Chasing Waterfalls – Day 10

That day was the day I had looked forward to the most. We were going to spend a big chunk of the day cruising in the Glacier Bay National Park. This was new to us as neither Disney Cruise Line nor Royal Caribbean have the permits to enter Glacier Bay. According to the daily programme, we were going to pick up the park rangers, the Alaska Native Voices Cultural Ambassador, and the Alaska Geographic representative at 06:00 AM and this seemed to be as good a time as any to get up. We got dressed and headed out. I found a square lounger on the starboard side of the ship and set up camp. Graham decided to check out the situation in the Crow’s Nest and was going to do a coffee run at the same time. The Crow’s Nest was the location where the rangers and other people who we picked up would be based. He came back quite quickly minus coffee as it was absolutely packed up there.

Graham had stopped by to get some breakfast at New York Deli and Pizza. He was given a pager as the food is made to order. When the pager went off, he went to collect this. He had a breakfast bagel and some fruit. I have to say, it did look good. I had my heart set on some congee though. I had it again with some beef strips, boiled egg, and soy sauce.

Once I had finished my breakfast, I decided to head downstairs to the Grand Dutch Café to check out how busy this was. It did not look very busy. There was only one person placing an order and a few people waiting for their coffees. I went to place my order. It did take a little longer for my coffees to be made and they only did regular coffees rather than large ones, but in the grander scheme of things, it did not matter. Once I had our coffees, I headed back to join Graham.

It took a while after we picked up the rangers until there was much to see. I started to wonder why people were so excited about Glacier Bay. We did see some seals, a whale, and some porpoises on our way in. However, suddenly the scenery became very dramatic. It truly was breathtaking. At the beginning of our time at Glacier Bay National, the weather was rather grey and foreboding, but rather than taking away from the experience, I think this added something.

 

The first of the glaciers, I nearly missed. I had heard from people that have been to Glacier Bay before that the captain spins the ship around so that everybody who is enjoying the glacier viewing from their balcony gets a chance to see the glaciers. When we went past the first glacier, we stopped briefly and then we moved on. Fortunately, I just happened to be on the right side of the Lido as I had just quickly gone to our cabin to get something and the entrance to our corridor was the same side as the glacier was on. I took a couple of quick photos but figured that we would come past again on the way back and I would take some more photos then. Unfortunately, this was not what happened, and I was glad that I had at least some photos.

 

It was not long after this until we reached the second glacier. This one was the bigger one of the two and this time round the captain did a slow 360 degree turn twice so that everybody had amble opportunity to admire the glacier. Some people got lucky and saw the glacier calving. I had missed this, but I had got lucky more than once the previous year. We were quite close to the glacier about an hour before we left and slowly headed out of Glacier Bay.

 

We got lucky with more wildlife. Near the second glacier, we spotted a bald eagle chilling out on some floating ice, which was a really cool thing to see. We also saw some mountain goats. Graham got lucky and spotted a bear. By the time I had managed to focus on the right spot, the bear had sadly moved on. Still, I had an amazing day.

 

We had always intended to stay in the Lido for the whole duration of our time in Glacier Bay. It always surprises us on cruises that include scenic cruising of some description that a lot of people disappear as soon as we have left the perceived highlight. We have always stayed somewhere with a view in those situations and have been rewarded with amazing wildlife sightings as a result. We did however need to think about lunch. On the lower deck of the Lido, they have an outlet called Dive-In. This offers burgers, hot dogs and fries. I had learned by watching videos from a couple that cruise on Holland America a lot and also cruise a lot on other cruise lines that Dive-In offers the best fries at sea. They were not wrong. I had discovered that they offer mobile ordering which meant that I could order right from my lounger and just go downstairs when the app told me that my food was nearly ready. I had ordered the High-Dive for Graham. This was a beef burger with American cheddar cheese, topped with chop-chop lettuce salad and sliced tomato on a toasted brioche bun with Dive-In Sauce. I had The Cannonball, which was a beef burger with Gouda cheese, apple wood smoked bacon, sweet, caramelised onions, on a toasted brioche bun with Dive-In Sauce. We had a portion of naked fries each. I also had some Dive-In Sauce on the side for dipping. The fries were definitely amazing. The burger was also one of the best I had on a cruise ship. 

At some stage, Graham asked if I fancied a drink. I told him that I would not say no to a melon margarita. He headed off. He was gone quite a while. I figured it must be really busy as I thought he had just gone to the Panorama bar. It turned out that this had been his intention, but they were very busy. So,he went downstairs to Billboard on Board to get the drinks. I was surprised that he was even able to get a melon margarita there as this was not something that was on the bar menu. This definitely hit the spot.

 

We did not see a great deal more wildlife. However, there is something very soothing about just sitting and looking out at the ocean. We did get rewarded for sticking it out with a sea otter sighting.

 

Around the time we were due to drop of the rangers, we quickly went back to our cabin to drop off our stuff and then we headed downstairs. They had afternoon tea that day and this was something I really fancied. We still had a bit of time, and we decided to finally pick up our ship model. We also had a look at the photo gallery.

Photos are my favourite souvenir on any cruise. I often go through photos from past cruises. If I can purchase a photo package, I will always do this. I do prefer having my photos in electronic format. Holland America does not let you pre-purchase a photo package, which should have been warning number one. I had checked the photo gallery out the first full day and found out that you have to buy physical prints and then you were also given a code to download the digital file. This was far from ideal. I had budgeted a generous amount for photos and when I had a look round the photo gallery earlier in the cruise, I figured that I would probably get a 10-print package like I had done on Radiance of the Seas last year. They must have had an early bird sale on as when I looked at the packages again, the prices were much higher. I am still glad that I did not buy the package the first day as the photos were not great. I figured that I would get plenty of photos on our upcoming cruise.

Soon it was time to think about afternoon tea. There was a huge line. We decided to sit down near guest services to see how quick the line would move once they opened the dining room. Unfortunately, the line only got longer. In the end we decided to give up and made a plan to at some stage go to afternoon tea closer to home, which we finally managed to get around to two months later.

We headed back up to the Lido to get some coffee. I was ready for something to eat. I placed another online order for Dive-In. I had the Jack Knife hot dog, which consisted of bratwurst sausage, curry ketchup, curry powder sprinkle, crusty roll, and Dive-In Sauce. I had some fries smothered in melty cheese sauce with it. I enjoyed this, but I preferred the fries by themselves. On the way out of the buffet, I decided to check out what the soft serve flavour was that day. It turned out to be pineapple. I decided to have some of this, and this was as nice as Dole Whip.

There was something on the Daily Planner called Koningsdam Games. I decided to check this out. Graham was not interested and headed off. I still had a bit of time and got myself a mocktail. I am not sure what was in it, but it was very fruity, delicious and refreshing. Once I had my drink, I headed over to the registration table. They asked me to join a team. I was teamed up with a mum and her primary school aged daughter from Vancouver. Later on, we were joined by grandma as well. I still had no idea what I was actually letting myself in for. I found a seat and finished my drink while I was waiting for all to become clear.

It turned out to be athletics with twist. We did discus throwing with paper plates, javelin with straws and shot put with ping pong balls. Sport has never been my forte and this was no exception. I figured throwing a paper plate would be easy, but this was an unmitigated disaster. The other two events were better, but still not great. Fortunately, the rest of the team were struggling as well, and I did not feel too bad. It was still fun though.

I went back to the cabin and Graham was there just chilling. We ended up having a nap and then we took turns getting showered and changed before heading out to get some dinner.

We had dinner at the buffet again that day. Graham had dried cherry and thyme coated salmon, mashed potato, and vegetables. I had some Salisbury steak with gravy and roast potatoes. I also had some pork katsu with sesame fried rice, and tempura vegetables. Everything was delicious. After dinner, Graham took some photos of my outfit and then we went to the Panorama bar for a night cap. Graham had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, and I had a melon margarita. We were pondering another one, but we both felt quite tired. In the end, we said goodnight to Charles and headed back to the cabin. We got ready for bed. Graham went to sleep straightaway. I read a chapter and then I called it a night as well.