Day 2: Puget Sound

We got on the ship today, hooray! Gus and I both slept in until after 9am (something that NEVER happens with two young kids around, ha!). Once we were showered and dressed, we popped down to the lobby to grab a bite at one of the omnipresent Starbucks locations. Seriously, I know I mentioned this in the last post, but I cannot BELIEVE how many there were in Seattle. At home, I go by two of them on my drive to work, and I thought that was a lot. But they are literally on like every single block in Seattle! Amazing!

Anyway, once we were ready to go, we walked around the corner to a taxi stand and got a ride down to the pier. It was a pretty short trip, and completely uneventful. It was exciting, though, to see our ship for the first time. I actually took this picture as we were about to board:

Gus and I have both been really impressed with Holland America so far. Our last cruise was with Carnival, and it wasn't necessarily the best experience. Cheesy decorations, ridiculously tiny room with a port hole, and horribly choppy/stormy waters... Yeah. My former students (and their parents) who happened to be on that same cruise told us it was actually one of the worst cruises they had ever been on, so I decided not to pass judgement on all cruises based on that one experience. And I'm glad we decided to go for it again, because this one is very nice!

The decorations on the boat are much more subdued/sophisticated. And our room is still pretty tiny, but it does have a good amount of closet space for all our stuff. Oh, and it has a balcony!! The balcony is fantastic! There are two comfy chairs and a little table out there-- a perfect place to eat breakfast or have a glass of wine. These next two pictures were actually taken from our balcony while we were still in port. We had an awesome view of the Seattle skyline!


So once we got on board, we knew it would be a while before our suitcases made it to our staterooms, so we headed up to the lido deck for some lunch. Then, of course, we went exploring. This ship has a crazy number of nooks and crannies... Lots of little bars with various themes (there's a piano bar, a karaoke bar, and a bar that always has a string quartet playing, to name a few). We found the spa (which is ridiculously expensive), the gym, the shops, the art gallery, the various restaurants and dining rooms, etc. All very nice! We went to a spa activity where they were raffling off prizes, but we (sadly) didn't win anything. Oh well!

Dinner was delicious, though I wish I had ordered the steak after seeing it on someone else's plate. And I had Baked Alaska (of course!) for dessert. Yum!! We went to a show afterward, too.

Anyhow... that was today. Overall a good one! Tomorrow is a day at sea, so we will have to find ways to keep busy on the ship. It should't be a problem, with all the fun activities onboard!