Stitch Ahoy Cruise 2007!

Autumn Cruise to Canada

This ship has sailed but we are planning another soon!

To paraphrase a fun saying:
A cruise should NOT be a journey to the port where you arrive safely, wearing yachting whites, with perfect makeup and hair. You want to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, an umbrella drink in the other, body worn out, and screaming "HOT DANG what a ride!"
And I am fairly certain, we achieved our goal! This was my first ever cruise and I can promise there will be many more…as beautiful as the boat was, as delicious as the food was, as beautiful as the sea was, it was the continual service from the wonderful crew that put it over the top.

The Class and Project

Since I have never been involved with an event where I had to teach a new project to a group of stitchers that I had never met in a venue that was new to me, when I sat down to design a project that I wanted to appeal to the entire group the concept quickly became daunting to me. The cost of the class/project was hefty and I wanted to make sure that all the stitchers felt they got their money's worth. I had seen the Shaker sewing box and pincushion from Sudberry House and wanted the design to work with those products. In the course of three months, the design changed about 9 times, but still I was not happy with it. The sewing box called for something classy that would be as appropriate in 20 years as it would be now. As we got down to the wire, the idea finally began to gel-and the final design was a sewing box overflowing with floss, fabric, scissors, and other supplies, surrounded by a fall border of colorful oak leaves and acorns. The leaves were stitched in Caron Collection's Wildflowerstm, Fiesta color which is a variegated floss in lovely Autumn hues. The pincushion design was more leaves and acorns. All the false starts of the first design ideas became 12 mini designs that were 42-stitch squares for the stitchers to use individually, or as a group for a sampler, bell pull, tray, or whatever their imagination dictates. Alphabets were included to personalize the projects. All the designs in some way reflected the cruise, for example some of the charts were fall leaves, Peggy's Cove Lighthouse, a cottage by the sea, a tall ship, a weathervane with the US flag and the Canadian flag, stork scissors, well, you get the idea!

The class featured a variety of finishing techniques starting with preparing your needlework for finishing (washing, pressing, removing stains, etc), lacing and mounting your stitchery, and then either framing it, mounting it onto the Sudberry pieces, finishing it into a flat-fold stand-up, ornament, no-sew cube, and more. We were out to sea for the first full day so we had part of the class in the morning and then broke for lunch and finished the class in the afternoon. Eva Rill (who claims to be my #1 fan) taught Mail Art for a couple of hours in the afternoon-that is when you stitch a personalized envelope for a special friend, and actually mail it to them-cancellation included! It is wonderful fun and Eva's experiences were enjoyed by all.

The Cruise Project taught in the class held on the first day of sailing featured a Sudberry Sewing Box and Pincushion, all fabric and threads, and detailed book of exclusive patterns and instructions. The class included finishing techniques such as lacing and mounting for a frame or the sewing box and pincushion; and how to finish an ornament, a needlebook, a flatfold, scissors fob, and more! An additional 12 small designs for ornaments with themes related to the cruise and destination were also included to create a number of additional memories of the event, all attractively package in a StitchAhoy Cruise zippered tote bag!

The Cruisers

Our cruising group consisted of 27 stitchers--there were a total of 36 of us and that included other family members who were not part of the class. All had some experience in cross stitching but not all stitched on the cruise. Several of us were new at cruising and some were old hands. The furthest came from Australia to join us (really!), and the rest came from all corners of the US. One stitcher brought her husband so they could celebrate their first anniversary at sea, two others were marking their 40th birthdays, we had another birthday girl; many came with a friend or two, and others made new friends on the trip.

The Ship

The Crown Princess is just a year old and can carry more than 3000 passengers (!) and a crew of 1200, yet the only time I felt that I saw even a couple hundred all in one place was when we were getting off or on the ship at port. And, incredibly, on this particular trip, there were just 20 children and they were all well-behaved…I think I saw only 2 or 3 of them and not on a recurring basis…I only mention the children because the crew tells of a previous trip at the end of the summer where there were 800 children on the ship!! Yes, that was 800 children! I imagine at some point they gathered in packs and wreaked havoc on board…and at that point I would have gladly walked the gang plank and jumped off!

The rooms were typical cabins with little room to spare. Eva had shipboard experience and suggested that we get a balcony to provide a bit more space which turned out to be the suggestion of the year! I had shipped 17 boxes ahead and arrived with 2 very large suitcases full of class and goodie bag surprises and trying to maneuver around all that reminded me of one of those Japanese puzzles that you have to move a numbered tile from one place to another within a confined space…fortunately, we passed everything out the first day so left the stitchers to deal with all the items in their own cabins. The bathroom in the cabin was about the size of an airplane or RV bathroom plus a shower! The cabin without the balcony was the length of a twin bed plus 18" and the width of two beds (they weren't actually twins but more like 30" wide), two night stands and a small desk…I am guessing it was 8 feet x 12 feet, I am not including a closet and the bathroom. Most of the time we left the balcony door open and it added the feel of more space to the room. I will say that we spend little time awake in the cabin and there was so much other space on the ship, there was no feeling of confined spaces. The dining rooms, lounges, spa, shops, and public spaces were large and open and beautifully decorated. We had a spot on the ship for just us and stitching…it was at the top and we had a wonderful view of the harbors and sea…great natural lighting, too! Something I did not get to do was see a movie "Under the Stars"…I had either seen the movies offered, or was so relaxed by the gentle rocking of the ship and the sounds of the sea, I was asleep by 10!

The Food

I know, everyone always says the shipboard food is an experience unto its own---and that is so true! There was always a buffet available which changed items several times during the day. There was a breakfast buffet, a lunch buffet, afternoon hors d'oeuvres and appetizers, dinner, and desserts. I did the buffet for breakfast a couple of times and once I did the appetizers which caused me to miss dinner in the dining room---there is just so much food one can eat! There were also Ice Cream Sundae bars, pizza bars, and so much more!! We opted for early dining in the dining room every night and it was a "fine linens and silver environment". This is where the service was astounding. The waitstaff remembered our preferences after the first night and knew what our drink choices were likely to be, how we liked our meat cooked, etc. The head waiter doted on each of us without being invasive. The menu changed nightly, but had favorites available too. Each evening there were about 8-10 new choices of appetizers, entrees, and desserts, plus the standards. You could order an appetizer as an entrée, or an entrée as an appetizer…if you chose, you could have 13 desserts and no one would raise an eyebrow. If the meal was not to your liking, it would immediately be replaced by another choice---and it was brought out promptly so there was no waiting or holding up the other diners at the table. How do they do this with 3000 guests? You do not get this service generally at the finest restaurants on land that serve just 50 guests! You also had the option of in room, or balcony dining any evening!

The Itinerary

I arrived on the ship on Saturday afternoon, and Eva was already in the room…my 17 boxes for the class the next day were not there but I was assured that they would arrive while we went to dinner….came back from dinner, still no boxes, and after a moment of panic, they were found and delivered. Eva and I spent a couple of hours putting together goodie bags, and wrapping door prizes. Finally went to bed exhausted.

Sunday was the only day spent at sea. All of the rest of the time the boat traveled during the night. This was the day of the class, which was held in the dining room which had decent light but the tables were in an "L" shape and the only place which would have allowed me to teach without my back to everyone had a serving station placed there, so I had to move around a lot and speak loudly but that is a lesson learned for next time.

We went to dinner that evening for our first meal together and it was great fun chatting and watching everyone get to know each other.

Monday we docked at Halifax, Nova Scotia and met up with some great Canadian stitchers-Gis and Sally met us at the pier-we lost Barb H and Debbe for a while (they were meeting another ship at another pier!) but they caught up with us in town. Halifax is a waterfront town with a museum dedicated to marine history, including a Titanic exhibit (does a cruiser really want to delve into that event?), and an exhibit of the devastating Halifax Explosion of 1917 where two ships carrying explosives collided and leveled the entire town. We sauntered through the town visiting little shops and having a Tim Horton's cuppa. We got on the bus headed for the casino where we went for a wonderful lunch and met up with Doreen and Marion…somewhere we lost Val, but learned later she stopped in to get a tattoo of the cruise logo. As we finished lunch and stepped out of the casino, there was a local news show doing a piece on "Fred" and asked if we wanted to be interviewed…somehow everyone stepped back except me so I was on the local news…Eva finally came forward and took some of the pressure off me. "Fred" is a bus (Free Rides Everywhere Downtown) that does a continual loop through the town that the local merchants sponsor. I didn't see the interview on the local news but they promised that they would cut out all the parts where I stuttered and made inane comments so that would have left about 3 seconds of useable footage! Regardless, it was a wonderful visit with new friends and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Some cruisers took this day to tour the local lighthouse at Peggy's Cove. Monday evening we had a group cocktail party where we mingled and drank and nibbled appetizers.

Tuesday was our trip to Because You Count in Moncton from the port of Saint John in New Brunswick. When we docked, we were greeted by Scots in kilts playing the pipes! National Car Rental met us at the ship and took us to their office to pick up minivans. Brenda was there to meet us, filled her car with stitchers, and then led us to Moncton. This is where we finally saw some spectacular leaf colors against a backdrop of evergreens…the contrast of color was incredible. And what a wonderful shop! Because You Count was celebrating their 16th year in business, and made us all feel so welcome! Jennifer Aikmann-Smith of Dragon Dreams was there signing autographs and passing out a freebie to our stitchers, and introducing her latest Dragon creation. She was delightful! The shop owners, Shelley and Jeannie brought in the local newspaper to highlight the event and so we made the local newspapers! The mayor was busy that day (probably dealing with more pressing issues than meeting cross stitchers) but he did send his wife to greet us, and she just happens to be a cross stitcher! We met yet more friendly stitchers at the shop and then went to a lunch of lobster rolls and headed back to the ship with stash in hands! This was a dining night of "formal" clothes and I must say, some stitchers had some serious jewels! Wowza!

Wednesday was a visit to Bar Harbor, Maine…this is the first port where we were "tendered" that is our boat stayed in the bay and they used the lifeboats to take us back and forth to the pier…they pack those boats full but we saw later that they "only" put 90 of us in the boat when they are used as tenders but if they were being used as lifeboats, then they would pack 160 of us in those little boats-which I guess is better than the alternative! We walked around the quaint little town and bought rude t-shirts but some cruisers opted to do more productive touring such as a scenic drive through the Acadia National Park with the spectacular coastal, mountain and forest views.

Thursday was the port of Boston…Eva and I chose a culinary tour of Boston's North End. Mainly Italian, we visited a bakery, a candy shop (which for some reason had a great selection of olives and olive oils), a spice shop, a salumeria (deli), a green grocer, and a beautiful well stocked wine shop, We sampled authentic flavors and learned the traditions behind the foods. Our tour guide was a chef and a teacher with a wealth of knowledge about Mediterranean foods and wines. Other shore excursions at this port included a visit to Plymouth Rock, a replica of the Mayflower, Marblehead, tracing the route of Paul Revere's midnight ride, the site of the Boston Tea Party, JFK's Library, and of course a visit to the "Cheers" bar! This day was finished off with one of the "formal" nights in the dining room where we got to wear our dress-up clothes and chandelier earrings!

Friday's stop was Newport Rhode Island where many cruisers visited some of the wonderful mansions of the rich and famous! The homes of Doris Duke, Lady Astor, and the Vanderbilt's were open for tours and they were spectacular…even the gardener's cottages! I made this day a Spa Day for me and stayed on the ship!

Friday evening was our final visit with stitchers and we passed out the last of the door prizes, exchanged addresses, and talked about what our next excursion would be. Not sure yet of another cruise or maybe a lodge, but there will be a get together over the Memorial Day weekend 2008 in the Richmond area so put it on your calendars and as we get further information, check the website for updates www.suehillisdesigns.net.

Saturday was spent getting off the ship in a timely manner, and locating the luggage and getting home…always a great place to land, but the ship….WOW! I am now working on a cruise to get my husband just as hooked as I am…I don't think he'll be able to resist an Alaskan cruise….

As we depart the New York Harbor! Bon Voyage!	Talking about stitching, I'm sure!
The bay at Bar Harbor Maine, and that's our ship--the big one!	Our class, the first day at sea
Friends and Family, all are welcome!