I am the basic economy cruiser. When I cruise solo, I choose Norwegian for a number of reasons. First, they have an excellent solo program, with an assigned solo cruise director. Second, their single supplement is generally less than 100%, especially if you are able to book at the last minute. Third, they let me take a bicycle on board, keep it in my room, and use it in every port if I wish.

For this cruise, I flew economy with a carry-on and a backpack. From the Seattle airport, I took the light rail ($1.00 for seniors) to downtown and walked to Port 66, about 30 minutes. I arrived at the port at my scheduled arrival time and experienced no difficulty in embarkation. My room was almost ready, I dropped off backpack, and set off to explore Seattle. I seemed to be going in the wrong direction in leaving the ship, but there was no problem. Pike Market was really crowded (it was Saturday), but I found a wine shop there and was able to sample a flight of Washington wines.

I found the production quality of the two main shows, Footloose and Elements, to be excellent and enjoyed both of them. Read more