Sunday. Today is all at sea. We are sailing through a strait between the Canadian coastline and some islands. The ship's first stop is tomorrow, so most of today is spent exploring the ship. The spa pools are lovely and warm, the sun is out and the water flat as the ship glides along smoothly towards Alaska. We check out a few performances in the theatre and in some of the bars. Also the huge food buffet on the Lido deck becomes an instant favourite, as does the...

Saturday. Cruise day! After a simple hotel bagel and cream cheese breakfast, it was pack up time. We checked out of the hotel and went shopping for some long pants for John to wear on the ship. Sometimes jeans just don't cut it. Shopping success, then back to pick up bags and head to the wharf, about 2km away. The whole boarding procedure was like an international flight check in, with scanners, passports and immigration, as we were sailing out of Canada and bac...