Trip Report: May 16, 2018 5 Night Pacific Coast Cruise – Day 3, Part 2

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Day 3, Part 2: San Francisco & Alcatraz

At this point in the tour, we were directed to go outside for a few minutes to see the Warden’s house, the remains of which are seen below.  This was where the warden and his family lived.

We were also treated to a stunning view of San Fransisco, the Bay Bridge and the Wonder:

Back inside, we saw the neighboring cells of 2 brothers who, along with 1 other man, are the only 3 escapees that were not captured or killed.  It is still unclear whether they drowned or managed to successfully reach land.  It is rumored that they made it to shore and went to Brazil.  In the photos below, you can see the holes in the wall that they kept hidden and slowly chiseled away with stolen spoons and tools.  These holes lead to an unguarded, 3 foot wide mechanical chase where they climbed the pipes and reached the roof.  They had collected 50 rubber raincoats from other inmates and configured them into a raft.  They were never seen again.

Next it was time to see the cafeteria, which was the most dangerous room in the cell house because of the silverware.

The window where prisoners would get their trays:

There are outlines of the knives so that it would be noticed if one was missing:

They look bored, but I promise they weren’t.  These are the faces of people concentrating on the audio guide:

Apparently the food here was actually really good.

The cafeteria is the last room on the audio tour, so there is a little display that talks about the prison closing for good in 1963:

After the tour there is an awesome gift shop that we spent quite a bit of time in.  There was book for sale, written by an ex-inmate, and the day that we were there, the author was in the store signing books.

You can even buy your own authentic prison uniform!

We bought a few things, but these magnets are my favorite.  They are on our refrigerator:

After perusing the gift shop, we started the trek back down to sea level.

Once back at the ferry dock, we only had to wait a few minutes for a ferry.  The return ferries run about every 30 minutes.

I took these photos as we were pulling away from the island.  Since it was warmer now, I spent most of the return trip outside.

FYI, there is a snack bar on the ferry and we purchased some soft pretzels on the ride back as we were all very hungry.

We are about to dock at Pier 33 in this photo.  You can see just how close Piers 27 (where the Wonder is) and 33 are to each other:

Once back on land, we were hungry for lunch and decided to go back to the ship.  I think at this point it was about 2:30.  The sidewalks were more crowded now than they were this morning.

Once back onboard, we ate a late lunch on deck 9, a combination of the quick-service counters and Cabanas.  Robin Hood was on funnel vision.

There weren’t a lot of people out there.  I’m guessing most people were still off the ship.

It was neat having a view of the Bay Bridge while we ate:

It was probably in the high 50s/low 60s, but a few kids were swimming.

After we ate, we split up.  I decided to go up to deck 10 and get some more photos, and our youngest came with me.  The others went back to the room to rest.  I got some hot tea from the drink station and headed upstairs.  The Goofy pool was pretty empty:

Our youngest loves to do cartwheels and back walkovers so we spent quite a while up here while she went to town.

The adult pool was deserted:

When I got back to the room, I found this:

They had all taken a short nap.  They had also added our Alcatraz magnets to the ones we brought from home:

This magnet was one of our souvenirs from Alcatraz:

During this time, I wanted to take advantage of having phone service before we left port.  But, we didn’t get good reception in our room so I walked down 2 levels to Shutters, which was empty and has these great padded window seats to sit in.

Not a bad view!

At about 5:00, as we pulled out of port, my husband and I went up to deck 10 so that we could watch us sail under the Golden Gate Bridge.  We asked the girls if they wanted to go, but they weren’t interested and stayed in the room.  We told them to meet us at Tritons at 5:45.  We got up to deck 10 and although the sun was now shining, it was WINDY! I’m talking, you can lean forward into the wind and not fall over windy.  There were lots of people up there (we went towards the front of the ship) and everyone was laughing about how windy it was – objects were flying, people were stumbling.  In fact, right as we reached the top of the stairs to deck 10, my lanyard whipped my husband in the face and a corner of the plastic pouch hit him right in the mouth.  He said it felt like a Chinese star.  Of course I had to document it:

Here we are huddling in a corner, waiting for the bridge to approach, trying to hide from the wind.  It was so windy I could barely take a selfie.  Yes, I was as distressed as I look.

Finally, we began to approach the bridge and ventured from our hiding spot.

I have some really cool video of this in my “Cali Coast” Instagram highlights.

By now it was 5:50 and we were 5 minutes late for dinner.  The girls had been standing outside of Tritons for about 1o minutes messaging us to ask us where we were.  So, we raced down to Tritons as fast as we could.

I think this is my favorite menu of the cruise:

The Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp (excellent):

Breaded and Deep Fried Brie (excellent):

Oven-baked Salmon Royale (excellent):

The Chateaubriand-roasted Filet Steak (excellent):

The Classic Opera Gateau (excellent):

The Apple Tart Tatin (good):

The Duo Chocolate Slice (excellent, probably my favorite dessert on the ship):

The Grand Marnier Souffle (good, but I am just not a souffle person):

We left Tritons through the door that leads into the atrium and were surprised with a character dance party!  This was not listed in the Navigator, so I’m not sure if it was planned or not.  The singing duo that always played in the atrium during the dinner hours was playing, and there were several characters walking around and dancing with guests.  There were no lines, they were just mingling.  I have seen this before on previous cruises, but it was always listed in the Navigator and seemed more scripted, with recorded music.  This one, however, seemed very unscripted and it was so much fun!  I think we hung out there for about 30 minutes.  There is some video of this on my Instagram highlights as well, which shows Ariel dancing with a group of little girls and it is just adorable.

After this, we split up.  My husband and the older 2 went to the evening show, which was “Avengers: Infinity War” in the Walt Disney Theater.  Our youngest and I just walked around for a bit, eventually going back to the room so she could watch a movie and I could do some laundry.

DCL has improved the laundry rooms since our sailing last year.  There is a new purchasing system where you purchase “e-tokens” at this machine and then use your e-tokens to purchase detergent/washer/dryer cycles at the other machines.  I love how it now tells you how many machines are available in this room, as well as the other laundry rooms on the ship.

Everything costs $1.00 – each wash/dry cycle as well as the detergent and dryer sheets (update: prices have gone up, I think now it is $2 each for everything).  If you prefer to bring your own, these laundry detergent sheets get great reviews and are a much better value.  I am going to try and remember to bring some next time.

Also, if you are using the Navigator app, you will get a message when your machine is done.  Be warned though, you will only get the message if you have the app open on your phone at that time.  If not, you won’t get the message until the next time you open it.  I thought this might eliminate the problem for people leaving their clothes in a machine for hours after it stopped, but sadly it didn’t.

I also found out this day, from a CM at guest services, that you can now check your onboard account through the Navigator app.  I really love this feature.  I checked it often and it always updated just minutes after we would purchase something.  It lists charges by person, just like the printed version.

When the others finished the movie, we split up yet again.  This time, our oldest went to bed while the rest of us went to family karaoke in the D Lounge at 11:00.  Then, it was time for all of us to go to bed.

Up Next: Day 4 – At Sea

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Disclosure: I pay for all of my own Disney vacations, but occasionally I am sent on assignment for a family travel website, kidtripster.com.  We were given one complimentary Alcatraz ticket for the purpose of a review for kidtripster.com.