Our family loves Royal Caribbean, so we couldn't wait to get on the boat on Friday morning. This was David and Jan's first cruise, so they were excited to see what it was all about. We cruised on Radiance of the Seas. It's an older, smaller boat, but it provided a great experience for all of us with only a few minor kinks.
We headed to our room (1594) to check it out and drop our bags. It was a nice room with a great balcony that we took advantage of throughout the trip.
Enjoying the view of Vancouver from our balcony.
We had a great introductory buffet lunch at the Windjammer Cafe, and then we all just hung out on the back of the boat to watch as we left the port. It was cool to watch the city fade away as we moved forward to a more mountainous and forested area.
After crossing under the Lionheart Gate Bridge.
Bye Vancouver! Hope to see you another time!
Of course, we couldn't wait to check out the boat. First stop...putt putt! We always love to play, and there was no one else around, so this was the perfect opportunity.
We made our way to the game room just about everyday. It was a good spot to meet up and hang out with Grandpops and Grandma Jan. The girls loved playing chess against one another and against Grandpops. I played checkers with them. All of us had fun playing Uno and Blink together.
Twice, we girls went to a napkin folding seminar which was tons of fun!
Lily perfected the "lotus" fold, while Mia excelled at the "candlestick" (and her own invented bouquet demonstrated below).
The girls LOVED when they came in from dinner to find towel animals. This elephant and monkey were two of the cutest ones left for us.
Not surprisingly, swimming was a favorite activity.
They would have done this the whole trip if they could have!
We were very glad to have these two dads around on Father's Day. It was fun to celebrate them both. I was able to call my dad as well; even though he wasn't with us on the trip, I wanted him to know I was thinking of him!
Ryan is such an amazing dad. I'm so thankful for the example he sets for our girls on what a Godly man, husband, and father should be. He loves them unconditionally and wonderfully.
We had a great time at one of the shows. This juggler was not only talented, but very funny. We all thoroughly enjoyed his show. The girls also loved having the stuffed animals that they spent their hard earned allowances on. Lily bought a chocolate moose in Ketchikan and named him Chocolate. Mia bought a wolf on the boat, and named him Radiance in its honor.
The cruise line took cheesy pictures as you disembarked the ship. Lily couldn't resist getting a picture of her and Chocolate with a moose in Skagway; we couldn't resist purchasing it!
We enjoyed having breakfast each morning in the Windjammer on the back of the boat. It was a yummy breakfast and gave us great views of the surrounding area.
There were lots of good dining options to choose from each day. We ate several dinners in the main dining room which were quite tasty. Of course, we were happy to have room service a couple of times too! Two nights though Grandpops and Grandma Jan treated us to the specialty dining. One night was the Chops Steakhouse which was alright though not great; another night was Giovanni's Table which was a delicious Italian dinner.
Mia can't resist a good rock climb! She had the chance to do this on the back of the boat, and as she said, "it was awesome and epic!" She made it all the way to the top on her first go round, and almost there on her second. It was so cool to watch her do this so high above the sea!
Mia also had fun learning how to play darts one afternoon.
We all slept pretty well each evening after the full days we enjoyed.
Coordinating pajamas from Skagway helped us sleep well too.
This was the most amazingly beautiful sunset we saw the whole trip. This was right off our balcony, and we couldn't stop staring. Gorgeous!
This was a great boat to cruise up Alaska on!
