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