We've been on the go again! For the first time ever, we've done 2 cruises in one year- Caribbean in January and now Alaska in July. This was also our first time going to Alaska, first time cruising with Holland America, first time cruising from the west coast, and first time cruising in the summer. Lots of bucket list checks.
I've heard much debate about whether to visit Alaska on a cruise vs. a land tour. I had decided to do a land tour, but before we ever got anything planned, we were invited to join Richard's older brother & sister-in-law, celebrating his 60th birthday with a cruise. Richard really wanted to do this trip with his brother, so I realized I guess we're getting to see Alaska via cruise instead. Because it was their trip and we just tagged along, the decision on what cruise line and when to travel was made for us; they chose cruising with Dr. David Jeremiah/Turning Point Ministries. (Michael W Smith cruised the week before us, and Mercy Me the week after us- one of those would've been our personal first choice.) Thank you for inviting us, Marion!
Arianna took us to the airport on Friday, July 11. We flew Delta to Detroit. Right after we landed, it started DUMPING down rain. We were in the very tail end of the plane. The wind was whipping the tail around like an excited puppy dog wagging its tail! We never experienced anything like it. Just glad we were on the ground, not attempting to land at the time.
That steak sandwich in Detroit sure was good!
On the flight to Seattle, we flew over some amazing scenery in the northwest...
not sure if this is Montana or Washington
It was not hard to purchase the $3 tickets, but we're still a little nonplussed that we never had to show or scan our tickets anywhere; what's to stop folks from riding the train without paying??
We ordered a tiramisu to go, taking it back to the rooftop patio of our hotel to eat it. 9pm Seattle time was midnight our time so we called it a day.
Saturday, July 12- I heard about these little breakfast restaurants in Seattle that often have long lines waiting for food and I wanted to see what all the hype was about. 
Illusionist Harris III was quite interesting.
It was a 45 min ride up to Westlake station, then a 1/2 mile walk to our hotel.
We were "starving" by then -our body clocks were saying it was 10pm. On the front desk's recommendation, we went to Rocco's pizza just around the block from our hotel.
They seated us upstairs where it was so noisy that it made my head hurt. We discovered whole pizzas were $50-60! 🤯 So we went with one slice per person. They were HUGE. And delicious.
Don't let the name Biscuit Bitch put you off, the food was worth the wait! That's biscuits & gravy with scrambled eggs, cheese and garlic grits. 😋
Our hotel arranged a shuttle for us to the cruise port. Probably 90% of their guests are cruisers so they know the drill. It took all the stress out of it for us, for just $10. (That was why I picked this specific hotel.) We got to Pier 91 around 11:30, and since porters did not commandeer our luggage straightaway, we saved a couple bucks by checking it in ourselves. This would be the last time we saved money for a week. The saying is "whatever you think something might cost in Alaska, double it" was true.
As soon as we entered the terminal, we lost Wi-Fi connection. Our digital boarding passes kept disappearing off our phones. A staff person finally printed a paper copy for Richard and we were on our way. Technology is great until it isn't.
We sailed on Holland America's Eurodam. It's smaller than the Royal Caribbean ships we've been on. HAL has a reputation for being a retiree's cruise line so there were not many children on board like we're used to with RC. We liked the laid back atmosphere.
We were on the port side, deck 7; Marions were on starboard, deck 5. Never been so far aft on a ship before; we prefer midship for the stability but it really wasn't that bad in the back. Holland America is enough different from Royal Caribbean that it was almost like a first cruise- we had to learn our way around the ship.
These helpful directions in the carpet helped us get oriented which way to go in those very long hallways more than once. (What you can see here is only 1/3 of the length.)
This was the first time we ever booked a balcony cabin. Most people say you MUST splurge on a balcony for Alaska. I researched it and debated long and hard before we finally took the plunge. I'm still not sold on it. For the price difference, I'm not convinced it was worth it. 🤷 1. The Alaskan views were 360° but what we could see from our balcony was like blinders on a horse- really limited our views; the views up on deck were less restricted and didn't cost extra. 2. Being Alaska, it was often too cold to sit on the balcony very long. The one redeeming factor -in my opinion- was that I could wake up and see what was happening outside without getting dressed. On the other hand, Richard is more sold on the balcony than I was. He'd like to at least try it in the Caribbean where it's not so cold and see if we could get our value out of it.
Ready to sail...
We went up on deck 11 for sail away at 3pm. Bon Voyage!
Good bye, Seattle!
Mt Rainier was visible as we sailed away
Olympic Mountains from Puget Sound
We didn't have to sail very far north until it started getting chilly. It sure wasn't 82° anymore! Or 92° we had left behind in the midwest. We were told by multiple people that the hardest part of an Alaskan cruise is packing. You need coats even though it's 90s back home, raincoats, extra shoes in case one pair gets soaked, etc. So much stuff, but we limit ourselves to 1 suitcase each due to flying in.
At 6pm we went to the first David Jeremiah event- the welcome aboard conference. Our group was 1/3 of the ship's passengers. And the emcee claimed -like Sail & Sing did- that the ship staff like Christian groups like this because we change the whole environment on a ship. 👍
David Jeremiah's son, David Michael- the president of Turning Point Ministries
It's not magic, it's an illusion. With the added bonus of spiritual applications.
Dr David Jeremiah intro speech
Worship music with the Martins
(He is still recovering from a virus that temporarily paralyzed him, but he was able to walk without assistance onto stage.)
Pork Medallions with huckleberry jam & NY striploin steak
We had late seating in the dining room this time, at 7:30pm. It wasn't as bad as we thought it might be, eating that late in the evening. We really enjoyed our [Filipino] waiter, Danny Boy; he took exceptional care with Richard's shellfish allergy. He always brought Richard a menu to order for the next evening, and his food was prepared separately to avoid any cross-contamination.
Alaska Crab Seafood cocktail & French onion soup
-the meats were excellent, not dried out at all!
Mango blueberry crisp & fudge brownie cheesecake
After dinner, at 9pm, we went to Holland America's Welcome Aboard show. My brain was screaming "bedtime!" after that, but we stayed up a bit longer... trying to beat the jetlag. These 3 played Black 7 while I crocheted until my brain felt too foggy. 
It was 50° outside by then. Sailing had been really smooth at first when we were close to land, but once we got out on the Pacific ocean it was rougher so I put motion sickness patches on as a precaution.
to be continued...
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