Armed with coffee and soy milk, I returned to the cabin to see G’s room service order had been successfully delivered. Score! There may still be occasional start up issues on the ship, but the crew is very intent on correcting them. Flush with food and coffee then, we settled in for most of the morning, to listen to the Glacier Bay National Park ranger commentary on our cabin TV and to watch the unbelievable scenery right from our balcony. Though the day had started so foggy (leaving me to wonder if we’d see anything today), it soon cleared and was even a little sunny at times. It was not quite as pretty a day as when we were on the Nieuw Amsterdam, but it was very close.
Ranger Megan handled the commentary from the bridge today. Each of the rangers we’ve enjoyed listening to for the past three Glacier Bay National Park visits had a slightly different style, and I seem to learn something new every time I listen to the commentary. Still, I think Ranger Matt from our first visit this year remains my favorite…and we were quite happy that he was on board today, walking around the open decks and answering questions.
G and Ranger Matt
With no rain today, we never needed the roof over our deck today, and those lucky people with the large balconies over the bridge had cameras on tripods and recorded the entire glacier experience. I had to laugh; several people on other balconies called to them to ask how to get to where they were, thinking it was public space. Those balconies are that large. We could have booked cabin E218 this cruise, with a huge, though uncovered balcony, but figured it was easier to move our things if we stayed on the same deck (it was).
Marjerie glacier
Still, it was chilly today, and we appreciated being able to step back into our cabin to warm up occasionally. When Chopsticks Noodle Bar opened at 11am, G grabbed half a serving and we split that, just to warm up.
Our room with a view
The Grand Pacific glacier looks like a gravel pile,
unless you’re high enough to see the river of ice behind it.
This glacier formed Glacier Bay National Park.
Lamplugh glacier
We are in cabin L110, which is a balcony cabin with an obstruction…
but only if you look forward over the bridge.
By 12:15pm we had just crossed out of Johns Hopkins Inlet after viewing Topeka, Lamplugh and Reid glaciers, and it was perfect timing to go to lunch in the Concerto Dining Room. Baja fish tacos…one of my favorites. I ate quickly and went to the Princess Theater for a final discussion by one of the National Park rangers on the life cycle of salmon. It helps that I love salmon so much, because you really see, eat and learn a lot about it on these cruises.
Baja fish taco
I had just a little downtime then, and returned to the Princess Theater for Naturalist Mike’s talk about glaciers and polar bears. G and I had this timed; he was showered for formal night when I returned to the cabin, and then it was my turn. We attended the 5pm Captains Circle party and were honored to be this cruise’s second most traveled passengers. I will G will try to get the details on days and MTG cutoff and I’ll add it here later if that happens. (Added later: it didn’t.)
We ate dinner at a leisurely pace, not intending to see production show Encore tonight, but when we were finished and walking by the Princess Theater only 7 minutes into the performance and found aisle seats (not together), we stayed for the rest of the show. I love that show, but G, who had skipped it last cruise, is not a fan. Too much opera for his taste.
Tonight’s Chocolate Journeys pistachio dome
Encore!
And that was our evening. G has another fun day planned tomorrow in Ketchikan, and Captain Tony had told us that the views would start well before 6an tomorrow. The alarm is set for 5am. Isn’t cruising relaxing?
