Days 3 - 5 Super Bowl & beyond

The day dawned bright & clear, later reflecting of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Fortunately breakfast was served early today, so we were all set to go exploring just before 9.00.  We decided to head down towards Fishermans Wharf to try and find an information centre as we'd  been given no information on board.  Surprisingly the booth did not open until 10.00 but then, more by good luck than anything else, we found an office upstairs.  While waiting for service another couple arrived and wanted to do the same things as us - Alcatraz & city tour.  It turned out that they too were from Auckland, so we agreed to do the day as a foursome.

Despite the ship's tour department telling us that there was no way to get to Alcatraz, we found that there were plenty of opportunities from the Wharf next to us (but the other way from where we were at Fishermans Wharf ).  Retracing our tracks we got to a small line & purchased tickets for the 11.00 sailing (they go every 30 minutes).  With time to fill, we grabbed a lovely coffee, learning a new trick  of buying a very large takeaway and getting an additional small empty cup, to share.  Equates to a 30% saving!!

A great trip across to Alcatraz , weather, views etc. perfect.  Seems such a waste of prime real estate to be a prison and now of course a National Park & tourist destination.  Apart from the historic prison & more recent Indian (Native American) occupation,  the island is home to numerous nesting birds.  A very interesting visit.  The journey back was equally pleasant and then started the least pleasant part of the day 😤

When we were at the information centre we foolishly purchased HoHo tickets, planning to do the city route.  Warning to future travellers - Don't.   The brochure was red and we *assumed* that we were on Big Bus or possibly GreyLine.  No, we were on the little known City Sightseeing,  where we had to validate our purchase before hopping on a bus.  After a walk of well over a mile, we found that the did NOT have an office and their busses were limited.  The nice woman at Big Bus hailed one which happened to be coming by and at least we got to the transfer point.  They tried to blame Super Bowl for lack of drivers and delays but sorry it doesn't wash.  That said, we DID have a great tour but elected to stay on the bus as we didn't want to be stuck up in town.

We were dropped off by the ship and decided to go back to our stateroom for lunch (at 3.30!).  We enjoyed room service & Champagne on our deck in the most glorious sun - it was our Wedding Anniversary!

As mentioned earlier, San Francisco is a sector port, so lots of new passengers and of course a change in dinner companions.  Our other NZ couple had gone to Nappa Valley and got back late, so didn't come to dinner, but we were joined by a woman from Boston & 2 (separate ) from Germany.  The German woman spoke little English,  so spent most of the evening speaking German to the bloke from Bavaria.  Half way through the meal we were joined out of the blue by an English woman who usually dined "upstairs" , but elected to see how we fared.  Surprisingly she too spoke German, so that was really great - 3 of them having a conversation that none of the rest of us understood.   I'll say no more after the  almost faux pas in a previous blog, being aware that this is all public!

Our breakfasts and lunches have, as usual, been in the MDR and we have met some great people and surprisingly a fair number of Kiwis.  We were really surprised at lunch on Day 2 when a couple joined our table - we looked at each other and said "we've met before".  They were a couple from South Australia who were on the World Cruise last year.  Later, in the evening the same thing with another couple of Aussies, bridge players also on last year's  World Cruise.  It turns out that both couples are regulars on both Cunard & Princess.  We have however been surprised how few passengers are doing the full World Cruise on this ship, with the great majority disembarking in Sydney.

The weather since San Francisco has been a little overcast and the sea has a small swell.  As commented earlier, Queen Victoria seems more inclined to roll in slight seas and while I originally thought it lovely to have the restaurants at the rear of the ship, being on deck 2,  it is quite noisy and certainly lots of movement.  I understand now why passengers were so uncomfortable in the rougher weather out of Southampton.  We have been doing our mile around the deck, but it is a bit of a challenge weaving along, made easier by the fact that a lot fewer are doing it!

The port talk for Hawaii was great.  On Cunard the talks are done by the Tours Office, who are quite open to giving advice to independent travellers.  No Hutch on this cruise!.  (World Cruise 2015 passengers will understand ).  We stayed after the port talk as Bill Bryson (the author) was the guest lecturer.  He was really great and  very amusing.  Also, the evening entertainment has been very good, superior to last year's  WC.

There are many lounges, bars and other quiet areas throughout the ship and there has been no problem getting a seat at any time.  When we did our Lifeboat drill on the first day, I noticed a wireless router by a bar which doesn't open until evening.  So yesterday went down & sure enough, no one was around and by sitting right under it is can download the newspapers, get emails, upload blog in 3 minutes.  OK, it's  not as convenient as being in the cabin, but internet does cost roughly  $1 a minute!

I am generally doing the wifi thing while Vivian is at bridge, so yesterday it was about 3.00 when I went down from Deck 5 (our deck) to Deck 3 (for wifi).  It was like a morgue - at one stage I was worried that everyone had abandoned ship and that I was the only one left on board!   Today is Tuesday and our first Formal.  The Captain has invited us to his Cocktail Party (along with some 898 others ) tonight, so we'll report back on that later.