Ken the cruiser

Wow! What a difference the time of day can make! We went to the College Fjord first, where the glaciers we saw when the Grand cruised there yesterday evening looked totally different! For one, there were pretty much no shadows as the sun was high in the sky! For another, there were a lot more harbor seals hanging out on icebergs and otters swimming around on their backs! 😁 This was our vessel which left the port about an hour late waiting on some guests coming from Anchorage on the train. This delay turned our tour into a 6+ hour adventure getting us back to the ship around 6:45 pm. But we had fun and that’s the main thing! 😁 First we headed back over to College Fjord. Pelagic Cormorant A few harbor seals just hanging out on a pretty day soaking in the rays! A lone harbor seal simply enjoying the moment! Now it’s time to start making our way back through the ice field that definitely grew in bulk since last night! More harbor seals hanging out on an iceberg. This was a raft of otters that we passed by as we were leaving College Fjord and heading towards Blackstone Bay where more glaciers can be found. These glaciers and surrounding scenery are what we saw in Blackstone Bay. We didn’t see any pigeons while we were in Whittier, but did notice this rock in Blackstone Bay that reminded me of one! 😂 Then it was time to head to the bird rookery we were to visit at the end of our tour. And as advertised, there were a bunch of Kittiwakes there!! with more arriving every moment! 😁 Then it was time to head across the bay from where the rookery was back to Whittier. As we started to head that way, a Bald Eagle came along side the vessel to guide us in! 😂 Fun times and we would definitely recommend it if you were thinking about booking in on your next cruise to Whittier. I only suggest if booking it through Princess, book it early as the price jumped over $100 per person from when we booked it early on!

No luck with seeing the NL early this morning. But the glow from the sun before a 5:08 am sunrise this morning was pretty. I took this at 3:45 am! 😂 We woke up at 7 am and it looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day in Whittier, Alaska! Except it might be a little chilly on our 5 hour excursion cruising around this afternoon. 🥶

Our excursion tomorrow while docked in Whittier.

Day 16 - May 15 - Whittier, Alaska

Here are some photos from our cruise through the College Fjord. First are some of the smaller glaciers we passed on our way back to the larger Harvard and Downer Glaciers and the end. Amherst Glacier Vassar Glacier Smith Glacier Byrn Mawr Glacier At the end was the Harvard (on the left) and Downer (on the right) Glaciers. On the way out we saw the Yale Glacier dumping into a small bay off the main waterway. Plus we saw some pretty scenery too! This was the view out the aft as we were exiting the College Fjord. Fun times, especially with that awesome super clear sky above us the whole time!! Right now we're scheduled to dock at Whittier at 12:30 am, around the same time the Northern Lights hopefully will start making their presence known! 🤞🤞

I actually sat on the balcony with the temperature around 45f for most of the afternoon, as it was so beautiful looking at the snow covered mountains, until it was time to get ready for dinner. Along the way, I saw a couple of Dahl’s porpoises, a couple of dolphins, and a Bald Eagle fly by, but all too far away to take a good photo of. After dinner we plan on heading back to the cabin as we should be entering College Fjord around 6 pm. A few more pictures before heading to dinner.

I remember on the cruise from BA to Santiago just before we boarded her on Jan 20 seeing on Cruise Mapper where it was dead in the water for a couple of hours on the way from BA to the Falkland Islands. Don’t know what the issue was, but she ran great the entire 30 days we were onboard after particular cruise. Someone on the Jan 4 Sapphire Roll Call might have a better idea what happened.

We had an awesome time at the Culinary Demonstration this morning in the theater, and as usual couldn’t stop laughing. But if you plan to come to one of these, definitely come 10-20 minutes early if you want to get a good seat. But I have to say the Director of Restaurant Operations Jean Paul Musiu and the Executive Chef Johan Antes had to be the funniest combination we’ve seen at one of these Culinary Demonstrations Then the bakery chef came out and Jean Paul and the head Bakery Chef decided to have a competition to see who could make the best Black Forest Cake! Then they closed with a crew member singing Sweet Caroline and one other song before much of the audience headed off to the galley tour, which we passed on as we’ve seen it many times before. When we got back to the cabin, we saw mountains again! And the sun was starting to break through. 😁 So I took another peak at Cruise Master to see where we were Based on our current location, I guess I’ll be sitting on the balcony this afternoon until 3:30 pm absorbing what there is to see once we enter Prince William Sound until it’s time to watch a matinee production show.

Good morning from somewhere in the Pacific Ocean around 9 am as we head towards College Fjord for a scheduled 6 pm arrival, which is just north of Whittier, Alaska (our turnaround port tomorrow), and the “cloud” forecast is still projecting clear skies for both our arrival and the potential for a “clear sky” viewing of the Northern Lights later on around midnight! 🤞🤞

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.

Tonight after dinner, we headed to first watch magician Jason Bird, who was very entertaining! We then went over to the Vista Lounge to watch A Night at the Klondike which featured the combination of a country western band mixed and the production cast dancers and entertainment staff initially performing and then inviting folks in the audience to come up and dance with them. It was a lot of fun and definitely recommend checking it out! Then we headed over to the Piazza to watch Reuben DotDotDot from Australia perform on a pole, which was pretty cool! Then as we were heading back to the cabin around 9:15 pm, we noticed we hadn’t left at our scheduled 8:30 pm departure time. Apparently there was a medical evacuation in which the patient needed to be flown to Juneau. In this particular situation, the ship wasn’t allowed to leave until the plane had arrived and they subsequently received word the patient was safely on the plane heading to Juneau. We finally set sail around 9:30 pm with our next stop being Glacier Bay early tomorrow morning.