Arriving on the ship!

We arrived in Seattle and made our way to the port via taxi to board our ship.  Being first time cruisers, we were not prepared for the grandness that is the port and how much like cattle we were about to be treated as.

After shuffling through lines, validating passports and reservations and finally getting our keys, we headed for the long walk up the gangplank to find that we were once again, shuffled to the buffet due to the fact that our rooms were not yet ready.

After eating at a tiny table that was one of only a few available, and then wandering around the spa for the free tour, we finally went to check if our room was ready, which it was.  Hurrah!

We ended up getting upgraded to an outside room that was on one of the lower decks, but was actually quite nice.

  I was surprised at how big the bathroom was.  The last cruise I had been on, which wasn't a big cruise ship to begin with, had super tiny bathrooms.

Once we stashed our stuff and made sure we received our luggage, it was drill time.  Everyone was required to put on their stupid looking life jackets and truck to their appointed emergency areas for a lecture (that we couldn't hear) on what to do in case of ship sinkage.

Killing about an hour with the sinking drill, we dropped our life jackets back in our room, then headed out to explore the whole ship and to see what there was to see and do while at sea.  We also wanted to view the Seattle skyline as we departed to open water.