Day 11 - Sat - 09/26/26 - At sea to Glacier Bay - day 1

Overnight we had only reached just south of Homer in the Cook Inlet as we had only traveled at 11 knots or so. The ride was smooth and we would be in protected waters for a little bit longer today. It turned out to be a relatively full day in terms of activities.

Our first activity was originally planned to be the 9 AM coffee chat with the cruise Director Theresa hosting the celler master Jacque. However, the last minute we decided since we've seen him already in the winetasting that we would go to the Glacier Bay presentation by Holly. While we've been to Glacier Bay many times it's always nice to get a refresher course on what to expect.. Later in the morning at 11AM there was a  Mariner recognition ceremony on the World Stage and the Mariner with the most sailing days on board the ship had over 3400 days. Afterwards, we were treated to a Mariner recognition lunch in the main dining room. The menu there was fabulous with shrimp, cocktail, appetizers, and turf main course and concluded with a chocolate crumble. I was the only guy at our table of six and we all enjoyed pleasant conversation with two ladies from California and two ladies from Canada.





After lunch, Holly presented a port talk on Juneau and Wrangell. I grew up in Juneau and we've been there many times.I've only been to Wrangell by airplane and have never seen the town in person so it's good to get an introduction to what we would be seeing. Following her presentation, we watched the presentation on future cruise possibilities by the future cruise consultant on board. Dr. Douglas concluded the afternoon teaching with a talk on Biodiversity Biogeography and Nature conservation. This was the last of his talks and he was once again very good. We ate a quick dinner in the Lido before going to the 6 PM cocktails with Theresa program featuring the vocalist Tricia Kelly. She was quite interesting and when I asked her what the career that she would be most likely to have if she were not a singer, she replied that she would like to be an accountant. She got a real charge out of the fact that I'm a retired accountant.

The only evening activity was an Ice Ball in the World Stage area. It was nicely decorated, and the Dam Band and their singers play music, which people danced to. There was also a costumed husky who was available for photographs. Around 9:30pm the cast of singers and dancers did a song and dance set that was pretty good. We left the party around 10 PM as I am planning to speak at the interdenominational service at 9 o'clock in the morning and I wanted to have some quiet time this evening to review my materials. On our way out of the venue, I spotted the staff captain and asked him if he knew why the deck planks on the port side of deck three were longer than the deck pranks on the starboard side. He had no answer for the question. So the mystery continues.

Tomorrow is second sea day on our way to Glacier Bay. There are lots of activities planned and we're looking forward to continuing across the gulf.





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