Leaving Seattle on a Cruise to Alaska

We often (especially on weekends) find the Seattle airport full of cruise passengers heading for one of the Alaska cruises that depart from the port of Seattle.  We finally decide to join them and sign on for a one week cruise to Alaska on the Discovery Princess, a ship that carries 3,660 passengers and 1,346 crew on a 1,083 foot (330 meter) long vessel (19 decks, 1,830 staterooms).  We discover how many people are joining us as we stand in line with several thousand others for about an hour to go through the boarding process.

Line to get on

Once on board, the ship is large enough that we rarely feel crowded, except perhaps in the buffet at lunch with (once again) several thousand of our [new] closest friends all looking for food at the same time.

Central lobby

Before departure, we get great views of the Seattle skyline.

Seattle

Fishing ships in the port

Private craft in the harbor next door

We are one of three ships leaving today for Alaska and we periodically run across the other two as we wander through Alaska.  That's about 10,000 people heading toward Alaska from Seattle today (and comparable amounts heading up from Vancouver).

Other ships heading out to Alaska

We book a cabin on Deck 17 at the front of the ship (two decks above the bridge and looking straight ahead).  That offers us incredible views and great exercise up and down the stairs to the common areas and restaurants on Decks 6 and 7.  We depart Seattle and head up Puget Sound, with the Olympic Mountains (where we just hiked in our last few blogs) visible on the port side (left).

Viewing the Olympics

View forward from our cabin

We can't resist a few Alaska-appreciation moments with the local wildlife.

And, some recreation on the top deck.

Relaxing

We're looking forward to a new adventure and have a theme of glaciers to explore over the days of the cruise.