SUPER ALASKA CRUISE
K. Day 5: Glacier Bay
On Friday morning when I woke up, I saw out my window we were already cruising Glacier Bay. Since I was up late the night before and was exhausted from a full day of activities, I woke up late. Most of the other cruise itineraries have 3 consecutive days of port visits. I think the Norwegian Wind’s itinerary, which traverses Glacier Bay between port visits, is ideal. I was woken up by announcements on the public address system. (The public address system can be heard from the dining rooms, lounges hallways, and outside areas, but not from the speakers in the rooms [except for debarkation day when announcements were made who can get off the ship, then they turned the room speakers on]. But, if you turn to the TV channel that has the picture of the front of the ship, you will hear all of the announcements through the TV speaker [at least on Glacier Bay day].) (When the Stewards/esses make up the rooms that morning, they turn you TV to the channel with the front of the ship and leave it on. Also, the night before a National Park Service guide brochure for the Park was placed in each room.)
Some time in the early morning the ship picked up some National Park Service guides who would be making announcements all day over the public address system and gave talks in the observatory lounge.
I went upstairs to eat breakfast in the Four Seasons Dining Room (the room in the middle of the ship that has the bay windows visible from the outside of the ship). It was great eating in a ship with dining rooms with views rather than dining rooms on lower levels without windows. As we were eating we watched sights go by. One of the first sights was (again) the Holland America ship Volendam (which we saw or will see in every port except Haines). It was explained that only 2 large cruise ships each day are granted permits sail Glacier Bay.
On our day in Glacier Bay it rained (lightly) all day and was cold (about 40 degrees). I was glad I had a warm coat and gloves with me, but wish I brought a wool hat. Ships cruising Glacier Bay sail very slowly so there is not much wind. After breakfast, I put on my coat and gloves and went down to the promenade deck with my camera and binoculars. There were lots of people on the deck, but it was easy to get space on the railings. Because the Norwegian Wind has so many picture windows in public spaces, people who did not want to go outside could still enjoy the sights. I passed some rooms that had balconies; none of these rooms’ occupants watched the glaciers from their balconies, they watched them from the inside of the room through the large windows. I wonder if the balconies on the Alaska cruises are used as much as when the cruises are in the Caribbean and whether a room with a picture window is just as good?
We passed several glaciers very closely including Margerie Glacier and, Grand Pacific Glacier in the Tarr Inlet, the Johns Hopkins Glacier and the Reid Glacier. We got very close to the glaciers and saw calving (ice falling off of the face of the glacier) just like in National Geographic specials. The waters, especially near the glaciers, were full of large blocks of ice that we merely sailed through.
Following behind us was a small excursion ship, the ‘Spirit of Adventure’. That ship did not get any closer to the glaciers than did the near titanic sized ships (pun intended) sailing the bay that day. Later that day I was flipping through a Haines visitors guide newspaper and say an advertisement for the tour company that runs the ‘Spirit of Adventure’. The price for a tour of Glacier bay (including a flight from Haines (you can also fly from Juneau and Skagway) begins at $440, and a two day tour begins at $617, not much less than the discounted per person price of a 7 day voyage on a big cruise ship.
We also saw wildlife that could be seen through binoculars. A great sight was a pod of killer whales whose trek paralleled the ship for over ½ hour.
On the Norwegian Wind few people know about the aft open deck on the 8th floor. That is an ideal place to view Glacier Bay. You can see things from both the port and starboard side of the ship from the comfort of beach chairs. If it is cold out, retrieve an outdoor blanket or a clean fluffy towel from the bins by the hot tubs on the top deck.
We left Glacier bay around 3PM and sailed south through the inside passage (rather than through open waters of the Pacific [sea-sickness risk] that some other voyages take) to Ketchikan. At times during this piece of the voyage the Volendam was visible.
For the rest of this day, before the formal dinner, there were activities on board to keep busy including exercise classes, bingo, a talk about Ketchikan, the Captain’s cocktail party, and a show.
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