Alaska Summer Solstice Cruise - Seattle

Seattle Day 1

Friday, June 7, 2024

After a good night’s sleep, we woke up feeling rested and ready to go.  It was a beautiful sunny day outside with clear blue skies.  We took our time getting ready and by mid-morning we were ready to get out and see Seattle.

This is the view of the bay from our room.  You can see Pike Place Market below us.  Since it was a corner room we also had a view of the Seattle downtown and the bay looking south.

Since our hotel is right next to Pike Place Market, that was the first place we went.  Pike Place Market was opened in 1907 and is one of the oldest continuing operating farmers' markets in the country and has an interesting history.  Today it is a large sprawling market still selling fish and fruits and vegetables but is also a big tourist destination selling all sorts of things.  The market has been made famous by the iconic throwing of the fish that is often seen on TV shows.  There are also lots of restaurants and food stalls.

Pike Place Market was a short walk from the hotel.

Later in the day we bought some delicious apple cider from the vendor under the red awning.

Today the market was full of tourists and quite crowded.  We walked around for a while and then decided to find a place to eat lunch.  Every place in the market we thought looked good for lunch was very crowded, so we decided to look around the surrounding area.  We found the Pike Place Bar and Grill in a nearby building and had a good lunch there.

Before leaving home, we had booked a Seattle harbor cruise scheduled for 2:30.  Rather than go back to the hotel we decided that it was such a nice day we would just walk down to the pier where the cruise started and wait around there.  It’s an easy half mile walk except that it is a steep drop and we had to walk down many flights of stairs to get there.  It’s not too bad going down, but we weren’t looking forward to going back up.

After getting down the stairs, we had a pleasant walk along the waterfront passing the aquarium and the large Ferris Wheel.  We found pier 54 and a nice bench to relax on until our tour started.

The time passed by pretty quickly until it was time to check in for our cruise.  The cruise company is Argosy Cruises and they run several types of harbor tours all day.  We spent a few dollars extra and bought “First Board” tickets that guarantee that you are in the first group to board.  Since the boat holds up to 500 people, that seemed pretty important to us.  When we checked in, they led us to an area with comfortable seating to wait until boarding time.  It really didn’t cost that much more to get the “First Board” ticket, but there were only about twenty of us there, while there was a very long line of people waiting to get on so I can’t understand why more people didn’t opt to pay to board early.

When we boarded, we headed up to the top deck and found some great seats at the rear of the boat.  The cruise was great, and we sailed along the waterfront, over towards nearby Bainbridge Island and through the industrial part of the port before returning to where we started.  The tour lasted an hour and was very enjoyable as it was warm and sunny on the boat with very little wind.  If you are visiting Seattle and want to take a harbor cruise, check out Argosy Cruises.

Boarding the boat for our cruise.

The Bainbridge Island ferry terminal was right next to the Argosy Cruise pier.

The Seattle Aquarium

There was a cruise terminal right downtown, but unfortunately, it was not the one we would be leaving from.

The iconic Seattle Space Needle.

These are the cruise terminals we will be leaving from, quite a ways from downtown.  Our ship will be docked on the left side.  In looking at the Seattle port schedule, it looks like almost every day in the summer there are three ships in port.

Mount Rainier towering over the city in the background.  The white curved structure to the left is Lumen Field, the home of the Seattle Seahawks football team.  To the right of that is T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners baseball team.

After the cruise, we decided it was time to return to the hotel, but we sure weren’t looking forward to climbing those stairs to get back to the top.  We thought that surely there must be an elevator somewhere so we kept walking past the stairs and came to the four-story parking structure for Pike’s Place Market and figured there must be an elevator there and sure enough there was.  Several other people had the same idea, and the elevator took us right up to the main floor of the market.  We walked through the market and right across the street was our hotel.

Before returning to the hotel, we noticed people lined up at a stand selling apple cider with various flavors.  We decided to try it, and the way it worked was you paid for a cup and then it was self-serve where you could sample each different type and choose the one you wanted.  Val chose peach apple cider, and I chose strawberry.  The difference in the flavors was subtle and they were both very good.

Val noticed a Beecher’s Cheese shop across the street and had the idea of buying some cheese and crackers and having that for dinner tonight.  That seemed like a great idea to me, so we got our cheese and crackers and added some salami and made our way back to the hotel.

By this time it is early evening so we spent our evening sitting in front of our window, watching the sun go down, boats and ferries coming and going, and enjoying our cheese, salami and crackers while drinking our delicious apple juice.  It had been a long, but very nice day.

Seattle Day 2

Saturday, June 8, 2024

This is our last day in Seattle before embarking on our cruise tomorrow.  Yesterday we noticed the Café Campagne, located just outside the hotel, and decided to have brunch there.  They were quite busy but we were able to get reservations for 10:30.  Once again, it was a beautiful sunny day in Seattle and we were lucky enough to be seated outside where we could watch the world go by as we ate our very delicious brunch.

After eating we decided to go to the Seattle Center where, among other things, the Seattle Space Needle is located.  We asked at the hotel about the best way to get there and they said there was a monorail station just a few blocks away, so we decided to do that.  The Seattle Center and the Space Needle were built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, and the monorail was built at the same time.  The monorail has only two stations; one downtown where we got on and the other end is the Seattle Center.

It was very easy to buy tickets and catch the monorail and we were soon at the Seattle Center.  Our main point of interest there was the Chihuly Garden and Glass Center and when we went to buy tickets for that, they offered a combination ticket for the Space Needle and Chihuly Garden, so we opted for that.

Chihuly Garden and Glass is a museum in the Seattle Center showcasing the studio glass of Dale Chihuly.  Dale Chihuly is an American glass artist and entrepreneur. He is well known in the field of blown glass.  Although Val knew of him, I had never heard of him and didn’t know what to expect.  These were only a small part of his  works, but they were truly beautiful pieces of art.  It was truly and amazing exhibit and it was hard to believe that all the glass was blown by hand.

After the Chihuly exhibit we had some time before our scheduled Space Needle visit, so we got some drinks, found a place to sit, and relaxed for a while.  The Seattle Center is a big park with many different things to do as well as many places to get food and drink.  There was a group of Ecuadorian musicians playing music from the Andes that Val and I both really like, so we spent some time listening to them.

It was finally time for our 2:00 visit to the Space Needle and we found a long line waiting to get to the top.  It was well organized, and kept moving, but we did spend a long time in line waiting to get to the elevators.  The views from the top are amazing, but unfortunately it had clouded up in the afternoon and was a bit hazy so it wasn’t nearly as spectacular as it would have been this morning or yesterday.

You can see a cruise ship docked in the distance.  That is very close to our hotel.

Here's where we will be starting our cruise, quite a bit further away.

 

Although the views were great, Val and I both thought if we had known how long the wait was, we wouldn’t have done it.  After leaving the Space Needle, we got back on the monorail and returned to downtown and walked back to the hotel.  We had been on our feet for a long time, so it felt good on these old legs and feet to get back to the hotel and relax for a while.

Around six we started to feel hungry and decided to go out and get something to eat.  Val had read about a place called the Pike Fish Bar that is nearby and got good reviews, so we decided to give it a try.  We started out with a shared cup of crab chowder and then we both had fish and chips and they were both quite good.  The fish had a panko breading that I wasn’t used to, but I ended up liking it.  It was a little crisper than I cared for, but it tasted good.

There was a bakery near the Pike Fish Bar so we stopped by there after dinner to get some pastries to eat in the morning before leaving, and we couldn’t resist getting a brownie to share for dessert when we got back to the hotel.

We spent the rest of our evening getting things ready and packed for tomorrow and then relaxed until it was time for bed.  Tomorrow is the big day and get on the ship and leave for Alaska.

Alaska Summer Solstice Cruise - The Journey Begins

Coast Starlight Day 1

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Our journey begins today when we board the Amtrak Coast Starlight for a 30 hour train trip from San Luis Obispo to Seattle.  The train isn’t scheduled to leave until 3:05 PM so on this trip we didn't have to get up early, but we couldn’t sleep in too late, as we had a lot of last minute things to take care of.  It was a busier morning than expected, as I kept remembering last minute things I had to do around the house before we left.

We did have a bit of a mix-up though, late in the morning Val said I’d better get ready as her friend Marsha would be here any minute to take us to the train station.  I was startled as I still had to take a shower and put on my traveling clothes.  I checked the time, and it was just before noon, and we weren’t supposed to leave until one; it turned out Val and I had a miscommunication and Val had given Marsha the wrong time.  Val said she would call her, but just at that moment there was a knock at the door and there was Marsha.  We quickly apologized and Marsha said she would run some errands and come back in an hour.

An hour later we were already to go, Marsha came back, and we were on our way to San Luis Obispo and the train station.  As a thank you to Marsha, we treated her to lunch at the Bon Temps CreoleCafé, a Cajun restaurant near the train station.  After lunch it was just about time for the train to arrive so we headed over to the train station only to find out the train would be twenty minutes late.  Marsha wanted to stay until we left, so we sat and chatted until the train arrived. It finally arrived and Val and I said our goodbyes to Marsha and boarded the train.  Thank you so much Marsh for taking us to the train station and waiting with us in the depot.

This is the first train trip for Val and I in quite a few years and we were looking forward to it.  We were pretty excited as we started on our almost 30 hour journey to Seattle.  We settled in and watched the scenery roll by until it was time for dinner.  We are traveling in a bedroom compartment, so our meals are all included with our tickets.

Since dining car seating is limited and the tables are for four, you usually end up sharing a table with someone else.  We have met some very nice and interesting people over the years on our train trips and tonight was no exception.  We were seated across from two very nice young men who were traveling from Orange County to San Jose to visit some friends.  We had a great conversation with them and along the way found out that one of them was the son of Mike Espy, the Secretary of Agriculture during the Clinton Administration.  He had some great stories to tell, but actually hadn’t even been born yet when his dad was in Washington.  The conversation and food were both great and we very much enjoyed our dinner.  After dinner we read for a bit and then had the attendant make up our beds.  Bedtime usually comes early on the train, and we were in bed before ten.  It was a great start to the first day of our trip.

Coast Starlight Day 2

Thursday, June 6, 2024

It’s usually hard to get a good night’s sleep on the train, but we both slept pretty well last night.  Sleeping on the train is a little like camping out, it’s doable but there are some inconveniences and getting up in the morning is one of them.  When both upper and lower beds are down, there is not much room left to move around so getting up and dressed is a little challenging.  Val and I have worked out a routine where, since she sleeps in the lower berth, she gets up first and gets ready and then I get up and we put the lower berth up and I have room to get ready while she can sit on the couch which is the bed when pulled out.

That done, we decided to go the dining car and get some breakfast.  Neither Val nor I are big eaters right after we get up, so we opted for a light continental breakfast that turned out to be quite good.  The fresh fruit and croissants were excellent.  After breakfast we returned to our room and spent the morning mostly watching the world go by from our window.  It seems like that would be pretty boring, but it’s constantly changing and for me, interesting to watch.  I will say though, that the constant motions of the train made us a bit drowsy, and we would doze off occasionally.

Last night’s Coast Starlight got into Seattle at five in the morning, nine hours late!  I was worried about that happening to us, so I was tracking our arrival times at the various stops on the Amtrak app as we rolled along, and we seemed to be always running 15 to 25 minutes late.  That’s not bad, but I sure didn’t want it to be worse, I really didn’t want to arrive in the middle of the night and then make our way to our hotel.

We decided to have a late lunch and made a reservation for 2:00 in the dining car.  Train food is not gourmet, but we find it quite good considering it’s being prepared in a small train kitchen.  Today we were seated across from a couple from Austria.  They had been traveling across Canada and now were headed down to Los Angeles.  We really enjoyed talking to them and hearing about there travels and home in Austria.

After our lunch, we spent the afternoon doing much the same as we had done in the morning.  As we neared Seattle, we got our things together and prepared to get off the train.  We arrived in Seattle just before eight in the evening, happily only four minutes late.

We got off the train and headed for the terminal, but just before we got there Val stopped and said "where’s my phone!?".  She couldn’t find it, so I ran back to our car on the train and thankfully found it on the couch in our room.  In the rush to get things together and off the train she had left it laying there.  Disaster averted, we made our way through the station, found a cab and made it to our hotel twenty minutes later.

We had decided to treat ourselves to a nice hotel for our three-night stay in Seattle and picked one called the Inn at the Market, that is right at the Pike Place Market.  We also booked a water view room, so our hopes were high, but often what is advertised is not what it actually is, but this time we hit the jackpot.  We had a corner room on the top floor and when we walked into the room the first thing we saw was floor-to-ceiling windows with a great view of Elliot Bay and the Seattle Harbor and skyline.  The sun was going down and we watched a nice sunset as we settled in.  We were both quite tired, so it wasn’t long before we called it a night.

Alaska Summer Solstice Cruise - Time to Get Away

Tuesday, June 4 , 2024

This trip has been a long time coming.  Back in November of 2022, while on the Grand Africa Cruise, we started hearing people talking about an Alaskan Cruise with a new itinerary.  We checked with the Future Cruise Consultants on board and sure enough, the 28-day Alaska Arctic Circle Summer Solstice Cruise had just been announced and the inaugural sailing would be on June 9^th of 2024.  It was over a year and a half away, but we immediately signed up and finally, tomorrow we’ll be leaving for Seattle where we’ll board the Holland America Westerdam ship for the start of our cruise.

As the cruise name suggests, we will be crossing the Arctic Circle on the day of the Summer Solstice

We are taking the Amtrak Coast Starlight to Seattle and spending a couple of days there before the start of the cruise.  We have passed through Seattle many times on our travels, but never spent any time seeing the city, so we thought we’d take this opportunity to do so.   

The train doesn’t leave until mid-afternoon so at least we don’t have to get up in the middle of the night tomorrow.  Val’s friend Marsha has volunteered to take us to the train station, and she will also be taking care of our house while we are gone.  Thanks so much, Marsha!

The first part of this year has been a pretty rough one for Val and I, so we are really looking forward to getting away and clearing our heads.  Val’s sister Vicki had knee replacement surgery near the end of January, so we offered to let her stay with us until she recovered enough to return to her own home.  The surgery went well, and she was recovering nicely when she started having severe back pain unrelated to the knee surgery.

Her surgeon suggested we take her to the emergency room, which we did.  They couldn’t find anything that was specifically causing the back pain, so they kept her overnight for observation.  She woke up not feeling well and went downhill from there as she had gone into septic shock.  She deteriorated quickly and by evening she had passed away.  It was a complete shock to Val and I and we couldn’t believe how quickly things had turned.  Val and her sister were very close, and the grief was overwhelming.

Since Val is the administrator for Vicki's etate we have spent the last four months honoring her final wishes, emptying her house, selling, donating and disposing of all her belongings as well as getting her house ready for sale.  It was finally listed for sale a couple of weeks ago and we finally had time to catch our breaths and focus on getting ready for the cruise.

This was rather lengthy and personal, but I wanted to add a little context to this cruise.  We are really looking forward to getting away, but are doing so with heavy hearts.  Hopefully this cruise will be a needed distraction, particularly for Val.

As usual, when you read this the cruise will be over and we will be home.  I will be writing the blog every day; I just won’t be publishing it.