So after exploring the city in the morning, we made our way back to the hotel and gathered up all of our baggage for the trip ahead. Once we were ready, we met the shuttle that was going to drive us to the port. The drive over from the Space Needle was less than 15 minutes and we were on our way inside before we knew it.

The embarkation process was pretty standard, though not quite as friendly as on previous cruises. The agent at the station we ended up at was rather insistent that NO ONE else be in the area when she was taking our photos for our Sea Pass cards (it became a running joke on the trip) and we were making our way up the ramp to the ship before we knew it.

There were the usual photo stops on the way (of course we stopped for each one) and we were back out in the open and on board before we realized it.

We weren’t able to go right to our rooms but we were able to head up to the Windjammer for lunch, so we grabbed some food and went and found a table out on the pool deck. After a quick lunch, we were able to go to our rooms. This time we had separate cabins on different decks so the two older girls went to their room and Amy, Mary and I headed to ours to rest a bit and get ready for the Muster drill. Due to the ages of the kids, I did have to be in the other girls room for the drill and any emergencies, so Emma and I traded places for the drill.

After the drill, we made our way to the top deck to watch the ship leave port and we spent some more time exploring the Explorer of the Seas

The ship had the usual party going on on the top deck and the weather was pretty nice as we were leaving Seattle. It was probably the best day for using the pools (not that any of us really did that on this trip). The girls and I made use of the time to explore the rest of the ship and Amy jumped on the spa deal of the day.

We had a later seating for dinner (we’ve found that on the cruises, a later seating is better for us as it gives us more time on days we’re in port) so the four of us not spa-ing it up went to the opening show and Amy caught up with us at dinner. After dinner, Amy and I were beat, but the girls wanted to explore so we let them head out to see what the evening had to offer.