My New Hobby!

Well, in honor of "national delete your Facebook day" (which I haven't done yet, but plan on doing so at my next earliest convenience) I decided to start my new Facebook-free life doing something I haven't done in months...blog! I do love my blog and am very grateful to my husband for purchasing a URL for me and everything, so maybe I ought to use it, eh?
I have a new hobby. Well, I have many new hobbies, including crochet and going to the gym. (Ok ok ok, I'll wait for you guys to all come back because I know you all nearly wet yourselves laughing when I said that going to the gym was a hobby for me. I, in fact, had water come out my nose from laughing after writing it. Because it's not a hobby, it's something I do because I feel that my life is so good that I need a small amount of suffering in it. So I torture myself by going to the gym.) Anyway, I started a new hobby today and am quite keen to share it with all my friends. I like to call it Cruiseshipspotting. Cruiseshipspotting is quite similar to trainspotting, or camelspotting (if you're a fan of the Python chaps you'll get the reference.) Cruiseship spotting is when you spot cruise ships.
The first cruise ship I spotted was last night when Jeff and I were taking a walk. We were walking the Seattle waterfront and had come to the aquarium when I started jumping up and down. This nearly caused my husband to have a cardiac arrest because he wasn't aware that I was jumping in excitement, he thought maybe I had hurt myself. After assuring him that I was fine and apologizing profusely for the near-death-experience that I gave him, we walked to get a closer look.
The cruise ship was the Sapphire Princess, from Seattle's own Princess Cruise Lines. Sapphire Princess whisks the lucky passengers away on a 7 night cruise through Alaska. The itinerary is Ketchikan, Tracy Arm Fjord, Juneau, Skagaway, and Victoria British Columbia. The ship itself was a beautiful sight to behold, lit up against the Seattle night sky. Here is a picture for your enjoyment. (Taken from the ship's website, http://www.princess.com)



And a picture taken last night with Jeff's camera phone.




Well, seeing this beautiful ship put me in the mood to see more. So after my trip to the gym (feel free to laugh hysterically yet again) I took a quick drive down the waterfront. There were no ships in port at pier 66, but looking across the water I could see 2 lovely looking ships at pier 91, so I went to investigate! Now, the bugger with pier 91 is that you can't get close to the ships the way you can at pier 66. So these pictures will have to suffice until I remember where I put my Olympus camera (which, incidentally, was purchased on a cruise ship! The Carnival Paradise which Jeff and I enjoyed during our honeymoon.)

The ship I was able to get the most clear look at was the Holland America Zaandam. Now, the cool thing about this ship is that it's smaller, and designed to handle fewer guests. This has the possibility of making for a much more enjoyable cruise. This cruise ship is musically themed. The decorations range from things like Bill Clinton's saxaphone, to guitars signed by Queen, Iggy Pop, Eric Clapton, and the Rolling Stones. This ship (like every other cruise ship that embarks from Seattle) goes to Alaska. Here is the picture I was able to take.


The final ship that I was able to spot was Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Sea's. This ship was quite lovely. It features lots of glass walls, and a retractable awning. Here is the picture I was able to take of it.



Well, that's all the cruise ships I was able to spot. Until next time, please enjoy this lovely video about a related hobby called Camel Spotting, which is very aptly explained by Mr. Eric Idle.



Cheers!