June 1st Whittier

We are docked and I wake around 1;30 and look out and see them loading things on board and it sure looks weird to look out my window and see dock workers. 

We sleep in until around 7 – it is always hard to sleep in when so many around us are slaming doors, drawers, and the likes.  Bernie heads out to get the coffees and I get dressed and wander around a bit and then decide to head ashore to see about getting tickets for the 26 Bay Glacier Tour.

Now the ship sells this tour for $199 per person but we didn’t want to book this tour and then it not be a nice day and not be able to see much so we waited till the day off.  I knew we could go ashore and book it directly with the company.  As soon as you get off turn right and the office and catamaran is right there.  The price to book directly with them is $139 per person and it includes lunch.

Since they don’t start boarding the tour for another hour or so we wander into the bustling city of Whittier – after five minutes we have seen it all. 

We are assigned a table on the top at the front with a lovely couple who are on their honeymoon.

The catamaran is not full and it looks like all the princess cruise tour passengers are on the bottom deck.  There are numerous places to view the wildlife inside and out.  The rangers on board are very helpful, the crew are also great too.  The explain so much to us and we see lots of different animals, seals, otters, birds, a mountain goat and black dolphins. 

We see numerous glaciers but pull up close to Surprise Glacier and see lots of calfing and ice in the water.  We love it! 

I should add the tour included lunch and we got fish and chips but trust me they are not worth it, if you want choose one of their other options.  But the warm cookie they serve at the end is very good.  Oh and the drinks are good too, even had a margarita made with glacier ice.

Back on board around 6 pm, we don’t leave until 8 pm.  Muster drill is 7:45 but we don’t have to attend and we decide to head to dinner instead which was nice and quiet.  We had the spring roll, Caesar salad, the pasta dish with the cheese plate for dessert.  We then sit and chat with Mark the naturalist for a bit and then attend the Welcome Aboard Show.

Oh I should add I did go to the casino tonight and put in some money and then the system crashed, all slots went down.  They had to come around and write out receipts for the value.  When we got out of the show the slots were still down, but they are working on it.