Cruise - Day 1 & 2

We had a wonderful cruise to Alaska! It started on Fri, July 31, on the Zaandam (Holland America). Fred Little gave us a ride to the dock. We turned in our bags and got through security. Then we got our room keys, which was our ID on board. We were able to go to deck 8, Lido deck, right away and get a buffet lunch. It was great! We all ate too much, and the kids had tons of desserts. We had a table by the pool.


We explored around the boat, and went to our room. We were down on the 2nd Floor. We decided not to use the elevators for the week, unless Jenny was in high heels. We kept that up most of the time, only using the elevators about 3 or 4 times the whole week. It was a lot of up and down! We got our swimsuits on and went back up to one of the pools.

At 3:30 we all had to go for lifeboat drill, then back up to watch the ship take off! It was a gorgeous day in Seattle, and we had great weather the whole week.

At 5:30 we went to the Pinnacle Grill for our first dinner. It was very nice, and there was a fee for the adults, but it was worth it. The food was amazing, and we enjoyed a 4 course meal. The kids tried new stuff, and everyone had a great dinner.

After dinner the kids went up to the Kids Club (KC Hal), and we explored a little more. We went to a show that night, but it was more games with the audience than a show. We were all tired, and so we went to bed a little early.

On Sat we slept in late, so late that all the chocolate croissants were gone! We wouldn't let that happen again! We ate breakfast in the main dining room. Pastries, muffins, eggs any way, cereal, pancakes and french toast were all available. There were also specials every day. It was great. This was our only full day at sea, although land was visible some of the time. We were headed up to Juneau. The kids ran off to go see the kids club, and Kipp and I relaxed. We took a tour of the kitchens, which was amazing. There are over 50 chefs and assistants getting the food ready all day. There are about 1400 passengers on this ship, and a crew of 400. They do a beautiful job of all the food. It was all presented like a 5 star restaurant.

Kipp and I did a scavenger hunt late morning. We were paired with another family of 3, and we won! We got 'Dam Dollars" as a prize. They are redeemable at the end of the week.

We all had lunch on the Lido deck again, and spent most of the afternoon by the pool, swimming and relaxing. We had our first dinner in the main dining room. It was one of 2 formal nights. Everything was great - looking and tasting. Kyler switched from salmon to toasted Cheese sandwich, and had that every night after! He didn't know what he was missing! Ilea tried many different things, and usually enjoyed them.

The kids went to Kids club again, and we went to the musical show. It was singing and dancing, with a theme of Southern Nights. It was pretty good. We went to bed later that night. There was lots of rocking during the night, but it didn't bother any of us.