Alaska Cruise Day 1

At Pier 35 in San Francisco, a large floating object is near the dock. Inside that object is what is supposed to be a paradise on the high seas. This object is basically the Sea Princess cruise ship, which is going to be my home for the next ten days sailing the Atlantic Ocean and/or the Alaskan Inside Passage. Since it is already Monday, I am writing about the day before since I was too tired.

Shortly after going through security, I realized that this is the first time a metal detector ever detected something on my person. I realized it was one of the cameras in my pocket. I took that out, and walked through again, only to find that I still had my Flip Mino HD camcorder tucked inside my shirt. I lifted that up to the security guard and was about to turn back, but he waved the scanning baton thing over my chest and said, “No, you’re fine.” I was hoping that I would never have to be stopped at a metal detector in my life. Oh well. One simple complaint, shoes were not required to be taken off to be inspected. Shoe bombs that are not made out of metal could easily be smuggled on board, according to this physics professor at UC Berkeley. I agree with him that shoes should have been removed, and I would have felt more confident in the security system if shoes were required to be removed.

Our luggage was being handled by the porters, and therefore my family proceeded directly to the buffet line to eat our (late) lunch. At 15:15, our ship would be having a drill for evacuation procedures in case of an emergency, as required by International Maritime Law. The signal, as I know already, is seven short blasts and one long blast.

Around 16:00, the engines were put in reverse, along with the help of a few tug boats, to get the ship away from the port, and set sail to leave the San Francisco Bay, while waving good-bye to bikers and people walking across the Golden Gate Bridge.