We decided to fly into Seattle a day early because I get really nervous flying in the same day as the cruise. It turns out that our flight was delayed so when we arrived that evening we just went straight to our hotel in downtown, The Alexis, and grabbed a bite to eat in their pub. It has a limited menu but let me tell you, the food was fabulous! The chef came out and visited with us and even gave us a free dessert. I loved the place immediately! And then there was our room. It was funky and fabulous with eclectic dEcor, a wonderfully comfortable bed with luxury linens and excellent toiletries. The next day they let us check out late so my husband could continue watching the Ryder Cup on TV. I would highly recommend The Alexis!

We took a limo from the hotel to the pier for only about $5 more than a taxi. The driver was quite pleasant and gave us his card for when we returned. The porter met us at the curb, took our luggage and pointed us in the proper direction. We went straight through the check in procedure and were on the ship in nothing flat. We were able to go right to our cabin. The cabin was quite comfortable and roomy with plenty of storage, good lighting, a spacious balcony, a roomy bathroom with two sinks, a jetted bathtub plus a separate shower and a gloriously comfortable king size bed. We sat on our balcony and enjoyed the bottle of Champaign that had been left in our room by HAL as we sailed out of port. Lovely!

Before dinner we had a reception to meet some of the other passengers. That was quite nice because we met several people who we hung out with for the rest of the cruise. At the reception we were quite delighted to find out that our cruise director was Eric Holland who had been the CD on our last cruise. He's one of the best and a good CD can really make a difference! His whole staff reflected his personality and that was great. Read more