Did you guys catch my Alaskan cruise day 1? If not, check it out here! I’m super excited to continue sharing the trip today with day 2! Here’s an overview of the day:
Date: Sunday, May 11th
Itinerary: At sea
Highlight: Attending the champagne waterfall event
Favorite eats: Lots of fresh pineapple and crab quiche
Drink of the day: Texas Tea
Weather: Clear in the morning and overcast the remainder of the day – (No rain)
I was really glad to have our first full cruise day be at sea. It really gives you a whole day to get to know the ship. One thing about cruises– there is always something to do, and it’s impossible to do all you want to do. We have a list of things we wish we would’ve done, so I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to take another cruise sometime. Poor us ;)
So, I set my alarm for 6 a.m. because I really wanted to catch a sunrise. And boy, did I ever! It was seriously wonderful- my alarm goes off, I open my eyes, and I don’t even have a second to whine about how early it is because I can see the golden beams streaming in through the tiny crack of our balcony curtains. I bolt out of bed just in time to see the sun rising over the distant mountains. Seriously, If I had hit snooze I would’ve missed it.
So pretty, right? I had planned on going to sleep after, but yeah- that didn’t happen. So I took a shower instead and started getting ready for the day. Our coffee and breakfast snacks we had ordered came, and we enjoyed breakfast in bed. (A vacation must!) Our morning was spent drinking coffee, munching on fresh fruit & pastries, and leisurely getting ready for the day.
Since what’s pictured above was not enough to hold us over all morning, we headed down to the breakfast buffet to eat something a little more sustainable. Then we went and looked at some of the shops. Our Princess Patter (the newsletter of the day’s itinerary that gets dropped off in your room’s inbox the night before) let us know of a 3 hour sale that was going on in one of the ship’s dining rooms. I, of course, saw the word sale and said we had to check it out. (And my hubby went along without a single complaint… he’s pretty great.) They had a whole bunch of merchandise set out on tables, and everything was $10. A lot of it was too cheesy for my taste, but I did end up finding an infinity scarf that I would have totally bought anywhere else, so I snatched it up. It was the perfect souvenir “to remember our cruise” by.
^^In the ship’s elevator. Crazy, right? Don’t worry, we mainly took the stairs… hehe. After shopping we went back to the room to relax and see some sea creatures playing outside our balcony. We saw sea lions bobbing in the ocean, and porpoises skipping through the water. It was so cool, and we were dying to see a whale!
Aaaaand, then we fell asleep. I’m talkin’ like a two hour power nap. Yeesh. That wasn’t planned. After we managed to get out of bed we went and grabbed an ice cream cone. You know… to help wake us up ;)
Then we hit up the snack buffet, since we had napped right through lunch. Whoops!
After our snack lunch we bellied up to one of the many bars and ordered a drink. If you’re wondering, yes- you do have to pay for any alcoholic beverages (and soda). These are not included in your cruise price. But, depending on what you order, the prices are absolutely reasonable. Hubby got a Passion Punch and I tried out a Texas Tea, which was sooooo good. (And I think $5.50 is a very reasonable price.) We ended up taking the drinks back to our room to sip on our balcony. (Are you starting to see why I mentioned that having the balcony made our trip? We spent so much time on it!)
We finished our drinks and went down to book our Juneau excursion for the Mendenhall Glacier. We did some walking around the ship’s upper deck, and decided to check out the view from the back of the ship.
No- we didn’t swim. Although some people did! The indoor pool especially seemed to be quite a hit with the kiddos on the cruise. After exploring a little, we went back to the room to get ready for our first formal night. Of course we had a little bit of our wine as we got ready.
At 7 p.m. we went to an event called “Champagne Hoopla” where the ship captain and officers were introduced. They had a champagne waterfall which was so fabulous! They let people poor champagne and get their picture taken. Everyone was dressed to the nines and waiters were walking around with trays full of complimentary champagne and hors d’oeuvres. It was my kind of event.
I was pretty amazed they had a champagne waterfall on a boat. Kinda goes to show how little movement there is on these big cruise ships.
We caught dinner a little late after the champagne event. We sat with two older couples from Missouri and Illinois, and a woman all the way from Australia. It was a great meal with great conversation. I had crab quiche for an appetizer which was really good. I love crab, but had never had it like this. That’s what vacations are for, right? For the main course I had a creamy pasta, and then chocolate ice cream with raspberry swirl for dessert.
Of course, we were too stuffed to do much else after dinner, and it was quite late. So, we hit the hay.
Since our day at sea was also Mother’s Day, we totally missed brunching with our mommas. So, I want to end this post by saying Happy Mother’s Day to my lovely mother and mother-in-law!
Come back soon to read about day 3 of our Alaskan cruise, where we got to visit Juneau, Alaska!
xoxo,
Kayla
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