Friday, May 21 (Seattle): I took this cruise with my mother, brother, sis-in-law, 2 nieces (19 and 22) and cousin and his wife. This was my second time to Alaska (went in 2000 on the Ocean Princess) but the first time for the rest of my family. Normally I would have chosen a warmer time of year, but with college schedules and such, this was the only week we could all do it. It turned out to be the perfect week....sunny skies all week...even in Ketchikan! My brother and sis-in-law and nieces flew into Seattle on Thursday...my mom, myself, cousin and his wife flew in on Friday. We all stayed at the Best Western Pioneer Square Hotel. The hotel was wonderful...the staff was friendly and helpful and the continental breakfast was outstanding! It's right on the waterfront and you can walk easily to everything around. I'll comment on things like dining and entertainment at the end. A link to my photos is also at the end, so you can see all the sights we saw.

Saturday, May 22 (Embarkation): We got a van to take the 8 of us to the pier from the hotel on Saturday around 11:00am. When we arrived at the ship (11:20 ish) we handed over our big luggage and went to check in. Check in was quick and easy....there weren't too many people there yet. We got right on and our cabins were all ready. We had 3 cabins on the Baja deck (B608, 610 and 612) and one on the Caribe. (my cousin and his wife booked later than the rest of us so they couldn't be on our deck) Cabins are fairly small but well appointed with lots of place to store things. I went to the purser's desk to sign us up for the Ultimate Ship Tour. They only have 12 spots and there were already 5 people signed up, so they told us if there were more than twelve that there would be a lottery and since we all made 13 we knew we wouldn't all get it. They would let us know on Thursday if we got it. Our cabin steward was Joseph and he was nice, but very quiet. We went up to the Horizon Court and had lunch. The food was very well presented and all tasted good (more about the food later). We walked around the ship and tried to figure out where things were. It was a beautiful, sunny day in Seattle so we sat out on the pool deck. That's when we met James for the first time. If you are on this ship.....look for James (he's a bar waiter)....he's such a hoot and he remembered all of our names right away! We had Anytime Dining so we went to dinner around 6:30 and got a table. Actually all week, we never had to wait for a table...there were either 6 or 8 of us at all times. I don't remember the waiters we had as we were at a different table every night....they were all friendly, some more fun than others, but it was all good. (Dinner Dress: Smart Casual)

Sunday, May 23 (at Sea): We were at sea all day and spent the day wandering around to different activities. We went to the Naturalist's talk that morning....Michael Modzelewski. He had been on my first Alaska cruise 10 years ago and he is wonderful. You MUST at least listen to one of his presentations. (Dinner Dress: Formal) Read more