Day 1

Tami lived the dream – we took the city bus to the ship! Keenan rode down with us on his way to the Folk Life Festival. I think he thought it was strange that we WANTED to take the bus to the ship, but he puts up with us. We did have to walk a little ways, but not more than half a mile. Check in went remarkably fast, and we were on board within an hour and a half of leaving the house.
Once aboard, we went looking for FOOD. We found plenty of options available even before the ship left the dock. We went through the ever-present buffet and found a nice selection to tide us over until dinner. We needed our strength!

Moorage at Magnolia

Our cabin is small but efficiently laid out. There are even two more beds mounted on the walls over our bed! We could have brought more people!
There were two other ships docked in Seattle and ready to head out. The Westerdam from Holland America was docked next to us at Pier 91 and headed out before us, following a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship that was docked at Pier 66. We were last to leave the dock and join the convoy out of Elliott Bay.

Falling in line

As we headed north it was very fun to see familiar sights from waterside, starting with Discovery Park and the sewage treatment plant (that has got to be one of the most scenic sewage treatment plants in the country), Shilshole, Carkeek, Edmonds, and then around the west side of Whidbey Island.

Discovery Park

At that point the call of the dining room was just too strong and we headed for dinner.
Princess does a very nice job with the food and we enjoyed our choices. We started with a very tasty Red Snapper Mojito which was similar to a ceviche. We both chose the Hawaiian Pork which was also delicious. Tami said she wasn’t going to have dessert when she sat down at the table but somehow had eaten a flourless chocolate torte by the time she left the table.
We immediately headed up on deck after dinner to see where we were and came up on deck just in time to see Dungeness Spit. Soon we were slowing at Port Angeles to let the pilot off, and headed north up the coast of Vancouver Island.

Dungeness Spit

It was getting colder so we headed inside to check out the rest of the ship and catch the evening movie.
Having been on Princess ships before, the layout of the ship is quite familiar, as is the array of stuff for sale in the shops. A quick perusal verified that we wouldn’t be doing any trip shopping on the ship, except for the chocolate shop, of course.