Day 8: At Sea and cruising College Fjord

This will definitely be a catch up day on the blog. There are several things that I mean to say, but forget, as they are not related to the specific activities on any single day. The time has come. So buckle up for another GPS-worthy post, and I’ll just do some stream of consciousness blogging here. 

First though, I must discuss our wonderful day. At least briefly. I could boil it down to:  We ate. We drank. We ate again. Saw the most amazing scenery imaginable in College Fjord.  We saw a show. The end. But I’ll try to get a little more descriptive. 

Breakfast in Sabatini’s was a fruit plate and smoked salmon. Every day that I resist the brioche French toast is a victory day of sorts.  It was then time for some conversations with my brothers re:  mom. Difficult decisions are needing to be made. Still, they’re advising me to cruise on. And so I will. 

G went to the culinary show in the Princess Theater while I was attending to family matters, and returned to the cabin to tell me he had booked me for lunch in the Crab Shack at noon in the Savoy Dining Room. He would be joining me but not eating, as that sort of food is not his thing. Waiter Grete from Estonia was a delight, and we had a lot of fun.

Crab Shack menu

Popcorn shrimp and hush puppies

Can’t say this was exactly my thing…

…but I could have eaten a gallon of the smoked salmon chowder. 

I chose the Alaskan seafood pot as my entree and ate every delicious bite. 

And there’s always room for key lime anything!

I had just a little time for that delicious lunch to digest before going to an Alaskan salmon and wine pairing held in Sabatini’s at 3pm. This was something entirely new to me and involved two of my favorite food groups:  salmon and wine. It was really very nice and a pleasant way to spend an hour. 

And shortly after that the Sapphire Princess left the open waters of the Gulf of Alaska and entered Prince William Sound, and the views started immediately. Though the day had started out foggy, the sun was out and the sky was clear and the scenery as we sailed up College Fjord was simply magnificent. We went to the Pacific Moon Dining Room just to spend a few minutes with waiters Chandra and Paresh (we love them!) but ate quickly and tried to navigate the cluster of people at the very front on the ship on Deck 16. Finally, we went to the very back of Deck 14. We knew Captain McBain would turn the ship and we’d have the best view from there and we did…and just a handful of fellow guests joined us there. 

I had just watermelon and feta cheese for dinner.

The whole day had been a food and drink fest. 

Harvard Glacier

We were the blue dot. You can see from Google Earth how far back the glaciers go. 

I’ve don’t think we’ve ever had such a beautiful day in College Fjord. We are going to take Phillips 26 Glacier boat tour tomorrow in Whittier which should get even closer to the glaciers but it is supposed to be a bit overcast so the photos might not turn out as well. 

We just made it in time to production show Let Us Entertain You in the Princess Theater. We could have gone to the later show but I will be asleep long before it starts. It was another wonderful day on the Sapphire Princess and our second cruise starts tomorrow with a six hour boat trip. 

And, finally, some disjointed thoughts..

I have been remiss in not mentioning the wonderful emails I’ve received welcoming me back to the cruising world. I have not been able to respond to them individually (but will, once we are back at home) but they’ve meant a lot. I was actually quite unsure that anyone was interested in following along on a simple 14-night Alaska cruise. Apparently you are!  ☺️ Some of the emails have just been entitled:  FINALLY!  I guess it’s safe to say that we’re pretty happy about it, too. I’ve received three emails where people have sworn off Princess after some bad experiences during COVID, but may just try again, based on our very positive experience on the Sapphire. I am not jumping head first onto a larger ship, but I sure am happy on this one. 

It struck me just yesterday that, for a 19-year old ship, this one is impeccably maintained. Everything in our cabin works perfectly. Every drawer, every light, the shower, the sink stopper (this is key for me with hard contacts), the mattresses, the bedding, the towels…it’s all simply perfect. I’ve been on newer ships less well maintained. I known it’s obvious that I am more a fan or the smaller, older ships than the larger, newer ones, but the Sapphire does offer everything I could ever want on a ship. 

We made a couple of new purchases during Amazon Prime Days with this cruise in mind. One item was a charging block in bright green (less likely to leave it behind anywhere). With multiple Apple devices all requiring different charging cords, things are getting complicated. This simplifies them as much as possible, but we really should have labeled the cords. At home they all live in different parts of the house so we know which one charges which device. With them all in one place, I have to just try to plug each one in until I find the cord that works. 

In use in our cabin

That MusiCozy sleep mask with built in Bluetooth headphones is like my own personal blankie. 

I put it on, listen to music and I’m asleep in about a minute. 

Our inside cabin also has USB outlets on the night stand lamps. 

As for internet, the interface to access WiFi in the Medallion app works intermittently at best. I’ve shown four people how to use login.com in a browser for dependable access. If you have just one device, or a multi device package and don’t have to change between devices, it’s not an issue. But if you do, login.com is the way to go.

Typing login.com in the browser address bar brings up this screen.

Tapping on the Ocean Concierge tab in the bottom right corner brings up this screen…

…which allows you to touch My Beverage Package and see 

how many alcoholic beverages you’ve ordered since 6am when the 15 daily limit reset

Touch the More link in the bottom right you can get to this screen…

…choose a dining room and see the menus for the day. 

It took me a week to find this again. 

The Medallion app should have this info but I can’t find it there. 

Don’t get me started. 

Two years ago in this same area on the Majestic Princess, we didn’t even bother to our purchase WiFi for the second of our B2B cruises because the service was so spotty. Yesterday in Glacier Bay National Park, and again today crossing the Gulf of Alaska, it’s working perfectly. (You can tell by the number of photos I’ve uploaded). It’s not speedy but it streams video.  In fact, I can stream video right now. Hard for me to believe, with our super high speed WiFi at home, but this works. 

So far (knock on wood) I have stayed well, and the number of coughs and sneezes heard around the ship has been minimal. But the man in the next cabin has been coughing for two days.  Hope his germs stay on his side of the wall!  I wear a mask in the Princess Theater but nowhere else. And the elevators rarely feel crowded enough to make me feel nervous. As for hand washing, it’s 25 times a day at least.  Let’s hope my good luck continues. 

The Collegiate Glaciers

After enjoying our tea, I bundled up with every warm thing I'd brought (jacket, fleece pullover, fleece vest, scarf, headband, ear covers and gloves) and started forward to the lookout area on the front of Caribe Deck. Looking not unlike Nanook of the North, I nearly collided with Captain Binetti as he raced down the corridor on Aloha Deck. Hopefully he didn't notice me. Or at least didn't recognize me. Or, at the very least, won't remember this crazy woman round with layers of clothes with binoculars and a camera looped around her neck and a second camera in her hands.

G opted for a different route. He changed into his swimsuit and watched the spectacle from the comfort of an open air hot tub.

This is what we had come to see, and naturalist Jules kept stressing how lucky we were. The combination of sun, no wind and numerous sea otters made it the best day of the summer in College Fjord.

Photo 1: approaching the Collegiate Glaciers in College Fjord

Photo 2: on the left side of the fjord are the glaciers named for women's colleges: Vassar, Wellesly, Bryn Mwar and Smith.

Photo 3: Harvard Glacier is the wide one in the distance

Photo 4: Yale Glacier, to the right of Harvard Glacier

Photo 5: Harvard and Yale Glaciers

Cruising Port Wells and the College Fjord

The scenery just kept getting better and better.

A scenic day at sea

Every so often, maybe ten times in a lifetime, you have a day that you know will stand out in your memory forever. Today, cruising in Prince William Sound and College Fjord, was one of those days for us. Even if we return ten times in the future, I'm convinced that we'll never be able to re-create all the things that made this day perfect.

First, of course, has to be the weather. Although as we cruised up the Gulf of Alaska this morning it was a bit overcast and hazy, by late morning we were cruising closer to land, and the sun came out to stay. We rounded Cape Hinchenbrook around noon and entered Prince William Sound.

Before today, my knowledge about this area of Alaska was limited to the Exxon Valdez. But aside from a few oil tankers we saw anchored in the Sound, there is luckily nothing remaining to remind us of what's in the past.

There was so much going on this morning that we split up for awhile to cover it all. I attended the cooking demonstration in the Universe Lounge, then G did the following galley walk though and back stage tour in the Princess Theater while I went up to the Horizon Court Buffet to photograph the dessert extravaganza that was taking place from noon to 2pm. On the way, I ran into male singer Sincee on his way to the backstage tour, and we chatted briefly about the entertainment changes in store for the Island Princess. Like the Emerald Princess, they are going to roll out the new, shortened show format on September 12th. Damn. We're so glad we've been able to see the production shows in their longer format.

From 11am to noon, the dessert extravaganza was available just for photographs, and it was an impressive sight. G joined me for lunch in the buffet and we both waited in line a long time to get an assortment of the desserts. Nice, but I swear they look better than they taste. Or maybe they're just so. darn. sweet. A couple of bites were enough for us. At any rate, our next stop was to return to our cabin where the scenery outside our balcony was getting better by the minute. We bundled up and sat outside for awhile until the cold chased us in. Somehow, we ended up napping for a short time...lying in bed watching the mountains move by was very relaxing, and even I napped a bit.

At 4pm, the afternoon tea we had ordered this morning was delivered to our cabin. We can have tea delivered every day (a perk of being Elite in the Princess Captains Circle), but we seldom do. We're not big on eating in our cabin, but today it seemed like the right thing to do. Plates of scones, sweets and sandwiches were delivered, but it was the hot tea that really hit the spot. We sat in front of the sliding glass door to our balcony as we made our way through Port Wells into College Fjord.

Photo 1: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve

Photos 2-5: Dessert Extravaganza at lunch in the Horizon Court buffet

Photo 6: rounding Cape Hinchenbrook to enter Prince William Sound around noon

Day 7: At Sea; Cruising College Fjord in the evening

Although the fog horn is not being sounded, it is an overcast day with a lot of moisture in the air. We are currently (at 10am) sailing just south of Cape St. Elias in the Gulf of Alaska just off the Alaskan coast.

While there is minimal wind and slight seas, this is not a day to linger outdoors. Most passengers are packing up today, preparing to continue their vacation with a land trip in Alaska, or flying home tomorrow. There are about 190 of us staying on for the next cruise, and we've met a few couple spending weeks on board, until the end of the summer season. They're like us, in the winter on the Emerald, only they do it in the summer on the Island.

We are not alone. While friends at home might doubt our sanity, here, aside "our people" we feel right at home.

There was no sunrise to wake us today, but we were still awake early. Of course, we were asleep before 11pm last night. Our schedule just doesn't change!

G left the cabin early in search of coffee; I stayed cozy in bed and watched the end of a movie on TV. TV on a cruise ship...we seldom see a show of movie from start to finish, but generally, if we're that interested, we can catch the entire thing over the course of a couple of weeks.

I made it to the dining room about 8:30am for breakfast; G finally caught up with me there about 15 minutes later, and joined me for his second breakfast of the day. He had already eaten in the buffet, where he was joined by naturalist Joel who told him his wife was at home following my blog. What a small world!

Out next stop was the Passengers Services Desk to take care of some bookkeeping things. The $172.50 bottle (of what turned out to be champagne) was removed from our statement about 24 hours after we first noticed it, and many thanks to Joel at the PSD for following that through to its resolution. The PSD is a busy place this morning, with lots of people getting their accounts straightened out and picking up disembarkation luggage tags.

There are several fun activities scheduled throughout the day...a cooking demonstration, tour of the galley, backstage tour in the Princess Theater and a navigation lecture, all indicating that this cruise is coming to an end.  However, we do have something special to look forward to this evening: the Island Princess will be cruising College Fjord for three hours beginning at 5:30pm. We're going to have dinner in the buffet so as to be able to easily view the glaciers that we'll be passing, one after another at close range. Can't wait!

This is a good time to mention a book that we used to do some pre-cruise research and also as a reference guide along our cruise. We got it from the library but a newer edition is available from Amazon.com: The Alaska Cruise Handbook: A Mile by Mile Guide by Joe Upton. We've found that it has really added to our enjoyment of our cruise, and during the updates from the bridge at 10am (Captain Binetti) and noon (the Officer of the Watch), we can track our progress on the enclosed map.