Day 1 - A day at sea

June 8 2026

When you mention to someone that you are taking a cruise, everyone has their own interpretation of that experience.  Some envision lying by the pool, massages at the spa, and endless trips to the buffet.  Others want gambling opportunities and see a cruise as a floating Vegas of sorts with visits to the casino and non-stop bingo games.  Still others are drawn to the duty-free shopping and occasions to dress to impress.  But for Jim and I, the cruise is simply the vehicle by which we are traveling to Alaska.

The first day of our journey was a sailing day – no ports of call, just covering distance to get us to the Alaskan coast.  We’ll cross into US waters about 2:30 in the morning tomorrow.  From our balcony we looked out across the vast ocean. By late morning, we could no longer see any mountains in the distance, but we did briefly see a pod of dolphins. Standing on the balcony, I’m amazed at how quiet it is.  I can barely hear the hum of the engine, but mainly I just hear the ocean as the gentle waves crest.  If I close my eyes, it sounds just like the beach at night when everyone’s gone and all that remains is the sound of the surf.

On board the ship, we familiarized ourselves with the layout of this huge vessel.  We met a nice couple from Illinois and enjoyed talking with them over breakfast.  They are most excited for the Bingo.   After lunch, Jim and I attended some talks by the cruise director concerning the various ports of call and bit of history and context for these excursions.  In between lectures, we ran into our breakfast companions – she had won $10 at bingo but lost half of that in the slot machines.  She was happy to still be $5 up on the day. We opted for an afternoon nap – still not fully recovered from our flight day.

Tonight is a “dressy dinner”.  While some cruises excel at very fancy evening events and formal attire, Alaskan cruises tend to be more casual.  So we brought some moderately dressy clothes. When we went to dinner, we discovered that people were wearing everything from jeans to formal dresses, with the majority being somewhere in the middle with us.