Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
The Cruise Begins!
Seven nights – five ports of call – Seattle – Astoria – San Francisco – Monterey – Victoria – and two full days at sea. It was time to cruise!
I admit I’d had some concerns. The week before we left, the weather was as bad in Seattle as it can be – heavy rain, pounding hail, even thunder and lightning. Why had I booked such a late season cruise? But when Sunday rolled around the forecast showed sunny and dry all week – yippee! So we happily bid Seattle farewell and headed out to sea on the Star Princess leaving Pier 91 at 4:00 p.m.
We’d boarded the ship at 1:00, had lunch and checked out our room – it was perfect. More spacious than we remembered from our one and only previous cruise, and we were thrilled to have a balcony. We explored the ship, doing our best to understand the layout – it would take all week. The top three decks (14, 15, 16) contained the buffet, pools, outdoor theatre, small bars, clubs, and wonderful, wonderful views. Lower decks (5, 6 & 7) had the formal dining rooms, speciality restaurants, entertainment venues, shops and the promenade. In between were the staterooms – we were on Baja Deck 11.
Soon enough it was time for dinner. We’d ended up with a 5:00 seating in the traditional dining restaurant, where we shared our table with two other couples (one local, one not) friendly and easy to be with. Lots of bantering ensued about travel and cruising and places and things and somewhere along the line this exchange happened:
Unnamed party: ‘Do you know who Archie Bunker is? You sound just like him.’
Archie (not his real name) with a laugh : ‘Everybody from New York sounds like Archie Bunker.’ Including you-know-who but we stayed clear of that.
After a wonderful dinner and dessert we said goodbye to our new friends and headed up top to watch the sunset.
When it got a bit chilly we remembered we had the same view from our room and headed back down where it was warm and cozy.
We watched the scenery go by from our balcony – as we headed west to the Pacific Ocean. There were our own Olympic Mountains – as beautiful a sight as any we would behold from sea –
and the brilliant colors of sunset staining the sky.
Later on we fell asleep to the gentle movement of the ship … and slept soundly until we woke to sunrise the next morning.
Now I’m not what you’d call a morning person but with so much on the horizon I had to get up early and check it out.
There were so many mountains in the distance as we sailed down the Washington Coast, including the tallest which must have been Rainier – but don’t quote me – I’ve never seen them from sea.
When this finally happened I knew we’d made the right choice – it was a wonderful start to our cruise and I looked forward to every day ahead.
That’s enough for now but there’s lots more to come, including our first stop at Astoria, followed by a full day at sea.
Stay tuned!
~ Susanne
I look forward to getting the play-by-play on this…we’ve never done a cruise because it feels too crowded…but love the idea of having your own mode of transportation that doesn’t involve an airport! I cant wait for your insight!
We absolutely loved it and plan to do more. It was so easy, especially since the ship left from Seattle so no flights involved. It really didn’t feel very crowded as there’s so many places to go. Whenever I went up top to get pictures there were only a handful of people there.
That’s good to know…and no traffic jam getting off the boat in port?
Actually it was so much easier than flying. We had a friend drop us off at the Port (Smith Cove, just north of the waterfront near Magnolia) and were on the ship within 20 minutes or so… They stagger the boarding times and it works really well. We boarded at 1:00 for a 4:00 sailing and then got to explore while in port.
OK that’s good to know…I look forward to hearing more in person!
Beautiful pictures reminded me of our own cruise from Stockholm to estonia. Thanks for sharing!!
That must have been wonderful! Thank you! 😊
Yes it was Susanne!!
Great photos! Almost feel like I was there too!
Aw thanks so much! It was such a wonderful experience and kept getting better! More to come! 🙂
I have never wanted to cruise, because of seasickness. But having my own balcony might be a game-changer! Lovely views,Susanne, you make it look enticing.
5 pm is too early for dinner though! (At least for me)
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks Pete. I was a little worried about seasickness too and brought the usual helps just in case. Never needed any of it! It was smooth sailing all the way! And yes, the balcony is a must! Makes it so special.
The 5:00 dinner was too early for us too and I should have changed it to a later time, or to Anytime Dining. I’ll manage that better next time. We only ate in the traditional dining room at 5:00 the first night. Other nights we ate in the specialty restaurants or the buffet.
🙂 🙂
Those views, they would only develop so well because of the changes in tempereture. So we have to thank the bad weather for bringing us such beauty in its wake.
Yes, the rain in the Northwest washes everything clean and keeps it all green. I was just happy to be traveling on the sunny side of things! 🙂
The sunsets and the blue Mountains are spectacular. Good photography Susanne.
Thanks so much. 🙂
Amazing! Looking forward to reading more and to gawk at more of those gorgeous photos!
Thanks you so much! It was all so incredibly beautiful! 🙂
Unlike Foster and Panda, I have never wanted to go on a cruise 😋but you actually make it sound fun! It looks like you can see the shore most of the time, which for me would be a must! As always your photos are breathtaking!
Thanks so much! I never thought I’d like cruising until we did the one to Alaska 2 years ago. And this one was even better! Most of the time you can see land but it’s far off in the distance. The closest was when we left Seattle and passed by the Olympics which was amazing. 🙂
I have always thought it would be scary😬But I’ve heard a lot of people say the same thing you did 😊
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Ahh, don’t you just love cruising. Beautiful pictures!
Yes indeed! Thank you. 🙂
Incredible photos!!! Thank you for sharing!!!!
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it!