Okay, we all know that we decided to take this cruise to Alaska on somewhat of a whim. Eddie’s whining, my kitchen burn out, and both of our desires to travel to some place cooler. Yeah, we get Frank’s weather updates for Houston-100 forecast for this weekend….it is 50 degrees here-locals are in shorts. Glad we are hanging with the PNW homies for another 10 days. We are on the friends and family tour. So, we knew which cruise line we wanted to take and time frame. While we have been known to sleep around with other cruises lines, we typically sail Celebrity. We are only a few more cruises from their top level Zenith frequent cruiser level. It use to be according to number of nights on board, now they have multipliers based on nights and coins spent on reservations. With the more all inclusive sailings these days, elite plus gets you not much more than free bags of laundry. Zenith you get a free cruise. I guess you can call that a retirement goal.
I booked our current cruises without much research as to the Glacier, which of course is the highlight of any trip to Alaska. Seen one tidewater glacier, you have seen them all, right? We have seen Glaciers in Canada, Montana, and most all the ones in Alaska, so Dawes sounded good, especially when it suggested that there a ton of wildlife present in the Endicott Arm which is the 30 mile approach to the Glacier. Either we missed the asterisk by Dawes Glacier or global warming is a bigger threat that we have been led to believe. Eddie and I got up at 5:00 this morning. Yeah, that does not happen often, especially on a cruise. I used the glass/water/ice tray to go upstairs and get four cups of coffee and some croissants since Room Service does not start until 6:00. The fog was thick, the ice chunks few, as we started the run toward glacier. The much touted wildlife was a no show. The sheer granite walls rising from the water, the waterfalls and the clouds hanging in the various mountains gave it an eery quality-almost like a black and white photo with the glacier green blue water the only color in the shot. The rain steadily increased as the time went on. The phone blinked a message that our morning helipad vantage point to the glacier had been cancelled due to rain and safety precautions. By 7:15 we had come to a complete stop. We assumed the glacier was on the other side of the ship. Being glacier pros, and all, we knew the ship would pivot and it would be our turn next, no need to run to the 15th floor to get a better view….and it was really raining now. We turned on the TV set to the navigational channel to see what on the other side. Oops, where the beef, I mean the glacier? Motoring up beside us are two excursion boats, kinda like the one we took yesterday. Unlike Hubbard and Glacier Bay, there was no Congo line of cruises lines ahead or behind us-red flag. There was an announcement that those that had excursion tickets were to report to the appropriate deck. We grabbed our 20 year old Alaskan Cruise Guide for a glacier map. Yup, right here on the map is two arms of the Dawes Glacier. Looks like global warming had either dried up our arm or my map skills are not as good as they use to be. Covid must have been rough on the glaciers, too. The excursion vessels took off up the ice clogged other arm. I guess if we could not go on the helipad, the huge icebergs in the narrow channel arm was a big cruise ship no go. See Titanic for details. Gee, missed the asterisk warning that you don’t actually see, hear or watch the glacier calving unless you pay the extra $500 for the excursion. Pregame fail on our part….but I will blame Eddie as he was in charge of excursions. He said we could watch the glacier from the balcony, and he made reservations at the #1 restaurant in Juneau-which is our afternoon stop-so Eddie. Frank says it is going to rain in Juneau this afternoon, 100%, so grabbing the shuttle bus and walking the couple blocks might not happen. Last times here we saw the two glaciers in that neighborhood.
As we were one of the few in the restaurant for breakfast, I kinda think the rest of the folks on board missed the asterisk, too. I am waiting for our exit to the Endicott Arm before grabbing my shower. Eagle eye Eddie spotted a sea lion in the water, so far that is the only wildlife we have seen this morning. Perhaps the rest of the wildlife is sleeping in due to the weather.
Glad we have seen glaciers before…I almost have gotten enough glacier visits to complete my Glacier Merit Badge…can’t decided if I can count Dawes. Maybe I just note it with the asterisk. Lesson learned, not all glaciers are the same. Do your own homework-don’t rely on others when making choices about cruises excursions. Control stick issue.
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