The Cruise Begins!! First Stop Juneau!

Now that the "race" was behind us it was time to relax and enjoy the real reason for our trip, the Cruise to Alaska. We decided to go on a the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) which was perfect for us. NCL cruises are Freestyle which means you can do what you want, when you want. There was no formal dressing or sitting at the same table with the same people every night so it was very relaxed and comfortable for us. Here's a picture of our cruise ship and us as we enter the ship!!



We were nervous as we'd never been on a cruise and weren't sure we'd fit in, but we soon discovered that they are indeed for everyone and NCL quickly made everyone comfortable. It's amazing how efficiently they are able to get all 2500 passengers rs on board and settled. Our first stop was lunch in the cafeteria which was great. So many choices, I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of it. There was definitely something for everyone. Once we were through eating our room still wasn't ready so we took a little tour to check the place out. Really awesome. We found our way to the spa and the fitness center and were given a tour of the spa. They had an option for you to "join" the spa which entitled you to use the hydrotherapy pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room as well as the heated loungers and the great views from the front of the ship. We immediately signed up and I am pleased to say we used it everyday and were very pleased to have had that option. Here are some pics from the spa! Check out the view!


The ship left Seattle on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 and we would not dock until Tuesday in Juneau. Lots of time to recover, relax and explore the ship. We had chosen our cabin wisely in the mid-section of the ship on level 10. Surprisingly, I had better navigation success than Frank which is really strange cause I always get turned around. But for some reason I had very little difficulty getting around.

The lounge area as well as the room TVs were continually showing various excursions and after looking at the excursion that including going to Dog World and driving a sled with a team of dogs, it was too cool to ignore. We had originally signed up online to take a helicopter to a glacier and walk around but hadn't wanted to spend the extra money to go to the glacier with the dogs and sleds but decided it was something we wanted to do and would most likely not have that option again. So now we're signed up to go on a helicopter ride, to a glacier with the dog teams and we'd be able to drive a sled! How cool was that! Here some pictures of that adventure!





We were really happy that we had decided to splurge and go to see the dogs. It was a fun day and an adventure we will not soon forget. The weather on the glacier was very warm and the ice glacier seemed more like mushy snow. It was awesome.