Day 4 (Wednesday May 23rd, 2018) Glacier Day!!:
We had been told that Tracy Arm was not an option for our cruise (too icy). Has any cruise made it down Tracy Arm in the past 2-3 years? I had pretty much prepared my group for Endicott Arm, and we were told by the crew and the naturalist that Endicott and Tracy are "virtual twins" (though really, how the heck would I know if this was true or not). Either way, we were excited!
It had been a bit of a bumpy night (nothing horrible), and we woke at around 5:30 am. I hung out on the verandah and relaxed with S while Kev went to the gym. Soon after I went to put a load of laundry in (the facilities were really great and they have automated the whole process...you can pay for loads/detergent with your KTTW and then as long as your Navigator app is up you will receive notifications on when your clothes are done).Though...and we learned this the hard way...if anyone in your cabin is still sleeping and/or napping, the Wave Phone goes off when the notification comes through, too. S almost fell out of bed later in the cruise when it started ringing, lol. I didn't have an issue finding an open washer or dryer at any point (I did laundry twice), and had a good time chatting with other guests while we switched out loads or used the iron. Once I got back to the room S was watching Natalie and Ashley on the morning show (I miss this, actually!). I offered to pick up a quick plate of food (first breakfast) for my hungry teenager from Cabanas, to tide her over until we went to eat with Kev. She was very grateful, and we shared some hash browns and pastry while watching part of Pitch Perfect 3.
Once we finished our food in the room we decided to go for a walk around the ship. We explored, and then did some laps around Deck 4 (crowded, people were already in the loungers and taking photos of the gorgeous scenery). Kev messaged that he would meet us at Cabanas, so off we went! We took the stairs about 90% of the time on this cruise. It just seemed easier on the classic ship.
Cabanas was packed, and we realized that we would have to plan a bit better from this point on regarding breakfast buffet and timing. We snagged three seats at the counter that faces the buffet, and it worked out fine.
S decided to make her way back to the cabin to rest a bit, and I walked to Port Adventures with Kev to pick up an excursion booklet (in case our Skagway plans were cancelled). We then stopped at the Planning desk to put down a placeholder for a future cruise. We then attended the naturalist lecture:
It was informative, though I had to relay most of it to Kev as the rocking of the ship and the dark theater lulled him to sleep! Once it was over we went to Deck 10 for some yummy treats and went back to the room to find our light-up snowflakes on the bed!
We all wandered out to the verandah and took photos/used the binoculars from time to time. We also noted that there would be narration during our adventure up the fjord to listen to via the cabin television.
Note: We loved having a verandah on this trip, but didn't feel it was essential. We spent so much time on the decks and near portholes all over the ship that were amazing. We have all decided that, while we loved it, it isn't a deal breaker for us on future cruises. Also, being out on the decks was a great way to chat with other cruisers and to people watch a bit.
At around 11:45 am I made my way up to the bow of the ship on Deck 10. I wanted to snap some photos and just to see what was going on. It was pretty cold (but clear for the most part), and crowded! I chatted with a family from Canada and a gentleman from Michigan while we all took photos and just enjoyed the scenery. Kev and S joined me for a bit but S preferred the verandah so they ventured back to the cabin. At some point we came to a standstill as the glacier excursion passengers tendered to their ferry boats. Soon after we were on our way again.