Today the folks who were on the Sky just for the Panama Canal Cruise disembarked, and about 450 World Cruisers joined those of us already on board for the 121 day trip to London England. Some will cruise even further to New York City.

Today is also a significant crew changeover, including our Executive Chef. I’m glad that some of the crew who have already become favourites will stay with us: Talent in the Pool Grill (my very first crew interaction on the ship), Carol in the World Café, Tabeth who makes the best lattés on board (and her husband Leo, the Chef’s Table wine steward), petite Kathleen in the Living Room, Simran who takes care of our specialty dining needs, our stellar room steward John, Hotel GM Ronald, and our “Canadian connection” Hotel Purser Adrian.

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We also have a new cadre of enrichment lecturers.

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While all those changes were being made, and over 500 staterooms being turned over by the crew, we had to disembark to clear U.S. Customs as a “returning” ship, snd then it was time to spend a few hours on land.

We’ve had two really great tours in LA on previous Viking cruises (Episode 53 and Episode 162) plus a prior glimpse at Beverly Hills (Episode 164).

This time we wanted simply to get shuttled into the city for a few hours to do an independent CVS Pharmacy excursion. Remember, we blew the budget on upcoming excursions in more exotic locales!

The Viking shuttle dropped us in front of Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co. Restaurant in Long Beach, where I couldn’t resist posing in Forrest’s shoes.

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From there we took the free Los Angeles Passport bus, which does a loop around the area connecting the Queen Mary, Shoreline Drive, and a portion of downtown – including a CVS that was a popular destination for Viking passengers.

The Long Beach CVS was an experience that really emphasized the difference between big cities in the USA and those in Canada. Much of the store’s stock was in locked cases, requiring a store associate’s key for access. We’re not talking about narcotics, but toothpaste, nail polish, makeup, and antiperspirant! I have no idea whether the security has to do with shoplifting, or ingredients that can be used to “cook” designer drugs, but either way it was strange to us. The other shock was prices: the same brand and size of toothpaste and antiperspirant cost twice as much here as in Vancouver – and that’s before even factoring in the CAD/USD exchange. Nonetheless, we bit the bullet and picked up the supplies and cold remedies that we needed for the next couple of months.

Errands done, we took the bus back to the waterfront area at the base of Pine Street and enjoyed strolling around in the gorgeous sunshine. The waterfront in Long Beach includes shops, An outlet mall, walkways, tons of restaurants, the Queen Mary permanently docked, the huge Aquarium of the Pacific, a lighthouse, and a US Naval memorial. We didn’t tour any of them, but took lots of photos.

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Frankly, we were anxious to get back to the ship, knowing that among the 500 or so passengers embarking in L.A. there were going to be lots of familiar faces.

I grabbed sparkling wine and a light lunch in the atrium, just watching folks board and chatting.

The 5:00 p.m. sail-away event on the pool deck featured live music, canapés, drinks, and lots of squeals and hugs as passengers recognized each other – whether that was from prior face-to-face interactions or just months in our cruise Facebook group made little difference to our enthusiasm.

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We’re really grateful that Enrico Agudo will be with us for a little while longer, returning to his position as the ship’s solo pianist, but the Viking band is being completely replaced with 4 new instrumentalists and two new vocalists, as the current entertainers get to go home to their families for well-deserved vacations before beginning their next 6-8 month contracts. We were thrilled that lead guitarist Hentje, from the 21/22 band that we so loved, is part of the new foursome.

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As if all that excitement wasn’t enough, we had dinner reservations at The Chef’s Table. While tonight’s California-inspired menu was not one of our favourites, our wait staff duo of Mikha and Godie definitely were.

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We had good intentions of taking in Dr. Brian Babcock’s inaugural lecture and then heading to Torshavn to spend the evening hours with the band, but all the excitement – and all those wine pairings – got the better of us and we called it a night by 10:00 p.m.

Coming up: FIVE full sea days until Hawaii. i really hope the Pacific lives up to its name.