Day 242/365 - All Ashore That's Going Ashore

My Alaskan cruise came to an end today when we returned to port in Seattle. It turned out to be as amazing as everyone says. The scenery routinely sliding past the ship was phenomenal. The ship was very nice, although I like Carnival better than Norwegian Cruise Lines. Carnival has better food, bigger staterooms, better quality service, and much much better onboard entertainment. Two-thirds of the performers onboard the Pearl (both in the theater and in the lounges) were godawful.

It was still well worth the trip, however. I saw glaciers, mountains, eagles, seals, whales (briefly), and porpoises, hiked through temperate rainforests, rode an old train, had beer for breakfast, flew in a floatplane, won $44 playing roulette, went undefeated at Scrabble, and got clobbered at shuffleboard. Never did get around to climbing that rock wall.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 235/365 - Getting Underway

We couldn’t board our cruise ship until noon, so this morning I walked over to the Space Needle. Even though I’ve only seen two of the most touristy parts of Seattle (Pike Place Market and Seattle Center), it seems like a cool city. I’m going to have to come back here when I have more time to spend. The nerd boy in me really wanted to check out the Science Fiction Museum, but I ran short on time. The view from the Space Needle was pretty spectacular. I could even see my ship tied up to the pier.

Once we got aboard, I spent about an hour just wandering around and taking photos of every nook and cranny. My cabin is pretty cramped and there are four of us in it. I’d like to have gotten a balcony room on my own, but it was easier for my brother to afford the trip if we packed four people into one room, so that’s what we did. There are two regular beds, a roll-away bed, and a bunk that pulls down from the wall. I claimed the folding bunk. It’s my own little penthouse.

(Taken with my Nikon D90)