Glacier Bay, Alaska

NCL Jewel 21-Day Transpacific Cruise Tokyo to Seattle

May 20, 2018 (Sunday) -- Glacier Bay, Alaska

Today we sail into Glacier Bay National Park. With almost a whole day sailing into the different parts of the Park, the ship made some arrangements so people in the balcony cabins can have breakfast in their staterooms instead of going to the restaurants. We have also ordered our "Glacier Bay Balcony Breakfast" the night before so we had to get up early for the delivery at 7:30 as the ship sailed into the bay. They were prompt in delivering our food except they missed a whole order of our breakfast. No big deal, we can always get more food at the buffet.

The ship picked up the park rangers at around 6:00 this morning and they would stay on the ship till after 3:00. 

I was just taking a picture of the 4th bed in the room, up in the ceiling.

Breakfast delivered at the requested time.

After breakfast, we just admired the scenery from our balcony until it was time to go up to the Haven Courtyard. Unfortunately, the weather was kind of gloomy and it was drizzling when we were up there. They passed out ponchos to those who needed them in addition to the blankets which helped a bit but it was still cold and wet being in the open space.

Getting close to Margerie Glacier in the Tarr Inlet.

Looked like there was a fire or something in the distance.

Everything was wet at the Haven Courtyard.

These young men were in shorts and T-shirts while we bundled up in scarves, hats and heavy jackets.

After about 35 minutes we decided to get back in our cabin and just enjoy the views from our balcony.

Lots of seagulls flying around as our ship made the turns at the glacier.

As we were leaving the Margerie Glacier, another ship sailed in. It was the HAL Volendam! We were on that ship twice in when we cruised in southeast Asia. It's always exciting to see ships that we had been on.

We were told that they would only allow two ships into Glacier Bay each day. So for that particular day, it was the Jewel and the Volendam.

It was a little disappointing that we were not able to get close to Johns Hopkins Glacier at the Johns Hopkins Inlet because apparently there were some seals having babies in that area which prevented us from entering. 

The last glacier for the day--I believe this was the Lamplugh Glacier.

Jellica called to let us know that she had changed our meeting room from the Congo room to the bigger Java room instead. 

Much more spacious.

Empty casino

Shaker's Martini and Cocktail Bar

Entrance to Azura

Thinking to avoid the crowds at the buffet, we had a late lunch that day. It turned out that there were still a lot of people up there so we headed over to La Cucina again. The food offerings at the buffet were basically similar every day but a couple of times we were able to get a piece of freshly grilled salmon at the grill station. Somehow you need to ask for certain food at the buffet because they do not make it available for everyone. Same thing as the fresh pineapple which they do not put on the servers but if you ask, they will get them from underneath the counter. Not sure why they do that but after seeing other people getting 'special' food items, I've learned it didn't hurt to ask. 

The park rangers being picked up from our ship.

At 4:00, we had our Sunday worship again. This time we had 34 people showed up for this meeting. 

It was certainly wonderful to have a bigger room, thanks to Jellica who also provided drinks for us at the meeting.

Rev. Jack Chen, whom we bumped into earlier on this cruise, delivered the sermon.

Had some good fellowship after the meeting.

Time for dinner at Tsar's after the meeting. Oops! Forgot to take pictures of the menu again! For some reasons, they have changed all the waiters and waitresses around tonight.  Instead of Rechelle and John, we had a new waiter who seemed to be overwhelmed by our big group. Dinner was a bit slow because he was not used to our needs. We want Rechelle back!

It was still light out so after dinner, we just sat on our balcony hoping to see some wildlife. We did see a whale but not quick enough to take a picture before it went under water again. Oh well!

Here, a whale for us!

"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching."                      Hebrews 10:25