I’ve read a lot of complaints online about Prince Rupert, but it was my favorite stop.  It didn’t seem touristy-fake like the others did.  The lack of stuff to do (aka tacky overpriced tourist schock and jewelry) was a-ok with me.

Today’s onshore activities didn’t start until 4:00 pm, which was a good thing as I still didn’t sleep very well. I was starting to feel better, though.

We had our usual breakfast at the buffet, and then headed back to our room. We took a detour to the pool to see if it was suitable hot-tub weather but it was *very* windy and cold so we decided to skip it.

For lunch we had signed up for the “Presumed Murdered” luncheon. I didn’t really know what that was going to be when I signed us up for it, but I like murder mysteries so I figured it would be fun. What it turned out to be was a little different than I was expecting. The actors were an improv troupe from Second City in Chicago, and although they had a rough plot to work from they filled in many of the details via random words shouted out by people in the audience. It turned out to be pretty entertaining, and the food was quite good too (it was held at La Cusina, the site of our first good dinner a couple of nights ago).

Back in the room I tried to nap, but wasn’t able to sleep so I ended up on the computer while Wayne sat on the balcony and watched the world go by.

When we arrived in Prince Rupert, our group got on a tour bus and headed for the trailhead. It was a nice walk, ending up at a place where you can see the rapids reverse direction twice a day as the tides change. Pretty wild stuff. Our guide was quite good and they fed us homemade granola bars and bottled water, but they couldn’t fix the fact that I wasn’t really ready to be doing a 2.8 mile hike, particularly with no rest breaks on any of the uphill sections on the way back out. I managed to keep up with the group but I was *exhausted* at the end.

One of the things the guide told us is that there’s a cow theme everywhere in Prince Rupert. The bay was named Cow Bay by their First Nation people because some white setter showed up with a barge loaded with cows, and discovered there was nowhere large enough to dock it. So he pushed the cows into the water and they swam ashore. The Indians thought this was so funny they commemorated it with the name “Cow Bay”. So, for example, our granola bars had come from a shop called Cowpuccino (groan! :).

We walked through several gift shops with no success on the pen front. I did, however, get a couple of small stuffed animals – a moose and a husky, each dressed in a Canadian Mountie uniform.

We had dinner at Cow Bay Cafe, which was excellent, albeit somewhat pricey.

I’ve read a lot of complaints online about Prince Rupert, how there isn’t enough to do there and it doesn’t seem like it’s ready to be a stop for a major cruise line. I felt the exact opposite – there weren’t too many gift shops and the ones that were there had classy, high-end stuff one could actually feel good about buying, and you felt like you got off the ship and walked right into town, not in some cruise ship universe like some of the ports. In the other towns we stopped in the businesses around the docks were all the same crap – overpriced flashy jewelry and cheap souvenirs.  Personally, Prince Rupert was my favorite of the four places we stopped.

Actually, that reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to write about, and keep forgetting. One of the aspects of this ship (and I’m sure this applies to the entire industry) that really bothers me is the jewelry thing. They sell a ton of it on board, flashy gaudy stuff emblazoned with sale prices that you know are probably fake. And they have seminars to “educate” you about various stones and designers that most people aren’t “in the know” about – which just happen to be featured at the jewelry shops right at the dock! Diamonds International and Tanzaite, I’m looking right in your direction!  It seems very low rent and bordering on dishonest.

Anyway, I dragged myself back onto the ship after dinner and went to the store to buy some Advil, but they were closed. Doh!

We went right to the night’s show at the Stardust Theater – Second City, the same folks who did the murder mystery lunch. It was quite good.

It was only 9:45 when we got back to the room, but I was so tired that we just went to bed, and Wayne read his book for a while.