Day 1: How To Board Your Alaska Cruise

Before your Arrival Time

We were doing the 7 Night Alaska Glacier Cruise departing from Seattle, Washington, and we had arrived the day before from New York City. We stayed in MarQueen Hotel, not too far from both Downtown Seattle and the cruise terminal.

My experience with cruises was limited but decent. I had been to a Disney Cruise and a Royal Caribbean cruise, both to the Bahamas, but only lasting 3 nights. This time I was departing to a completely different destination, from the warm Seattle to the cold Alaska, from a different port, shared with other lines, and for 7 days, my personal record in terms of duration. All this just made me more excited of what I was going to live in the next 7 days, and also, on a bigger cruise, Ovation of the Seas, a Quantum Class ship which was one of the biggest one in the world at some time.

Our arrival time was 10:30 AM- 11:00 AM. which we picked during check in, 45 days in advance. I would recommend you to do this as soon as you can, so you can have a more smooth embarkation process.

We made to the closest Starbucks, and it was full of other tourists also going to Alaska. There were 2 cruises going to the 49th State that day from Seattle, the other one being the Celebrity Solstice.

Our next meal was probably going to be on the cruise.

At the Cruise Terminal

Around 9:00 AM we checked out from the hotel, tagged our bags with the printed Royal Caribbean tags and called and Uber. A few minutes later we were getting to the cruise terminal. And there it was, the Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas. It looked huge from the car.

Even though we were in one of the first groups to arrive, the Uber was still very much in some kind of traffic until it was able to drop off us at the designated App Based Rideshare spot. A week later I was going to be in the same place again. The port was shared like mentioned before by two different cruise lines, and the signs and info were HORRIBLE, so be ready to be lost. We asked a couple of people on safety vests where should we go, and they told us to either wait for a shuttle to the cruise, or just walk to the ship.

We decided just to walk. The shuttle was taking too long, and did not want to miss my Arrival Time. The same thing would happen on the disembarkation day. The Ovation of the Seas was docked to the left, so on the way there, we saw a little booth with a luggage collection sign, so we dropped off our tagged suitcases and just kept our backpacks and in the case of my mom, her purse. We had in them: passports, water, documents, printed reservations, and swimsuits in case we wanted to use the pools after getting on the ship.

After several minutes, we finally made into the cruise terminal, and the signs and info were a bit better in this area with plenty of people telling you where to go. After checking in, we waited for a bit to be called. In this area, there were bathrooms, and a water fountain. Guests were called by Arrival Time and type of Stateroom. After 10:45 AM they finally called our group and we headed in among this mess of a crowd.

Muster Drill and Safety Videos

Compared to the Disney Cruise Line ships, we had an unceremonious entrance into the ship and quickly we got into the elevators looking for the 4th deck where the Guests Services is located.

It was Friday, May 26th 2023. At the guests services there was literally no line, and took advantage of this to request a reservation for the North Star. There is a paid version called Extended North Start where the device goes outside of the cruise. We picked the free one for in a couple of hours today. You could make reservations for the only bookable show of this cruise: Spectra’s Cabaret. We also had the Muster Drill and Safety video on deck 4. Everything quick.

Exploring the Cruiseship

We got tho the 14th deck where the pools are located and it was a paradise for whoever wanted to get wet on day 1. Nobody was on the pools.

The staterooms were not going to be ready until 2:00 PM, and the luggage was not going to be available until after the cruise departed. So in the meantime we explored the cruise. Even though the waiting room in the cruise terminal was packed, the cruise still looked very empty. The view from the cruise of the city was incomparable.

And talking about guests, there they were coming through the mess of the cruise port. It is crazy to me how all the suitcases will arrive to their respective rooms in a few hours.

And the snow capped mountains surrounding Seattle were a sneak peak of all the ones we were going to see during this trip. We were actually going to see SNOW!

We finally rested for a bit in the Solarium, located in the 14th deck and for adults only. We used our non-alcoholic beverage package to get some fruity daiquiris and relax by the pools but not using the pools.

We were just happy for the adventure that was about to start. Around noon we were hungry again and since we had the Solarium Bistro next to us, we checked it out and it was actually good.

I would actually recommend Solarium Bistro instead of The Windjammer Marketplace if you want a more homogeneous menu with more healthy types of food.

Checking the Stateroom

Around 1:15 PM, the announced on the speaker that the rooms were ready. We quickly went to Deck 12, room 530, and found the keys on top of the room number.

The room looked more spacious than I expected but still a cruise size room.

We upgraded to a balcony stateroom, and I was hoping that we would have beautiful views of the inside passage and other places on the way to Alaska and Victoria in Canada.

Or at least the view into Seattle was beautiful. We liked the room a lot. Compared to Freedom of the Seas, where we stayed before, there was ton of storage in this stateroom. Now we just needed our suitcases.

Not long after we arrived to the room, the stateroom host greeted us and gave us some advice for the next few days, she was definitely one of the best parts of this trip.

The North Star

We had the North Start reservation at 2:00 PM and we rushed upstairs to check in for the experience.

I thought it would be more scary, but the whole experience was smooth and slow. We got nice views of the city and its surroundings.

Kinda looks similar to the cable car in Cape Town lol

The Celebrity Solstice was also getting ready to depart soon to Alaska, we would see them again a few times during our itinerary.

And Ovation of the Seas just looks so majestic from up here. The pools were already being occupied by some people, but the boarding process continued.

We got some ice cream after the North Star and continued walking the beautiful and gigantic ship.

Leaving Seattle and Dinner

Departure time was 4:00 PM and not long after this time, we left Seattle. The ship slowly moved out of this bay.

And the Celebrity Solstice was also leaving. Next stop: Juneau.

We did more exploring, before going back to the stateroom and try to find our suitcases on the hallways. They were far away from the door, but we got them and brought them in. Thankfully they were all intact lol.

For dinner, we had chosen My Time Dining but with a twist: We did reservations for specific times. This allowed us to come at our desided time every night and find a table quickly. The service was impecable.

Showtime and Goodnight!

After a nice dinner in the Main Dining Room, we went back to the stateroom to get ready for the first entertaining offering of this cruise: The Two70º Experience with your Cruise Director Brian. It basically showed the audiovisual technology developed for this kind of cruise.

The show was interesting but it was just a taste of the followinf nights offerings. But if you want to see what happens on Day 2 of this cruise, just click here.