Every summer in Seattle we see the shiny white cruise ships sail into their berths at the pier and I always wonder what it might be like to get on one, cast off and drift away to Alaska. Our family is curious to know if we’re cruisers: I am a free-spirit and the hubby likes to be at the wheel and our two boys are always on the go so we don’t tend to stay in one place too long when we travel. We don’t even spend much time lounging in our hotel rooms or at resorts so it’s hard to imagine what we might do on a cruise ship. But, I love the idea of being self-sufficient in the middle of open water and seeing icebergs up close and waking up in a new port ever day.
So when Holland America, a cruise line based in Seattle, invited us to get on the MS Westerdam for a morning, it was the coolest opportunity to see what cruising might actually be like without having to actually commit to being on one for a while.
We started the morning in their BB King Blues club with cake, drinks and some really fabulous music. I love starting the morning with cake and drinks, don’t you?
And then we toured the ship. I could definitely see myself cruising in a room like this.
I think this balcony would be a perfect way to create the feeling of another room where we could read and watch the sunset when the kids go to bed.
I also loved the spectacular Seattle views we got from aboard the ship. I liked that we could see Smith Cove Park because we’ve never seen it from the water and we’ve biked near this area a lot and I hope the city builds a playground there one day too. I can just imagine how jaw-dropping it might feel to see icebergs up close through the giant windows by the pool or right up close on one of the open decks.
The hubby enjoyed playing some basketball on one of the highest points of the ship and there was space to play tennis or even mini-soccer too.
And we snapped a few pictures. (We never get pictures together these days!)
Then we lunched with a bunch of lovely media people. I love meeting neat people in the Seattle blogging community and learning about all the great things we have in our city. I had never read VanguardSeattle before but now it’s definitely on my reading list! I’m also now reading Dadlogic too!
We were stuffed when we toured the kids area and some entertainment lounges and the theatre so I don’t have a lot of pictures but if you’re really curious, they were pristine when we saw them so it won’t be much different than what you can imagine from the Holland America website.
There are definitely many things to do when you’re on the ship. I think my favorite though is the balcony on the room we toured and I can imagine a peaceful read on that deck while looking for whales and icebergs. And I know my kids would like the pool and the basketball deck.
So maybe one day we’ll save up and sail away. It was nice to see all the passengers getting on the ship all excited about the adventures that awaited them. And it was lovely to pretend we were going on an adventure ourselves for a little while-thank you Holland America for a delightful cruise ship tour!
(PS. as you can tell the hubby and I received a morning aboard a cruise ship, the Holland America MS Westerdam in Seattle. We also received a round-trip drive there from my Dad, who dropped us off and picked us up at the cruise ship terminal just like we might have actually been going on a real trip. I was not required to post anything and of course these opinions are my own.)
(PPS. if you do decide to cruise with kids in Seattle, and you have some time in the area, I have a bunch of recommendations on what you can do in Seattle with kids here and feel free to email me too, I love our city and sharing it with visitors!)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)