Very early this morning the boat paused to pick up US Park
Rangers to assist us in viewing Glacier Bay National Park. The official Park brochure had been
door-dropped last night, so we were a little educated. As it would be a while before we reached the
head of the bay, we enjoyed breakfast in the restaurant. As we were preparing to amble back to the
room, the captain came on to announce that we were defending against the norovirus. Though there are only a couple dozen folks
affected at the moment, of course it will take “crowd wisdom” to contain it …
we were urged to hand-wash at every opportunity and reminded that the
omnipresent Purell is a backup, not the primary protection against
contamination. Though the news was
unwelcome, we felt the communication was handled well (contrasted to another
boat on which friends had been flat-out deceived about an outbreak – ugh!).
Back in the stateroom we had the TV turned to the “View from
The Bridge” channel where the rangers were speaking. There was too much big ice for the ship to be
safe in the area around the glaciers we first passed, so we were able to hang
around the main attraction for longer.
Happily for us, our port-side exposure was offered the first view
(though many folks were out on the open decks).
We did see several large chunks calve off, and the thundershots of the
ice giving in to the relentless pressure from above were ongoing. Quite remarkable to be facing this sheer wall
of ice as tall as many city buildings, and watch it slowly self-destruct.
When the boat turned around to afford the starboard units
their turn, I trotted off to the laundry figuring everyone else would still be
viewing.
WRONG-O! It was the hottest ticket in town. A mother/daughter pair showed me the ropes
and made me promise to pass the training forward, and man did I ever have
opportunity! The vending machine ran out
of detergent, but I’d overheard one of the room attendants give the extension
to call. Happily, replenishment arrived
quickly. With all the coming and going,
I didn’t manage to complete either of the two magazines I’d brought along to
pass the time.
More reports on the virus from new visitors to the laundry … afflicted passengers are, of
course, quarantined but the boat is taking no chances … security is stationed
outside those stateroom doors. Must be
weird for the passengers inside, but it’s comforting to those of us not
involved. Angie and I fully intend to
remain Pure!
Now it’s nearly lunchtime and Angie comes along to see if I’m
still around. It’s just a few minutes
until our dryer completes its cycle; we fold everything up and get outta there –
no slackening of the pace as folks check on laundry-in-progress or arrive
hoping for an available machine. Glad I
didn’t wait until tomorrow!
We decided to dine in the restaurant … first sit-down lunch
of this trip. As expected, all items
usually shared were gone – no salt & pepper shakers, no bread basket, no
butter dish. All was provided by the
service staff, item by item, as requested.
We met folks from the Pasadena area and Australia, and again Angie was
able to contribute valuable information to family members of kids with
disabilities. I have been impressed,
sadly, with how many people we’ve met who are in that situation.
We had decided we were too stretched to enjoy the last tour
we had reserved, a 6-hour excursion to north of the Arctic Circle. It would be 2 hours flying up, 2 on the
ground, 2 back … returning us after midnight when our flights home left at 6:30
AM. I’d been trying to make the
cancellation since last night and won’t document the aggravating details (THAT
is a letter to Princess!), but finally with some research and providing
Princess’ own documentation, my loyal and patient helper at customer service
was able to connect me with someone who could do the dirty deed. That’s a relief … it really sounded like fun,
but we are in total overload at this point and have days to go yet. Common sense had to prevail!
It’s Formal Night again tonight, but since we passed muster
before, we’ll do it again, and once more at the very first available
reservation. We get a nice dinner with
folks we’ve enjoyed before, and escape the serious show-offs. I sound like a grump, I know, but the whole
dress-up routine just doesn’t float my boat nor Angie’s (though she's MUCH better at it than I am). Then a nice snooze; tomorrow is College Fjord
and packing up for the land portion of the adventure.
Oh BOY! Got our
disembarkation orders and we’re to muster into the dining room at 6:10A Wednesday
morning. Lucky ducks, we got the very
first call (though our cohort has only three, the last being at 6:30A). We’ll have to really enjoy our last calm
start tomorrow morning!
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