Alaskan Cruise: Day 1

Hey y’all!  I’m so excited to be sharing our Alaskan cruise!  I figured day by day would be the easiest, so here we are, starting with Day 1.

First off, let me give you a little background about the cruise we chose (and why.)  I have always been a little apprehensive about cruises for many reasons.  A big one being, I feel like a day wouldn’t be enough time at certain destinations.  (Like Jamaica for instance… the week we spent there wasn’t even long enough!)  I did want to at least cross “go on a cruise” off my bucket list, so we looked into Alaska.  The port destinations in Alaska seemed small enough that I would be okay with the whole limited time thing.  Also, I was craving something different.  Alaska just fit the craving.  We booked the cruise through our travel agent at Journey Travel & Tours, who has been on a ton of Alaskan cruises- and she recommended Princess Cruises as far as the itinerary goes. (By the way, if you’re local, Journey travel is awesome! We love going to them for our vacation planning!)

Here’s my overview  of day 1:

Date: Saturday, May 10th

Itinerary: Leave our house by 8 a.m., drive to Seattle, get dropped off at the terminal, and sail from Seattle at 4 p.m.

Highlight:  Setting sail and clinking our glasses together as Seattle’s skyline got farther and farther away.

Favorite eats:  All you can eat chocolate swirl ice cream (which we really made use of throughout the week), spring rolls, and luau pork tenderloin.

Drink of the day:  I had a delicious large margarita as we were setting sail.  The perfect start to vacation!

Weather:  Overcast for the most part.  We did sail from Seattle, after all.  (But, no rain!)

Our day one was mostly a travel day.  I’m one of those people where the travel day is part of the vacation.  (Hey- vacations are short-lived and I am not going to waste any of it.)  This means drinks at the airport, random roadside stops on road trips, and all smiles -even in traffic jams.  So, on our way over the mountains to Seattle, we stopped at a little bakery in Cle Elum.  Donuts for breakfast was the perfect kick-off to vacation.

After making it through Seattle’s Saturday traffic, we were dropped off at the pier.  As far as boarding the ship goes, I had no idea what to expect.  It is very similar to boarding a plane. (Except just a smidge less stressful because we had gotten there so early…  I didn’t feel as stressed about how long everything was taking.)  There was security to go through, (drop your belongings in the basket- but, you get to keep your shoes on!) long lines, luggage to deal with, passports to show…  all the while, the giant ship is looming just outside.  Okay, looming makes it sound awful, but I’m really just trying to describe how BIG it is!  Hooooly cow, these cruise ships are huge!

As we boarded the ship, there were many workers directing us to our stateroom.  As we walked through I could see restaurants, lounges, elevators… it was so strange knowing you were on a boat!  Literally, a floating resort.  The stateroom was larger than I had expected.  (I think I had my expectations set for really really small.)  It had a mini fridge with a little counter area above it, flat screen TV, desk with a chair, an additional sitting chair, queen size bed, spacious closet, hair dryer… basically all you need.  The bathroom was the tiniest of all, but it was fully functional.

We did splurge a little for a room with a balcony, and this made our trip!  If you’re on the fence about it, I highly recommend having a balcony room for the Alaska cruise.  It might not be a necessity on other cruises, but for the Alaska cruise- our trip would not have been as amazing if we had gotten an interior room.  Our balcony was really large and had a table and two chairs that recline.

While we were in our room, our room steward knocked on the door and introduced herself. She was a really nice girl who did a great job of refreshing the room for us during our trip. She informed us that there would be an emergency drill shortly, which we would hear directions over the intercom.  Not gonna lie, I was less than enthused about this since I wanted to dive right into vacation shenanigans, but I completely understand the necessity of the drill.

After checking out the room, we made our way to the upper decks to scope it out and find some lunch.  We ended up stopping at the first place we saw which was the grill.  We each ordered a burger and fries, which was just alright.  I was eyeing the ice cream bar the entire time…

Our emergency drill was at 3:15, so we had to go back to the room to get our life jackets and then head to our muster station- where we were told what to do in an emergency situation. Shortly after we headed back to the upper decks to watch as our ship set sail.  We ordered a drink and sipped on them as we said goodbye to the Seattle skyline.  This was the highlight of my day.

The LOW of my day was when our luggage didn’t get dropped off to our room until 7:30!!!  You can imagine my panic… I was a first time cruiser, so I had no idea if this was normal or not but I felt SO unsettled sailing away without my luggage!  I seriously thought it was left behind… But, thankfully it did end up arriving- just very very late.

Since we didn’t really have anything planned, we did some walking around the ship- checking out the restaurants and shops.  The piazza was amazing.  It’s an open area with shops, lounges, a cafe, a piano… again, hard to believe you’re on a boat.  We stopped for ice cream on our way back to the room to get ready for dinner.  The perfect pre-dinner snack, I say ;)

While we were getting ready for dinner in our room, we opened up the bottle of red wine we brought.  (You’re allowed to bring a bottle per person, so we brought a red and a rose.)  It was so nice to sip wine on our balcony.  They will bring you wine glasses, but we ended up just using the glasses that were in there for the first night.  Worked for me!  We also filled out our breakfast card to have coffee and a light breakfast snack sent to our room early in the morning.  (I love that they do this!)  You just hang it on the door before you go to sleep and then coffee is sent to your room the next morning at whatever time you request!

For dinner, we went to one of the dining halls/ restaurants which I was quite impressed with. I really enjoyed the decor and the menu options (which change every night- with some of the menu choices being offered all the time.)  We chose anytime dining when we booked our cruise which really worked out perfectly for us.  At dinner you can order whatever you want. You could order the whole menu if you wanted to.  We basically ordered an appetizer and an entree, although we sat with many people who would order a soup, salad, appetizer and entree.  (Yeesh!)  Share with whoever you travel with, because let me tell you- there are lots of different foods to try!  (But leave room, because after they clear your dinner plates they bring you a dessert menu.)

Oh, and do yourself a favor.  DO NOT go to the buffet for dinner!  It is not the same!  You will be very disappointed in the food if you go to the buffet for dinner.  It is SO MUCH better in the restaurants, even if they are offering the same options.  (Doing the buffet for breakfast, lunch or snacks is fine, but go to the actual restaurants for dinner.  The food is really good, and you can order however much you want.)

For appetizers, I had the spring rolls which were delicious!  (I love spring rolls…)  My hubby had the fettuccine alfredo.  (They have two pastas every night, one that changes nightly and then their fettuccine.   I think it’s really cool that they let you order it as an entree or an appetizer in a smaller serving.)  We both ended up getting the luau pork which was really good, and a really large portion.  (There’s bread on the table always as well.  The bread-sticks were my favorite.)  For dessert, Marty got the Princess Love Boat Dream (or at least I think that’s what it’s called…)  which is a chocolate brownie in the shape of a heart, and I ordered the creme brulee.  We. Were. Stuffed.

After dinner we checked out the casino, where my hubby tried his luck at the slot machines. Then, we headed back to our room to get ready for bed.  As far as feeling the ship’s movement, you could slightly at times, but we never did get sick.  (Although we brought some motion sickness medicine just in case.)  I also think the waters were very calm during our trip.  Thank goodness.

Be sure to stop by soon for day 2, at sea!

xoxo,
Kayla