Cruising in the fog

We are in the middle of a 48 hour run from Tracy Arm to Victoria. Yesterday afternoon is started to get foggy and we've had a dense fog surrounding us ever since. At some times we cannot even see the front of the ship from our balcony. Also since we got further than expected into Tracy Arm, we left there behind schedule so the ship has been cruising quite fast - over 18 knots to make up the time. Sure glad we have radar otherwise we'd be creeping along due to limited visibility.

On the return helicopter flight I got a neat picture that should help put "small ship cruising" into perspective. We were docked next to the 3200 person Sapphire Princess which is a good 20' wider that our ship and also a bit longer as you can clearly see from this picture. We are actually enjoying the small ship. Only 2 staircases and elevator banks so getting around is quote easy. There are a few less amenities - the Princess Theater is much small and has tables and chairs instead of traditional auditorium seating - and a smaller staff. But with only 710 people on board you do recognize about everyone after a few days. Also we have yet to have to wait in line for anything. Getting on and off the ship has been a breeze. I'm sure we'll go back to Anytime Dining on a larger ship, but Mary likes our table for 2 and we have a very nice pair of waiters so that has worked out well. We've only skipped the main dining room 2 or 3 times.

So we are on our last full day at sea. We get into Victoria tomorrow afternoon and have an excursion to visit Buchart Gardens at night. The captain announced today that they are expecting a sunny day in Victoria. But we need top spend the day packing - and figuring our how to pack all the souvenirs we did not intend to buy. Princess has a nice option where, for a $20 fee, they take your bags from the ship to the airline so once we set them our Sunday before our excursion, we won't see them again until we pick them up at DTW.