Vacation in Pictures -- Day One on the Boat

Our first full day on the ship was a sea day. I don’t know if it was the time change, or pure excitement for whatever lay ahead, but we were up and out the door by 8am, even though it was one of our only opportunities to sleep late, without little-people interruption, in, oh, I don't know, something like Ten Years. We went for breakfast in the Vivaldi Dining Room; I know some people like the expedience and choice of the buffet for breakfast, but I’m all about letting someone serve me, and take my plate away, and refill my beverage, and put my napkin in my lap with a wave and a flourish, no matter the time of day, so we enjoyed the full-service dining room.

They had advertised a Bridge Tour that morning, in the schedule of onboard activities for the day, and I thought Blaine would enjoy seeing the inner working of the ship’s bridge with a tour … so I encouraged him to go, and Keith joined him. Unfortunately, it was a class on how to PLAY bridge …… um, my bad.

So, instead, we walked around the ship for a while, orienting ourselves. It was misting, so not a lot of people out on deck, although we did have a great dolphin sighting off the side of the ship. Then, simply exhausted from all this activity … I mean, seriously, just think about it …. I had gotten out of bed, gotten dressed, eaten, digested, walked around, held down a deck chair with my backside, digested some more, and spent quite a bit of time POINTING out to sea at the dolphins … well, I was pooped from all that strenuous activity and went back to the cabin for a well-deserved mid-morning nap. (Gah, I know! I’m pathetic!)

The rest of the day was spent doing more eating, and drinking, and eating some more. Did I mention eating??? I gained fourteen pounds on this cruise, and I think I know the reason why, since every time I turned around my mouth was open and I was shoveling something into it.

This was the first of two formal nights and I thought Blaine and I, and our entire group, cleaned up pretty nice, if I say so myself.








We had dinner in the Vivaldi Dining Room, and had what was without a doubt, hands down, the best crab quiche I’ve ever had in my entire life. Well, ok, SURE, it was the only time I’ve ever had crab quiche … but I’m not even kidding. It was to die for.

After dinner our group split up, and I dragged Blaine to the ship’s performance of “The Piano Man”, a fabulous medley of singing and dancing numbers to the songs of Elton John, Billy Joel, Barry Mannilow, Liberace, etc. It was really, really good --- so good, I went again the next night, also. But once again, we went to bed early because we knew the next day was going to start early, as we were due to arrive in Ketchikan at 6:30 am.