Alaska Cruise Review, Part 1

We drove from our home near Portland, Oregon to Seattle Saturday morning, July 19, anxious to begin our Princess Cruise through Alaska's Inside Passage. We looked forward to 7 days aboard the Golden Princess, which was scheduled to return us back to Seattle the following Saturday.

Checking in was a breeze due to my parents knowing one of the supervisors who works there. Our "cruise cards" - kind of a combination onboard credit card and key - were already made out for us with a VIP sticker on them. We were escorted very quickly through the process. We felt special.



















Here was the view as we departed Seattle right on time at 4 pm:
















The first night was a casual night in the dining room. Actually, they call it "Smart Casual". In other words, you don't have to wear formals, but you shouldn't wear jeans or t-shirts either. We had elected for "Anytime Dining" as opposed to "Traditional Dining", which means that you get the same menu and quality of service in the same type of dining room, but you get to choose what time you go. Think of it as going to a restaurant without a reservation, whereas the Traditional diners have a reservation. Two different dining rooms, but everything is the same. I didn't think to bring menus home, but believe me, the food choices are awesome. If you are really interested in seeing menus, check out this review from a fellow Cruise Critic member, cezovski. There are menus from their cruise at the bottom of the review. Ours were almost identical.

The first full day was a day at sea. I should have kept notes because it's hard to remember what we did. I'm pretty sure Hubby and I went to play Bingo that day, and I think that's the day Mom & I went to an arts and crafts class where we learned to make crepe-paper flowers. Of course, we shopped. There are 2 floors of great stores on that ship. Before the week was over, I bought a Swarovski Crystal fish, and Hubby bought a Citizen Eco Drive watch.

The first stop was Juneau. It was only about 50 degrees, the skies were an ugly grey, and it was drizzling off and on. Not what I had hoped for, but we didn't let it stop us. While Hubby headed out for a gold panning trip (he got a few flakes), Mom, Dad & I boarded a motor coach and visited Mendenhall Glacier. It's pretty awesome in person. The pictures don't really do it justice.
















After we returned from the tour, we met up with Hubby and toured the town a bit on our own.
















That night was our first of 2 formal dining nights, so we got all spiffied up and went to eat dinner. Dinners are quite an event on a cruise. If you don't want to spend 90 minutes to 2 hours having your meal, then go to the buffet, the hamburger place, pizza place, or order room service. Again, I wish I had brought back a menu, but take my word for it - the food is delicious and you can eat as much of it as you want. Our waiter kept telling people that if they didn't like what he brought them, he'd bring them something else. I didn't like my dessert and he did just that.

This could take forever, so I think I'll post this for now and work on the rest in a draft. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of a bald eagle. We saw several of them.