. 

I was ecstatic we saw Nani, Mark and Michelle walking around and talked them into joining us for the dining room experience. I wish we had eaten in there earlier in the week. The food in the dining room was even more delicious than up in the buffet.

We attended The Culinary Show in the Princess Theater.

The chef worked quickly to cook up four different items with his able sous chef attendant. The head waiter was doing most of the talking since the chef was having a hard time speaking because of laryngitis 

After the demonstration, we were invited into the galley. Some of the family members who went to the demonstration opted out of the galley tour. I found it quite interesting.

I was very impressed with how clean it all was and how there was hardly any food preparation going on. I wondered who was working on getting my dinner ready that evening...???!!!???

They had different food stations posted and all along the route were beautiful works of art made out of food.

These are bread creations. They were so intricate and beautiful.

These are sugar creations--each very different and very unique.

The tour ended in the dining room where we could pose with the presenters for photos. They were actually sitting there to autograph the Princess ship's cookbook they wanted us to buy. We opted for just a picture with them instead.

It was like being at Disneyland where all rides empty out into a souvenir shop. Right after the cookbook signing station, the only way out of the dining room was right through the makeshift store that had been created where the ship was having a clearance sale on the items sold around the ship. It was crazy in there. People (not us) were actually shopping.

We were not the only ship on the water that day. There was another one making its way to Victoria along with us. It was so great to see the blue sky lasting all day long.

In the afternoon we went to an ice carving demonstration. After watching the process for a while, a man near us made the comment it was just a little more exciting than watching paint dry. I think Glen felt the same way, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching the blocks of ice turn into these works of art.

Almost as eagerly anticipated as the egg drop was the Princess Pop Choir performance. Glen had decided to sign up to be part of the ship's choir and had gone to choir practices each day. Finally the big day had arrived to have them perform for anyone on the ship who was willing to stop by and have a listen.

The performance was in the piazza and the family started gathering around to get their good spots to listen to the choir. Andy and Amanda stopped to pose for a photo on the stairs as they made their way down.

We spotted Mike, Lorene, Sam and Kathy on the main floor. The rest of us were up one floor standing against the railing looking down.

And here they are--the Princess Pop Choir with Devon, one of the assistant cruise directors, as the choir director.

We all noticed how into it Chuck--the guy in the middle--was during each song. He was proud of the fact he has performed on all the Princess cruise ships he's been on.

 People were congregating all around to listen to the choir.

The men stepped forward in front of the women to do their singing during one song putting Glen front and center.

Right toward the end of the performance, Devon introduced each person. Here's Glen getting acknowledged as "last, but definitely not least." 

After the encore, the group gathered together to get their picture taken. They all felt bonded and had enjoyed their time singing together and it was entertaining watching them perform. The lady in the middle promised everyone she would get a recording of their performance sent to each performer. As of now, Glen has not yet received his. Otherwise, I might have felt compelled to post it right now.

Naturalist Michael Modzelewski's afternoon lecture was next on our schedule of activities. (Imagine this picture with my eyes wide open instead of shut...)

Turkey dinner was on the menu that evening.

And look what I chose for dessert... This is what turned out to be my very last piece of cheesecake I ate on the cruise. I threatened to get some little round ones to store away in our room refrigerator to eat the next morning before we got off the ship, but I didn't follow through with the idea.

We were lucky we had the early dinner time so we could eat in the dining room before getting off the ship that evening in Victoria, British Columbia.

Dad and Mom had signed up for a city tour and they were long gone. The rest of us were trying to figure out what to do and how to get into the city.

Glen came to the rescue finding us a tour guide who was driving a vehicle big enough to fit all 11 of us. It was awesome!

First stop was a park where the tour guide let us out to walk around and soak up the beauty of nature.

 

 We saw wildlife.

Then we moved on to our next stop--Government House--and took a walk through the gardens.

We stopped to look at Craigdarroch Castle but didn't have time to go inside.

We chose for our tour to end downtown while Sam and Kathy wanted our guide to take them back to the ship. Kathy had somehow hurt her foot while walking on the treadmill (successfully proving to me how exercise is hazardous to your health).

The rest of us walked past the lit up Marriott, along the harbor and through some side streets as we made our way back to the ship.

 Of course we went straight up to the buffet to have our midnight meal before it closed.

I enjoyed myself so much that evening. It was absolutely wonderful being with all my siblings and sisters-in-law. We had a super fun time together touring around in the same vehicle. It was all very bonding and I was fearing it would be the last time we would see everybody since we were getting off the ship first thing in the morning.

Happy was I when we made plans to eat breakfast together in the dining room. Surprisingly, there were very few shipmates who chose the dining room option, so it almost felt like we had the place to ourselves.

Glen had one big complaint about this dining room breakfast over the experience in there before. He was sad he didn't get his own pitcher of hot chocolate. Everyone ordering hot chocolate this particular morning just got individual cups instead of individual pitchers. Poor Glen!! 

Every night at dinner, Glen implemented the high/low dinnertime conversation. Everybody had to tell their high and low experiences of the day. It was always very entertaining to hear what each person shared and it was generally pretty difficult to figure out a low each day when everything we did was always so fun and entertaining.

At this very last breakfast, everyone shared their high of the whole cruise and if they would ever want to go on a cruise again. It was a wonderful week-long vacation for everyone. My heart was so full of gratitude and love for every single one of these family members.

And it just got better when Dad and Mom walked in. We had left a note under their door inviting them to breakfast and even though they decided to go to the buffet, they were still able to be with all of us for a few last minutes before we went our separate ways.
I am so glad they stopped by so we could get one last family picture.

This was one special vacation!! Just for the record--I'm ready and willing to do it again!