Cruising Newbie

Welcome to Majestic Alaska!

I went on my first cruise in 2009 at the tender age of 24.  It was a summer family vacation.  We were on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas.  The trip was a one week cruise to Alaska plus a couple days for flights to and from Canada.   Being that it was my first cruise, I had no idea what to expect but knew it would be amazing nonetheless.  I was excited for a couple reasons:

  • All you can eat
  • Houston’s summer heat that tries to replicate oven temperatures
  • I was going to Alaska
  • All the sights and sounds (dolphins, whales, and bears, oh my!)
  • All you can eat

As a self proclaimed amateur photographer, I was also excited for other reasons.  It’s not everyday you get to go to a place with amazing scenery just asking to have its picture taken.  That whole geographic area is just so picturesque.  I’m not even talking about the photographic opportunities on excursions.  Needless to say, I was pretty restless a couple days before our trip started.  I just wanted to be there already!

Maybe it was because it was my first time ever being on a cruise ship, but the whole thing was just like a big floating mansion.  I was blown away.  Imagine attaching the top 5 celebrities’ houses together and putting it on water —that’s what the ship was like.  There were indoor/outdoor pools, bars, recreational areas, rock climbing, and miniature golf among other things.  You had personal service almost everywhere you were at all times of the day and night.  For that one week, I was living in a life of luxury.

Although it was a family vacation, I also made some friends whom I still keep in contact with to this day!  Being the oldest of four with a fairly large age gap, I ventured on my own to one of the many bars and ended up making friends with two others who were from New York.  We spent the rest of the week together when we weren’t doing family stuff and actually, a year after this trip I saw them again in New York!

Not only did this trip accomplish the family vacation thing, but it also helped me build relationships with other people and allowed me to see things I’ve never seen before.  I created bonds that will probably last forever and created unforgettable memories with the ones I love.

Click to view some pictures from my trip!

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