Sunday - At Sea

Sunday was spent cruising up into a fjord and to get up close and personal with a glacier. The morning started out with breakfast in our room – something that has really spoiled us. We then attended a cooking presentation featuring chocolate crème brulee and also featured a wine from Justin Vineyards. It was a Cabernet Savignon, but was almost like a port, a very good dessert wine that went great with the chocolate. Of course we had were served both the dessert and the wine. Not a bad snack for 11 am. At noon, they featured a mussel and clam bake up by the pool. Since we had already enjoyed dessert it was time for lunch. The first thing we noticed was the change in temperature. I had to go back to the room and get coats and sweaters for all of us.

The warm mussels and clams tasted great, especially with a little Gluewine on the side. After lunch, we first noticed a glacier high up in the mountains, so we decided to head up to the top deck to get a better view. It was amazing how cold it was, in fact, we found out later that it was about 38, not to mention the wind chill. The scenery was gorgeous. There were some spottings of a bear or two along the shore. I took a few photos of what I thought might be a bear, but that remains to be seen. It may have been some drift wood instead! We had a little more Gluewine to try and warm up and then quickly realized how ridiculous we were being. This was the exact view from our suite, and a heck of a lot less people. We headed back, opened all of the curtains and took in the view. We also turned on the TV that has the camera view from the other front/side of the ship, just so we didn’t miss anything. We saw lots of pieces of ice, but nothing like I thought we would see. It didn’t seem like too long until we were turning around. We found out later that we were unable to make it up to the glacier due to the ice field. That was a big disappointment. Mom and Dad napped up until dinner, but then once again, it was time to eat. We ate in the main dining room where we again had a wonderful meal (I’ll need to look back at the menus because it is all running together). There was another production in the lounge, singing and dancing – sort of like Broadway meets Dancing with the Stars. The professional ballroom dancers from Belarus are amazing to watch. After the show we were again joined by the cruise director up in the Panorama for the late night quartet and the usual crowd. It’s been fun to get to know the other passengers – a vast range of ages and nationalities. After another hour or two of entertainment, it was time to put the folks to bed.