Alaska: Final Thoughts...

At the end of the cruise, I had a few final thoughts--may as well share them here for the record. I hope you've enjoyed reading about our awesome experience!

From our deck to the dining room was 70 steps, to the cafeteria 120 and the top deck 138, and we didn’t use the elevators once the entire time we were on board. I wonder how many steps we climbed!

The service was exceptional—luggage delivered to the room within an hour of our being on board, spotless rooms with really friendly crew, amazing service in the dining room, and any concerns immediately addressed.

My favorite time of day to return to the room was in the evening, after supper: the beds were turned down, the overhead lights off and the individual reading lights on, the information for the next day was on the bed, along with chocolates and a friendly good night note, and best of all, the cutest little animals made of folded towels! Each night a different one, each one cute as the next! Apparently there’s a book with instructions on how to make them for sale (of course) and tomorrow there’s a class available where we can learn to do it (which, I’m sure, is designed to make us want to buy the book…)

Despite my relative success with Weight Watchers over the last few months, I have not yet learned the “not a diet, but a way of life” philosophy, at least not when confronted with the all-you-can-eat buffet concept, or the 4-course, already-paid-for meal. For the first few days, I did OK, but my eating habits got worse and worse as the time went on. Part of me is looking forward to having to actually pay for meals (with Alaska prices), so that I won’t be eating as much!

I wouldn’t have thought so, considering the amount of TV we watch, but it really is quite easy to live without TV where there are other things to do. Not that I’d like to do it on a permanent basis, but not knowing what’s going on in the world was really kind of refreshing!