Pre cruise. I arrived in Seattle June 14th just to make sure that there were no delays or if there were I had plenty of time to get there. All flight were on time and I made it to Seattle a little after 10 am. I had prearranged with Go Airport Shuttle for a ride from the airport to the Hampton Inn and Suites at 700 5th Ave N. The ride took about 45 minutes as there were 3 different hotels the my shuttle was going to. This is a great location only 2 blocks from the Seattle Center and Space Needle. There is a grocery store at the corner in case you need any last minutes items or forgot to pack something. Once I dropped off my bags and found Jerome it was time to go exploring. Jerome flew in from Denver as he had business meetings there.

We walked over to the Seattle Center to catch the Monorail downtown so that we could go see Pike Place Market. It is about 4-5 block walk from the station down to the water front where the market is located. We happened to run into Jerome's parents who were staying with his brother who happens to live in Seattle at the market. His parents were part of our group of 60 or so on the cruise. We found a sandwich shop, had a little lunch and made plans to meet back up for Dinner at 6. His brother recommend Cactus located in South Lake Union, also this was walking distance from the hotel for us. We walked all over Seattle. The food was excellent. We made arrangements to meet on the ship tomorrow.

Once we walked back to the hotel we inquired with the hotel the best way to get to Pier 91. They offer shuttle service to the piers for 7 dollar per person, you pay the shuttle directly. We were able to get on the 1130 am shuttle. It took less than 15 minutes to get to the ship, a porter took our bags and us into the terminal and directed us to the check in lines. Boarding had already begun and it took less than 30 minutes to check in, get our Sea Pass card, walk up the gangway and then that magical first "ding" of the card and I'm on a ship. We headed up to Windjammer as the rooms were closed off until. 1 pm. Jerome called his mom who was in the terminal checking in. We found a table and waited for them to come join us. We had a beautiful sunny day and it was going to be a perfect sail away. Read more