What a great day! Do you remember when we were traveling on the Pacific Princess in French Polynesia and G poked fun at me because every other day I was saying, “This was the best day EVER!”? After the last three years, I think he’s happy to hear even one “This was the best day EVER!” And today he did.
Captain McBain announced last night just before the production show began that the Sapphire Princess would be picking up the three Glacier Bay National Park rangers from near the entrance to the park about 6am. In Alaska cruises past, that would have been our signal to be warmly dressed and out on deck from that time on.
Thankfully, we’re older and wiser now. 😉
I left the cabin just after 7am wearing my Goretex jacket (yep, the same one I’ve had since South America 2002) and carried ear warmers and gloves. It was foggy first thing this morning but the fog quickly burned off and we were in for a sunny day. But we’ve never before experienced both the sun and the warmth we enjoyed today while in the park. I later returned all my outerwear to the cabin and spent the rest of the day in slacks and a long sleeved T. Best weather day ever in Glacier Bay!!
We made it to Sabatini’s for breakfast shortly after it opened at 7:30am, and enjoyed the large windows in there that afforded us a view of the scenery we were passing. We knew the Sapphire Princess wouldn’t reach the major glaciers until 10am, and we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.
My standard fruit plate
Branching out today, I ordered poached eggs over hash browns with hollandaise sauce on the side.
Nothing I found comes close to brioche French toast.
When we saw this view out the windows, we knew it was time to finish up breakfast and move outside.
We’d already decided to spend the day on the back of the ship. Multiple levels of public decks and lots of comfortable seating, much of it uncovered but that didn’t matter today. It also has some of the most comfortable seating on the ship.
The aft decks of the Sapphire Princess.
Cloudless blue sky again today
The Grand Pacific Glacier formed the entire park.
The Margerie Glacier
We saw a humpback whale spotting right next to the ship in front of Margerie Glacier. The ranger said she’d never seen a humpback so far into the park. And then -the highlight of the day- a huge piece of the glacier broke off (calved) TWICE. Captain McBain said it was the biggest calving he’d seen all season. Maybe the warm temperature (in the mid 60s) had an added benefit.
Another look at the Grand Pacific Glacier
What looks like dirt is actually glacial or rock flour caused by the constant erosion
of the bedrock under the glacier, The Grand Pacific Glacier
is 16 miles long and up to 300 feet deep in places. It moves four feet per day.
It really doesn’t get any better than this!
I looked at my watch and saw that the location we were in was Covenant Life.
Naturally, I had to find that on Google Maps.
Johns Hopkins Glacier with Gilman Glacier on the left
Once we had left the major glaciers behind, we went to the International Dining Room for lunch. It offered an abundance of choices and I had avocado bruschetta followed by Spanish paella. Both were excellent.
Avocado bruschetta
The paella was delicious!
The Majestic Princess sails by on its way up to Tarr Inlet,
viewed from our lunch table.
Swimming with a view
Neptune’s Reef pool on the Sapphire
and the midship public decks
In addition, pasta was served on the Lido Deck for guests unwilling to leave the views to go to lunch.
About 2pm we returned to our cabin, and promptly fell asleep. I never used to be able to nap, but since last year’s illness, I have become a power napper. We were cleaned up for tonight’s formal night and in the Pacific Moon Dining Room by 5:15pm for dinner.
I keep forgetting to post the dining room wine list…
I haven’t enjoyed escargot in too long.
The always available salmon was a miss tonight.
Like embarkation lunch salmon, it was overcooked and tough.
I had been worried that G’s fresh salmon might be overcooked, but it had been perfect.
I couldn’t eat this but Chandra offered anything else.
I chose more of the delicious mushrooms that had been served with the salmon. 😋
We skipped coffee and dessert intending to return later to have both (we didn’t) but needed to get to this cruise’s Captains Circle Party. We invited the four friends we had made before we even got in the ship last Wednesday to join us.
Captain McBain is a most personable host and we were honored as the most traveled couple on board. 2106 out of 2500 passengers on board are first time Princess cruisers, so the numbers are pretty low. Cut off for the MTG cocktail party was less than 150 days, meaning there were Platinum cruisers who received invitations. The top three most traveled numbers were as follows: 1449, 1106 and 492 days.
Final payment date for the December 1, 2023 Sapphire Princess cruise from Los Angeles to Buenos Aires was coming up in a few days. We had already booked that cruise and the following Buenos Aires to Santiago cruise, totaling 50 nights and including eight total days of scenic cruising in Antarctica. I just canceled both cruises, but not because we haven’t had a wonderful time on board (we have), or don’t like the Sapphire (we love it). Backed into the final payment corner, we had to make a decision and as of today the decision is to not go. So many reasons: unknowns about Mom’s health is a big one but the biggest one is that we’ve been to South America three times already, plus Easter Islsnd really makes it four. Frankly, I only booked the cruise for Antarctica. But my heart is still set on doing an expedition cruise, and that is not what the Sapphire offers.
We could still re-book the cruise later, and I’m not ruling that out. The timing, after McGee’s cross country season and during our winter, would be perfect. And I really don’t have any other options in mind either. It’s obvious that we still have some decisions to make. But at least I’m once again thinking cruising might be among them.
Progress has been made!
