Alaska Holiday part 1(Seattle)

I’ve just returned to work having been out of the office for 20 days. Not away on holiday for 20 days but still nearly 3 weeks off work feels like I’ve been away forever. I started my adventure at Heathrow flying with Virgin Atlantic to Seattle what would be the first of 4 U.S Airports in one trip. Premium Economy it was to Seattle. A nice comfortable flight on one of their Dreamliners. Arrived nice and early local time, so we had our transfer to our hotel and checked in. An Uber taxi to Downtown and first stop was the Space needle. A beautiful sunny day, couldn’t have been better.

As you can see once at the top it’s a long way down.

If you’ve been to Seattle before you’ll know it’s famous not just for the Boathouse from the Movie “Sleepless in Seattle” but also for the Space Needle, the Pike Market and of course the very first Starbucks was here back in 1912

We arrived on a weekday and apparently the market is always busy. Not just with tourist as the locals shop here all the time. I’d definitely recommend that you visit this if going to Seattle. I saw amazing displays of fresh flowers as well as lots of fish as you may expect.

The original Starbucks is always busy so if you want a coffee from this famous place be prepared to wait as the Que is always out the door. I like a coffee and I don’t mind Starbucks but to Que outside, I think i’d just buy elsewhere. It’s amazing how many people wait though. Probably more so being tourists as it’s the first ever Starbucks as I can’t imagine a local on a Monday morning off to work doing so.

After a couple of hours in this beautiful city and an evening meal in the Hard Rock Hotel we headed back to our hotel for just the one night’s stay as we were boarding the Explorer of the Seas the following morning.

The cruise port in Seattle was busy, the Explorer of the seas wasn’t the only ship boarding passengers which made it busier. I think the check in was a little chaos. Nothing to do with Royal Caribbean but just the people outside who didn’t know how to Que manage.

We were lucky enough being a Suite Guest with priority boarding and pretty much straight to our cabin after a little bite to eat for lunch.

Our Grand Suite was nice as expected. Spacious and with a separate living area and a large bathroom, it really does make all the difference.

Large living area with a bar and sofa bed should you need it.

Large bed with plenty of storage space and you can draw a curtain to separate the living room. The bedroom also has a door leading to the balcony too and not just access from the living area.

A large bathroom with two sinks, bath and a shower and plenty of towels and storage space. Again, can make all the difference from just the normal smaller bathrooms. I could get use to the Suite life.

Look out for my next blog with more on the cruise and ports of call in Alaska. It was an amazing trip and I have some great photo’s I can’t wait to share with you. Check back in a couple of weeks.