Spending winters 20 minutes away from Port Everglades has enabled me to take many last minute cruises at very attractive prices. Call me on Wednesday and tell me there is an opening for a Saturday departure and I'm there!

At the urging of several friends who still are tied to a work schedule and who wanted to join me on one of these cruises, I planned an Eastern Caribbean cruise on Holland America's Eurodam last November for an April sailing. We ended up with 13 people who enjoyed the experience immensely and Holland America was superb in it's service, so when we returned in May I casually mentioned to my daughter, who is a teacher, that I wouldn't mind seeing Alaska on Holland. Well, she said her school ended on May 24th and she'd be my cabin mate. I booked a small suite (SC) for the May 26th sailing and then about two weeks later two of my other children said they could go too. When I added the 3rd and 4th passenger I was told that the SC cabin didn't accommodate that many so they upgraded us to a Deluxe Suite(SA). Long story short, the Penthouse wasn't sold and they emailed me a chance to up-sell to it. After talking to my kids, who are in their 30's, we decided it would be a great opportunity, as who knows if the chance would ever come again. We took it.

We arrived in Seattle the night before and on Saturday morning took a Pike Place Tasting Tour. I recommend it for anyone who wants to get samples of the best the Market has to offer and be in a small group with a tour guide who gives a good history of the Market. It was a two hour tour that started at 9:30 and ended around Noon. We went straight to the Pier 91 dock and were escorted to the ship where the concierge met us and took us to our suite. Since there were four adults the extra room was really appreciated. We had a kitchen, dining room equipped with Waterford crystal and two bathrooms. Also a large bedroom, living room and huge veranda that had a hot tub on it. I will post a link to photos on the Holland America site when I get them uploaded. Read more