"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report # 8 Seattle, Washington September 30, 2017 Saturday Partly cloudy, Rain & 59 degrees Part #1 Of 2 81 Pictures

One week ago, we began our Alaskan cruise from the port of Seattle. And here we are again, but for us, it is not the end of the trip, but the beginning of another one. We will be spending another 17 days sailing to the Hawaiian Islands and back to Vancouver.

So today's port is Seattle, and there for us to explore for a few precious hours. But first, we had an early breakfast in the dining room, which opened at 6:30am. The Lido was opened even earlier at 6am, but we have yet to eat there, expect for pizza. Somewhere around 11am, we had finished emails and using the last of our minutes. At the end of the day, our time will expire when the new cruise begins.

Getting a local guide, we navigated our way to town. Also had some help from the local HAL reps who directed us on how to walk out of the terminal area, as it is huge. We were advised to take the walk and bike trail along the harbor. This worked out well, because we certainly needed to get in some quality exercise. Ended up getting about 8 miles of walking, because we made it to Pike Place Market. Good thing there was an elevator to take us up several levels, because there was no way we wanted to climb over 130 stairs from the harbor road.

Today, being a Saturday, it was a mob scene at the market and surrounding shops and cafes. Our destination was lunch at the Hard Rock Café, located right up from the bustling Market. Foot traffic was so heavy, it took 15 minutes to make our way through some of the marketplace.

We had to time this right, in order to get back to the ship on time. All aboard was 4pm, and we did not want to risk being late. We got seats in the bar area of the café, and eventually got served. We shared their new burger, and sipped on beers. People were coming inside by the dozens, and in no time, the place was full of hungry and thirsty customers. There was even a few minutes to find a new city t-shirt in the adjacent shop. It was hard to peel ourselves off of the comfortable chairs, but we had to get moving around 1:30pm.

Back-tracking, we enjoyed the sites of the city on the way back as well. By now, clouds had moved in, and it was getting darker by the minute. It did begin to sprinkle, which was fine, since we had remembered to pack some umbrellas. It did not begin in earnest until we were in the parking lot of the terminal. That was when a small bus pulled over, and the driver offered us a ride back to the entrance doors. It was so nice of him to stop, that we jumped inside, and rode the last block back. By now it was 3pm, and there were still passengers checking in at the counter. The Ruby Princess was boarding people as well as the Eurodam. As we were in transit, we just went through the security xray, and boarded the ship.

At least we had an hour to relax in our room, and enjoy the bottle of champagne that had been placed on ice for us today. It was a gift from the Mariner Society. Sure helped ease the temporary pain of the long hike. At 4:15pm, we had another muster drill on deck three. It was a surprise to hear a new Captain had joined the ship. His name is John Scott, we believe, and he sure sounded British. During his muster talk, we could understand every word. Despite the larger number of passengers attending this drill, it went just as smoothly as it does on the Amsterdam….maybe even faster.

We understand that many people that boarded today, will only spend one evening here, and go off the ship tomorrow in Vancouver. On past cruises, where there are one-night guests, they have been referred to as the "booze cruisers". They are here for the eating, drinking, gambling and shopping. We did spot what was possibly a bachelorette party. For the most activity was in the dining room, where we watched at least 6 birthday celebrations happening. The waiters had fun singing their special song. Checking out the ship's shop later, we noticed many people were interested in the 75% off items, which were mainly Alaska-themed things.

Tomorrow, a group of 1200 people will board in Vancouver, possibly, mostly Canadian. We will be required to bring our passports and go off the ship by 9:45am. There will be a zero clearance, before anyone will be allowed back on the ship. We plan to spend another day hiking and dining, before we have to go through customs and immigrations.

Bill & Mary Ann

PS We found out that no tiles were handed out at the Mariner Lunch, because they were not delivered to the ship in time. Apparently, the boxes of Eurodam tiles were on the Nieuw Amsterdam, but were not allowed to be transferred to us in Ketchikan, due to some trade laws. They became something like "pirate's booty", so to speak. Why there was no Log of the Cruise yesterday, we shall have to investigate that. Now we have no list of the officers on that cruise, as they were not listed anywhere.

Docking at Pier 91