On the second day of our Ultimate Alaska Cruise, we simply blasted north from Seattle toward southern Alaska.
Not surprisingly, this direction of travel in the northeastern Pacific Ocean is typically fraught with contrary waves, wind, and swells. The Grand Princess, however, was more than equal to the task. It was a behemoth. Just the same, while we slept, we felt the ship swaying a bit as it powered through the seas. Our amidships stateroom helped abate Vicki’s motion sickness issues – she never felt poorly at all!
We even ate breakfast in the room without issue. After that, we got dressed for weather, and headed up the elevator to the Sun Deck. It was quite breezy and brisk up there. This was mostly the wind of the ship’s own making, as we were blasting right along at close to twenty knots. We walked around the perimeter of the ship and observed interesting waves in the various swimming pools. These pools had waist-high walls around them to contain the sloshing of their contents, and it was fun to watch. But we didn’t attempt to go swimming!
The indoor pool was sloshing with the big swells we were cruising through
Panorama video astern, at dawn
All told, on this cruise we would be spending four full days of seventeen “At Sea” as we made the long passages. Two between Seattle and the southern Alaskan inland waterway ports (there and back), and two from southern Alaska north to Seward (there and back). During those days the ship designated our evening meals as Formal Dinners. To that end, we brought nice clothes: A suit for me, and dresses for Vicki. Formal technically meant a Tuxedo, but it wasn’t going to happen, even though I owned one. Good thing I wasn’t dining with the Captain, or a tux would have been mandatory. Anyway, Vicki decided to get her hair done professionally at the ship’s salon. It was a way to pass the time, I suppose.
The forward Lap Pool was sloshing really bad, as I waited for Vicki to finish her perm.
After she was even more beautiful than ever, we wandered around the ship. The Sun Deck was our favorite spot, although it must be said that the temperature and wind conditions didn’t meet the requirement for tanning in bathing suits. The hot tubs were popular, however. Eventually, Vicki found a cozy spot on the lee side of some wind barriers, and took a nap in the sun. Wearing all her warm clothing, naturally.
Earlier, when waiting for Vicki’s perm, I discovered an out-of-the-way location, and now I was able to take her there. When we arrived, one of the ship’s hospitality employees (named Lovely) was hosting the first session of the Golf Tournament. It was only about putting, as you might imagine. But putting on a rolling ship was more interesting and unpredictable. Several passengers competed. I got lucky and scored some points, so I was In The Running for a prize at the end of the cruise. We would be doing this on each Sea Day. There were other types of Fun and Games going on elsewhere to keep the passengers entertained, but this was the only one we visited.
When it got near dinnertime, we went to our stateroom and got dressed up for Formal Night. For a couple of old geezers, I thought we looked pretty good. When we got to the restaurant, at least we weren’t the only ones dolled up. But there were some that didn’t care. Maybe Formal Night is a thing from the Cruise Ship Days of Yore, much like dressing up to take a plane or train trip used to be in the Good Old Days. I’m not gonna lie: I hated that as a kid.
After dinner, since we were looking so fine, we decided to take a Constitutional around the Promenade Deck. This was down on Deck 7, and it went all the way around the ship, and all of it was nice teak decking. Supposedly, if you made three full laps of this deck, it totaled a mile. Brisk walkers passed us by as we lollygagged around the perimeter.
The days were long this far north, and after I took off my suit, I put on my exercise shorts. I headed for the sports center and cranked out some mileage on one of the many treadmills. That got my heart rate up. Then I took a shower in the stateroom, and the two of us hit the sack.
Tomorrow we would be in Alaska! We were excited to really start getting this cruise going.
For a topographic map of the cruise see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the voyage see my Flickr Page
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