Bob's Alaska Trip--cruising the glaciers

The cruise portion of our journey began when we boarded the Diamond Princess about 6:30 PM on Saturday May 30. After a quick unpacking we had a nice dinner. Since we had sailed on a sister ship (Sapphire Princess in January) we were quite familiar with the ship’s layout and further exploration wasn’t required. Late that evening there was a short "welcome aboard" show featuring a good comic.

We had a balcony cabin on deck 12 on the port side. I downgraded by one category to obtain a port side cabin. After sailing, I now feel that the side of the ship is irrelevant. The room was relatively small by modern standards. The balcony, connected by a sliding glass door, had room for two chairs and a small table.

College Fjord: we set the alarm early so that we could experience the cruise through College Fjord. On a southbound itinerary you visit College Fjord early in the morning (6 to 9 AM for us). This relatively narrow waterway lies within Prince William Sound south of Whittier and Anchorage. While cruising this inlet it is possible to see up to 8 glaciers at one time. Some of the glaciers spill into the water (tidewater glaciers) while others stay up in the valleys of the mountains (valley glaciers). Most of the glaciers here are named after east coast ivy league schools.

Unfortunately we awoke to a heavy cloud cover. The best view of the glaciers is obtained from the front of the ship. We selected a viewing location at the front of deck 8 (another good viewing area, though more exposed, is on one of the upper decks, just above the bridge). Relatively few passengers were out for this early morning viewing opportunity.

Photographing in the heavy overcast is quite a challenge, especially for someone with no photography training. I just kept taking shots and hoping for the best. Unfortunately most look like ‘black and white’ photos. Photoshop brightens them up a bit.

As the ship departed the fjord we had a snack from the buffet, then proceeded to enjoy the remainder of our first ‘day at sea’. There was a naturalist onboard who provided lectures and occasional commentary from the bridge over the ship PA system (and TV channel 35). Her lecture in the morning covered marine mammals (otters, orcas and humpbacks). Her afternoon lecture discussed the bald eagle. Her lectures were interesting and informative. They were reasonably well attended but there were more people in the casino than in her lectures.

That evening we had our first "traditional" dinner, early seating in the main dining room, and we met our dining companions. I always request a table for six. One couple was older, perhaps mid-70s, on their very first cruise. They were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary that occurred earlier in the year. They really loved the cruise. I found it sad that they hadn’t tried cruising 20 years earlier. The other couple had just sailed the northbound itinerary as part of a back-to-back 14-night cruise. They were able to provide us some useful information about the ports. Our waiter was very experienced and very professional. He worked very well with his assistant and all of our meals flowed perfectly.

During our voyage there were three production shows featuring four singers and ten dancers. All were extremely well done. One quirk of the ship is that the main showroom capacity is less than one half of the ship capacity so that each production show is shown twice one night and repeated the following night. This seems to work fine although a few of the passengers were disappointed that there was not unique showroom entertainment each night.

Glacier Bay: The second day of the cruise spent much of the day in Glacier Bay. Only one or two cruise ships are allowed to enter Glacier Bay each day so Princess is fortunate to have permits for all of its ships sailing on one-way itineraries.

Our day began memorably with Princess’ Ultimate Balcony Breakfast. Although the weather was clear and sunny, it was a bit chilly to eat on the balcony so we enjoyed this meal inside our cabin. This meal was one of the best that I have experienced on a cruise and probably deserves a complete posting of its own but I will just hit the highlights. This meal costs $32/couple and consists of a half bottle of French champagne plus seven plates of food. Two plates include an assortment of fresh fruit with two types of melon, mango, and lots of ripe berries. Two plates include a huge portion of smoke salmon with a brioche roll and herbed cream cheese. Two plates include a wonderful crab quiche along with some crab legs. One plate includes sweet pastries. When the head waiter was marketing this breakfast he indicated that you are just being charged for the champagne; the food is actually free. We saved the champagne for later and did our best to consume the food. I enjoyed this meal so much that I ordered it again later in the cruise. The presentation was outstanding and the food was great; it is definitely well worth the minor cost. For those not sailing in the balcony cabins, the meal was also offered in one of the main dining rooms.

About 10 AM the ship entered Glacier Bay and picked up three rangers from the national park service. The bay is surrounded by many high snow-covered mountain peaks, some reaching 15,000 feet. Chunks of ice, some small, others huge, float in the water. Twelve glaciers reach the water and others can be seen in the mountains. The ship motors slowly past the scenery and takes several hours to reach the Margerie Glacier, perhaps the most scenic in his area. The rangers stayed onboard during our visit to the bay. One gave a lecture in the main showroom while the other two set up a display station on one of the upper decks. They were available during the day for questions and one provided some commentary from the bridge.

Glacier Bay is the destination where having a balcony cabin is particularly worthwhile. We had a beautiful sunny day that warmed to about 70 degrees. We could enjoy the scenery from our balcony while listening to the ranger commentary that was broadcast on the television. When we arrived at the Margerie Glacier the captain positioned the ship so that the glacier was visible from the port side of the ship; 30 minutes later he swung the ship 180 degrees to offer the same view to the starboard cabins. The Margerie Glacier extends 250 feet above the waterline and goes down another 100 feet below the water. It was interesting to be on the 12th deck, nominally 12 stories above water, looking up at this massive glacier.

Everyone hopes to observe a major glacier calving with a huge segment of ice falling into the water. Unfortunately this is relatively rare but we experienced several minor "sloughings" of glacial ice. However we frequently heard loud cracks and rumbles, the glacier teasing us with the possibility of a major calving.

About 3 PM the ship pulled away from Margerie Glacier and headed back towards the sea. We dropped off our rangers and headed towards our first port, Skagway.