Fun Aboard the Star Princess

On July 12th we boarded the Star Princess in Seattle with Kevin's siblings, their spouses, and Kev's mom. We enjoyed the plane ride to Seattle sans kids, despite some very loud babies on the plane (it is amazing how crying babies don't bother you when they are not your own).

Smithkirks, Buskirks, Johnsons, and Shari

After making it through all the check points, we got on the ship, went and checked out our staterooms (which were awesome!) and then headed to the nearest buffet for some food.


Our stateroom looked like this, minus the twin beds (I think we had a queen or a king- fortunately!). The ocean view and deck was great. Kevin and I loved the light switches they had right by our head on the headboard (no arguing over who was going to get up to turn off the light!)... except for the time when Kevin turned all the lights on with his head at 4am. We both woke up with a start, very confused!


After a fun emergency drill... (my camera stopped working, so Shauna grabbed some pictures)


we spent the afternoon on deck enjoying the Seattle skyline and watching as the boat pulled away from the dock.


I love Seattle, especially in the summer. The weather was perfect both when we left and when we came back. I could definitely live there in July/August!


After the boat left the port, we roamed around and explored. They had a huge screen over the pool so that you could watch "Movies under the stars" from the deck chairs, pool, or hot tub. They also had an indoor pool and some adult-only pools and hot tubs. They even had one of those jet pools that is like a swimming pool treadmill for swimmers.


Our second day was an entire day "at sea." I woke up easily at 7:30am for a fun step aerobics class with Kevin's mom and several other early risers on the boat. Step aerobics on a moving boat can be a little tricky at times (although pilates during a windstorm later in the week was even harder).

This was one of my favorite rooms on the ship- it was at the very front and had a perfect view of everything when the ship was moving... visiting this lovely fitness place ensured that I could eat lots of cookies and yummy food on the ship without feeling too bad.


We spent our "at sea" day taking naps, playing games on the deck, eating, and getting all dressed up for the formal night. While we were on the deck playing games, the waiters came by with a cart full of warm, recently baked, chocolate chip cookies. It was like a dream come true. They even brought us some hot cocoa. It was fabulous! The perfect way to spend vacation.

On the formal night we got all dressed up and took some cool pictures with the professional photographer (hopefully I'll scan that one in here at some point). We also took our own pictures (see below) and had a nice fancy dinner in the dining room.



After dinner, we went to a show put on by the Star Princess entertainers and then went hot tubbing. We got ourselves nice and relaxed and then started getting ourselves excited for our first stop the next day- Ketchikan, Alaska!