Day 12 - Sun - 09/27/26 - At sea to Glacier Bay - day 2

 Overnight, we continued our slow crawl across the  Gulf of Alaska.  There was a little motion to the ocean overnight and throughout the day. This morning, I led the interdenominational service and preached a sermon based on the book of Philemon.  It was very well attended with about 50 to 70 people in attendance. Afterwards there was an Ask the Captain session which was very good. He answered a question that many people had regarding our docking in Anchorage, where the ship seemed to be tilted. He indicated that the ship was purposely ballasted to the port side to raise the starboard side up so that the gangway would be level with deck three which was the highest deck that they could mount the gangway to and keep it level or sloping upwards towards the ship. He was unable to answer the question of why the deck boards on level three on the port side are longer than those on the right side. I suspect that will become a question talked about on the bridge in private. In response to another question, he indicated that the ship probably has about 9-10 more years of life as a Holland America ship.

After the Captain's presentation, Holly gave a presentation on Ancestral Memories concerning the indigenous people of Alaska. Following lunch, Ben from Shore Excursions gave a presentation on the excursions available in Prince Rupert and Ketchikan. He was followed by an outstanding crew talent show featuring 5 acts.  An Indonesian couple won it with a song, Aladdin.  Holly then gave her final port talk on Ketchikan and Prince Rupert. 

I did book another cruise on this ship for October of 2027 in order to get the $225/person shipboard credit. I'll disclose the destination closer to the start of the cruise.  As a hint, it's in warm places and is a longer cruise. Our interior cabin will be located near where we are located on this cruise.

For dinner I had fish & chips for the second night in a row.  They are especially good on this ship using fresh Alaskan sourced fish. The entire cast of singers and dancers were the guests on Theresa's cocktail chat.  Their contracts end in 19 days and 8 will return to England and 1 to France.

Our evening entertainment was Tricia Kelly who returned and performed an all request set that was very good. Given that tomorrow's scenic cruising will start early and last until 6pm, we adjourned early to our room.

It's hard to believe our 18 day cruise only has one week and 4 port stops to finish. It's been a wonderful time and we love sailing on this size of ship.



Tricia Kelly

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