Alaska Bound – Day At Sea

Approximately an hour from our departure at pier 91 in Seattle on board the Golden Princess, we began to see a thick white fog forming on the water’s surface. It wasn’t but a few minutes later that we were enveloped in white fog. The fog horn on the ship sounded ominously predicting a night of the mournful sound, a warning to other ships that we were here in the thick murky cloud.  Thankfully the next morning about an hour after sunrise, the fog began to lift and we even saw the promise of blue skies to come.

A relaxing day at sea is a great way to start any adventure. It’s a day to catch up on time changes and rest from the anxiety of airplane flights and get acquainted with the surroundings that will serve as home for the week. While we didn’t have a lot of that to work through since we had relaxed with family for three days in Seattle, we still were eager to explore the ship more and take part in activities.

Unfortunately, the ship’s activities were geared more to having a great shopping experience. The lectures were all about best buys and where to shop in the ports as well as on board the ship. If you were up for great sales, there were lots of end of the Alaska season sales going on.

The one bright spot we had looked for was an introductory lecture by the guest naturalist, a lady who grew up in Alaska and had been a teacher. She’d written a book about glaciers and Alaska but after hearing her first talk, we decided it wasn’t exactly what we were interested in. There were few facts and much more quoting of poetry. A little more history or science of the areas where we were to travel would have captured our attention.

When the sun came out, I took advantage of the Promenade deck to try to keep up with my walking regimen. About the fourth time around the ship, I suddenly spotted something in the water. Dolphins or porpoise, I wasn’t sure which but so many that it looked like the water was boiling. They were playing in the wake of the ship on the starboard side. Later, we would meet with our friends from the Cruise Critic forum and have the opportunity to see a pod of whales behind the ship. Wildlife already and it was just our first day!

We ended our evening with a great dinner at the specialty restaurant, Sabatini, and then a very nice show in the theater and went to bed early, eager to rise in the morning to our first port of call, Ketchikan.