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
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