Alaska Day 1--Embarkation & Touring Cabin 7078

Sept. 16, 2017

Whoever said getting there is half the fun obviously traveled by cruise ship!

After a delightful day at my friend Darcy’s home, she and her husband Bill drove us all the way from Renton to Pier 91 in Seattle. They are letting us park our RV on their property and are such generous souls. It was fun to get into the city for a bit since we used to live in Belltown, a funky neighborhood then, sort of sketchy now, we’ve been told. We drove past the “Darth Vader” building, a soaring angular structure where my DH used to work. Back in 2002, we lived in a lovely high rise at Second and Vine and had a fully walkable lifestyle. We walked to our downtown church, down to Pike Street market to pick up fresh veggies and meat, and only got the car out for weekly big grocery runs and for me to drive out of the city, across the Mercer Island Bridge and to Darcy’s to work (and play!) with the writing critique group that met around her kitchen table.

Once we reached the cruise terminal at about 11 AM, our embarkation process was quite smooth and efficient. We were delighted to meet our friends Mike & Joy, who’d driven from Missouri to Seattle, too, though they’d taken a different route than ours. They managed to hit Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone Park as well as visit friends in Oregon before driving up to Seattle. We didn’t have long to wait till our boarding group was called and we embarked on the elegant Holland America Eurodam.

We had lunch on the Lido deck, then went exploring a bit. We’d already reserved places in the Thermal Suite—a collection of rooms that includes a big hydrotherapy pool, sauna and steam rooms and the heavenly heated stone loungers that always cures my spinal ills. Until we tried them the first time, I’d have said it was impossible to fall asleep on stone, but with the warmth and the fantastic back support, I do it almost every time.

The ship is beautiful, very well appointed, and scrupulously clean. Sometimes, cruise ships get a little tired-looking and frayed about the edges. I don’t know when the Eurodam was last refreshed, but it rivals any 5 STAR resort. Last year when we cruised to Tahiti on the Westerdam, the captain was forced to cancel several ports due to poor weather conditions. HAL very generously offered all the passengers a credit worth 15% of their fare toward their next cruise. So using that little windfall, we splurged on a Signature Suite for this cruise. So without further ado, let me welcome you to Cabin 7078!

We’ve never had so much space on a cruise ship. Or so many electrical outlets. Normally in a balcony cabin (our go-to choice) we have only one outlet on the desk, and if we’re lucky, one in the bathroom. In this cabin, we have outlets on both the bedside tables (a real plus for me since I use a bi-Pap machine each night!) as well as outlets at the desk and the vanity. Our closet space is lavish and for once we have more drawer space than we can fill.

The bathroom is a quasi-religious experience. It boasts double sinks, which the DH regards as the hallmark of civilization, upscale bath products (shampoo, conditioner, bath gel, lotion, bath salts, etc.). There’s a jetted tub and a capacious separate shower. The usual joke on cruise ships is that the way to get clean in the shower is to soap up the walls, step into it and turn around twice. Not so here.

Our balcony is much bigger than is usual for us. There’s room for two loungers, and a bistro table and two chairs for dining al fresco (and in Alaska al fresco is pretty fresc. There’s a definite nip in the air out there.) There was a big sail away party up on the Lido deck, but we sat out on our balcony and enjoyed slipping out of Puget Sound (which was calm as a bathtub) and past the Kitsap peninsula. A pod of about 15 porpoises cavorted alongside, hunting the fish that had been stirred up by the Eurodam’s passage. It was idyllic until the man in the cabin directly beneath us lit up a cigar. Besides the fact that smoke is bad for people like me who have lung conditions, it’s against the rules to smoke on any balcony. As well as being intrusively annoying, a stray ash can be blown back into the ship and start a fire, one of the worst case scenarios at sea.

Supper was served in the main dining room and we met our other table mates—Hilary and Dan from Florida. They weathered Irma pretty well and were so relieved that they’d scheduled an Alaskan cruise this year instead of their usual jaunt into the Caribbean. After supper, we stopped by the jewelry shop to see if we won a tanzanite necklace. We didn’t, but it fun that we might have. Then the DH and I headed for the Thermal Suite before bedding down to let the Eurodam rock us to sleep.

More tomorrow…