Our Cruise to Alaska

Thursday July 14

This morning Jared and I flew into Seattle a day early to explore the city before leaving on our cruise tomorrow.  As we were about to land it was neat looking out the window of the airplane, seeing several green islands surrounded by deep blue water, each connected to the next by a bridge. I loved seeing the landscape down below, unlike other cities we have flown into it seemed much prettier. Downtown Seattle reminds us of San Francisco where you have to pay for parking everywhere you go with bridges and markets throughout. The weather is such a contrast compared to California in July - much more drizzly and cold. We got off the plane in sandals and shirts and wished we had pants and jackets. Due to the stormy weather (and poor visibility) we decided to forego going to the top of the Space Needle; instead we found a cool park nearby that showed the skyline perfectly in the distance. We went to Pikes Fish Market to see the fishermen throw the different fish back and forth as people bought them. They throw the fish long and hard several times and come very close to people's faces at times but never missed. Throughout the market there seemed to be a theme of flowers, fresh fruit, jewelery, and jams to buy. We got to see the original Starbucks, drove around Safeco Field (baseball stadium for the Seattle Mariners) and the various piers. We’re gald we got to explore Seattle a bit before leaving for Alaska.

Friday July 15

Getting on the boat was a smooth and painless experience. In the past it has felt like a long process due to the wait in line but this didn’t seem to be the case this time. Shortly after finding our room we did first things first: find hot chocolate, get an ice cream cone and started the many rounds of Nertz. We explored the boat and went to our first dinner in the main dining hall. We were seated with three other couples which were all much older but every nice. One couple is LDS from Salt Lake City and work in the temple. There are a lot of older couples as well as large families on this cruise. We went to our first evening show which was good. It’s been fun exploring and relaxing!

Saturday July 16, 2011

Today was an "at sea" day and the barf bags are out and hanging near every stair case on the ship. I have been nauseous most of the day but luckily this evening my symptoms have subsided a bit.  This by far is the rockiest cruise I’ve been on. The other two cruises I've been on didn’t cause any problems and most of the time you couldn’t even tell you were on a ship, but this time you can’t get away from it. I have heard several other people feeling sick due to the rocky sea as well. I guess this is more normal for a cruise to Alaska but the sea should calm down a bit once we approach the Inside Passage. Being sick brought back memories of being pregnant. Smells were more intense today, and I felt extra hot and had to lay downd because I felt like I might need a barf bag of my own. We did make it to a movie showing, laid out for a bit in the freezing cold with our ice cream, went to the Captain's party, the formal dinner, evening show and played lots of Nertz. Jared is killing me almost everytime! I have to catch up.

Wrap up of the cruise

We stopped at three ports - Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria (in British Columbia, Canada). At Juneau we rode a sky cable car to the top of the mountain that overlooked the city. We went on a short hike and enjoyed the scenery, including seeing a bald eagle up close. It was a beautiful day, one we could have worn short sleeves. On the sea days we played lots of games, read a bit, watched movies and went to some of the other activities they had for us on the ship. The food this time was okay compared to the other cruises we've been on. Skagway is a mining town with old false front buildings throughout. We took a walking tour through the small town and learned more about its history as the gateway to the Klondike during the gold rush. Our last stop was one of my favorites, Victoria. It was beautiful! I loved how clean and quaint it was. We took a double decker bus around the city, getting on and off at different stops, and really enjoyed the scenery. We had a blast and can't wait for our next cruise.