Scotland to Seattle to Solstice Alaska May 16

As the title says - this is about a trip from Scotland to Seattle where we spent three wonderful nights, and then on to Solstice Alaska.

This was a bucket list trip for our 20th Wedding Anniversary. We often do Transatlantic Cruises - and Europe or the Med is easy access for us. We have been to many African countries, much of the Caribbean - but there are three Bucket List cruises (aside from land trips) we want to do, one was Alaska - another is Panama Canal full transit and the third Hawaii. These second two we don't think we can do until (if God spares us) we retire as we would like time to travel the USA alongside one of these - we shall see.

Meanwhile - back to the trip :)

It is a fair old journey from our wee "But N' Ben" in a tiny wee remote corner of Scotland - to Seattle.

Leg one is simply to get to Glasgow Airport! We always overnight in Glasgow. We use the Holiday Inn which is right at the terminal - and means we have only a short walk with a luggage cart to check in for our flight.

It was a beautiful evening as our friend drove us to Glasgow

The wee harbour town of Girvan (which we pass through and will refer back to later in the review) was alight in all her evening sun glory

And Ailsa Craig aka Paddy's Milestone (for those of you who will ever do a Briitsh Isles Cruises and sail into Greenock you will pass this) was about to have a stunning Scottish Sunset.

Ailsa Craig is famous for the granite produced for making curling stones.

We all love Ailsa here.

The Holiday Inn is what it is. Its fine. The staff there know us pretty well - and one of the room service ladies has been there for over thirty years - That says something when they can hold their staff for long periods.

We got this room free on rewards - and heyho - also had a free upgrade on arrival -

We had originally planned to do room service and enjoy a couple of bottles of champagne in our room that evening - After however the first bottle of Taittinger - we decided to go to the bar to dine instead. The result being - at 6am - the next morning - We were left with a bottle of Bollinger that could not be put in our luggage. These were gifts to us - and we really didn't want to leave them.

So - being true Scots -whilst we got ourselves ready for our day, (please excuse my typical girlie pile of junk!) we had a hearty breakfast of a bottle of Bolly!

Ahhhhhh - that woke us up :)

Unusally for us, we had a late morning flight (10.30am) Usually we are up at around 3-4am for the first flight of the day down to Heathrow - but the Seattle flight was not leaving until 3.30pm - so we got to enjoy Glasgow Airport and our lounge before departure.

I love Glasgow Airport - Its a beautiful airport and the friendliness (even of security) is second to none.

Off we set for our quick flight to London Heathrow and my favourite terminal T5 - WHY do people say that they loathe Heathrow? I never get it? T5 is awesome! Its a fantastic terminal - okay security can be a bit nasty but hey they have a job to do - but that aside - its the one terminal I never want to go to the VIP lounge in - I am more than happy in T5 itself.

Our pit stop in T5 is ALWAYS Caviar and Prunier House - Our traditional start to any vacation. On the way home its Gordon Ramsay's (for bacon butties and best pot of tea on the planet!).

Anyway, relaxing in T5 - Caviar and Prunier - Our favourite Foie Gras and of course - more champagne (can you guess we are fond of our bubbles!).

For some reason I cannot get this photo to upload to Photobucket - never mind..

Our flight to Seattle was on time. I doubt we would have done this cruise without the help of Avios. Celebrity wanted £3600 GBP for flights only for this cruise (BA economy). We managed to part pay with Avios and get it for £1400 GBP for us both -(Glasgow to LHR to Sea-Tac) We always book the tail in a triple 7 - row 49 - Row 49 gives you two seats alone - but three seats in front of you - so there is a spare seat back (with the seat netting etc to store stuff) and that extra space in the aisle - I am used to travelling long haul in economy all the time - and these are our favourite seats - the two behind those are good too - but row 49 is brilliant. You are also near the galley - good space to get up and walk around etc -

As we neared Seattle we managed to see Mount Helena.

Arriving in Seattle we found VERY friendly airport staff!!! This was so unlike Miami or JFK or Newark - (sorry folks but its true we have been used to non friendly airport staff!). We asked a couple of ladies how to get a cab - they took us to the area where we needed to be!! Fantastic!

We were on a 9 hour time difference - we left London at 3.30pm and got into Seattle at 5.30pm - Looooooooong day :) BUT we managed some sleep on the flight and arrived in Seattle fairly fresh.

We had booked the Warwick in Seattle on bookingdotcom I had booked a few Seattle Hotels 18 months in - and just kept swapping about until I got the best deal. I paid $417 for three nights - and it was excellent value for money. My daughter and her husband decided just weeks before - as they live overseas, they would come join us in Seattle - they had to pay nearly twice as much. So worth that early booking!

As well as a warm welcome - we were gobsmacked to find this wonderful Anniversary Gift in our room on arrival. Now - coming from a hotel we have never ever stayed in - and the only contact they had with us was a Bookingdotcom email - we thought this was truly above and beyond the call of duty -

Surprise Surprise ...Guess what ? :D

You have my attention. Nice start to your review. I will be boarding the Solstice for the first time on July 8th to Alaska. So excited.

I love your pictures. I am looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip. Thanks for writing.

You have my attention. Nice start to your review. I will be boarding the Solstice for the first time on July 8th to Alaska. So excited.

 

I love your pictures. I am looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip. Thanks for writing.

It will probably take me forever to write - our Superslooooooooooow broadband makes it very difficult to upload pics..

I forgot to mention that we nearly missed our flight:eek:

We got so comfortable in Caviar and Prunier - that the day ran away with us - and our gate was a train away and miles and miles (okay a long way) of run run run run run -

They had been calling us!

They literally shut the plane door as we got on

Here was us thinking we had loads of time and went into relax mode

Lesson learned - !

Later - have this stupid thing called work to do - it so gets in the way of life:rolleyes:

I'm loving your review and your photos. Thanks for taking us on your journey! :)

In Vancouver at the moment recovering from the jet lag before heading to Seattle and the Solstice next week so excited to read your review. Wow you did well on the Warwick price.We are staying for 3 nights post cruise and paid $300 a night when we booked last November and that was after shopping around. Excited to read the next instalment. So glad you had a great time. Vicki

Looking forward to your review!

First night at the Warwick after that 33 hour day - we decided to simply dine in the hotel's bar.

It was fantastic! I had steak frites - the last time I had steak frites I would be eighteen years old, in the south of France - living off picking tatties and grapes - and steak there I can assure you did not come from a cow!

This steak frites whilst not quite French - but - for sure a nice slab of beef and beautiful, finely sautéed frites.

After food, wine and of course a wonderful get together with our daughter and her husband - it was off for a very nice nights of NOT "Sleepless in Seattle"!

Pike Place Market - its like a combination of the Souks of Marrakech crossed with the Glasgow Barras.

I could spend weeks there - and if I lived in Seattle I would rejoice in those fresh commodities every day.

I wont post any personal pictures - so I have had to pick and choose through the photos I took. My husband and I own a Scottish tourist board Visitor Attraction and are famous for our smoked salmon - so of course - the salmon stalls were our first stop. My husband struck up great craic with the guys there and they had him sign the "Pike Place Wall of Fame" -

We could easily tell btw who had fresh fish and whose fish we urm - not so fresh!

We could have spent all day at the market - we did in fact come back the following day - I fell in love with Seattle and its people - during our entire time there before and after the cruise, we were to meet only one nasty response - and they were BA ground crew at the airport ..

The flowers - oh my goodness - NOW I understand why people buy bouquets here before they cruise. My daughter bought a bouquet of Peonies here for $10! At home this would be around £40 GBP..

And of course the obligatory photo of "Rachel the Pig" who was for some reason adorned with balloons?

Next up - the Space Needle !

In Vancouver at the moment recovering from the jet lag before heading to Seattle and the Solstice next week so excited to read your review. Wow you did well on the Warwick price.We are staying for 3 nights post cruise and paid $300 a night when we booked last November and that was after shopping around. Excited to read the next instalment. So glad you had a great time. Vicki

Fantastic Vicki! Good luck with the jet lag! Enjoy Seattle - its a wonderful city and Solstice, Alaska - pure magic!

I'm loving your review and your photos. Thanks for taking us on your journey! :)

Looking forward to your review!

Thanks for joining in - It is my first review ever so not 100% sure

But as I have over the years had so much help - thought it was time to pay some forward :)

After a stop off for a drink in the market (see our kilt made it on to the menu) we headed off for a walk to the Space Needle.

I have to be honest - had our daughter and her husband not been there - we would never have been up the Space Needle. We would have taken some pics - gave someone our camera and our tickets - asked them to take pictures from the top - came home and lied - coz we are for sure chickens and wicked!

BUT - fact was - our mother - sorry I mean our daughter WAS there - and before we knew it - we were right there.....

I felt ill - hubby and I were being ever so "puff yer chest out and act brave" in the queue - but honestly - we were both totally (trying to find a polite non Scottish way of putting this) urm - scraping our legs along the ground towards the elevator...

Anyway - we made it!! WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got into the elevator - pushed all the old ladies and children right out of the way and got to the back of the elevator where I hid - head into the wall - face down - and I waited...and waited... and HEY - I looked up and thought - wait a minute - this aint so bad - this is no Eiffel Tower! I can do this!

And we did ..

I was however not very well - unfortunately I had that day, a bad reaction to a new anti biotic, so I was glad we had not booked lunch -

BUT

I did get to the top, and had a sparkling water and enjoyed the view

Wonderful!!

Next up - Chihuly Gardens - WOW!!

I am so enjoying your review and your infectious enthusiasm. I am very glad you enjoyed Seattle. It's a great city but I am sad you didn't make it to Vancouver. You'll have to do that when you book your Hawaii trip.:D

I was born in Ireland so I love any pictures of the British Isles and I would love to do a cruise there, even thought we have been to many of the places the cruise would visit. Love your use of the word craic, but not many on here will know what you mean!:)

Great review and pictures! Cant wait for more.

I am so enjoying your review and your infectious enthusiasm. I am very glad you enjoyed Seattle. It's a great city but I am sad you didn't make it to Vancouver. You'll have to do that when you book your Hawaii trip.:D

I was born in Ireland so I love any pictures of the British Isles and I would love to do a cruise there, even thought we have been to many of the places the cruise would visit. Love your use of the word craic, but not many on here will know what you mean!:)

From the Urban Dictionary:

whats the craic

Craic meaning fun in Gaeilge. If someone asks you Whats the Craic this means How are you? Is there anything fun happening? Used as a greeting in Ireland Also used is Whats the story? Meaning Is there any news?

My Mum is Irish but we live here in this region the "language" is very much a mixture of Irish and Scots -

"Whits the craic" = "whats happening" "Whats the news"

To "Hae a craic" is "To have a conversation with" basically...

Whats the craic with tomorrow night? This means whats happening tomorrow night.

#craic #whats the story #whats the craic #whats the crack #how are you?

We had bought a 5 attraction city pass - Again, booking early I paid way less than what it advertised for weeks before the cruise. We didn't actually use all 5 - but our daughter + husband made use of the harbour cruise passes - whilst we did 3 out of the 5 attractions we had on our passes. Time simply ran away with us.

I for sure will return to Seattle - met truly special friends there (will get to that very special story soon) and they have my heart for always.

Chihuly Glass, the EMP museum and the Space Needle are all within a block of each other - so its ideal to tie these together. I would have done the EMP museum but the reaction I had to the anti biotic really floored me - and sadly - on day 2 - I had to go back to the hotel and rest up with clear soup and basically get it out of my system. IE NO champagne Mrs Blondie!

How can I choose pics from Chihuly - its all so beautiful - I am an artist so see it through a keen eye - but honestly - this is just a wonderful tourism facility - its amazing - and truly magical

Some pics from the wonderous Chihuly

Hard to believe these next two are glass - the last one so looks like a real plant - incredible!!

Okay - next up - Woodlands Zoo and an incredible meeting with the most wonderful, compassionate, loving, talented people in Seattle! Oh - and did I mention Cheesecake? Oh I know - you all want me just to get to the ship part and Alaska - I will - but - I know there are folks like me who want to learn about exploring pre cruise in Seattle :)

I will get to Solstice - I promise!!

Day 3 -

Before I go any further I have to tell the great folks of the world out there about this incredible company I found in Seattle.

We had three Labradors. We lost one in 2014, and another in 2015 - we still have our baby, the puppy of the oldest one who passed in 2015.

I had my girls cremated and had been looking in the UK for something special to be done with their ashes. I did come across a company called Ashes into Glass in the UK who made jewellery and paperweights - but to be honest - I didn't feel it was that special.

During my search I found this incredible glass art blowing company called Artful Ashes. They have two side to the business - Artful Ashes who work with human remains - and Rainbow Bridge Hearts - who work with pets remains. And of all the places in the world where were they? SEATTLE!!

I contacted them months ago - and we had it all pre arranged that I would take a small amount of my pets ashes with me to Seattle.

Greg and Christina run Artful Ashes, Rich and Debbie run Rainbow Bridge.

It was Rich I had been emailing back and forth - but - as we discovered, he wouldn't be in Seattle during my first three days. Anyway, we had organised that I meet with Christina - drop off "my girls" and after the cruise, we would call back to collect our hearts of glass.

These amazing artists - (who know Corning Glass Blowers on the ship btw) work your pets ashes into a beautiful heart shaped glass sculpture. I will tell you at the end of the review what happened when we went to pick up our hearts. We had ordered three, one for ourselves, one for our daughter, and one for our petsitter of many many years.

These people I can honestly say, touched us in such a way I cannot fully explain. They are all so filled with love, compassion, warmth and kindness which is seldom found. Their art is beautiful - and at the end of the review I will show you what we had made.

So - Day 3 the plan was - Hubby and I were going to the glass works offices to drop off the girls, then we were going to the Zoo, daughter and hubby were off on the harbour cruise - then we were all planning to meet up in Ballard - at the Scots Bar - MacLeods - for lunch.

This was the plan for Day 3 .

Dawoot our cab driver incidentally - is every step of the way with us on every journey several times each day - we love him <3

I LOVE this review so much! Your enthusiasm and joy are infectious. Oh, and by the way, your pictures are spectacular. I'm eager to get to the denouement of the pet ashes - that's a service I might be interested in as well.

One little thing...you mentioned seeing "Mt Helena" from the plane. I've never heard of such a mountain and suspect you meant "Mt. St. Helens," but what you posted seemed to be a picture of Mt. Rainier - though tough to see through the clouds, I'd know her anywhere. Isn't she gorgeous? Mt. St. Helens has quite a different profile, what with the large crater from her 1980 eruption. :)

I was born in Scotland. Moved to Seattle as a young girl. Met my DH at age 35 and moved to California. Worked as a Flight Attendant for Alaska Airlines for 25 years. Based in Seattle. I have been on the Solstice 5 times. This summer I will take 85 yr. young dad on our 10 cruise together. ( My 50 ) He thought he would never cruise again after my mum passed away. He loves his wee dram and the casino. So love your story and your love of the smashing Seattle people. I am also a doggie lover and your story has brought me to tears. All the best to you and would love to cruise with you. Cheers, Heather

Love this review. Will be on this cruise one week from today!! We are also spending a couple of days in Seattle before so I am enjoying every bit of this review.

I LOVE this review so much! Your enthusiasm and joy are infectious. Oh, and by the way, your pictures are spectacular. I'm eager to get to the denouement of the pet ashes - that's a service I might be interested in as well.

 

One little thing...you mentioned seeing "Mt Helena" from the plane. I've never heard of such a mountain and suspect you meant "Mt. St. Helens," but what you posted seemed to be a picture of Mt. Rainier - though tough to see through the clouds, I'd know her anywhere. Isn't she gorgeous? Mt. St. Helens has quite a different profile, what with the large crater from her 1980 eruption. :)

OH My goodness you are 100% correct - don't know where I was - of course I meant Mount Rainier - "whit a dumplin!"

Rainbow Hearts - yes, for sure - our last day was spent with them - so will show you at the end. The plan was they had the remains whilst we were on the cruise - it worked out with a slight hiccough but ended so well for us :)

Our morning started with a breakfast in Lola - a highly recommended restaurant - and just a block away from The Warwick.

We arrived and there was a long queue -

I am not sure about this place - It wasn't worth the money for sure and although the waitress who did serve our table, was lovely, the pre wait - "sit in the lobby" felt very cold and unwelcoming.

We had pancakes again - cant remember what with - but - for what we had - just didn't feel like over $100 worth - (daughter and husband were with us). TBH our breakfast the previous day in a simple café in Pike Place was much better. I am sure dinner there will be lovely - but - we didn't try.

We then went our own ways - our daughter and husband did the Argosy? Harbour Tour (they said it wasn't great) and we went to the Zoo.

Dawoot our dedicated driver arranged to pick us up - take us to the zoo, then come back for us an hour and a half later - for our appointment with Artful Ashes to drop off our girls remains.

We are generally not big fans on Zoos or any animals in captivity. We live in a rural lifestyle where wildlife is important. We have been to Kenya many many times, and have seen everything you can imagine out there in the wild.

However - as Zoos go have to say Woodlands Zoo was really beautiful - the animals were kept in open roaming conditions and clearly their welfare was paramount. We went on opening at 9.30am - wise decision! Unless you are a family and don't mind crowds of school kids - as we were leaving the kids were piling in - fantastic for them of course - but for us - that early 9.30am slot was just the ticket!

We have seen both hippos and warthogs in the wilds (Warthogs are known in Kenya as "kenyaExpress" - These two were sound asleep -

Happy Hippos

For a family I would say it makes for a great day out - plenty to do and see . We really just did a whistle stop tour - and enjoyed the walk in the fresh air.

We did meet with an Orangutan - he was cold - he had blankies and would huddle up in them - he was adorable - there were a few of them but this big guy followed us as we walked around

After the Zoo - Dawoot was waiting on us - he took us to drop off our dogs remains. We were a bit wary as it seemed to be out of town and in this kind of not seedy, but - not quite touristy district - but - hey - we needn't have worried. Just us being country bumpkins.

We met with Greg and Christina who are two of the most beautiful people we have ever met. They took all of our details - and confimed our order - letting us know that we would meet with Rich after the cruise - and collect our beautiful heart art sculptures.

Whilst there we saw beautiful glass works where people have human remains made into hearts, globes, or tiny pendants with Angel wings and 24ct gold - There is just so much compassion in these people - its hard to explain - I am not a churchy person - I do believe in God - and somehow - these people felt very Angel like to me - they are just special -

They do deliver incidentally throughout the USA - collect and deliver service.

I will tell you more at the end of the review.

Anyway - our next plan was to meet (according to our treasured street map) at MacLeods in Ballard for lunch with our daughter and son in law. Dawoot dropped us off - we got to the door - IT WAS SHUT! WHAT? A Scots Bar? No self respecting Scot's Bar would ever have been closed at lunch! Sure enough - sign up - open from 4pm daily - So much for that plan. Ugh! Just wish their website would list this - never mind -

Quickly called DawootDawoo who burled around and picked us up. Called our daughter to say - cancel that plan - they were on the big wheel

There then became very confusing conversations about meeting up at Pike Place again - now don't ask me how we four did it - but somehow we all ended up in "The Brewery" at Pike Place - Had a great lunch there! Full of fun and down to earth pub style food. Great laughs and just a good day!

After lunch - I remembered I had forgotten to pack underwear for my husband other than a few bits n pieces in the carry ons.

USA = ROSS! YES!!!!!!!!!!!! We walked for the afternoon - it was wonderful just walking the streets of Seattle - stopped off for a few drinks at The Hard Rock Café - hmmm probably the least impressive HRC I have ever been in - feels nothing remotely or looks nothing like - a regular HRC - glad we didn't plan supper here - and finally found our way (hmm a bit tipsy to say the least) to ROSS -

I had to do a trolley dash - nightmare - I could have spent a day in there - like a kid in a sweetie shop!

Anyway, several pairs of Calvin Kleins later - made it out and back into the street.

Our daughter told us of The Cheesecake Factory - we have never ever ever been to the famour Cheesecake Factory - she and her husband have been of course numerous times - but not we small Scottish country scarecrows!

Oh my - it did not disappoint - good grief - how much food can one eat?

We took some to go - but of course - as well as the yummy sharing platters we had enjoyed - how could we resist - cheesecake!

Next up - its boarding day - whooooooooopeeeeeeee!!!

Oh and forgot to mention

At least we got to see one bear on our trip ;)

Happy Sad morning - Happy to be heading to the ship of course, sad to be leaving Seattle and even more sad to be leaving our daughter behind. We live 6000 miles apart - its never easy saying those goodbyes - but - we somehow make it work and we have met up in the most magical places on this earth -somehow - we make our year better than many Mothers and Daughters do, somehow - we make things happen - take time out - and its the quality of the time we spend together, not the quantity of time we have - that counts.

But as always - there are a few tears.. and of course we wished they were both joining us.

They waved us off in our loyal Dawoot's orange cab - and of we set at 10am for the port.

We were in Aquaclass - and for the first time had been sent an email detailing boarding times specific to each deck. I don't know if it worked - but I do know it was somewhat crazy at Seattle with so many ships there. I only saw this when we came back - didn't realise how bad it was until then.

We went straight through - checked in in under 5 minutes, (through the priority queue) and were told to wait in a seated area for 11am first call.

I have to say NCL beat Celebrity on this score. No matter what level of cabin you are sailing in - NCL have tables with fresh juices and waters readily available in all waiting areas. There was nothing here at all. Nothing.

11am came and Suites and whatever the highest rewards level elite whatever were called - within a few minutes Aqua class was called - we boarded no problem.

By 11.30am we were in Bistro on 5 and a glass of wine in hand. Sorry no pics here as they are all personal photos.

So - our history with Celebrity. Many years ago we cruised on M class ships and had the time of our lives. In those days we travelled with family - our late Mum in Law - and friends etc. 2008 was our last cruise with X until 2015. In 2009 - we had been booked for an amazing cruise 14 nights - had three suites booked plus two cabins - and Celebrity introduced the smoking ban on balconies - now for us - AT THAT TIME - that was a NO GO..

They would not refund us our large deposits - and we had to settle with transferring it to a Royal Caribbean ship (we booked the Penthouse and didn't enjoy it) so - suffice to say we were a bit miffed with Celebrity for a while.

2015 - long since non smokers (I am five years smoke free this year thank God!).. we decided the Modern Luxury marketing was getting to us - it was time to embark with X once more. Now - we took the Equinox fall transatlantic (we do a LOT of TAs remember) and have to say - it fell short by a long chalk. We had a good cruise but it wasn't a great cruise and we didn't really see much of the "Modern Luxury" we expected - Quasar was closed for renovations - there was a lot of FabbaAbba going on - and I don't know - it didn't quite come up to the expectation we had hoped for. The demograph of course was older - but we know this from other TA cruises - we had already booked this Alaska cruise or have to say I don't know we would have given Celebrity the benefit of the doubt again - now - you will be pleased to know - I am glad we did!

Bistro on 5 - we used this every single day on the ship! We loved it! We never ever in 14 days on Equinox used it- probably because the weather was so hot we were never indoors through the day - but this trip - Bistro on 5, onion soup - OMG I still dream of it on a cold day - its the best ever!

Soon we were waiving the grey skies of Seattle farewell! Au revoir our friends - see you soon

It wasn't long after lunch when our cabin was ready. Okay, I will tell you there was problems with our cabin. I am not going to say what it was - for it was sorted pronto - It wasn't good - and we wont sweat the small stuff - but this wasn't good. BUT - they sorted it as I say - on the button - and after which throughout our cruise - we received the first class service worthy of the X brand.

It is just over six months since we sailed with Celebrity, despite being a sister ship - in many ways it was like coming home. We preferred Solstice to Equinox - cant say why - but it seems brighter and cheerier - maybe it was just the all over ambience and crew - but Solstice soon won our hearts.

First evening stop

On Equinox the Molecular Bar had already changed over to the depressing World Class Bar with its even more depressing server "My Name is Ivan pronounced EEEeeeeeeVan"..

Molecular bar + Louda (I am sure many of you know her!) WOW!!!!!

Loved loved loved it!

BLU - again - a step up from our experience on Equinox - We enjoyed every meal we had here - the service was superb - whether for breakfast or dinner - and on one night when I didn't fancy the menu - Tony our waiter - without hesitation brought me the MDR menu (I didn't ask) and between the two we planned my meal to perfection,.

They would organise cheese plates and red wine to our room throughout the cruise - just wonderful service and first class - cannot fault BLU without exception.

We came back on our first night to find this in our cabin - a gift from the housekeeper re the "problem" on arrival

Great recovery team Housekeeping!

I was born in Scotland. Moved to Seattle as a young girl. Met my DH at age 35 and moved to California. Worked as a Flight Attendant for Alaska Airlines for 25 years. Based in Seattle. I have been on the Solstice 5 times. This summer I will take 85 yr. young dad on our 10 cruise together. ( My 50 ) He thought he would never cruise again after my mum passed away. He loves his wee dram and the casino. So love your story and your love of the smashing Seattle people. I am also a doggie lover and your story has brought me to tears. All the best to you and would love to cruise with you. Cheers, Heather

Heather - we met - on our very last night, a group of wonderful fun folks, but one lady and myself just instantly clicked - she was of Scots descent - and another Heather :D

Love the name - and I am surrounded by purple heathers here at home -.

The group incidentally we all agreed it was just as well we hadn't met until the last evening otherwise we may all have been hospitalised before the week was out ;)

Def Scots blood running through their veins!

I love you are taking your Dad on a cruise - Sorry for the loss of your Mum. My Dad is 86 and has Alzheimers - I still take him a wee dram in my handbag (purse) into the nursing home - breaks my heart I will never be able to do this.

Enjoy every minute - I am around your age too - (well I am really 21 but the body just gets on a bit!) - so I know exactly where you are coming from. Have a truly fantastic time and much love to your Dad - Tell him as he drinks that dram "Slangevar" - "Wha's Like Us"

Where were you born and raised?