Astoria, Oregon

Click here for a Video of our day in Astoria!

Got up around 6 am and showered before meeting Kent & Laurel at the Moderno's side of the breakfast buffet. There was no line so I thought it would be a good time to get a freshly made waffle. The waffles looked so good...but were so tasteless. Even the butter and syrup couldn't salvage the flavor so I grabbed a bran muffin and yogurt instead. 

At 7:45 while we were eating, the announcement was made that we could disembark. We grabbed our stuff from the room and left the ship. Local people had set up tents and were selling jewelery, paintings, knitted hats & scarves, seasoned nuts, etc. The items were nice quality and not the usual "made in China" souvenirs that you see at most ports. To get out of the port area, we walked by some huge piles of logs which I presume were waiting to be shipped somewhere.

Bob and Kent walked ahead to the Enterprise car rental office which was located right under the end of the long Astoria-Megler bridge. The bridge stretches over 4 miles across the Columbia River connecting Astoria to the state of Washington. 

Laurel and I walked part of the way until we found a bench at one of the trolley stops and waited for the guys to pick us up. I had booked our rental car last July through Discount USA Car Rental and chose an intermediate sized SUV because the price was only a few dollars more than a compact car. Since then the price on the car had risen to around triple that so I was happy I booked when I did!

A little history to explain our first stop. In 1805, the Lewis and Clark expedition made their winter camp in an area that became the city of Astoria. In order to obtain salt for flavoring their food and preserving meat, a group went south a little ways to what is now Seaside, OR and built an oven-like system that was used to boil sea water. They spent a week at the "salt works" evaporating the water and collecting the salt that remained in order to have enough to last through the winter. Finding the "salt works" was to be our first stop of the day. I had an address so when we reached Seaside, we drove through residential neighborhoods until we spotted it. It was actually a reproduction, but interesting nonetheless..

Stop #2 of the day was just a few miles south down the highway...Ecola State Park. We paid the $5/car entry fee and drove in to get an excellent view down the rugged coastline. The trail to a scenic overlook was closed due to erosion from recent rains. 

The drive through the park was quite scenic with waterfalls and a forest of ferns and moss covered trees.

Driving a little further into the park we stopped at Indian Beach. Laurel and I sat on a picnic table near the parking lot while the guys climbed down on to the beach to do some exploring. 

From Ecola State Park, it was just a few miles to reach the town of Cannon Beach. We parked at a public lot by the visitor's center and stopped in to ask about some of the places we were thinking about visiting in the area. Since it was low tide, the lady working there suggested we go down to the beach right away and then decide what other stops we might want to make later.

Cannon Beach is the location of the iconic Haystack Rock. A film crew was set up on the beach and were filming a commercial for the Oregon State Lottery.

With the low tide, we were able to walk across the wide beach and go right up to the base of Hay Stack Rock. 

Anemones and sea urchins were easy to spot in the many tidal pools on the beach.

Haystack Rock is a sanctuary for many different types of birds, including puffins. An area at the base of the rock was roped off and a naturalist pointed out a nesting bird...a black oystercatcher, which is an endangered species. With my camera zoomed in I was able to get this (somewhat blurry) shot.

I had hoped we would have time to drive even further south to visit other spots along the coastline, but we spent so much time exploring around Haystack Rock, that we decided we had better just head back towards Astoria. All aboard time was 3:30 and we needed to allow a little extra time to get gas and return the car. Oh...and we also made a stop at a Walgreens to pick up some motion sickness pills just in case we encountered any more rough seas.

The route to get off the beach required climbing a sand hill and then crossing a stream of water...but we made it! ;)

A few photos with the locals before driving back to Astoria.

 

Quite a few popular movies have been filmed in Astoria...Kindergarten Cop, Free Willy, Into the Wild, Short Circuit, and others, including Goonies...a favorite of my son's many years ago when he was about 10 years old. I thought it would be fun to drive by and get a photo of the house where the movie took place, but I guess too many others had the same idea and the home owners got tired of the traffic. Here is what we saw at the bottom of the hill leading up to the house...

While we were looking for the Goonies house, we kept hearing a barking noise. By following the sound, we discovered these guys. Probably cousins of the ones we saw on Pier 39 in San Francisco!

While watching the sea lions, this trolley rolled by. The trolley tracks run along the shoreline and you can ride one-way for a dollar...or pay $2 and ride all day long.

The Astoria Column was on my list of "maybe things to do" but we were running short of time so decided to just drive by. We were at the top of the hill before we realized we were going to have to pay just to get in the parking lot so we convinced the guy taking money that we just wanted to turn around. I snapped a few quick photos in the process. I'm sure the view from the top would have been great.

I believe these red flowers were azaleas...just gorgeous!

The guys dropped Laurel & I off at the ship and we browsed through the craft stands before boarding. Once Bob returned, we went to the buffet looking for a snack and then watched sail away from the adjacent Great Outdoors.

Our view from the ship.

The Astoria Column is visible on the hill in the distance.

That is one LONG bridge!

After dinner, we went to the evening show featuring Harry O'Donoghue, an Irish folk singer/storyteller/humorist. 

Sea Day #1 - Sailing Up the Western Coast

Good morning, Sea Day!

I was awake before Bob and...as quietly as possible...made a cup of coffee in the small coffeemaker provided in our cabin. Once he was awake, we went up to Deck 11 and crossed through the outdoor pool area to reach the buffet on Deck 11 aft. With the cool weather on this cruise we quickly learned that it was better to walk to the back of the ship on our deck (Deck 9) and THEN go up the two flights to the buffet. The walk seemed longer down the long hallway, but we avoided going outside that way. Back and up...not up and back.

At breakfast each morning there were actually two buffet areas...on separate sides of the ship. A more extensive buffet was available in the Garden Cafe on the starboard side and a smaller version billed as a "Deluxe Continental Buffet" on the port side in the Moderno speciality restaurant. On this first morning, not as many people had discovered the smaller venue and we were able to find a table much easier there. Kent joined us shortly after we sat down, but Laurel had stayed back in the cabin.

When the two guys left to go to the cardio dance class in Dazzles Lounge, I ventured off on my own. I stopped by the library and picked up a copy of the sudoku puzzle, crossword puzzle and trivia sheet that were available each morning and worked on them in the Windjammer Lounge until it was time for the craft class to begin.

Our project...a crepe paper flower...seemed to be more of a kindergarten project than a craft. I went to multiple craft classes on our Hawaiian cruise and came away with some projects that were fun...and useful, but this one...not really fun and certainly not useful.

Laurel caught up with me as I was finishing my flower. She had gone to the dance class with the guys, but left when they moved on to the gym to work out. I went with her to the library so she could get some puzzle sheets and we moved up to the Las Ramblas bar to wait on the Cruise Critic "Meet & Greet" that was planned for 10:00.

The online roll call thread for this cruise on the Cruise Critic message boards had been very active for the last few months. A large number had indicated interest in attending the meet & greet so the crew must have realized that the designated bar was not going to be large enough. A sign was posted outside the door saying the gathering had been moved to the larger Observation Lounge at the very front of the ship on Deck 12.

The turnout for the get-together was good...I imagine well over 100 attended. Unfortunately the size and layout of the lounge made it hard to do any "meeting or greeting". A number of senior officers were in attendance and the staff had provided coffee, cookies and juice. Bob and Kent showed up just as the meeting was getting started. (Note...the cookies were delicious and for the rest of the cruise I was on the lookout for them!)

Lunch was back at the buffet and the highlight was warm bread pudding with caramel sauce for dessert that I found hiding next to the ice cream counter! From lunch we went directly to Dazzles lounge for a Q & A session called "How to Run a Floating Hotel" which was interesting. Kent made sure to voice his concern over only having one electrical outlet in the cabin!

Bob and Kent had planned to walk on the promenade deck afterwards, but Bob was starting to feel a little seasick. He usually isn't bothered, but he said the combination of working out in the gym (which was on an upper deck) and the extreme ship movement just got to him.

Bob went back to the cabin and took one of the motion sickness pills I brought...but the medication was well past the expiration date. I have been carrying the same pills on every cruise for many years and since we have never needed any I didn't think it was worth investing in a new package.

While he rested, I spent time figuring out how to log on to the internet and also downloading my photos from San Francisco onto my laptop.

I think he was lying, but Bob said he felt well enough to go to our dinner at Teppenyaki at 5:00 pm. Besides the four of us, there were eight others seated around the grill.

Here is our menu for the night:

Miso Soup

Bob, Kent & I all ordered "Asuka", a combination of filet mignon and jumbo shrimp. Laurel ordered "Yamato" with chicken and shrimp. Each meal was served with fried rice.

The chefs put on quite a show as they cooked...serenading us with their singing and swinging around their knives.

Bob and I both ordered the Green Tea Cake for dessert which came with green tea ice cream, but I was not a fan. I think the fruit would have been a better choice.

After dinner Kent and Laurel went to a cha-cha dance class, but we returned to the cabin. Bob started feeling sick again so later I left him in bed watching a movie and went to the evening show with Kent and Laurel. The entertainment was a group from the UK called Tenors of Rock...sort of classic rock music sung by a barbershop quartet!

Kent & Laurel came back to our cabin after the show so we could discuss plans for the next day. Bob was still in bed, but never moved while they were there. As soon as they left, he got up to get undressed and that was it...good-bye Teppenyaki dinner.

Here Comes the Sun!

Monday, May 15th - Cruise Day!

Our plan was to sleep in and not go out for breakfast this morning. Kent and Laurel had stopped at the Walgreens down the street from the hotel the night before and picked up some breakfast items to have in their room. Bob and I had brought oatmeal packets from home and were going to use the in-room coffee maker to heat water.

Well...with our bodies not adjusted to the two-hour difference in time, there was no sleeping in for us. Bob decided that he would take a walk to Chinatown while I was showering and getting ready for the day. We loved exploring Chinatown on our last visit and would have loved to have gone for some dim sum on this trip...but with only one full day in the city that plan got scrapped.

I made him take my iPhone (since he is one of the few people in the civilized world who refuses to get a cell phone) and when he returned he had photos of his walk...and also some Chinese pastries for our breakfast. (And who wants to eat oatmeal when there are baked goods to be consumed?)

The bakery where Bob bought our pastries.

This pastry was filled with bean paste and an egg yolk!

When we had filled out our online documents a couple of months earlier, NCL gave us a choice of what time we would like to arrive at the cruise terminal. The half-hour increments began at 9:30 am which makes no sense when the terminal doesn't open until around 11 am. Knowing this, we chose the10:30 - 11:00 time slot.

The four of us checked out of the hotel at 10:30. Laurel and I both summoned a Lyft car at the exactly the same time...it was going to be a race to see who got to the pier first! (Switching from Uber to Lyft gave me a "new user" discount coupon code!) 

Our driver arrived 30 seconds before theirs, but we arrived at the terminal a good 10 minutes ahead thanks to their driver making a wrong turn. Our fare? $1.75 with the discount! It's not often (like never) that we give a tip larger than the fare!

There were no porters to be seen so we got in line outside the terminal and then watched as the line grew and grew until it stretched the whole length of the building. I had visions of the nightmare we encountered before our Hawaii cruise last March, but it didn't take very long before porters came along and began randomly picking up luggage. 

Once we were free of our luggage, we were able to walk to the front of the line and enter the terminal. Others who had arrived well before us were still waiting as we went in and I could tell they were not happy (and rightly so!) Not once did anyone check to see what our designated arrival time was supposed to be. Once inside the terminal the wait to board wasn't very long and we were on the ship by noon.

That feeling you get when you walk up the gangplank to board the ship!

Our first order of business was to make a reservation for the Japanese specialty restaurant, Teppenyaki, for the next night. When booking our cruise, NCL was offering several promotions and we got our choice of two for being in a balcony cabin. We chose the four nights of dining in the specialty restaurants (which normally each have an upcharge of $25/person or more) and also 250 minutes of free internet time. I had made the reservations for the other three restaurants online 90 days prior, but because Teppenyaki is such a small venue they do not make advance reservations. Mission accomplished...a reservation for 5 pm. A little earlier than we wanted, but better than the very late times available.

The cabins weren't ready when we boarded so we opted to have lunch in the Seven Seas dining room at the back of Deck 5. Even though we had entered into the Atrium on Deck 5 getting to the dining room required going up one deck...walking to the back of the ship...and then going back down again. (The galley is on Deck 5 and makes walking through impossible.)

Lunch in the dining room took almost forever, but it was still a better alternative to dragging our carry on luggage to the buffet and fighting the crowds for a place to sit. Just as we were finishing dessert at 2:00 the announcement was made that all cabins were ready.

Our cabin was port side on Deck 9...#9017 at the front of the ship. 

Kent & Laurel had the cabin to the right of ours in this photo.

Beach towels were provided...for Alaska?? Oh...and also a bottle of champagne for being repeat customers!

Our home for the week.

Our balcony door was a little stubborn at first, but Bobby figured out the trick to open it.

The bathroom...and especially the shower...was probably the smallest that we have experienced on a cruise ship. 

The weird looking contraption on the wall was the hair dryer...a sign that the Sun is showing her age.

We unpacked our carry on bags and then spent some time exploring the ship until it was time for the muster drill at 4:30.

The fuel barge. I would hate to pay that bill!

The mandatory life boat drill.

By the time we returned to our cabin, the checked luggage had been delivered. It is always amazing to be in such a tiny room, but yet have adequate storage for everything. With my new packing cubes, the unpacking process was a breeze. 

We enjoyed a view of the San Francisco skyline from our balcony as we sailed away from Pier 27. It would have been nice to open the balcony divider between our cabin and Kent & Laurel's as we had on our Princess Alaska cruise, but NCL says "no".

The Ferry Building.

 

Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Once we passed under the bridge and out of the bay, the the seas became very rough.

NCL is known for their free-style cruising which means casual dining options. The two traditional dining rooms (included in the cost of our cruise) both serve the same menu, but in the evening the Seven Seas has a dress code and the Four Seasons is very casual. Not wanting to dress up, we went to the latter. 

The Welcome Aboard Show in the theater was scheduled for 7:30 pm so we chose to skip dessert to get there on time. The show was a sampling of some of the entertainment planned for the cruise and included a juggler, a quartet performing rock music, an Irish folk singer/comedian, and the Norwegian Sun singers and dancers. 

Following the show we went to the buffet on Deck 11 and had some hot cobbler topped with ice cream for a late night dessert.

The buffet is at the very back of the ship and to get to the front of the ship where our cabins are located, we walked through the pool area. The water in the pools had been mostly drained, but yet the foot or so of water remaining was still splashing out over the sides. With the ship rocking and rolling, walking was difficult...and this was just the beginning as we were to discover!