Review and Journal: Sapphire Northbound Voyage of the Glaciers 8/10/2013

[JimmyVWine]

The tour concluded with Tyler offering to drop his charges off at any spot in Skagway where they wanted to get off. Since the Highway starts out at the north end of town, and the ship is at the south end of town, we opted to get off toward the northern most end of the “developed” district and walk the main drag. Others did as well, only they were making a beeline for the Skagway Brewing Company, again, toward the north end of town.

 

 

Here are a couple of shots of the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the device that Tyler called: “The Moose Masher”. Gee, I hope not!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here, we walked back to the ship to enjoy some time on board. The shipboard portion of the day will be covered separately. To be continued…..

[las313]

Great tour. Love the pictures. Keep up the good work.

Louise

[IdahoCruises]

They used to use these to clear tracks of snow in the mountains of North Idaho. And, yes, whatever got in the way got pretty well mashed....

[ar1950]

Thanks for posting all of the great pictures. That last one of the lake looks like it could be a Princess photo contest winner. :cool:

[Bimmer09]

Jimmy, thanks for taking me along on your trip to Carcross and Emerald Lake.

Although I have been to Skagway twice in the past 2 years I have yet to visit the above-but I will someday.

 

Keep up the rich narrative!

 

Best wishes,

Norris

[bdjam]

I've said it before - Cruise Critic needs a "like" button. I'd push it six or seven times if they did. Great stuff - thanks for sharing.

[JimmyVWine]

Continuing on with the review of the shipboard activities…..

After getting back on board we headed to the IC for a light snack. We had already had our afternoon coffee/espresso at a small shop in Skagway. Doing our part to support the local economy, don’t you know. And this place really was local. We took our food back to our balcony and enjoyed a marvelous view of the town and valley soaking in the afternoon sun. Once the sun dipped below the mountains, it was time to start thinking about getting ready for dinner. Before we had left the ship in the morning, I had called DINE to make a reservation at Vivaldi. I didn’t want a repeat of last night’s adventure with Mr. Furrowed Brow. We asked for, and received a 7:45 reservation without any issue whatsoever.

We arrived on time and proudly walked to the podium and announced that we had a reservation for three at 7:45. We were immediately ushered to our table without incident. We brought with us a bottle of 2007 Hourglass Cabernet and our glasses. We were advised of the cover charge, and it was charged. Tonight was “Twice Baked Goat Cheese Souffle” night, which means that ordering would be kind of boring. We all ordered that. How can you not, right? And it was as good as we remembered. I also ordered a mid-course of the pasta of the night which was a Gnocchi. The irony turned out to be that this was one of the dishes that would be demonstrated later in the cruise at a culinary demonstration, so you would think that this is one that they hit out of the park. Nope. These were leaden. Obviously, Head Chef Antonio Constantino who did the demonstration, did not actually make these little paper weights. Still, I ate them, assisted by my ladies who had to try them for themselves. They enjoy making gnocchi together at home, and they both declared that even their middling efforts bested these.

On to the mains. My wife and I both got the “Trilogy of Lamb Chop, Veal Breast and Chicken Kebab”. (By the way…is that the right spelling of “Kebab”? That’s how it appears on the menu, but looks odd.) When the dish arrived, we both commented on how the poor Chicken Kebab (which was nothing more than a chicken tender on a stick, like a Satay without the Peanut Sauce), looked out of place next to the more regal Lamb Chop and Rolled Veal Breast. Well, looks can be deceiving. The chicken was the best thing on the plate. Indeed, it was the only good thing on the plate. The veal was just flat out bad. Not “spoiled bad”. Just a tough, gristly cut of meat that had not been prepared in any way so as to overcome its shortfalls. And the lamb chop was fine. Just small and a bit overdone. All in all, this was the weakest entrée of the trip by a wide margin. Our daughter ordered the Osso Buco, noting how much we had enjoyed ours the night before, and she too declared the dish a winner. We all had dessert, but I failed to note what we had, and I simply cannot remember. Sorry.

 

After dinner, our daughter did her usual routine of changing, grabbing a bathing suit and towel and heading out to find her friends. There was a “Dance Party” or “Hot Tub Party” pretty much every night for the teens, and even if there wasn’t, they made up their own. For people on our cruise who wished to use the aft pools and hot tubs after 10:00 p.m., I apologize if you found them teeming with teens. It was their “thing”, and I think it was harmless and cute. I hope you thought so too.

In the theater that night was a comedian named Rollin Jay Moore. But my wife and I went to Club Fusion to hang with Pryme Tyme. It was “70’s Night” and it was time to get your groove on, shake your booty, and get down tonight, baby! The band was terrific. Several of the Cruise Director Staff were there to move things along. Mark, if you are out there, I must say that you do the 70’s proud. It is one thing to “know” how to do the Hustle and numerous other dances of the day. But to do them so well given that you weren’t even born until those dances had become caricatures of themselves is admirable. And while some may consider it an insult instead of an accomplishment, I will add that Mark does the best Y.M.C.A. I have ever seen. Not that it is a hard dance to pull off. But when you watched some of the passengers do it, it looked more like the ¥.Ԇ.Ͻ.۸ . So good on you, Mark. After the band called it a night, we hung out and danced with the DJ a bit more, and then called it a night. We had given our daughter a curfew of 12:30, and we had to beat her back to the room. We did, but just barely.

[JimmyVWine]

Day 6: Glacier Bay (Part One)…or…. “I hope we don’t have an NBE!”

 

Life is filled with many difficult choices. Wear my hair up or down? Foreign or domestic? Coke or Pepsi? Red wine or white? And, “Which Alaskan cruise should I book?” We are a justifiably biased group here, so the answer to that last question never seems to be too hard. “Book whichever itinerary goes to Glacier Bay.” But is it really that different? Well, to answer that you would have to go on every other itinerary and sail into every bay, arm and fjord offered by the cruise industry to do a fair comparison. But all I can tell you is that Glacier Bay was far, far superior to anything else we saw on our voyage and I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it for the world. Some of this was due to its enduring and immutable beauty, and some of this was due to the alignment of the stars that brought us there on one of the best days, (and according to some of the crew, the best day) in recent memory. But some of that will have to wait until Part Two of this report, as my photos of the calving glacier are on a second SD card which I have yet to download, but will soon. But the weather was spectacular (again). Warm and sunny, all of which aided in the excessive calving that we witnessed. The ice didn’t stand a chance against the beating August sun. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves until we have the pictures to prove it.

 

First, let’s address the age old question. “Where should I go to best enjoy Glacier Bay?” Well, in some respects, this question ties directly in to the other age old question: “Which side of the ship should I book?” Up until now, I have been giving a running commentary explaining which side saw what, and, in my opinion, which side was superior. And I will again. And pardon me if this is controversial and starts a flame war. But port blew starboard out of the water here. And irrespective if you take a Northbound or Southbound cruise, there is only one way in to Glacier Bay and one way out. So as long as you arrive in the morning, it is no contest. Port was far, far superior. (Even our Naturalist, Sandra, had said this in her lecture way back on our Channel Day. She advised everyone to get to the port side as we got to Glacier Bay.)

 

Now, before people jump all over this and scream that the best place to be is out on the deck in the open, rest assured, I am not fighting you on that. But let me make my case for a port side balcony which is mostly the result of our own circumstances and not part of some grand design. Let’s set the stage here with two very important facts. First: Arrival into Glacier Bay is early in the day. Second: The night before was 70’s Night and we didn’t get to bed before 1:00. What’s that have to do with anything? Well, the wife and kid were not fit to be seen in public before 10:00. 11:00 would have been more like it. Me? I am a sweatshirt and a baseball cap away from going anywhere in public. A 15 year old girl? Not so much. So here is how the morning went:

 

Me: (Having been on the balcony since 8:00, and now it is approaching 9:00) “Honey, you really should get out here and see the gorgeous scenery. We are a bit ahead of schedule, and we are already approaching Lamplugh Glacier. I want to go up top to the observation deck where we went for sailaway in Vancouver to take this all in.”

 

 

(Here is where we stood for that):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her: There is no way your daughter and I are going to be ready to head out in less than an hour. Can’t we just stay on our balcony?

 

Me: But everyone who reports back on these things says that the outside decks are the best place to be. And we have waited a whole year for this cruise. Do we want to miss the best part?

 

Her: Remember a couple of days ago when we went to the Promenade to meet up with Sandra for whale watching at Snow’s Pass. Half the ship was there, and we weren’t the first to arrive. We were five people deep and could barely see. Your daughter and I are not six feet tall like you. We will never see anything. Why don’t you go to the International Café and grab some coffee and hot chocolate and bring it back here.”

 

Me: (Uttering) But…but…

 

STOP. Now for you men in the audience reading this, you know that the word “marriage” is actually Latin for “pick your battles”. So I thought. And I thought. Eureka! The Bridge Cam!! Oh, you wonderful, helpful, fuzzy, non-HD, but still useful Bridge Cam. The mother of all compromises. I would agree to stay on the balcony, grab some hot beverages, turn on the TV to the Bridge Cam station, and if the view from the bow ever turned out to be superior to the view from our cabin balcony, I would hustle my butt up to the Sun Deck in a flash. (Or as much as a flash as I could be running up seven flights of stairs, or waiting for a cruise ship elevator.)

 

We never left our balcony until the ship did its U-Turn after the portside viewing of Margerie Glacier. Every picture that you will see below was taken from our Dolphin Deck balcony, hand to God. If you think that I missed anything or could have gotten better shots elsewhere, I’m all ears. But I will be skeptical. And here’s why.

 

We picked up our Park Ranger (more on her later) around 6:15. So you’re foray into the beautiful bay will be between 7:00 and noon, more or less, with the most interesting things and best light between 6:30 and 11:30. And during that time, all the good stuff is on the port side. That is where the light is shining. That is where the glaciers are. Forward and starboard are bathed in shadows. Now, don’t get me wrong. The point of this is NOT to suggest that a port balcony is better, or even essential. The point here is that it is just as good. At least, an open, uncovered Dolphin balcony is. I can’t speak for a balcony on, say, Baja or Aloha. For all the guff that uncovered Dolphin balconies get here for being open and lacking in privacy, this is where they pay off in gold. And to my wife’s point, there are no crowds on your balcony. You get the rail. This was not the case earlier in the cruise, and would not have been the case had we been latecomers to the Sun Deck observation area. So, enough of my pontificating. Let’s get to the proof. Below is a collection of some of the shots I took before we got to Margerie Glacier where the action started in earnest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have to love the glow of the morning sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

What a great place to sail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we saw some kayaks too. Which is a good place to mention the Park Ranger as promised and explain the quote at the beginning of this section. What the heck is an NBE?

 

For those who have followed this now-way-too-long saga, you will recall that I gave high marks to Sandra Schempp, our Naturalist. But union rules must prevent her from being able to take the microphone when we are Glacier Bay. That honor is reserved for the trusty Park Ranger. Well, our Patter informed us that we would be stopping off at Bartlett Cove Ranger Station to pick up a ranger. Instead, we must have taken a detour to Bartlett Cove Pre-School. The Ranger’s commentary was laughable at best and infuriating at times. She spoke in a sing-song manner, uttering one…word…every….two…seconds and in a manner befitting a presentation on career day to a pre-school class. Picture a woman doing a Saturday Night Live skit imitating Mr. Rogers. Seriously. It was that bad. Because I had turned on the Bridge Cam station to check for better views, we were subjected to her, until, or course, we turned down the volume. Even then, we could hear her out on our deck via the loudspeakers. Here is a direct excerpt from her spiel, and I promise that despite my attempts at keeping this light and humorous, this is not embellished in any way.

 

See the kayak off to the left side of the ship? That is my favorite way to visit the Bay. But you have to be careful if you camp and kayak, because there are bears on these islands and we wouldn’t want to have a negative bear encounter. Can you look around and see any spots where it looks like you might be safe from a bear? See if you can find one. Take your time. I will come back in a few minutes and tell you.

 

But you have to imagine this in your mind’s eye with the sing-song-y voice. Upon hearing the phrase “negative bear encounter”, my daughter and I immediately began to crack up. And then my daughter said: “I’ll bet whenever someone gets attacked or eaten by a bear up here, the Park Rangers use a code like the police do, and call it an “NBE”. So that became our inside joke for the rest of the trip. We don’t want any NBE’s.

 

 

OK. Back to the photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

And a few more. Skip ‘em if you’re bored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We played: Find the shape of the iceberg. We thought this looked like a sea monster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pearl was in the Bay before us. But it missed the action at Margerie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And my personal favorite from the sail in toward Margerie Glacier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With any luck, I will have the Margerie Glacier photos up soon. To be continued………

[DougH]

Whenever I've been to a glacier stop on a cloudy day the standard announcement is that "you are so lucky, the overcast sky really brings out the blue in the glacier ice"

Makes me laugh every time I hear it, there is nothing to compare being there on a spectacular sunny clear day and seeing the full view in all its glory. (blue ice and all)

 

I've been very lucky and most of my visits have had views like this, that is what keeps me coming back year after year.

[MGnut]

Whenever I've been to a glacier stop on a cloudy day the standard announcement is that "you are so lucky, the overcast sky really brings out the blue in the glacier ice"

Makes me laugh every time I hear it, there is nothing to compare being there on a spectacular sunny clear day and seeing the full view in all its glory. (blue ice and all)

 

I've been very lucky and most of my visits have had views like this, that is what keeps me coming back year after year.

 

DougH, I notice that you have been cruising to Alaska many times in May and June. How has the weather/sky been on those cruises. We will be doing the southbound cruise on the Island Princess late May/early June next year, and hope for good photo conditions.

 

JimmyVWine, your photos and commentary are wonderful. Thanks so much for posting them.

 

Howard

[JimmyVWine]

Whenever I've been to a glacier stop on a cloudy day the standard announcement is that "you are so lucky, the overcast sky really brings out the blue in the glacier ice"

Makes me laugh every time I hear it, there is nothing to compare being there on a spectacular sunny clear day and seeing the full view in all its glory. (blue ice and all)

 

I've been very lucky and most of my visits have had views like this, that is what keeps me coming back year after year.

 

We had overcast/full cloud skies on our College Fjord Day. Not sure that I took a single picture worth posting or keeping. I haven't gone through them yet, but that is my gut reaction. I'll take the sun, as long as it is in the right place and direction, and you can take pictures before it is too far overhead. As you can see from my Channel Day photos, clouds and mist can make for some fine visuals. But it can be redundant in a way that a sunny day usually isn't.

[DougH]

DougH, I notice that you have been cruising to Alaska many times in May and June. How has the weather/sky been on those cruises. We will be doing the southbound cruise on the Island Princess late May/early June next year, and hope for good photo conditions.

 

[Howard

 

I find that is generally one of the drier times of the year so overall I think the weather is better. This year there was lots of snow on the mountains, way more than usual.The big thing I like is the longer daylight hours as I like to spend lots of time out on deck. The evenings can be magical, I spent hours out on deck this year after sailway from Whittier. Weather was perfect and the views magnificent. It was moments like that that keep me coming back year after year.

 

Later in the season you get the salmon and bears but I hate the short daylight hours in Sept. Once you leave port you miss ALL the scenic cruising views that you get early in the year.

[caribill]

And my personal favorite from the sail in toward Margerie Glacier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great picture.

 

Was it taken from your balcony or from up on deck facing forward?

Edited August 29, 2013 by caribill

[JimmyVWine]

Great picture.

 

Was it taken from your balcony or from up on deck facing forward?

 

Balcony. We never went up top. I'm cheating here and skipping ahead, but we stayed on our balcony until the U-Turn and then went to the Promenade Deck to view Margerie from the Starboard side. Those are the only two places that we were that day.

[jjl64]

I have been following your review and just had to comment on your pictures - they are amazing!

[JimmyVWine]

I have been following your review and just had to comment on your pictures - they are amazing!

Thanks for the kind words.

[IdahoCruises]

When we were there a few years ago, we had great weather, too. The glacier is magnificent!

 

Your post make me feel like I'm there again.

 

This is one of the best threads ever!

[notes4theheart]

We had overcast/full cloud skies on our College Fjord Day. Not sure that I took a single picture worth posting or keeping. I haven't gone through them yet, but that is my gut reaction. I'll take the sun, as long as it is in the right place and direction, and you can take pictures before it is too far overhead. As you can see from my Channel Day photos, clouds and mist can make for some fine visuals. But it can be redundant in a way that a sunny day usually isn't.

 

You should check them, they might surprise you. I was on your sailing and I thought my photos of College Fjord were going to be terrible from how they looked on the screen but got some really stunning ones even with the cloud cover. You had better equipment than I did so I'm sure yours are even better. I was using a T1i with a kit 18-55mm and a 55-250mm.

 

Did you see any of the sea lions that swam past in glacier bay? I caught a few of them in photos.

 

Nice job on the whale tale you posted earlier after the Ketchikan day. I was further down and just missed that photo. (I have a blurry tilted tail.)

[Toddy709]

Your photos are by far the best I've ever seen on CC!! I see some photo contest wins in your future!

 

I also agree the port side balcony is best for Glacier Bay. We were on Baja, and since it was drizzly the day we were there, I was very glad for the covered balcony.

[JimmyVWine]

Did you see any of the sea lions that swam past in glacier bay? I caught a few of them in photos.

 

No fair skipping ahead!!

[JimmyVWine]

Your photos are by far the best I've ever seen on CC!! I see some photo contest wins in your future!

 

Thanks. Maybe I will take a flier and send in a couple. Can't hurt.

[JimmyVWine]

Day 6: Glacier Bay (Part Two)…or…. “…there won’t be any ice left for tomorrow’s ships.”

 

So where were we? Oh, yes. We had passed Lamplugh Galcier; done a drive-by of Johns Hopkins Glacier, (doesn’t that belong in College Fjord?); and were pointing toward the Grand Pacific Glacier and would soon be coming upon Margerie Glacier on the port side. Along the way we passed some neat waterfalls, gushing form in an inordinately warm summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We pulled up alongside Margerie Glacier and got a very close look at the beautiful, massive formation. Had the day not gotten any better than this, it still would have been a complete success. We remained on our balcony and tried to capture the wonder of it all with our eyes, ears, binoculars and cameras. We could hear some strained sounds of releasing pressure, but no movement along the face of the glacier. At least, not yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon seeing this view, my daughter said: “I’ll bet Oblio would be banished from this place.” I immediately got her point, but just to see who is paying attention here, I won’t explain it and will see if anyone can figure it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmmm. No telltale shrapnel in the water to suggest that there had been any recent calving activity. Not a good sign.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2013 by JimmyVWine

[dchip]

Your photos are some of the best I have ever seen of Alaska!! Here or anywhere. Very nicely done! Enjoying the review to the fullest.

 

Cheers, Denise