Cruise to Alaska Day 01: Indiana to Seattle to the Sea!

Matt and I are just two days back from our cruise, and as happy as I am to be home, I'm also really missing it! Nobody is serving me flank steak here in my own house, or asking me if I'd like an after-dinner cappuccino, or offering me a blanket because I look cold. Nobody put a chocolate on my pillow last night! It's HOT here, and there are no dolphins frolicking outside!

As you might have guessed from that, Matt and I had a wonderful time on our cruise. It was the first cruise for each of us, and I can definitely see how people go on cruise after cruise after cruise. And it's not just the way that you're pampered or the fancy food at every meal, although that's certainly awesome. My favorite aspect of the cruise is how we got to our room, unpacked once, and then every day, we opened the door to leave that room and found an entirely new place to discover. It's a magic hotel room that does all of your traveling for you, and all you have to do is disembark and go explore! And the at-sea days are days at a fancy resort, where you can lie on a lounge chair by the pool, drink a milkshake, and watch for sea lions through your binoculars.

Oh, and the lecturers! And the musicians! And the nice people whom you meet and then get to hang out with all the time, because they're on the same ship as you!

So yeah, we liked it. I don't think that the kids would have enjoyed this particular cruise, on this smaller ship with fewer kid-friendly amenities than the larger ship, but we certainly enjoyed the familiarity with everyone that our smaller ship provided, and the adult-focused amenities and activities.

So, some pictures from Day 01, wherein we left home before sunrise, flew across the country, found our ship, and launched from Seattle into the sea:

Pre Muster Drill: Trying our life jackets on for size.

We were explicitly told to NOT form our faces into this expression of panic in the case of an emergency.

We are packed in like mackerel, as we will be into our life boats.

I've never been to Seattle, and I'm not really there this time, either, unless you count the airport, highway, and port, which I don't.

It IS a lovely view from port, though!

And at least I've SEEN the Space Needle in person now!

See? Space Needle!

Matt's the host for our alumni group traveling on this cruise, and like a good host, he brought everyone cookies!

We didn't even eat at the Grand Dining Room this night, just the buffet, and our food is STILL super fancy! I'm having flank steak and mushrooms, and Matt is eating a freaking LOBSTER! And sure, it's a buffet, but it's, like, a *nice* buffet, where your waiter puts your napkin on your lap for you and the waitstaff serves all the food so that you don't have to get your germs on it. Also? They are VERY generous with the bacon.

Not pictured: the ship's library, where I checked out a copy of Hamilton to read, the decks, where we walked around afterwards and watched sea lions, our room, where a bottle of wine, a fruit basket, and a flower arrangement waited for us, or the gorgeous scenery, which I sat in our window and watched until I practically keeled over, I was so tired.