As a lover of travel, I thrive on new experiences. Recently, I embarked on one of the most exciting experience yet: a cruise! At the end of September 2024, we went on a 7-day journey that began and ended in Seattle, Washington. And yes, I was crossing off another state - ALASKA!!
I enlisted the help a travel agent to organize this cruise for myself, Michael and our friends Amber, Beth and Hunter. This trip was particularly special for Michael and me, as we celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary.
We were set to visit 4 ports, but due to hurricane-like weather expected Thursday into Friday we cut out 2 ports. A decision that I’m sure was hard for the crew of the Norwegian Bliss but overall, I was thankful because that was not a new experience I was wanting.
The ports we did visit included:
Seattle – where we embarked and debarked from
Sitka, Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
Victoria, BC, Canada
I know you might expect a detailed account of each, but to do them justice, I'll save them for future posts. So get ready for an odyssey filled with stories of each port, wine tastings, and beer tastings. But don’t be disappointed that this post isn’t filled with amazing stories or pictures. I’m just getting warmed up!
Now where to begin…
We boarded the Norwegian Bliss, the largest ship in their fleet, accommodating 3,958 guest and boasting a crew of 1,716. Michael and I chose an ocean view stateroom on a Deck 5, which was spacious enough room for us and felt cozy even with visitors.
Our favorite spot on the ship was the Observation Lounge, which had floor-to-ceiling windows and amazing views. So amazing in fact we saw multiple whale sightings! We spent the evening a few nights either in playing a few rounds of UNO, reading (Michael dived into Lord of the Rings with a nice cocktail), listening to music, or just plain enjoying the sites.
Our other favorite spot was the outside promenade known as The Waterfront. Most of the time we were on the side that had the Cavern Bar (it had the best bartender), we watched a few football games there on the first day at sea. Other times we just sat enjoying the cool weather while sipping a Mudslide (which probably was the most popular drink on the cruise).
The first evening, Amber, Beth and myself, were on the other side of ship looking out at Port Angeles. Beth was quite confused on why Amber and I were excited to be looking for Port Angeles. Well, the excitement was due to the fact that one of my close married friends were staying in a vacation rental which Amber, Michael, and myself had stayed there 2 years prior. As we approached, I messaged them that we could see Port Angeles. They replied back saying they could see a cruise ship. They also started blinking their lights. The squeals of delight from Amber and myself where loudly heard, probably not by our friends on the mountainside of Port Angeles, but definitely by the people with balcony views on the ship. We stayed outside for while watching land go by and the moon rising.
Next round of highlights is the food. We had a few misses on food, mostly from Hunter and myself. I had gotten a fettuccine carbonara from The Local Bar & Grill, a classic Irish pub vibe, the carbonara was very cold and uninteresting. Our first taste of food once on board was the American Diner, a 50s style diner which was really good and not so crowded at the time. Garden Café was the buffet which we typically only visited for breakfast or lunch. Savor and Taste are two other dining rooms that we only went to once each. The main restaurant we went to was The Manhattan Room, which had excellent waiters and really great food. It felt like a high-end restaurant and we dressed a bit nicer. Michael and I also tried a specialty restaurant the Q smokehouse, which had excellent entertainment and excellent fried okra. Each dinner you basically were expected to order yourself an appetizer, entrée, then dessert, which we all gladly did.
One of the favorite things for our group was that of The Jersey Boys. Beth liked them so much she saw it twice! The Jersey Boys, is a musical that covers the rise of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. It was such a great show filled obviously with music of The Four Seasons. The acting was also wonderful as well as stage production of a few scenes. Like when The Four Seasons appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, they had a prop camera that was filming them and so we saw the film on a screen above as if we were watching it ourselves from the TV. I actually found footage from them singing “Big Girls Don’t Cry” from The Ed Sullivan Show that they clearly used to make the scene accurate as possible.
Other activities that we did while on the cruise was enjoying the hot tub. Amber, Beth, Michael, and myself went up to deck 17 to the adult only section to enjoy a dip in the hot tub. It was on one of our unscheduled at sea days. The sun was shining, the wind was cool, but the hot tub was refreshing. It was just the right temperature that you didn’t really need to worry about doing a cold soak for a bit to cool down from staying in the hot tub. Another activity we did was shopping, they had port shirts, photos, jewelry (who doesn't love a free pendant?). None of us are really into gambling at a casino but Michael and I tried our hand at it. We didn’t do so good. Though we did grab a few pull tab things and won $100. Michael and I also took a Merengue dancing class. It was high energy and loads of fun. We had already known the dance from a pervious dance class years ago but definitely needed a refresher. Not to brag, but we were the best couple on the floor.
An activity that Amber, Beth, and I did was duck hunting. Nope not real ducks, rubber ducks that passengers would hide around the cruise for others to find.
An evening activity that I went with Beth on was Levity the Comedy Show that featured Travis Nelson and Mark Klein. Beth favored comedian Mark, while I favored Travis. Michael and I also got into a comedy show that was just Travis Nelson. Michael thought he was simply great! Later that night, we experienced Liars! A Comedy Show where the comedians were joined by Dan Dan, who was our Cruise Director. They each were given a word and had to define it. Now it’s an obscure or inappropriate word (or both). The audience’s job was to pick out who was telling the truth cause one of them was saying the correct definition. Dan Dan never told the truth.
An at sea event that Beth, Hunter, Michael, and myself, went to experience was called Bamboozled a Superhero Escape Game. Now we have been sworn to secrecy by the superhero not to revel anything about the test. However, I will give you an idea was it was about. We had multiple puzzles we had to figure out in 45 minutes order to make a call and save the day. It was a lot of fun. Michael and I were on a different team then Beth and Hunter were on. I think Michael and I solved about 70% if not more of the puzzles, or at least got our other teammates heading to the right direction. If we had about 10 more minutes we would have gotten to the last puzzle.
I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into the cruise portion of our trip! Next, we’ll dive into the incredible ports we visited, along with some fun tidbits about wine and beer tastings onboard. Stay tuned for more adventures ahead!
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