May 12 & 13 -- Cruising, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Today’s update is for both May 12 and 13.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL THE MOTHERS AND MOTHERS-TO-BE!!!

All day Sunday is a day at sea. We are now cruising in the Pacific on our way to Alaska. Our first stop is tomorrow morning. We went to Mass this morning and Joann got a special blessing from the Priest. It was a well attended Mass with a Priest from Hawaii. The ship is gently rocking, but not enough to cause seasickness. The water is relatively calm--no white caps--and the sun is shining. We are off to a great start!

Saturday we had it easy. No big road trips. We slept in--sort of. And then we headed to downtown Seattle’s waterfront. A few clouds, but nice temperature. We ate a leisurely lunch at Ivar’s outdoor restaurant amongst the seagulls. People were feeding them, so they stuck around the dock begging for food. We then checked in for our cruise. It was relatively easy considering there were about 1,800 people checking-in. We had done the Internet check-in for immigration control before leaving home. If we had not done this, we would have had to fill out a 3 page questionnaire for each of us at check-in. Within an hour our bags were checked, we were “checked” (security is much like the airlines) and on-board ship. Once on board, we discovered that we had been upgraded to a room with a window with an unobstructed view. Although “staterooms” are notoriously small, they are very efficiently arranged. We have a queen size bed, a long desk area, sofa, table, TV with built-in DVD player, two chairs, a bathroom with shower and 3 closets. The first thing they told us when we got on board around 2:00 pm was that lunch was being served on the Lido deck. We did not expect that, which was why we ate before boarding. We now know that you go on cruises for two things: food and entertainment. The lobby is three decks high with a crystal globe of the world in the center. Very impressive. One of the lounge areas even has a fireplace. At 3:15 pm we had a lifeboat drill where we had to put on our life vests and congregate on the promenade deck for further instructions. Hopefully, that will be the one and only time we need life vests during this cruise. We set sail around 4:15 pm and before midnight, we had had cocktails, an afternoon snack, a huge dinner, and seen a Las Vegas style variety show. (We skipped the midnight buffet--you have to sacrifice somewhere.) There are multiple bars with live entertainment on most decks. The cruise director stated, “You came on board as people and we plan on rolling you off as cargo.” We are just getting started, but we are certain this is going to be a great experience.