Honeymoon - Day 1

We woke up with the alarm this morning. I had been up a few hours earlier and managed to be able to take my pill at the correct time. This will probably not continue since I really doubt I’ll be motivated enough to wake up at 5am (well 4am when we get to Alaska) every morning. We showered and headed downstairs for breakfast. It was a pretty good spread. Pastries, even eggs. After breakfast we went back up to our room and took a nap until about 11. Then we headed back to the lobby to check out and wait for the shuttle to the pier. We met a nice older couple who also were to sail on the Pearl. When the shuttle arrived we squeezed into the van and were informed two more people had to get on still. We all managed to fit along with all our luggage.

A long and rainy trip to the pier took us through gray, run-down, industrial areas of Seattle. We got to the dock a little after 1pm. We dropped off our checked bags, stood in a few lines to have our tickets and passports checked, get our room cards and pictures taken, and finally get onboard the ship. Start to finish was probably 45 minutes. Very organized process that went smoothly considering how many people there were to load onto the ship.

We checked out our room and after we discovered we weren’t even supposed to be there yet we went up to the buffet for some lunch. It was kind of intimidating and we barely made a dent in the food choices. We wandered the ship a little until the announcement for the lifeboat drill came over the PA system. We happened to run into two of the couples we had ridden to the dock with in our wanderings. And they say it’s a big boat… The couple from the hotel actually decided to send the champagne from their room to us since they don’t drink and they knew it was our honeymoon. We went back downstairs to our room to get our life jackets and then went to our assigned muster station. The drill itself was relatively painless. When we returned to the room Adam’s bag had been delivered but mine wasn’t there yet. We wandered the ship some more and watched the boat leave the pier from the top deck in front. Then we walked around to the back. We came back to the room so Adam could call his parents and drop off his camera. My suitcase arrived while we were there and I unpacked while Adam enjoyed our balcony. We made arrangements to eat at Cagney’s Steakhouse, one of the specialty restaurants onboard (and the one with the most expensive cover charge.) We changed to meet the dress code and headed up. It was a fabulous meal. I had chicken and mashed potatoes and Adam had a steak with onions. I also had an absolutely to die for chocolate dessert – Sinful Chocolate Obsession. Adam had Bananas Foster. All in all a wonderful experience. We stopped for a drink at the martini bar and enjoyed some jazz music while we were there. We also ran into a couple from the shuttle ride for a second time! We went back to the room to change and get jackets and then walked a lap on Deck 7 and another on Deck 12. We called it a night after that.