The day started off pretty relaxing until my realtor texted me that escrow was missing a document package I mailed LAST Friday within San Diego county! I guess since I mailed it from another country (aka North County San Diego), maybe I didn’t have enough postage applied for international post. Very distracted and trying to work out how to get another set of notarized documents to escrow down in San Diego, I misplaced my bag of jewelry and my mini-keyboard I use to write this blog. After having a meltdown in the hotel lobby, I found my misplaced bag and off we went to the cruise ship terminal.
Checkin went fairly smoothly – us Gonzales people follow all the pre-boarding procedures and after finding our room, we went straight to the buffet. I’ve only seen my Dad this giddy from excitement when we take our road-trips to the local casino. This is like his version of Disneyland; he’s already found the casino on the ship. And speaking of ships.. this one is massive. It’s a floating hotel! We’re on deck 9 (there are 16) and the coolest part is our balcony! And by coolest, it’s literally sub-zero degrees outside. Ok, slight exaggeration but the clothes are not props… it’s chilly as we head up to Alaska.
Our cruise started pretty uneventfully but about 20 minutes into our departure, an announcement came on the PA system about an ‘alpha’ emergency at a stateroom on our floor! And then the boat turned around & started heading back towards Seattle. Say what??! I only just learned this today, but alpha code means emergency and the Captain came on the loudspeaker to let us know it was a passenger with appendicitis. Let’s try that again…
Our first night was the chef’s table which for $99 included 7 courses plus wine pairings for each course! Totally worth it and what a great way to start off this Alaskan Adventure!
Feeling pretty seaworthy and not motion sick (as I usually do on boats, trains & planes), I slept well considering this water is pretty choppy and the Captain is making up for lost time from the medical emergency. I even made it to Zumba in the morning followed by a late breakfast and then a napkin artistry lesson. You wish your napkin folding skills were as good as mine!
Nap time for a bit (I am on vacation after all) and then we went to our North Star reservation. What’s North Star you ask? It’s a 360deg viewing capsule that goes above the ship and along each side. Today started off foggy and we almost rebooked because of visibility.
I’m so glad we kept our reservation because we saw whales! Ok, unconfirmed those were the animals we encountered but all of us in the capsule agreed we saw something.
Hanging out a bit before we head to the formal dinner at 8:15p. It’s getting colder and colder as the days progress but tomorrow is our first port: Juneau, Alaska!
There She Goes... 