Alaskan Cruise: Day 2

If you would like to read my pre-cruise journal entries, please start here and if you would like to just start with the first day of the cruise, start here.

May 16th, 2011: Day 2

Besides originally waking up around 1:45am, we slept very well last night.  Of course, we were able to get back and sleep and finally woke up around 5am, but since we feel asleep relatively early, this was a full night's sleep.  These beds are so comfortable!

We were trying to figure out what to do since we got up so early and finally decided on trying out the pool!


This is a view of some of the mosaics found around the indoor pool (which is called the Calypso Pool).

We went to the indoor pool and it was very nice! The water could've been a little bit warmer, but it was still great to swim! And since it was so early, there was no one else there! (Another fun thing was since we were at sea, there were waves in the pool due to the motion of the ship!)


This is a view of some of the mosaics found around the indoor pool (which is called the Calypso Pool).

After our swim, we got breakfast at the buffet. I was worried it would be crowded and that the food wouldn't be all that good, but once again, Horizon Court impressed me! I think what people don't realize when they review Horizon Court is that the buffet spans both sides of the ship and the seating areas goes back farther than most people probably realize. Plus, if the room is full, you can take your food with you to another part of the ship (Often times we would find people seated at the tables by the indoor pool since the Horizon Court and indoor pool are right next to each other.)

We looked at the Princess Patter and decided to go see a movie showing at noon in the Princess Theater. We had a few hours to kill so we walked around the ship learning what was where and taking pictures of the ship.

After another dip in the pool and hot tub for B, and a bit of relaxing for me, Dad, B, and I went to lunch in one of the dinning rooms for a traditional English Pub lunch.



I had bangers and mash with B having the Ploughman's lunch and Dad having a beef and bean pie type dish. All of us really enjoyed our lunch and hope that they will have different lunches like that again (they didn't :( ).

We then headed off to our movie, but the quality of the video wasn't good at all so we left. We walked right through the casino so decided to play some blackjack. It ended up being a very good decision! We both put in $40. B walked away with $130 in profit and I made $50 in profit!

We went back to "brag" about our winnings and only found Dad in his room. Mom and C had gone to play bingo and R went to play in a poker tournament. Sadly, no one won.

We didn't have anything else planned for the day till dinner so we decided to take a nap! After the nap, we got all dressed up since this was our first formal night.



Dinner was a little disappointing, but the service made up for all of it! Pablo remembered R's drink order and my gluten-free bread. And of course, Rui was hilarious as ever! The star of the night was the head waiter Edgar. He came over to take my order for the next night, but we decided to go to a different restaurant tomorrow instead. He went ahead and made our reservations for us and informed them that I am gluten-free! Plus, he mentioned that they could make gluten-free pasta for me since the restaurant we are going to is an Italian restaurant! I look forward to our dinner tomorrow!

I should take some time to talk about the weather. It's been very overcast both days. We have seen a few breaks in the clouds, but it's been cloudy most of the time.



There have been periods of rain as well, but it hasn't been too bad. Temperatures have ranged from the mid 40s to mid 50s, but the speed of the ship has made it feel pretty cold!

I got pretty sea sick this morning, but I think it was because I was so hungry! The food at breakfast helped a lot!

The ship has been cruising at around 20kts since we left Seattle, but now that we're starting to head into the inside passage, our speed has slowed almost to a crawl!

Now it's off to sleep and when we wake up, we'll be in Ketchikan! B and I have an Adventure Kart Expedition tomorrow and I hope to walk down Creek Street (we didn't get time to do this...oh well...next time!)! It should be another great day!

Oh! I forgot! We went back to the casino after dinner, put $20 into the slot machine and ended up with $53! But of course just before that we played blackjack with $100 and sadly lost that.

We then went to the production in the Princess Theater which was "I Got the Music". It was pretty good and we all had fun, but I wouldn't say it was the best production ever.

Alaskan Cruise: Day 1

Okay, you've read my pre-Alaskan Cruise journal, now it's onto the good stuff, the actual trip! Of course, if you haven't read my pre-Alaskan Cruise journal, you can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here. Okay, onto the trip journal!

REMINDER: B is my husband, C is my sister, R is my sister's husband, and mom and dad are my mom and dad.

May 15th, 2011: Day 1
Holy cow...what a wonderful day! B and I had a weird night of sleeping, but what do you expect when you fall asleep around 7pm? We both woke up at random times during the night, but ended up getting enough sleep. We still didn't feel totally rested though. We woke up around 5:25am this morning and prepared for B's dad to pick us up around 6:30am (We planned ahead of time that B's dad would pick C and R up and then pick us up). B's dad arrived right on time and we headed off to the airport!

We had checked in ahead of time (on our cellphones! We had our tickets and everything right there through a text message! Gotta love technology!) and checked-in our bag at the curbside check-in. (Note: We learned that curbside check-in is a gratuity based service, but there are usually less people there and once you're done, you can go straight through to security.) We all then got a small breakfast and waited to board the plane.

The flight was uneventful. After we landed, we headed to baggage claim to pick up our bags. (Note: B checked his carry-on at our departure gate after they asked for volunteers. He really liked not having to cart his bag around, but he realized he left his headphones in his bag so he didn't have anything to listen to on the plane. It was free to check the carry-on bag so it was nice overall.) We found the Princess representatives and dropped off most of our bags (my camera bag did not leave my sight!) and headed out to the buses (Our bags went onto a truck and were put onto the ship for us! It was so nice!). After a short wait, we were on our way to the pier! Overall, it was a very painless transition from the plane to the bus!

The bus ride to the pier is always one of the worst parts about a cruise vacation. There's just so much excitement about being in the same city as the ship you're about to take a wonderful vacation on! You just want to get there as quickly as possible! Thankfully, the pier wasn't too far from the airport. We did hit some traffic though so that made the trip a little worse than it could've been. Our bus driver was very nice though and pointed out places of interest as we drove by them.

Another bad thing about a cruise vacation? Waiting in line! We got to the cruise terminal and waited in a very long line to get checked in. We finally got through the line and up the escalator to wait in another line! Thankfully, the second line went faster than the first. We walked through the metal detectors and filled out a questionnaire to make sure we were basically healthy (They're very worried about spreading diseases on cruise ships so they just make sure you haven't had the flu or anything like that within the past few days.). Then, it was off to a third line! This line was the fastest and best of them all! This line was the the line where we got our key cards! We then went through one last security check (another short line) and up the gangway we went! Oh, and there was one last line. Once we got up the gangway and onto the ship, we handed our cards over to the security staff, they scanned the cards, and then took our picture. Now, whenever they scan our cards, they'll see our pictures to make sure we are who we say we are. It's a nice sense of security!

We got in an elevator, and when we got to our floor, my mom was actually right there waiting for us! We got to our room and were amazed at how nice it was!



I had seen pictures online and thought it looked a bit outdated. Well, it is a tad outdated, but far less than I expected! I had also heard the beds were uncomfortable. Well, from what I've tried so far, they are VERY comfortable! (If your bed doesn't have one when you board the ship, make sure to ask for an egg crate mattress pad, it makes the beds that much more comfortable! Now that's we're back home, we still miss our bed from the ship!) Our balcony is huge too! It's not covered, so that is a bit disappointing, but the view is great!



We unpacked and went to see mom and dad's suite. We were shocked! It was so beautiful...and BIG! We have already spent a good amount of time in their room! It's a great place for us all to gather. Not to mention they have a great view! They are located at the very back of the ship so their balcony looks out over the wake! It is so wonderful! If you can afford it, I highly suggest booking a suite!



We were all hungry so we headed up to the buffet restaurant called Horizon Court. I had heard that this place became over crowded and that the food wasn't that great. Well, it was very busy, but the food was good and we were able to find a table with very little difficulty. We're going to give it a shot in the morning and see what it's really like. After our lunch/snack, we headed back to our rooms to relax for a bit.

The next event was the muster drill. This is where you find out where your muster station is (basically, a safe place to gather in an event of an emergency) and you get a safety briefing. That didn't take too long and before we knew it, we were back in my parent's room to watch our ship sail away from Seattle.







Before we knew it, it was time for dinner! We found our table in a corner by a window. It was perfect! It felt like it took a while for our waitstaff to arrive, but it wasn't a horribly long wait. B and I ordered a great bottle of Riesling (Chateau Ste. Michelle) for the table. They brought out the bread and it smelled amazing! Shortly after, around the time I was really craving some of the bread on the table, our waiter's assistant brought me a few slices of gluten free bread! I was a little worried, but the bread was very good! (I actually miss it from time to time now that I'm back from our trip.) Our waiter then came over and introduced himself. Rui is his name and his assistant is Paulo. Rui is absolutely amazing! We're going to have fun with him! (Seriously, if you ever find yourself on a Princess Cruise and Rui is your waiter, count yourself very lucky because he is AWESOME!)

For an appetizer, B and I both had a seafood pate which was so amazing!



B and I both had the Caesar salad which was amazing as well! We then had the prime rib (we ate very similarly this night!) for our main course. Again, it was very good! I was a little worried about the food, but they have impressed me so far! This was probably one of the best meals I've had in a very long time! My dessert was a little disappointing, but after the meal I just had, it didn't matter. I had a flour-less chocolate cake with hazelnut ice cream. The cake was the disappointing part, but the ice cream was, yet again, amazing!



With bellies full, we headed back to our rooms to relax for the night. Tomorrow is a day at see, so we plan on exploring the ship. We've really only seen a very small portion of a very large ship!

Before I close out the journal for the day, I want to mention my gluten-free eating experience so far. The buffet this afternoon was a little hectic, but I saw a lot of things I couldn't eat. I'll have to investigate that more tomorrow. The best experience was at dinner. Like I mentioned before, the "normal" bread smelled so good and I was disappointed that I could have any, but then they brought out my gluten-free bread. I was so happy that the bread was actually good! Before the end of our dinner tonight, the head waiter came over and introduced himself and said he was looking for me! He then explained how each night of dinning was going to work. The plan is that I get to order my meal a day ahead of time! I felt like they were catering to my special needs and I felt so over whelmed by that special attention! I expected to be left out, in a way, by all this wonderful food, but it's nice to know that I have a lot of people looking out for me to make sure I have an amazing vacation, gluten-free or not!

I am about ready to go to bed as we sail by these beautiful mountains. Tomorrow is a day of exploring the ship!

Pre-Alaskan Cruise: Part 3

If you stumbled upon this page and would like to start from the beginning, please visit Part 1 of this collection. You can also read Part 2 here.

April 7, 2011 (38 days to go!!!)
Getting real close to that one month mark! It's funny because it really is getting close to packing time! We're going to send our big luggage up north with C and R when they visit my parents the weekend of May 8th. My parents are driving out to Seattle so they'll take our big luggage with them so we don't have to worry about checking our bags (Note: We ended up packing another large bag and checking that because we had more clothes than we had room for in one large bag! We flew Delta and the cost was $25 each way for one checked bag.). I've already start to buy things that I'll need for the trip. A recent cold that I had (still coughing...) reminded me that I will need Kleenex! So I just bought those today. It's really those little things that can make the trip so much more enjoyable! I also just had an eye appointment where I got prescription sun glasses! Those will be great to have as well (hmmm...I don't think it was sunny enough where I ever did use them. Maybe I did in Skagway...). I haven't had prescription sun glasses in years!

Packing...it's a daunting task! Most of the daytime stuff will be easy, jeans and nicer shirts (3/4 sleeves will be a must!). Dinners are a different story. There will be two formal nights and five less formal nights. I plan on bringing my new dress and one of the my old bridesmaid dresses for the formal night,s but what about for the other five nights?

Well, there's my skirt that I wore for my rehearsal dinner (it's a nice white flowing skirt with embroidered flowers over it with a yellow short sleeved shirt with silver sparkles around the neckline), my Victoria's Secret dress (this is the one thing I forgot! I realized with only two days to go that I only had six outfits for dinner, not the seven that I needed!), and my skirt outfit that I wore for C's rehearsal dinner (a black and white pencil skirt with a black 3/4 sleeved sweater). And that's all I can think of right now. That leaves two more outfits. I feel like I'm bringing a lot of black. I guess I have a month to decide! I'll probably end up doing a kahki and sweater combo for the other two nights (I didn't. More to come on that later).

We're all getting really excited for our trip! I plane to write a packing list both to keep myself from forgetting anything (hmmm...well, besides my VS dress, I guess it worked pretty well!) and so any of my blog readers can see the types of things I'm going to pack.

April 14, 2011 (31 days to go!!!)
I was going to wait till tomorrow to write, but I had another cruise dream so I had to write today!

The dream started with B and me getting to our stateroom. It was weird because it seemed like the longer we were there the larger the room got. We started out on the balcony and it was huge! Just like our balcony will be on the ship, it didn't have any covering above it. It had two nice lounge chairs that were very comfortable! I then looked over the edge of our balcony and saw mom, dad, and C swimming in a pool! It seemed like their own personal pool. Mom and dad came to see us and were able to come right up from the pool to our balcony without going into the ship. This is where I started to realize everything started getting bigger because our balcony no longer had dividing walls and was much larger! At that point, our room steward arrived and showed us around our room. We had a nice, big, comfy bed and a walk-in closet (which for some reason had another bed in it. The bed reminded me of the beds we had in our sailboats because it was pushed as far against the three walls as possible and had storage in every place possible is as well.). Our room steward then showed us this odd security system (which for some reason I know was made by ADT because I saw their logo). Anyways, she walked us into our HUGE bathroom and near the tub were these buttons we could press to set the alarm. Part of this system also included a telephone and the earpiece was the bottom of a tea light! This security system also included a sound system. I know...it's confusing...even I'm confused at this point! Our room steward left and B and I went to explore the ship. I remember everything was so big! Our room was right by the spa (we walked right past it as we left our room). I remember lots of marble columns and light, flowing drapes. There were also a lot of sitting areas, each with their own themes which ended up being advertisements for the specialty restaurants on board the ship. As we were walking down the hallway, I realized I had never seen a ship with such high ceilings. It was at that point that I started waking up and a loud gust of wind cause me to wake up for good.

I find myself daydreaming about the cruise when I'm bored or trying to motivate myself to do a task. I am starting to worry about the weather though. It's been so cool here, I can only imagine what it'll be like in Alaska! The location of the Inside Passage will make it slightly warmer, but it'll probably be in the 50s for our trip (yup...that was about right!). A cruise to the Caribbean (our other option) would've been much warmer, but I think Alaska will be MUCH more interesting.

April 15, 2011 (30 days to go!!!)
ONE MONTH TO GO!!! That is all. :D

May 4, 2011 (11 days to go!!!)
I can't believe how close we are to our vacation! I'm so excited (if you couldn't tell!). But first, we have to pack...sigh...

So here's a list of the clothing I'm packing. I'll start with the easiest things first: dinner ware. Like I said before, there are two formal nights and five business casual nights. Here is what I decided to pack:
Formal:
-New black and white dress (from White House Black Market...I love that store!)
-Cobalt blue and white old bridesmaid dress
"Casual":
-Black pants, mint colored tank top, and new white tunic
-My rehearsal dinner outfit, white flowing skirt with embroidered flowers, yellow shirt (needs a white cami underneath) with silver sparkles around the neckline
-C's rehearsal dinner black and white pencil skirt with black 3/4 sleeved sweater
-Floral sun dress
-Black and white circle dress or teal Victoria's Secret dress (yeah...was going to take the VS dress...kinda forgot to pack that one!)

Clothes for during the day might be a little hard to write down here right now, so I might wait till tomorrow.

We've printed our boarding passes and transfer papers (basically our shuttle bus tickets from the airport to the ship and vise versa) and hopefully B is able to print our luggage tags at work. We're not sure if they need to be in color or not and our color printer isn't working, so B will print them at work.

May 5, 2011 (10 days to go!!!)
10 days to go! I can't believe it!

Packing has basically come to a halt now. We have our large suitcase packed and ready to go off to my parent's. It was a bit stressful last night because we thought we would only have our one large suitcase and a small carryon. Well, we decided to pay the $25 luggage fee for Delta (both ways) so we could have another large suitcase for the trip. And boy do we need it! Normal temperatures in the area of Alaska we're going to are in the mid to upper 50s so we need to be prepared for cooler weather. B and I have both packed heavier jackets so that took up a lot of room. Plus there are extra shoes to pack and bigger sweaters and sweatshirts, so we filled our large suitcase very quickly. Now we are just waiting till the 13th or 14th to pack the rest.

I've decided what I'm going to wear during the day on the cruise. They do have a resort casual dress code during the day on most cruise ships, but really jeans that aren't all ratty and stained and a nicer shirt would work just fine. T-shirts are usually fine as long as they're not ratty and stained as well. Here is the list of what I'm bringing:
-Plaid 3/4 sleeved button up shirt (w/tank top underneath)
-Purple vest with gray 3/4 sleeved shirt underneath
-Blue hooded long sleeved shirt
-Green long sleeved sweater
-Blue 3/4 sleeved zip up hoodie
-Can't decide between green long sleeved shirt, purple sweater, or purple plaid button up shirt. (I brought my green long sleeved shirt and my purple sweater.)
-White zip up hoodie

I might bring eight shirts just in case the weather is different than expected or something gets dirty.

The key to an Alaskan wardrobe is layers! Especially during the this time of year. I looked at the possible forecast just to get an idea of what kind of weather to expect and so far, highs in the low 60s to the low 50s seem to be what's expected. Surprisingly, little rain is forecast. We'll see how that goes (Temperatures were about right, we got lots of rain though!).

May 14, 2011 (1 day to go!!!)
Besides one shirt and my jeans, I am all packed and ready to go! I've been feeling a bit sick lately, but I'm feeling slightly better today. The new medication my doctor has me on is a bit rough on my stomach, but I'll try taking it with more food next time to see if that helps.

I think we're basically all set. This journal actually helped to remind me of what clothing I was going to bring on the trip (except for the dress! lol! Still kicking myself for that one!)! We've double checked that we have all the important documents. I really think that's about it! Of course I know I'll have this nagging feeling like I forgot something till we get on the ship...

And so the trip begins!!!

Pre-Alaskan Cruise: Part 2

So my first posting was just my first journal entry of many before we went on our Alaskan cruise. Here are a few more...

**Reminder** C is my sister, R is my sister's husband, and B is my husband.

February 7, 2011 (97 days to go!!!)
I had planned on writing in this journal when we hit 100 days to go, but there wasn't much to write about on that day. I just have a few things to write about now.

I've gotten so excited now that we're less than 100 days away from our vacation! I've put Alaska and Sapphire Princess pictures on all my computers (at home and work) as my background images! I call them my motivation wallpapers. I need all the motivation I can get too! I'm almost done with a seven day work work, but then I have a two day break, another seven day work week, three days off, and then yet another seven day work week! That'll take me into March and then the cruise will only be 2 months away!

Another thing that has me excited is that my parents are on a cruise right now and they are sailing on the sister ship to the Sapphire! They are really enjoying it so far and this is only their third of seven days. It's just another milestone in my countdown to our own cruise!

February 8, 2011 (96 days to go!!!)
I wasn't planning on writing again so soon, but there's something to write about! (It's a little thing, but anyways...) I got my May schedule last night!

I only work 14 days in May thanks to all my PTO! Compare that to the 7 days I have off this month and it sounds wonderful! Now I just have to get through this month...

February 17, 2011 (87 days to go!!!)
I really didn't expect to write this much in this journal! I had to write today because I had another cruise dream!

This one was much more simple than the other dreams I've had! We had all arrived early and they weren't boarding the ship for a while so we decided to explore Seattle, but this was nothing like the Seattle I know! We decided to rent a boat to explore Pudget Sound, but it looked more like an Amazon river than Pudget Sound. We ended up coming across a family that was tubing on the waterway. They had gotten separated from their boat. So we helped them in a daring rescue (well, it seemed daring in my dream at least!)! The interesting part is that they had a little dog that looked just like the dog I had growing up (M.C. was her name).

Anyways, we eventually were able to board our ship and our staterooms reminded me of our rooms on the sailboat we had in the Caribbean! It was bigger than our rooms on the sailboat, but the rooms seemed to be made out of the same white fiberglass. Our bed actually had two or three steps that we had to climb to get into our bed. They also had water bottles and popcorn in our rooms and B and I were trying to figure our ways to get more water and popcorn.

It's interesting because all the dreams I have had so far have had an event to start the dream and ends in our staterooms.

March 1, 2011 (75 days to go!!!)
Today is the day! We can officially print our tickets for our cruise!!! Not that we're going to, but it's fun to know that they're there ready for us! I did take a look at them though!

In other cruise news, we were on the waiting list for early dinning for a while. I was a bit worried because B and I eat so early in our every day lives so if we had to wait till 8pm to eat, I know it would get a bit annoying! Also, since I am gluten free, it would be nice to know that we're set at one time and one table so our wait staff knows about my special diet. Well, maybe a week ago, we found out we are all set for early dinning and our table is #6 (This was all done through our travel agent. I can't thank our travel agent enough! He got us a great table! It turned out to be table #22 though. The email he sent said #6 so there must've been a mistake some where. It didn't matter though, #22 was a great table!)! Apparently is right next to a window as well (Table #22 was next to a window)!

March 17, 2011 (59 days to go!!!)
We've hit the two month mark!

I had planned on writing around this time anyways since we have hit the two month mark, but it worked out perfectly because I had another cruise dream!

I was bound to happen since I've been reading about and looking at pictures of the Sapphire recently. A cruise blog I read took a cruise on the Sapphire from Los Angeles to Hawaii and back and blogged about their experience. The author loved the ship, but he said the crew could've been better, in his opinion (I don't know if he had a different crew than us, but our crew was amazing!). He also wasn't impressed with the food (I think there was only one thing that I didn't like eating on the cruise, otherwise, the food was excellent!). I had heard some bad things about the Horizon Court (the buffet), so I might try to avoid that place if possible (We really didn't have any troubles at all! There was only one time where we took our food to our rooms since it was so crowded in the Horizon Court. I actually liked do that anyways!). I then started to get worried if B would have a good time.

Anyways, this dream I had, it was the first one where I didn't see our staterooms. If I did, I don't remember them. I basically remember going to dinner. It was weird because they split the passengers into groups and each group got their own dinning rooms and own crew member who seemed to do everything: wait staff, cruise director, etc. So we got to our dinning room and it was beautiful! Lots of blue all over the place (hmmm...maybe to symbolize the Sapphire?). It was slightly weird though because it seemed like they found an empty corner of the ship and put a few dinning tables in it and made it a dinning room! So there were three big hallways leading off from our dinning room. But it was still beautiful and somehow felt private. Another weird thing was the people we were traveling with. B and R were there, but so were some old family friends of ours (Some of them we hadn't seen or talked to in years!)! It was like the family vacations we used to take when C and I were younger! We all were having a great time though! Once distinct thing I remember is talking to B about one of the Disney Cruise ships. I told him that we would be following one on our way to Alaska. That reminds me. We were again in a tropical location, but I knew we were going to Alaska! Anyways, another thing I remember is one of the three hallways looked a lot like the rendering of the new Royal Princess which Princess Cruise Line is building for 2013 (make sure to click on the link for Royal Princess to see an idea of what my hallway looked like and what the Royal Princess will actually look like too! She looks like a beautiful ship!). The blog post I mentioned also made it into my dream. The author complained about getting served after most of the other people in the dinning room and that seemed to happen to us in my dream too.

In other cruise news, I'm really starting to think about the clothes I want to pack. Mom and I had a great day out a few days ago and she bought me a dress! I'm so excited to wear it! The friends I've shown it to love it! B doesn't want to see it till the cruise so it should be fun to surprise him with that.

I think I'm going to break the journal entries there again. There are only a few more I promise! Then it'll be onto the actual cruise journal entries!

To read part 3, click here

Pre-Alaskan Cruise: Part 1

Forgive me for posting a few days late, but life and editing pictures got in the way!

I started my pre-Alaskan Cruise journal on January 24th because I had been having dreams about the cruise! My friends and family who heard about my dreams, agreed that I should start writing them down. I was going to write a journal for the trip itself anyways, so I thought it would be an interesting idea. It also allows people who have never been on a cruise to see what I went through and what they might experience on their cruise too.

So, without further ado, my Pre-Alaskan Cruise Journal:

January 24th, 2011 (111 days to go!)
Is it May yet?

To start out, my husband (I'll refer to him as B from now on), my sister (I'll refer to her as C from now on), my sister's husband (I'll refer to him as R from now on), my mom and dad (They can still be called mom and dad :)), and I will be going on an Alaskan cruise leaving from Seattle on May 15th! We will be sailing on the Sapphire Princess. This'll be the first family vacation we've been on in a long time and B and R's first cruise ever!

Brandon and I decided not to bring the laptop because internet access is so expensive. The only other reason to bring it would be to unload pictures, but dad is bringing his laptop so we can unload picture there. (Note: We did decide to bring it later for entertainment on the flight and so I could unload pictures from my camera.)

One of the things I thought would be fun to journal about before the trip are the dreams I've been having about the trip! I have had three trip dreams so far and all have been very interesting!

The first one was entertaining in many ways. First, we left out of San Fransisco and there was a way to exit right from the airport onto our ship (man...that would be so nice!). Out of dream world, I had read that it was a little confusing getting around the Sapphire Princess, so in my dream, I was exploring the ship and did get quite lost! As we were leaving the port, we sailed by a floating Star Wars exhibit! Don't ask me why Star Wars was in my dream! It was really cool though! Then, as we were cruising along, they decided to do something to show off the ship. So I went to the top deck and watched what they had planned for us. Somehow, they were able to drive the ship up a mountain side (aren't dreams awesome!), turn around sharply, and do a "dolphin dive" under the water! Well, a few of us got scared when the ship went under water, so we jumped off. But the ship resurfaced and sail away without us! The rest of the dream involved me trying to get back to the ship. It was an adventure, but it's a bit muddled at this point so I don't remember much else about that part.

In the second dream we started out near Hawaii. I don't remember too much from this dream, but I do remember how we sailed away from the port. Apparently, when you leave on a cruise ship from this port (in my dream, not in real life), they send you off with a big celebration! It seemed almost like a blessing of sorts. The ship had to sail in a certain pattern and pass by these floating vessels. Before you passed the vessel, a huge firework would explode! It was really cool, but the ship got a little close to the shore and we almost ran aground! Oh! I do remember something else! Outside of dream world, mom and dad are getting a full suite on our ship while C, R, B, and I are getting mini-suites. These will be the biggest rooms on a cruise ship any of us have ever experienced! Back in dream world, the room we had was nothing like I could've ever imagined! The outside was fashioned like a townhome with a front patio area in front of the door (with a gated entrance), gardens, a roof, etc. The inside had more then enough rooms fro us to sleep in! I think each of us could've had our own room! There was a full eat-in kitchen, formal dinning room, living room (with piano!), plenty of bedrooms, a library/den, and even separate rooms for massages, pedicures, and even an infirmary! There was also an outside area with a seating area and a hot tub! It was amazing!

Writing this down is actually helping me to remember my dreams! In the first dream, I forgot that we also had interesting rooms. The rooms were pretty standard, but the decks were huge! I think they even led to a larger shared deck with a grill, hot tube, gym, etc. The decks kind of reminded me of the Titanic in a way.

Now onto the third dream! This one started out somewhere in the Caribbean (why have all my cruise dreams started out anywhere but Seattle?). I was cruising by myself and had a stop over on one of the islands to change ships. I stayed overnight on a converted fishing boat of sorts. They converted it to be a permanent hotel. The next day, I hiked up this large hill and overlooked this beautiful bay! The water was a beautiful blue/turquoise and the sand ranged from a cream color to a reddish color. I then boarded my ship that too me to a port which I think was San Fransisco, at least that's where my dream self through I was. From that ship, I finally boarded the ship that would take me on my cruise to Alaska. I met up with my family and checked out my room. It was another great room! It was really big! Almost like a hotel suite! It had two rooms, one was a bedroom with a big king sized bed and the other had a big comfy couch and a desk with a computer. For some reason there was a gift set of Shakopee Gymnastics swag for us (the weird things you remember from dreams!). I remember the weather being very overcast and rainy. For some reason, they asked if some passengers would like to help keep watch while on the ship and that's what B was doing. This is where I started to wake up and my dream melded with what was playing on the TV. My dream went into me finding B and some old man telling us about this storm that he and his ship went through. That was what was playing on the TV when I woke up.

So those have been my dreams so far. I wonder if I'll have any more before our trip (Note: I did).

We have a lot done for being 111 days from our trip! In fact, my camera bag, that I've been researching about for month, arrived today! I would still like to get a dress or two, but we'll see if that's really needed or not. I have informed the cruise that I am gluten-free (another reason why I want to journal about this trip, to inform other readers about my experience of gluten-free cruising.). We have also reserved our excursion and have basically decided what we're going to do in each port. All that's left to do is wait, and pack...but that comes much later!

For our excursions, we are just going to walk around the town in Juneau and Victoria (maybe see the Butchart Gardens in Victoria). In Ketchikan, we will take an excursion on a 4X4 kart of some kind through the forest and hills (B and me). Skagway should be a lot of fun! The whole family has rented a van and we are going to travel up the Klondike Highway to Carcross in the Yukon Territory! My only fear is if the van breaks down! I've heard it's a well traveled road so I'm sure we'll be okay.

I think I'm going to stop here for today. That was a pretty long post! The other journal entries aren't that long so I'll probably bunch those together. So come back for more journal entries soon!

To read part 2, click here