Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

The ship entered Glacier Bay around 7am and meandered its way through the ice filled waters to its terminus in front of the Marjorie Glacier at 11am. On it's way, we passed by a terrain covered by snow capped mountains, forests and various forms of wildlife (mountain goats, bears, sea otters, eagles). Two park rangers boarded the ship and navigated the journey by commenting about the features as we passed by them. We were also provided with a map to follow along. We passed the Lamplugh Glacier and the Grand Pacific Glacier. At 10am we were served Dutch pea soup which is a HAL tradition and helped to warm our bellies. Myron and I chose to spend our time on deck 3 which had barely any people out and about. We got hot chocolate in HAL mugs with amaretto for me and frangelico for Myron. On arrival to Marjorie Glacier and Grand Pacific Glacier, the ship spun to provide viewing from both the port and starboard side. The glacier calved numerous times while we were watching it. After spinning, the ship returned to the exit where we dropped off the park rangers. We left the park around 6pm.

After strolling around on deck 3, we went up to the upper decks and met up with the rest of the family. Using binoculars, we tried to see bears and eagles without the guidance of the park ranger but were unsuccessful. The rest of the day included trivia at 4pm and 7pm. Lunch at 1pm was burgers at the Dive-In, dinner at 8pm in the MDR (salmon and crab cakes) and drinks the rest of the time. We went to the casino briefly at 10pm and bed soon after.Read more