2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip
Day 7/105 - Hubbard Glacier
As we sat in the World Cafe for breakfast, we were treated to two things we hadn't seen much of - sunshine and a rainbow!
Like we have done on previous cruises, we spoke to a chef about the possibility of getting biscuits and sausage gravy. We didn't communicate well and his first attempt, while good, was a little off with brown gravy, sliced sausage links, and more scone-like muffins than biscuits. Jefferey isn't a quitter and with a little help from a recipe we printed in the business center, he nailed it today. We look forward to more over the remainder of these 79 breakfasts.
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| Jeffery got it perfect this morning |
The rainbow stuck around for our entire breakfast and made for a lovely view as we approached the Hubbard Glacier.
To reach Hubbard Glacier, we hung a right at Yakutat, heading northeast into Yakutat Bay. We continued on into Disenchantment Bay which took us up Turner Glacier on the west and to the face of Hubbard Glacier directly to the north.
This is going to be a pretty big photo dump, but I'll add comments on some of the photos where it makes sense.
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| That's Turner Glacier on the left and the west end of Hubbard Glacier at the right edge of the photo |
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| Hubbard Glacier |
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| Natural tunnels form in the ice |
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| The layering was striking |
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| You can see the spray from several large chunks that calved |
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| The day was absolutely stunning |
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| More spray from calving ice - the sound was quite loud and we heard a lot from around the bend - it almost sounded like dynamite |
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| Starting to head back south out of Disenchantment Bay toward Yakutat Bay |
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| Another black-legged kittiwake |
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| Cranking up the props and our farewell to Hubbard Glacier |
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| Some of the floating ice looked like ice sculptures |
Arlona attended a beginner crochet class taught by our world cruise friend, Emily. After that, we settled in for another trivia contest. This time, it was a landmark theme. Assistant Cruise Director and Trivia Master, Henry, showed 15 photos of landmarks he had taken in his world travels. We had to identify the country where this landmark exists. There were a few softballs like the Eiffel Tower (France), and Trevi Fountain (Italy). But he threw in several lesser-known ones like the Adolphe Bridge (Luxembourg), the Rua Augusta Arch (Portugal), and the Grand Sheik Zayed Mosque (United Arab Emirates) to keep things interesting. We did better than we expected with 10/15 correct, but the winning score was 12.
Viking set up a nice soup and bread spread for lunch today that featured some tasty salmon chowder and several lovely breads.
The wonderful weather we enjoyed this morning degraded a bit to a solid overcast, or what the Alaskans call, "Friday".
We spent a relaxing afternoon in the room. We did catch the officers' Q&A on the TV where guests could
ask questions of the captain, chief engineer, hotel general manager, and
executive chef. Many of the questions
were the same or similar to other cruises we have been on, but it is still
interesting to hear the officers give their perspectives on things. One interesting tidbit was that with 713 passengers, we go through around 400 bottle of wine daily. Glug. Chef Martin recounted the story where their supply chain broke down for eggs. The port agent in Japan was a Costco member so he took Martin to Costco where Martin purchased 80,000 eggs. They rented three pickup trucks to haul them to the ship. Amazing
Viking sponsored a reception today for world cruise customers who are on this cruise. It turns out that more than 70 of the 713 passengers, or roughly 10% of the passengers on this cruise have taken one or more world cruises on Viking. The reception was held in Wintergarden and offered cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, a poem from Travel Consultant, Hâmed, and a chance to meet fellow world cruisers. All the senior officers were there along with department
heads.
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| Garry, Chief Engineer, Kai, Captain and Master of the Vessel, Richard, and Arlona |
It was a very nice touch by Viking.
We met a very nice couple, Fred and Jill, during the pre-boarding hospitality in Vancouver. We spent time together that day wandering around the port area. Tonight, we enjoyed a nice dinner at Manfredi’s with them. It was a nice way to wrap up an excellent day. Tomorrow, we will dock in Valdez, Alaska.
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