The Retirement Adventure Begins: Cruising Alaska ~ Departing from Seattle ~ September 11, 2016



Our stateroom is the one just to the right of the point of the yellow star - the first of the larger windows just above the hanging life rafts!

Our ship, the Norwegian Pearl, is making its last couple of cruises before going into dry dock for a complete make-over.  The ship's decor is, indeed, a bit dated, but much of the furnishings are lovely - especially the gleaming woodwork!  It will be interesting to see what she looks like when the renovation is complete.


Taken from our stateroom as we leave Seattle for a full day "at sea".  Glimpses of distant mountains helped break the monotony of the endless ocean.  The Captain's Log assured us that the seas were relatively calm, but it took me quite some time to reestablish my equilibrium and begin to feel settled and centered while navigating from the stateroom to other parts of the ship.  Our room was on Deck 8 and was surprisingly comfortable.  We somehow scored an upgrade from "guaranteed ocean view" to balcony, and we spent quite a bit of time enjoying the view from the balcony.

We spent the day playing backgammon in the Spinnaker Lounge, reading, chatting, and generally relaxing.  Right on our deck is O'Sheehan's - one of 2 restaurants that is open 24 hours a day.  We had lunch there on our first day, and it was a frequent "haunt" of ours for the week.  The menu is limited, so we experimented with several other restaurants before settling on our favorite, Indigo, where we ate the last 5 nights.  The food at Indigo was excellent, and the wait staff were delightful.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Return to Italy ~ The Lagoon Islands of Venice - May 11 - 13, 2025

Image
  From Tuscany to Venice May 11, 2025 We left Villa Il Patriarca and made our way to the train station for the trip to Venice. I managed to find a direct train ,  Trenitalia #588 , leaving Chiusi-Chianciano Terme at 12:10 and arriving in Mestre at 16:16 (4:16 pm). Our hotel, Best Western Hotel Bologna, is one we have stayed in before and is a short five-minute  walk from the station. Best Western Plus Hotel Bologna We got ourselves checked in,  relaxed for a bit, and then walked around the block to Pasta and Pizza, where we each got a pizza - margherita pizza for Jeff con una birra (with a beer), and a verdura (vegetable) pizza con una demi bottiglia di Chardonnay for me.  It was a lovely evening, so we sat outside and watched the traffic go by,  seeing travellers come and go, and just enjoyed our food. Enjoying Dinner at Pasta and Pizza in Venice Mestre We headed back to the hotel to relax and read before bed. I worked some on the Chiui portion of the blog...
Read more

A Return to Italy! May 6 - 20, 2025 ~ The Journey Begins in Tuscany

Image
  The Journey Begins in Tuscany May 6 - 11, 2025 This trip began with a Travelzoo advertisement for three nights in a 5-star hotel in a tiny town in Tuscany. Daily breakfast, a cooking class (and lunch), and two dinners were included.  The package was too good to pass up, so we decided to book it.  The challenge was to design a reasonably priced two-week trip.  After several false starts and a less than helpful travel advisor consultation, I came up with what we hope will be a lot of fun with two "off the beaten path" and two more famous towns. May 6, 2025 My brother and sister have been touting the all-business-class airline La Compagnie for several years, so I decided to try it by flying round-trip from Newark to Milan.  Of course, for the last two days Newark Airport has been in the national news due to air traffic control problems and massive delayed flights (mostly United Airlines), so we decided to play things safe and give ourselves plenty of time at the ...
Read more

A Whirlwind Visit to Iceland, December 2023

Image
Wednesday - Thursday, December 6 - 7, 2023 Boston to Reykjavik     Before my brother Jim encouraged us to join him, Candy, and another couple on a brief trip to Iceland, I knew almost nothing about the tiny island nation. I set out to learn a bit of the basics. Relying on Wikipedia for the basics, I learned that   Iceland is a Nordic island country between the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, home to about 36 percent of the country's roughly 380,000 residents. The country's official language is Icelandic, descended from Old Norse.      Iceland is located on a rift between tectonic plates. Its geologic activity includes geysers and frequent volcanic eruptions. The interior consists of a volcanic plateau characterised by sand and lav...
Read more