My mother and I have never cruised before, however, I regularly travel on business so I'm all about the customer service no matter where I go or what I do. My goal was to make sure that I decompressed and that my Mom had a great time and felt comfortable in her surroundings.

Pre-Cruise I met my Mom in Seattle the Tuesday night prior to our cruise and we spent two days wandering the streets of Seattle with a side trip to Tacoma to the Museum of Glass. I've spent a bit of time in Seattle but it was Mom's first trip so we did a lot of the tourist things; Nordstrom's Semi-Annual sale, monorail to Seattle Center, headed to Seattle Reflexology for a nice reflexology session there. Mom's first time for reflexology. She headed to the Space Needle while I had my 1 ½ hour session. It's like chiropractic care for your feet and these folks really know what they are doing! We did the Underground Tour (get Lucy for your tour guide) and Pike's Place Market. We walked off our dinner at Elliot's by hiking up the steep blocks to the Crowne Plaza. Had a lovely city view and the beds were comfy. It's your typical convention style hotel but they know how to treat their guests well.

Took the Amtrak up to Vancouver on Friday. Went coach and were very comfortable with plenty of leg and derriere room. Very civilized. The conductor did a bit of narration and let us know when the eagles would be soaring. Saw many, many bald eagles when we disturbed them. Very unexpected sight! Had a bit of a wait for a cab once we arrive but finally made our way to the Pinnacle Marriott (Loved this hotel! Outstanding service!.) Our room wasn't ready but they sent us to the nice waterfront walking path where we found The Mill and noshed on hummus and edamame and watched the float planes. Went back and checked in and then took a cab to Granville Island and wandered. Had tickets to "Mom's the Word 2" which was hilarious! I want to go back to Vancouver after the Olympics in 2010 and spend a week or more just exploring. It has a great vibe! Read more