At last the day has arrived! No, this is not the day when we embark the Grand Princess in San Francisco bound for Alaskan waters, nor is it time to pack our bags and fly to the “City by the Bay” for three days of pre-cruise sight-seeing. But it is a time of equally enthusiastic celebration. It’s the day we do the “document dance”, also sometimes referred to as the "happy dance"!

Confused? Just ask any avid cruiser who has ever been part of an on-line cruise community. The “document dance” is one of those idiosyncrasies found on cruise forums and blogs and a term fondly used by cruise fanatics everywhere to describe the joy one gets from knowing their cruise documents are ready for processing.

These days, agents or cruise lines seldom mail or hand-deliver your cruise documents. Rather, documents now come in the form of E-docs to be downloaded and printed in the comfort of your own home. Whether my documents come in paper form or cyber form makes no difference to me. I can dance either way!

Today, we received a personal email from Captain Lawes, our fearless skipper who will guide us along on our journey ship through Alaska’s inside passage to Glacier Bay. The fact that every other soon-to-be guest received the exact same captain’s message wasn’t going to burst my bubble, either. I immediately clicked on the attached link, and there was the commander’s smiling and welcoming face bidding greetings from the bridge of the Grand Princess. With excitement beyond anyone’s comprehension, I immediately went to that wonderful place called “My Princess” at Princess.com and clicked on the “Cruise Personalizer” where my booking summary was prominently displayed in all its wonderful glory.

As my eyes glazed over and drifted around the page to be sure that everything was in perfect order – that all forms were completed (check√), “Whale Watch & Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari” excursion properly booked (check√), cabin selection (check√), dining choice (check√), etcetera…etcetera, my eyes stopped and stared at a link with just two precious words: “Boarding Pass”. This could only mean one thing – my cruise documents were ready to print! Sure enough, I clicked on the link, and there they were – those phrases that every cruiser longs for - “Print Boarding Pass, Print Luggage Tag” – indicating that our cruise is no longer a distant date on a calendar and, in fact, is just eight weeks away. Hallelujah! Start the music and let the document dancing commence!

As we still have 60 days to go before our cruise, I have not yet actually printed the documents, but just knowing they are there makes me happy.

Now – on to the packing list!

Photo Credit: alwaysbelieveblog.com