Seattle take 2–Sunday

We checked out of the hotel before 9am on Sunday, walked the 2 mins to the bus stop and set off for town with our luggage – destination the Space Needle.

 

We checked, before we left home, that we could leave our luggage securely at the Space Needle while we went up. Fortunately we had booked tickets before we left so we didn’t have to queue to buy, only had to wait in line for the lift. Just before we got into the life, a photographer took a photo of each party and we were told that we could call up our photo from one of many kiosks at the top and choose a background and email it to ourselves. With the commercial money making opportunity, we were surprised that this was free. The lift was inside the ground building, we piled in and the lift took off quickly. Suddenly there were gasps from everyone as we shot out of the building into open space on the outside of the needle. Amazing speed and views. We got to the top very quickly. The views from the outside deck were just fantastic. We could walk right around for 360 degree views of Seattle and surroundings.

 

 

 

How ‘bout our selfie below left. Below right was the view from our coffee table. Being determined not to have a Starbucks coffee, we had no choice here. That is what they served, but the view was too good not to share it with coffee. We had time to sit and enjoy the view and drink the reasonable coffee. We were due on the boat in about an hour, not long enough to sight see anywhere considering we had our bags with us

The new cruise terminal was easy to see from the needle and we were a bit shocked when we realised that the huge boat in the above right photo was the one we were about to board. Takes about 3000 people. We hadn’t really thought about the size, but I think we were expecting something smaller.

The check in queues were as long as at airports, but it was a reasonably efficient process. Once we found our state room” (they are all called state rooms), we found the main (huge) casual eating area (food served all day) with a huge buffet selection of nice food and had lunch. The ship had a practice emergency muster that we all had to attend then it was off to sea.

Back to the cabin to unpack once our bags had been delivered and then a bit of ship exploration. Then there was an art display for an auction the following day. What a disappointment, they offered a glass of champagne which we felt we had to accept. Paintings were pretty ordinary, but we did have a look. We felt that we had to to justify the champagne. From there to the Michelangelo restaurant for a very classy dinner, salmon apertiser followed by crawfish main for R and baked Alaskan cod for G. Might have had some wine also.

There are many performances in the ship’s theatre and we went to one the same night – but of live music, a mentalist and a bit of a rundown on stuff going on, probably intended to be an intro to what will follow.

Bed was very welcome.