ALASKA.........!!!!!

For all of you that know my amazing husband Dan (yes I said it, the adjective may differ by the day) you know his job keeps him on the move so when I say "honey let's go somewhere" he looks at me like I'm crazy "another hotel room another restaurant".....that sort of thing.

To my amazement at the beginning of this year he said "you know if I go on another cruise I'd like it to be Alaska..."  took me all of 5 seconds to whip out my computer and start the part of traveling I love the most which is PLANNING.   Since I had heard but not experienced the new "Modern Luxury" that is Celebrity Cruise Line, a line that goes to over 72 Countries, has over 250 ports of call, it's a foodie paradise, plush accommodations, Canyon Ranch Spa, The Lawn Club, scented bath products, aromatherapy, ......oh sorry I just get so thrilled and excited when I think of them I got a little carried away.

I decided on the alluring Celebrity Solstice cruising a 7 night Alaska Tracy Arm Fjord Cruise.  Now I know a little of geography but a real life Fjord? That long narrow inlet with steep cliffs created by glacial erosion.  Not in a ton of years did I think I'd ever see one, this was the Alaska adventure for us I just knew it.  My heart was set on it and I began telling Dan all the fun things we would do and see.  We decided to fly to Seattle the day prior to our cruise (August 29th thru September 5th) and have a nice leisurely dinner, a good night sleep and take our time the next morning boarding the ship.

Celebrity made our boarding process very easy by giving us a letter of explanation and direction with timing to arrive based on the stateroom we had chosen.  Our time was 11:30am (but of course you can check in earlier or later you just may have to stand in line a tad) and true to their word we breezed through.

A couple of tips here, we checked our Passports to make sure we were not within 6 months of the expiration date when we decided on this cruise.  I would recommend everyone that wants to take a cruise apply for a passport, it's simple and a form of identification cruise lines request.  I completed my Celebrity Online check-in an filled out our embarkation forms a few days after making our reservation and I read every piece of information Celebrity put on their website to familiarize myself with their procedures, look at shore excursions and deck plans, found our room location, etc.

After showing our Express Pass and our passports (along with our drivers license as a second form of Photo ID) they took our photo, handed us our Sea Card (which acts as your stateroom key as well as onboard charge card) and showed us the way to the ship complete with big smiles and lots of "welcome aboard" wishes.

Our Departure was at 5:00pm and our stateroom was not ready so we hit up the OceanView Cafe for an early lunch sample which was delicious.  We then looked for the solarium, theater, casino, etc basically becoming familiar with the stairs and elevators we would use constantly on our wonderful 7 Night voyage.

I do know though that my love for travel radiates from me so that I tend to unaffectedly go on for - freakin' -ever.  At this point I will stop  my Part I.  I have a bountiful amount of news to share with you, photos to show you, information on daily activities the ship offers so I'll continue with part II - our stateroom and first day at sea tomorrow.