Alaska Cruise: Seattle

Day 1

The drive to Seattle went smoothly, although the trip was a little long for Grant’s tastes. Our group of vacationers included my wife, son & daughter and my in-laws, Barb and Gale. The route we took to get to the pier took us right by the Space Needle, so we were able to get a real good, close-up look for the kids. We arrived at the parking lot shortly after noon. There was a shuttle bus running from the parking lot to the cruise terminal and we were able to have the driver pick us up directly at our car and didn’t have to first lug our luggage 🙂 to the standard pick up area. The cruise terminal was hectic to say the least and had lines to wait in line. At the security screening check point, it was determined that my keychain Swiss Army Knife was a security threat and was confiscated. I have to believe that this was somebody’s misunderstanding of protocol because once we were on-board, they sold bigger pocket knives in the GIFT SHOP!

Sailing out of port, it was memorable to see a different view of the familiar Seattle skyline. We spent probably an hour watching from Barb & Gale’s balcony. The rest of the day was spent unpacking and exploring the ship. Our main dining room dinner time, unfortunately, was scheduled for 830PM. The kids typically go to bed at 8 & the Maitre’d’ was unable to switch us to earlier dining… so, it looks like we will be doing a lot of dining in the Windjammer Café (the buffet). Fortunately for me, the buffet had many healthy, paleo choices. I ate lamb, pork, fish & chicken (portions were miniscule) and also had loads of veg (such as grilled asparagus, salad, tomato w/ pesto, artichoke heart… & the list goes on).

After dinner, we took a stroll and then showed Barb and Gale our room. They got a good chuckle at our little porthole windows compared to their balcony. We were all tired and decided to call it a night. Grant chose to sleep in Grandma’s room, which turned out to be a good choice since Allie woke up crying nearly every hour!

Day 2

I gave up and woke up with Allie at about 7AM. We got dressed and went for a walk/jog along the running track. The morning air was refreshing and brought about giggles. We were greeted with a couple loud horn blasts from the ship, to which Allie responded, “Scary”! Allie & I then went down to the Windjammer and had some breakfast. After that we checked out some more of the ship and watched a bit of World Cup Soccer in the Schooner Bar before going back to the room to check on Mommy. Natalie was already awake and about to meet up with everyone else for breakfast, so we all packed up back to the ‘jammer.

After breakfast, Grant went to meet new friends in Adventure Ocean, Royal’s kids program and we headed back to the room for a nap. We met up again for lunch but I wasn’t very hungry after two breakfasts. The seas also were beginning to get rough which unsettled some stomachs. Natalie took some “less sleepy” Dramamine… which put her to sleep. Grant went back to Adventure Ocean & I took Allie for a walk. Along the way, we ran into Barb and Gale and we decided to do some more ship exploration. We found the Viking Lounge where some passengers and staff were practicing dancing. Allie thought that was pretty fun and joined in.

Later that night, we tried formal dining even though it started at 830PM. We were sure to nap the kids prior to dinner. The seas were still rough and I was even feeling a little green around the gills at this point, so I had my worries. Barb and Gale chose not to go, but offered to watch Allie for us. We had a pretty large table with room for maybe 10, but there were only the 3 of us. I guess that just gave us plenty of individualized attention by our waiter, Rommel (from the Philippines) and our assistant waiter, Ahkil (from India). It was nice to have our own table since we were all feeling pretty drained of energy. Our energy level was better than some of our fellow diners because there were quite a few children sacked out in their chairs and one teen ager slumped down with her head on the table near us. Dinner was tasty. I had escargot again this cruise for an appetizer, some beef with mashed potato/cauliflower and asparagus for the main course and bittersweet chocolate soufflé for dessert. Grant was graciously offered cheese pizza and chocolate milk for dinner… oh, yeah, & french fries!

Allie did great with Grandma & Papa and we all turned in after dinner to prepare for our first port day in Juneau.

Alaska Cruise

We are very excited to be going on another cruise, this time to Alaska, and the whole family will be going!  We will be on the Royal Caribbean “Rhapsody of the Seas” where we will start in Seattle and cruise to Juneau, Skagway, and Vict0ria, BC.  We are less than 2 weeks away until departure, so are in full swing in planning and getting the “stuff” we need.  Last night, we picked up some dress pants for Grant and some nice clothes for Natalie.  I will  have to have my suit dry cleaned and I’ll need to buff my shoes, but I’m pretty well set.  It will be logistically “interesting” travelling with the kids this time, but it will definitely be fun to share the experience with them.  Grant is especially excited to see whales in their natural environment and I would be lying to say that I wasn’t, too.

Here is a Google Earth “movie” of our cruise’s ports.  (May have to save it locally for Google Earth to recognize it, but you will definitely need Google Earth installed on your computer first.)