Back in the fall, while in Korea, I was surfing the net one day and read something about repositioning cruises. We were at a point in our year where it was time to make onward plans.
I knew cruise lines regularly relocate ships when demand is greater in other regions. Cruise lines sell these one-way routes, usually at a discount, rather than sail the ships without passengers. These voyages are known as repositioning cruises.
As it turned out Celebrity Cruise Lines had one of these cruises operating in May. It was a 15 day cruise that went from Yokohama, Japan to Vancouver, Canada. The timing worked out well for us. It was just about the time we wanted to be back in Canada and the cost was similar to what we would have had to pay in air fare. Two weeks of relaxing at sea sounded more appealing then hours and hours cramped up in an airplane. After giving it some thought we decided we would go for it.
On Sunday May 7th, we made our way from Narita to Yokohama. Taking the subway was very straight forward and we were able to walk from the last station to the port where we could easily see our ship. A couple of hours later, we boarded the Celebrity Millennium. The ship set sail at 5pm on the next day.
After roughing it a bit in Nepal and Tibet, we were ready to be pampered a little now and we savoured the comforts as they came along.
The cruise took us along the Northern part of Japan with stops in Hakodate and Muroran, Sapporo before moving on to Petropavlovsk, Russia. After a day on the Kamchacka Peninsula we made our way across the Bering Sea and through the Alaskan Islands before going through the Inside Passage and on to Vancouver.
The cruise gave us an opportunity to visit some remote areas in Japan, as well as take part in a very unique excursion in Petropavlovsk. Here we signed up to take part in a wilderness picnic hosted by a very eccentric Russian man who barbecued salmon, sang songs, and kept our glasses full of vodka. He was a one man show who kept us entertained in his unusual Kamchacka wilderness home.
Each morning, Captain Nickolaos Christodoulakis made his announcements. We'd chuckle at his Count Dracula style accent as he informed us of the details of our current location and how many nautical miles we had travelled.
Jueun joined the cruise choir, we put our knowledge to the test during trivia time and we tried to go to the gym most days, which was a good thing considering the amount of food we ate. The food was absolutely delicious and I felt my appetite, along with my waist line, increase with each passing day.
We were entertained by some great performers. The quality of the musicians, magicians and comedians kept us going to all the shows. Some of our favourites included the pianist John Bressler with his raspy Rod Stewart voice. We enjoyed some good old Rock n Roll with the Chilean singer, Salvatore Hasard, and Domenick Allen who had worked with everyone from Liberace to the group Foreigner. The comedians Steve Carte and George Kanter kept us laughing and the Russian Olympic team of Yulia & Alan Reva left us in complete awe as we watched their acrobatic wonders.
Crossing the international date line was a reason to celebrate with a party including a countdown and balloon drop. It gave us a chance to live Monday the 15th two days in a row. It was one Monday we certainly didn't mind living twice.
On the 20th of May, we stood on deck and took in the warm fresh air as we stared at the snow capped mountains, huge British Columbia trees and clear blue water. Over the last year we had seen some incredible places; however, none could have been more beautiful than this.
We were both filled with pride as we went through the inside passage and watched people from all over the world snap pictures and marvel at the beauty of Canada.
The next morning, the sun was bright and the water was as smooth as glass. We glided through the first narrows under the Lions Gate bridge, past Stanley Park and docked at Canada Place Terminal in Vancouver. Mum and Dad were there to meet us and after almost 11 months away from Canada, we were back.
A nice thing about being Canadian is that we are free to travel and are welcomed abroad. The best thing is coming home!
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