Ken the cruiser

Yes, especially when we’re trying to get from the theater to the Vista Lounge after the early show. But you get used to it. But at the same time, we spend a lot of time on the balcony or in our cabin during our downtimes while at sea. Now, if you liked to be out and about around people and sit in the public areas, then you might have to develop a strategy because the seating in those areas fills up rather fast from what I can tell.

Thanks for keeping me straight. We just turned Elite prior to our Antarctica cruise in January and haven’t yet dropped our Plus packages until our July cruise, so still learning. As far as the number of items in the mini bar setup, 10 sounds good! I always forget to count the 2 beers in the fridge when I swap the alcohol for Heineken beer.

We just made Elite, and really enjoy the free laundry, 10% discount on excursions (which we use to help pay the daily gratuity charge), and the one free stocking of the mini-fridge with 9 alcohol and 9 nonalcoholic beverages (which we convert to 9 bottles of beer and 9 bottles of water). It is also no longer cost-effective for us to book cruises with the Princess Plus package since we (1) get unlimited internet at 50% off, (2) the 10% in OBC we get from booking excursions helps pay the daily gratuity charges, and (3) the beer and water we get from the one free stocking of the mini-fridge goes a long way to satisfy my minimum alcohol drinking needs. We can also buy 12 bottles of water for $7.09 once onboard, which is all my DW drinks. So making Elite has definitely been worth it for us. 😁

We’ve done 3 Alaska cruises before this, and the other night was the first for us too! We just got super lucky this time around plus the fact we’ll be cruising around up here for 22 days in early May also helped increase our odds. There is no way we could even dream about seeing them in the summer when the sun just dips below the horizon and then pops back up!

Day 15 - May 14 - College Fjord (Cruise Only) And hopefully for the first time this entire cruise, there won’t be a cloud in the sky! 😁

Tonight after our Formal Night surf and turf dinner, we headed to the theater to watch the production show Born to Dance! FWIW we have really enjoyed all three of the new production shows we’ve seen now twice on our cruise so far! 😁 After the show, we were off to the Vista Lounge to watch another new Laugh Lounge comedian, Todd Parker, who was hilarious!! 😂

BTW the potential for seeing the Northern Lights just after we arrive at Whittier, Alaska around midnight tomorrow night is looking pretty good! The sky around Whittier is also currently forecasted to be free of clouds tomorrow evening, especially to the east! And with the Whittier sunset around 10:32, hopefully we’ll have quite the light show to watch after we dock around midnight! 🤞

We just received our In Transit information for when arrive at Whittier day after tomorrow. The bottom line is there is no US Customs to deal, so we can stay on the ship until just before noon when we meet to go on our 26-Glacier boat tour! Yay!

This afternoon we went to another North to Alaska presentation provided by Nick Jans about the star of the book he wrote. Romeo, the friendliest wolf you would ever have the pleasure of meeting. And then we were off. Next stop College Fjord tomorrow morning!

As far as we’ve been able to tell, all is in great shape and we have no complaints so far. The couches and chairs are comfortable, not a lot of rust, and most importantly the food is quite tasty, both in the dining room and up at the buffet, when on occasion we’ve had to eat lunch up there on port days. 😁

Here’s a map of Glacier Bay. The glaciers we will visit are in the two inlets at the top of the map. Here are some photos as we headed down the Johns Hopkins Inlet. Lamplugh Glacier Johns Hopkins Glacier. We couldn’t get any closer due to the Harbor Seals are raising their pups near the glacier. My harbor seal iceberg! 😂

Here is some of the scenery we passed along the way to the Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers. A couple of harbor seals hanging out on a small iceberg. Small chunks of ice from the Margerie Glacier. The continually receding Grand Pacific Glacier where only a big rock wall remains along the water line. A few photos of the Margerie Glacier. I was lucky enough this time to take a photo when the glacier was calving! 😁 Lunchtime for the Black-legged Kittiwakes!! 😂 Now off we go to the Johns Hopkins and Lamplugh Glaciers.

We have arrived at Glacier Bay! Lamplugh Glacier, as we were cruising by on the way to Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers.

Cool! That would make an awesome photo, but my DW won’t let me feed the birds! 😂

Day 14 - May 13 - Glacier Bay, Alaska Definitely not the fastest speeds cruising through the fjords. But at the same time, I was able to upload photos and text to my thread. 😁 This is the Northern Lights forecast for the next two nights. But I think we’ll be out of luck seeing them because of the clouds overhead.