DAY 115 - CRUISING GLACIER BAY

Fantastic Time At Prego With Lynn and Buddy ✔  Enjoyed A Sensational And Possibly A Once-In-A-Livetime Day Cruising Glacier Bay ✔    


We wanted to give a shout-out the Sommelier's.  The Sommelier's work in several areas of the ship.  There are several who work in the Crystal Dining Room for lunch and at dinner.  There are also two Sommelier's assigned to Silk Road and two assigned to Prego.  In addition to all of his other responsibilities, The Head Sommelier oversees The Vintage Room which is an exclusive venue serving very few people who pay the additional fee where wines are paired with a several course dinner.  All of the Sommelier's also work in shifts in The Bistro where they prepare a variety of items including various types of coffee and tea as well as other beverages and they also assist in the set up of all of the foods that are served there.


Last year we were fortunate to have had dinner with the Master Sommelier who is a consultant to Crystal and who trains all of the Sommelier's.  They are put through rigorous testing and receive a great deal of training which according to the Master Sommelier far exceeds any other program at sea or at land.


Very frequently the Sommelier's will get together to taste various wines which is one of the ways that they increase their knowledge of the wines that they serve.  


Our experience with the Sommelier's is that they are very thoughtful, very knowledgeable and will take the time to answer each and every question that we have.  Some Sommelier's are more knowledgeable than others but much of that is based on their experience.  


We find that the Sommelier's are not pushy and do not push a particular type of wine or for that matter they do not push the high priced wines.  They have introduced us to some moderately priced wines and ones that they believe offer great value.


We have tried to expand our knowledge of wine during this adventure.  In fact, we have dined twice at the Vintage Room.  As an example of our respect for many of the Sommelier's is that when we dine at Prego rather than ordering the wine ourselves, one of the Sommelier's Christian, will come over to our table and after we discuss what we have ordered he will find a wine that will pair well with our meal and will serve the bottle to us.  We trust that he has selected a reasonably priced bottle of wine and he consistently has done this.  He has introduced us to several types of wines that we would never have selected on our own.


When we order a bottle of wine all remaining wine is stored for us.  We can have it at any dining venue that we would like so if we are dining at another venue the following night the bottle will be moved accordingly for us.   For certain wines, the Sommelier's will also place them in a Carafe as our Sommelier did the other evening.  We didn't ask him to do this but he knew that this wine would do much better by doing this.  He only poured just a portion of the wine into the Carafe so that the remaining wine would save for our return.

Part of cruising is discovery and expanding ones knowledge and this is one of many areas in which we now know so much more than we used to and one of the main reasons for this is clearly attributable to all of the expertise and the knowledge that so many of the Crystal Cruises Sommelier's have shared with us.


Although we dined at Prego last evening, these are the dinner menus from the Crystal Dining Room.

As we mentioned we dined at Prego last evening with friends Lynn and Buddy.  We first met Lynn and Buddy on last years World Cruise and since that time have enjoyed several fun dinners together along with seeing each other from from time to time throughout this adventure.  

As usual, Costa was our waiter and took outstanding care of us throughout our meal.  Maitre d' Antonio and Headwaiter checked up on us several times.

Costa was also assisted by two other members of the Prego wait staff who were just superb.


Dining at Prego for us has that "old world" charm that you do not find at many restaurants in the United States and that you see less of even in Europe.  

We each had a salad to start off the meal.

We then had a small portion of the pasta additional entree for an appetizer.  It was absolutely delicious and one of the best Pasta dishes that we have ever eaten.  

Since there was not an additional seafood entree, we each had the additional veal entree.  It was veal scallopini that was rolled with mushrooms, dried tomatoes,  peppers and root vegetables with a very light brown sauce.  It was very tasty.

Of course Keith also had a side order of steamed vegetables.

We enjoyed a wonderful conversation with Buddy and Lynn.  James Carville and Mary Matilin were sitting by us and Keith wanted to go up to them to say hello.  James Carville had mentioned that their daughters were now teenagers and Keith had remembered seeing their entire family on Meet The Press over the years over Mother's Day weekend and at that point in time the girls were much younger and wanted to mention how touched he was when he saw them on Meet The Press.  When Keith mentioned this Mary quickly noted the precise date that Tim Russert had passed away. We spoke with them for a few minutes and Buddy and Lynn did likewise.


After dinner, the four of us caught the second half of the show that was performed by Broadway Sensation and Tony Nominee Christine Andreas.  She is one of the best vocalists we have ever heard.  The Galaxy Orchestra did a wonderful job performing with her as did her husband.


In yesterday's Blog we mentioned that Anne Marie had done some needlepoint.  On most sea days people get together in the Lido Cafe in the afternoon for arts and crafts.


Chuck Porter can be found in the Lido Cafe on most sea days doing art with Stone.  He even has one of his pieces of artwork displayed in the Captain's Quarters.  It is amazing the talents that so many of the guests have.

These are two photos of many of the ladies who regularly meet and do needlepoint together.

The seas continued to be very calm and we both slept very well last evening. 


Our morning routine continued as it does on most days with Keith working out in the Fitness Center and and Anne Marie also working out.  The difference was that for part of Keith's workout it began to get light enough that Keith could see out of the Fitness Center window and although we were not yet in Glacier Bay he could see quite a bit of beauty.  By the time he made it to the Fitness Center he could see more breathtaking views.  Although no one else was working out while Keith was, there were a few more people up at the Lido Cafe than usual so that they too could enjoy the scenery.  There were some guests and some of the people from the other enrichment programs.  Keith even spotted James Carville


 We also enjoyed breakfast in our room.  Although this is a sea day the focus of the day was the sailing of Glacier Bay.  As such, very few organized activities were offered during the daytime hours to allow the focus to be the beauty of Glacier Bay.  Park Rangers boarded the ship early in the morning and they provided a narration for us to hear.


While this was our sixth time to Glacier Bay, we thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of this magical area of the world.  During the summer season because only one or two cruise shops are allowed to cruise this area per day many cruise ships must go to alternative areas.  Glacier Bay continues to be the Glacier to see so we feel blessed that we have seen it on each of our Alaskan Cruises.


One of the best places to view Glacier Bay from inside the ship is the Palm Court which is on the top indoor passenger deck (Deck 12) and is far forward on the ship and has large bay panoramic windows allowing one to see from both sides of the ship (Port and Starboard) and also have views of the forward area of the ship called the Bow.  To enhance the experience, a Breakfast Buffet was offered from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM in this venue and again at lunch a Soup and Sandwich Buffet was offered. 


You could also listen to the Park Rangers from this venue so it was just a perfect place for those staying indoors to enjoy the views.


There was also a very nice writeup in Reflections, our daily program, on Glacier Bay and each guest received last evening in their stateroom a nice map which also included some write up and photos that comes directly from the National Park Service.


While we have enjoyed each of our six visits to Glacier Bay, today was the most spectacular experience we have ever had.  It was a combination of the beautiful weather, sunshine, perfect visibility, and being the first cruise ship of the year to visit there.


There are some who do not want to return to the same place more than once whether a body of water, a glacier, or a port.  For us each time is a new experience.


The park rangers mentioned how unique today was and that they had not experienced this too often in in the past.


For us, it might be a once in a lifetime experience because all of this came together perfectly.
The scenery was absolutely breathtaking.


In these photos the water was like a glass mirror so the photos include the reflections.  We've never seen anything like this in all of our sailings of Glacier Bay.

The forest ranger and the captain spotted this moose miles away and as we got closer we saw it.  Keith spoke with one of the park rangers who said you would never see a moose from a ship in this area in the summer given all of the brush.

You can spot some of the calving in this photo

You can spot some of the calving in this photo.

Two of the park rangers who came on board the ship.

The ship sent a tender out to take some photos of our own ship.

In between the enjoyment of Glacier Bay, Anne Marie worked out twice, and we had lunch in the Crystal Dining Room with Cruise Director Rich Spath.  We had a great time talking with Rick and we also enjoyed the scenery as we were sitting at a table at a window.


More photos we took after lunch.

We spoke to many guests throughout the day as we enjoyed the spectacular views all around us.


Later in the afternoon, while Keith was on the open deck, Anne Marie walked the Promenade Deck.  We both continued to enjoy all of the scenery.  Later in the afternoon, Keith got together with friend Bob.


This evening we will be back in the Crystal Dining Room for dinner by ourselves.


Alaska is beautiful and Glacier Bay is certainly one of those special places on our beautiful planet.




TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY......

“The fool wonders.  The wise man asks. “ - Benjamin Franklin

Keith and Anne Marie