It was the morning of the ship, after breakfast at the hotel, I got on the bus sent by the steamship company to the dock in Seattle, where Hong Tao saw the cruise ship to be taken, it was quietly parked on the pier, the hull was white, and there were some red patterns on the bow and side of the ship.

The ship is called NorwegianJewel, it looks very new, it was also very new, according to the information given by the bartender, the ship has only been launched for two years, is 15 stories high, can accommodate more than 2,000 passengers, and there are more than 1,000 crew and service personnel, which is almost a 2:1 ratio. This is also a standard configuration of luxury cruise ships, the higher the grade of the cruise ship service personnel to passengers ratio closer to 1:1.5, no matter how low it is not a business cruise ship.

Standing on the pier, the side of the cruise ship is three stories above the height of the pier, and several cranes are transporting supplies to the ship, so you can distinguish the advantages and disadvantages of the shipping space. Those square or oval windows on the side of the ship are the so-called sea view rooms, and then up is the ship building, where a string of red and white boats are hung, this is the lifeboat, but the lifeboats of the cruise ships sailing north in winter are fully enclosed, so that the refugees will not be frozen to death, otherwise there are no lifeboats in vain.

Behind the lifeboats are the so-called sheltered rooms with sea views, except for some outside light, these rooms are basically invisible from the windows, all of which are blocked by the lifeboats. There are 5 floors from the lifeboat, 3 of which are glass curtain wall semi-enclosed balconies, that is, standard rooms with balconies, and the top two floors are fully enclosed balconies, where are the large and small suites. As for the standard rooms in the inner cabin, they are not visible from the outside of the hull, they are all inside the hull.

Hong Tao and Erin's Junior Suites are located on the 14th floor at the corner closest to the stern, and the rates here are the highest among the Junior Suites, as this Junior Suite is the largest. It's almost 40 square meters and the view is very good. A porter followed Hong Tao and Erin after they got on the boat, and carried them to their rooms until they got their luggage and got the tip.

Although Hong Tao and Erin don't have any luggage, just a big box for clothes and two sets of garment bags, but at this time you can't refuse the bellman to help you, people rely on this tip to eat, the real salary is not high, if they don't let them take the luggage. Then they will be unemployed, so if you can afford to spend the money, you will have to be able to afford the subsequent expenses.

Traveling on a cruise ship is about comfort and leisure, and these two words also say a thing, that is, slow! Not only is the ship slow, but the waiting time is also slow, Hong Tao and Erin are not the earliest, but they have been waiting for almost 2 hours before the cruise ship can be considered to start moving. He was pushed away from the dock by several small barges, and then began to slowly move towards the outside of the port.

In the 2 hours of waiting for the boat to leave, Hong Tao and Erin were not idle, first lying on the evacuation map in the room and looking at it for 20 minutes. Then he took the drawings and began to wander around the cabin, pretending to be familiar with the terrain, and did not return to the room until the ship was about to leave.

This is a problem of Hong Tao, no matter where he goes, he must first look at the terrain. Especially on board. Every time he takes a ship, he will think of the unlucky guy of the Titanic, and in order to maximize his chance of becoming the one who survives in the end, he must first be familiar with the escape passage on the ship. For this reason, Hong Tao also insisted on spending an extra $300 to choose this suite. Because it is the closest to the lifeboat of all the small suites, and there is no need to walk through the door, there is an open-air staircase outside the building that goes directly to the 12th floor, where there are several lifeboats hanging from the stern.

As the saucer-shaped tower in downtown Seattle grew farther and more obscure, the cruise ship began to accelerate. But it's not full speed, it's still in the bay, a little north is the Canadian city of Vancouver, the two cities share a bay, the north belongs to Canada, the south belongs to the United States, only out of the long Juan in front. Morality. After the Fuqua Strait, there is the North Pacific Ocean.

It took more than two hours to climb out of the exit of the Channel and then to the right, heading north along Canada's western coastline. At this time, the left side of the hull is the vast Pacific Ocean, as far as the eye can see, while the right side of the hull is the exit of the Fuqua Strait and the mountains of Vancouver Island. At this time, the advantage of the aft space can be reflected, you can see in the left and right directions, and you want to look that way and there, especially looking at the white waves rolled up by the stern thrusters and the flocks of seagulls flying back and forth on the waves, and the mood is very vast.

However, Hong Tao and Irene did not stay on the balcony for long, even if the glass curtain wall was closed, it was also a little cold here, and as soon as the cruise ship left the strait, the temperature dropped several degrees suddenly, and the wind was strong, so they had to sit at this time and hurry to the shop on the ship to buy some thick clothes.

There are 3 shops on the ship, the largest one is on the 5th and 6th floors, Hong Tao and Erin went in to shop, basically no different from the department stores in the United States, as for the price, Hong Tao can't tell who is high and who is low, anyway, no matter how high or low, you have to buy. Although Hong Tao is a northerner, the cold in Beijing is not the same as in Canada, and it is even different from Alaska, so she has to listen to Erin in this regard, anyway, her hometown is also full of snow in winter.

In fact, there is no need for Erin at all, and the store has specially prepared different grades and styles of winter clothing for passengers, some are complete sets, some are single, and they can be freely matched. In addition, the waiter will also introduce you to what kind of clothes can withstand low temperatures, such as sweaters, shirts, and pants with a thick fleece lining on the boat, and cold jackets and pants with down lining if you go ashore. If you're not satisfied, there are also top-of-the-line down jackets, which are said to be worn by the American Antarctic expedition, and of course the price is also national-level.

After leaving the store and passing through a corridor, the layout of the corridor suddenly changed, and the walls on both sides were no longer ornaments such as oil paintings, but oval-shaped green mirrors, and the lights were much dimmed. Hong Tao pulled Erin in to explore, it turned out that this was the main theater of the ship, there were three floors up and down, the 5th and 6th floors were ordinary seats, and the 7th deck was a private room. Since the boat has just departed, the theater has not yet opened, and some staff are busy setting up the stage, and it is estimated that there should be activities in the evening.

After shopping, Hong Tao and Erin did not take the elevator back to the room from the inside of the cabin, but asked the waiter of the store to deliver the clothes to their room, and they went out of the cabin and came to the deck. Not to mention, the clothes recommended by the waiter are really good, and you can't see how bloated you are when you wear them, just like wearing a pair of pants and a thin sweater, but the warmth performance is excellent, even if the sea breeze is quite strong, you don't feel cold.

There were plenty of loungers on deck 6, which would have been full if it had been summer, but now there was no one, and the only living creatures were two young girls dressed as Inuit, who were waiting for guests to visit at a booth where they were taking pictures of passengers. You said you pretended to be Inuit, but these two girls were dressed in thick leather jackets, but they were stockings and thighs on their bottoms, and they were wearing fur boots on their feet.

"Let's take a picture!" Hong Tao couldn't see this kind of scene the most, although the legs of the two girls were a little thick, far worse than Irene, but there was still compassion, so he pulled Erin over, and took a few photos with a girl in his arms, which was supposed to warm them.

After doing the good deed, Hong Tao was in a good mood, so he pulled Erin up the gangway to the top deck. It's not so desolate, and there are about a dozen people, mostly children and their parents. Half of the top deck is a swimming pool, but it can't be used now because it's open-air, and even if you're in good shape, you don't dare to swim in winter in this temperature. The other half has two basketball courts and a small football field, and the children are playing in it, which is quite lively.

Although there are not many passengers on the top deck, there are all kinds of services that should be available. There are two barbecue stalls selling barbecue on the edge of the empty pool, making them on site, and two small water bars selling a variety of drinks. There's also a climbing wall at the bottom, and two guys are battling it out.

Hong Tao's good mood only lasted for about 10 minutes, and was blown away by the sea breeze, although the clothes were very warm, but the face couldn't stand it, the wind was cool and hard, standing against the wind for a minute, you could feel that your face seemed to be a lot rougher, in order not to let the wind feed itself, Hong Tao could only return to the cabin with Erin, and it was about to be lunch time.

There are many restaurants on the ship, almost one on the other floor, but the scale and grade are different. Some restaurants are buffets, which are free and all-you-can-eat, and some are available for an additional fee, but they are all Western and Japanese, as if there is no Chinese food. Hong Tao is reluctant to eat buffet, not because he has a high taste, but because he is not used to eating cold food, or he likes hot things, especially meals.

So he and Erin ran back to the bow of the 8th deck according to the schematic diagram and found a western restaurant. This western restaurant is located in the cabin closest to the bow of the ship, and the walls of most of the entire dining room are large glass structures, and the view from here is very good. You can dine in the warm dining room while watching through the glass window as the bow of the ship cleaves the waves and tries to move forward, which is even more fun if you catch a little wind, which will be smashed to pieces by the hard hull and then splashed high and then fall.

When Hong Tao and Erin made a window seat, he decided again that his decision to take a boat to Alaska in the winter was very wise, because the waiter in charge of the lead had already introduced, and the window seats in this restaurant were very tight, and if it was in peak season or there were many people in the evening, each seat here would be charged $15, and the meal would need to be reserved. (To be continued......)