Today was all about getting on the ship, bound for Alaska. Even though the ship wasn’t going to pull out until 5pm, we decided that we needed to be very organised and get there about 2pm. This is our first cruise and we were a little unsure about the process.

Before checking out of the hotel we headed across the road to the shopping mall to do a bit of clothes shopping. This was in part because we love shopping at Banana Republic and in part because we still weren’t sure if we had enough of the right clothes to dress for dinner on the ship! We decided that, since we had not yet had breakfast, we had better eat something so we headed to the food court and had a quick lunch. Once back at the hotel we were faced with the slightly daunting task of fitting two big bags of shopping into our already very full suitcases! We managed to get everything in and headed downstairs to get a taxi to the cruise ship terminal.

Checking in at the cruise ship terminal was very civilised and we formed a very early view that we were likely to enjoy cruising! Once on board we were informed that we could head to one of the restaurants for lunch, exposing our first (of what turned out to the many!) rookie mistakes: there’s no need to eat before getting on the ship! It turned out that the experienced cruisers knew that the restaurants would be open from the minute we stepped on board. Oh well, we ate again anyway!

After lunch we headed to our cabin, where we rested only briefly before heading to the mandatory safety briefing. This is taken very seriously and every passenger is scanned into the briefing with their ship-issued identification card to ensure that they have attended. Not long after the briefing, it was time to sail. We were already busy exploring the ship when it left the port but we headed outside in time to see lovely views of Vancouver as we sailed out under the Lions Ggate bridge on our way to Alaska.

At 6pm we headed to the Grand Salon to meet to the outdoor adventures team.

For our first night’s dinner, we ended up opting for room service. We had a beautiful meal in our suite before finally heading off to bed for our first night’s sleep on the water. (We discussed going to the Welcome Aboard Dance Party but we dedided that we didn’t want to peak too early!)

Vancouver, as seen from the ship on departure.
Vancouver, as seen from the ship on departure.
Looking back at the Lions Gate Bridge.
Looking back at the Lions Gate Bridge.

Tomorrow is a cruising day, so we’re looking forward to exploring around the ship while we’re at sea.