StaRed

Yay! I convinced another couple to come with us! Our original party of four has grown again and now we're up to ten! Five couples and we are all dear friends!! My bestest friend and her husband just booked yesterday and lucky enough the room right next door was available and she snagged it. This will be their first cruise and they are so excited!! She much more than he, though. He has issues with water but he's willing to give it a try. Hopefully we won't have to knock him out and carry him on board, but if it comes to that I'm fully prepared to take those measures. I've got a mean right hook.

I just wanted to take a break from cruise-related things to wish my amazing sister, Laurie, a very happy birthday!! Last night Laurie got the greatest present a mom could get...the news that her son's one year post cancer treatment scans came back NED...no evidence of disease...no cancer...ALL CLEAR! Jack is still cancer free!!! Happy birthday to you, Laurie!! You are one amazing mom and sister. Happy NED to Jackers! We love you! What a present you gave your mommy! Happy Friday to all of you, dear readers and Cruise Crazies! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind words and prayers. They worked and will continue to work! I wish you a wonderful Friday!! To continue following Jack and the difference that Laurie is making...visit www.thejackmortonfoundation.org -Stacey (StaRed) The Accidental Cruiser The attached photo was taken of Laurie and Jack celebrating his first NED result.

I literally saw every single hour pass on the hotel alarm clock display. I couldn’t sleep, I was too excited. Too nervous, too anxious, too ohmygoshthisisreallyhappening sort of excited. I finally couldn’t stand it any longer and decided to start getting ready about 6:00 am. Hey, a girl needs her time to get her face on. I have to confess that I changed my outfit twice and my shoes three times. I really wanted to look sophisticated and cruise-y, without looking like the scared-witless newbie that I was. And since we’re all such close friends here, and I feel that I can tell you anything, I may as well also confess that I brought an entire suitcase dedicated to shoes. Just my shoes. Scott’s shoes fit perfectly into his one suitcase, and I was quite proud of myself for condensing my packing list into just three suitcases and one carry-on. Honestly, Scott should be thanking me for making this small miracle happen instead of glowering at me while hauling everything downstairs to the cab. We arrived at the port of Seattle a few minutes before 11:00 am and finally got our first look at the Diamond Princess. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could have prepared me for the sheer size of this ship. My very first impression was, wow. She was so big and so white! Scott and I were excitedly jabbering to each other about which balcony we thought was ours while snapping as many pictures as we could. Even though it was a cloudy and gloomy morning in Seattle, this beautiful ship practically glistened. She was fairly new - only about two years old at the time - but to me, she looked perfect. I have to confess it was love at first sight and I‘m pretty confident that Scott was feeling the same arrow from the cruise cupid. Check in was quick and easy. Even though we had absolutely no idea what we were doing and where we were supposed to go, we were zoomed through all of the lines and agents and walked on board only about thirty minutes after stepping out of the cab. We walked on into the Grand Plaza…what a wow moment. We both just stood there with our mouths open. We could see up floor after floor of marble and steel railings and glass elevators and winding staircases. We kept saying to each other, “This is on a boat???” And yes I realize the correct term is ship, but hey…we’re new here. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring every inch of the ship. She was just beautiful. I kept reminding myself that the little Texas town we lived in has a population of 3,400. Our entire town could fit onto this ship, with room to spare. Despite all of the traveling that we have been fortunate to do together, nothing prepared me for the wow factor this ship gave me. After completing the Muster drill, we decided to head all the way up to the Skywalkers Lounge for sail away. We found two seats right at the window at the area of the lounge that is cantilevered over the side of the ship. It felt as though we were suspended in mid-air…especially since the portion of the floor under my cute-shoe clad feet was see-thru down to the water below. We ordered our drinks and were chatting happily with each other when I noticed that the scenery below was moving. No…we’re the ones moving, not the buildings! I started excitedly babbling, “I can’t even feel it…I can’t even feel it!,” to Scott over and over. I even called my Dad from my cell phone and told him the same amazing phenomenon that I had discovered, “I can’t even feel it!!” We had the following itinerary ahead of us: Sat Jun 6 Seattle, WA 4:00pm Sun Jun 7 At Sea Mon Jun 8 Juneau, AK Noon 10:00pm Tue Jun 9 Skagway, AK 6:00am 8:00pm Wed Jun 10 Tracy Arm (Cruising) 8:00am 1:00pm Thu Jun 11 Ketchikan, AK 6:00am 12:30pm Fri Jun 12 Victoria, Canada 7:00pm 11:59pm Sat Jun 13 Seattle, WA 7:00am In Juneau we planned to catch the bus to Mendenhall Glacier and wander around the town. For Skagway we have a car reserved with Avis and plan to drive the Yukon Highway into Canada and up to Emerald Lake. In Ketchikan we we’re booked with Southeast Sea Kayaks for a sea kayaking excursion. Victoria’s plan was an evening haunted history tour of the entire city. Sitting in the Skywalker Lounge I kept marveling at the lack of movement I felt. I felt so cruise-y and non-newbie. Why on earth was I so nervous about getting seasick? Pft...amateur. I had nothing to worry about. But just to be safe I had a maternity sucker tucked into the pocket of my linen jacket. And a spare meclizine pill. And a few pieces of ginger candy. But I had nothing to worry about. To be cont'd...

I'm guessing your disembark group sticker fell off? Of course you don't know this or not, I'm just guessing. The ones that we always get the night before departure are never sticky enough. We actually had two fall off after our previous cruise and had to retrieve the bags from a room at the port that was slap-full of sticker-less bags. Also, with bags all looking so similar to each other, it very well may have been innocently taken by another cruiser, and not noticed until they returned home to their final destination. Sadly some people just aren't honest, and had they found the goodies inside, they wouldn't have returned it. I do know that we had a black Samsonite pulled to the side with our luggage, and didn't realize it wasn't ours until we came across ours in the baggage area. Oops!! The bags were totally identical! After that we started with the bright colored luggage tags tied to the handles. I'm sorry you lost your purchases! How terrible!

The one you saw was the debut photo. There will be a new one added every day, so check back! It's like a little cruise on your computer, every day!!

Thanks guys! The photos are actually credited to my awesome Dad and to my husband, Scott. Both are avid photographers and are rarely without their Nikons and approximately seventeen thousand lenses at one time! I'm very excited to share their amazing photographs.

“Boarding has now begun for all first class passengers heading to Seattle.” I looked again at my boarding pass which clearly still read, “Coach.” I honestly kept expecting to see it magically change to “First Class,” but alas, it never did. Oh well, a girl can dream. I’d never imagined myself taking a cruise, much less planning for one. Yet here I was, waiting for our group to be called to board the flight which will take us to Seattle. The past six weeks have been a blur. Between the researching, the Google-ing, booking excursions, buying two different “for Dummies” books and four cruising the Inside Passage books, and then reading said books, shopping…sigh. And that was on top of all of the preparing and stressing that went in to leaving our business and our two year old son for 8 days. Shockingly, I actually feel quite prepared, especially since I packed according to a really great list I found online…but I still don’t understand why we need a string of Christmas lights or a roll of duct tape. At our travel agents urging, we decided to fly into Seattle the day prior to our cruise, as we had never visited the city before. I was looking forward to strolling around Pike Market, window shopping downtown, finding a great local place to eat dinner…pretty much do anything and everything to distract me from my mounting anxiety of actually boarding the ship. Double checking for what must have been the hundredth time, I made sure my bottle of meclizine was safely inside my carry-on bag. Of course it was there, snuggled beside my candied ginger, my Noro virus-fighting hand sanitizer, and these cute little lollipops I found that advertise banishing morning sickness for pregnant women. Hey, I figured if they can tackle morning sickness, they can tackle the looming seasickness that I was positive was going to cripple me. Of course my husband thought this was all ridiculous and completely unnecessary, but inside I know I’ll delight in hearing his apology when he begs me for a cherry maternity sucker. We landed in Seattle right on time and quickly catch the shuttle to our hotel. After dropping our bags and getting checked in, it was off to explore Seattle. We spent a gloriously sunny day wandering Pike Market and doing all things tourists visiting Seattle do, but for dinner we wanted to try something more local. We asked the hotel for a suggestion and we were told very enthusiastically to eat at Elliott’s. I can say that Elliott’s was quite possibly one of the best meals we’ve ever enjoyed. Everything about that restaurant was outstanding. The only disappointment was having to push my plate of fresh salmon away because I just couldn’t eat any more. Riding quietly in the back of the cab next to the hunky hubster, I realized that the butterflies that were flying around weren’t due to eating entirely too much crab fondue, they were from excitement. This is really happening, ya‘ll!! Tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow we are sailing to Alaska! I’M sailing to ALASKA!!! We plan to arrive at the port around 11 in the morning and I’m really looking forward to my first glimpse of the Diamond Princess. Will she look as enormous as I think she will? Am I still having my initial worries of boredom, of feeling trapped, of certain and crippling seasickness, of how in the world I’ll swim in freezing water after the ships hull bashes into an iceberg? Maybe a tiny bit. I mean, hey, it’s happened before. But honestly, I really am getting excited. I believe my anxiety has finally flown out the port hole. Who’d have thought? Tomorrow…we’re going on a cruise, baby! To be cont'd...

Well the rumors were confirmed today! RCI released 2013/2014 winter Caribbean sailings and they show the Navigator will be sailing out of Galveston starting December 23, 2013 through the regular season until April 2014. This new schedule brings the Navigator to Galveston after a 22 day scheduled "cruise to nowhere", aka drydock, and one of my personal favorites, the Serenade, will be replacing Navigator out of NOLA starting December 12, 2013. This Serenade NOLA cruise is a very special 9 day cruise with stops at the ports of Key West, Nassau, Labadee, and Ocho Rios! Wow...with prices starting in the low $600's...this is something I just may not be able to pass up! Sadly for Galveston...no new itineraries. Everyone give a communal "booooooooo". Where will the Mariner go? Perhaps replace the Monarch? Inquiring minds want to know!!

Hi there! I found this on the RCI website. It appears it's still 2! I agree with Jackie...three is a bit much! Hope you have a great time! http://www.royalcaribbean.com/beforeyouboard/whatToKnow/whatToPack.do

Thanks everyone for the super kind words of encouragement! I can't tell you how much they mean to me. Now...if you listen closely...you'll hear a faint whooshing noise. It's the sound of my head swelling from all of your compliments. ;-) Again, and in all seriousness, thank you! I would like all of your comments, but apparently I reached my quota of positive votes for the day, according to the error message I received. Ha!!

We also love that game! My husband has tried to get me to volunteer every cruise but I'm too chicken. Even though I know we'd mop the floor with those other couples! We also love anything to do with music, whether it be shows or bands or performers. Our particular favorite is Piano Man Phil Anderson in the Schooner Bar on the Voyager and now the Mariner. He's so fun and so talented. We've been lucky enough to sail with him as the entertainer our two previous cruises. We've never done Quest, usually forget until after it starts, but we are dying to see it.