Alaska trip, day 2: leaving Seattle
Got up a little after 7:30 this morning and went down to breakfast. J and I had a free breakfast at the hotel included with our room. We joined our cousin M and his husband, who had already ordered. They finished first and got up to leave as another couple of relatives came down. We wound up with a rotating crew of family at that table; J and I left to go upstairs and repack as still more family arrived to eat.
The hotel offers shuttle service to the nearby cruise docks. We all booked the noon shuttle; with 22 of us, we took up two vans. Once at the dock, all of our suitcases got loaded onto two luggage trolleys to be taken to the ship, and we started straggling toward checkin. Along the way, we ended up separated into smaller clumps. J and I ended up escorting our Aunt A, who uses a walker. It got us preferential treatment up an elevator, through an expedited security checkpoint where A was given a wheelchair, past the huge queue for checkin, and escorted straight onto the ship and to A's stateroom, where the three of us hung out and talked for an hour or so.
Eventually, we headed out for a bit of lunch in the buffet, conveniently on the same deck as our cabins, where we met back up with others in our group. Afterwards, there was the mandatory safety briefing and life-vest practice. Then, around 4:30, we set sail. J and I went up one level to the best viewing deck--along with many many of the other 3000 passengers. We got separated, I eventually got tired of standing by the railing, and the music got louder and more obnoxious. At that point, I headed back to our cabin to sit on our balcony for a while. Aunt A happened to be passing as I reached my door, so I invited her to join me. (She has no balcony.) So we sat out there for a while.
We are all registered for the early dinner seating at 5:30. We have three tables; J and I ended up at the "kids" table with the youngest 6 people in the group. (Not counting our nephew, who wound up at the old fogies table for some reason.) We will swap around seating as the week progresses. Dinner was excellent (except I hated the soup I had ordered), all huge.
Internet turned out to be waaaaaaay too expensive, so I'm offline until my return.
Crossposted from dreamwidth, where there are
comments. Comments welcome here or there.
The hotel offers shuttle service to the nearby cruise docks. We all booked the noon shuttle; with 22 of us, we took up two vans. Once at the dock, all of our suitcases got loaded onto two luggage trolleys to be taken to the ship, and we started straggling toward checkin. Along the way, we ended up separated into smaller clumps. J and I ended up escorting our Aunt A, who uses a walker. It got us preferential treatment up an elevator, through an expedited security checkpoint where A was given a wheelchair, past the huge queue for checkin, and escorted straight onto the ship and to A's stateroom, where the three of us hung out and talked for an hour or so.
Eventually, we headed out for a bit of lunch in the buffet, conveniently on the same deck as our cabins, where we met back up with others in our group. Afterwards, there was the mandatory safety briefing and life-vest practice. Then, around 4:30, we set sail. J and I went up one level to the best viewing deck--along with many many of the other 3000 passengers. We got separated, I eventually got tired of standing by the railing, and the music got louder and more obnoxious. At that point, I headed back to our cabin to sit on our balcony for a while. Aunt A happened to be passing as I reached my door, so I invited her to join me. (She has no balcony.) So we sat out there for a while.
We are all registered for the early dinner seating at 5:30. We have three tables; J and I ended up at the "kids" table with the youngest 6 people in the group. (Not counting our nephew, who wound up at the old fogies table for some reason.) We will swap around seating as the week progresses. Dinner was excellent (except I hated the soup I had ordered), all huge.
Internet turned out to be waaaaaaay too expensive, so I'm offline until my return.
Crossposted from dreamwidth, where there are
comments. Comments welcome here or there.