Valerie Eisler

Monday April 16
We caught a ride to the airport with John and Miriam, so we had a companion at the airport to while away the time. Miriam and I spent it checking out the expensive gift stores.

Flights were all on time, with no major waiting anywhere. Arrived Seattle just about 8 pm. We caught the light rail into the city - it went quite smoothly. We weren't sure where we were when we exited the underground. Our trip planner directions were fairly clear, we thought, but as we found a few times, the city signs didn't match the instructions we had. So, we stopped on a street corner and called an Uber, which arrived in a timely manner and got us to the apartment safely. Because we were arriving fairly late, arrangements were for us to get the security fob from a lock box outside the building. All was in order.

The Air b n b we stayed at was a studio apartment that was clean and comfortable. It was missing a few things - coffee beans were provided but no coffee grinder. There was a cable tv receiver, but no place to plug it in. No full-length mirror or blender. Whoever had done the housekeeping had either not washed the dishes properly or had not checked to make sure that the previous guest had washed the dishes. The apartment itself faced onto an alley, so no view to speak of, but there is a lovely roof deck with both outside and inside spaces. There was a good view of the sunset over buildings and the day we boarded the ship we had a close-up view. Pier 66 is directly in front of the apartment (with a city block in between)

Went for dinner to the Belltown Pub on 1st Avenue. It was late, but we walked in just in time for Happy Hour. They have it twice a day - 4 to 6:30 and 10 to 1 am on weekdays. Decent prices for small plates and a buck off beer and ciders and well drinks.

Tuesday April 17
We got back on transit and took a city bus out to Renton to visit Fry's electronics and while there we (I) stopped in at Ross, Marshalls, and Target. Same bus back to the city and our apartment and then an Uber to Safeco Field for the baseball game. It was 'Bark at the Park' - happens twice a year where dog owners pay for a seat for their dog and bring them along. There were 200-400 dogs in the audience.

Wednesday April 18
We headed to Pike Place for breakfast and then wandered up to Westlake Center. I bought a pair of shoes, but that was the extent of our shopping.

Thursday April 19
Embarkation Day. We chose the earliest time available to show up at the pier. There were already hundreds of people there when we arrived. Disordered Chaos. The congestion started when trying to drop off our bags. We had to break through line to tag our bags, then get back in line and in the end we dropped our bags where we started. Throughout that mess there were porters randomly picking up bags - which is understandable when being done for a fee, but this seemed to be done for free and maybe a tip.

Once the bags were dropped we walked another half block to the terminal building. This part worked fairly smoothly to get our check-in done and keys in our hands. Then we moved on to the holding area awaiting the time we could actually get on board. Having done it a few times, we knew that we couldn't just walk on, so we checked with other passengers. The ones we asked that had arrived at the room before us (they had physically arrived almost an hour later than us, but somehow they were processed more quickly) showed us that they were given a group number for boarding. One by one these numbers were being called. By the time we got there, there were no numbers left. That is when the chaos started. People were walking into the room and straight into the line. Others were going before their number was called. I heard a man ask for his number and was told to go back to the desk where we were checked in. In the end we were only in the room for an hour before we got onboard - we joined the 'group' of the people who told us about the group numbers, which was the last number. So, not altogether bad, but had there been some semblance of organization or information the cruiseline would have had happier customers.

Once onboard….

Room was ready when we got on so we dumped the bags we carried on and got a snack. 3 or 4 pieces of luggage arrived fairly quickly but the last piece was delivered just as we were getting into bed. We had a couple bottles of wine and a little leftover vodka from Seattle and we packed it, figuring it would be taken away from us on boarding to be returned when we land in Miami. However, there it was in our bags.

James, our room steward made himself known the next day. Seems to be a friendly chap and good at his job. He delivered chocolates one night for us - a nice little present from him.Read more