Alaska Cruise...Take Three!

We were doing our third Alaska cruise. Any cruise is fine with me and the scenery is always so beautiful. Alaska was our first cruise in 2005 and we redid it in 2012 with the family. Jim's sister, Joanne, wanted to go and asked us to go with her. No problem!

We flew into Vancouver, apparently the best airport in North America.

We were living life on the edge, flying in on cruise day, which is something we normally don't do. But everything went well and we grabbed the Princess shuttle to the ship. The sphere is Science World.

We whizzed through Chinatown...

Before spotting our ship, the Coral Princess, waiting for us (and 1900 of our closest friends)...

Embarkation was smooth and quick and in no time we were in our cabin. Jim, me and Joanne and the Vancouver skyline...

Sail away was 4:30...we cruised under the Lion's Gate Bridge and were off on our journey.

Joining us for the sail away were our travelling friends, Margaret and Mike. They were at our place one evening when we mentioned the Alaskan cruise. I think it was about 30 minutes later that they were booked!

The Coral Princess off to sea with 1970 passengers and a crew of 900.

Beautiful sparkling waters...

The next day was a sea day as we made our way towards beautiful Glacier Bay.

It was looking just a bit foggy, but the water was as smooth as glass...

We were right at the front of the ship, or the bow I guess I should say! From our balcony to the left we could see the ship's bridge...

Making our way to Glacier Bay...the scenery never fails to leave you in awe

It wasn't really cold, but it was damp enough that you felt the chill...

I went to the upper deck to get a view of the surroundings. Not too many people using the loungers, although there were people in the pool later. Brrr!

Glacial green water...

The scenery and colours change constantly...

Ahead is the Grand Pacific Glacier, which isn't quite what you would expect for a glacier. Avalanches and rock slides have left it covered with an accumulation of soil and rock.

Part of it is in Alaska and part is in Canada in British Columbia...

The ship was slowly turning to give everyone a view of the beautiful Margerie Glacier. It is about a mile wide and its ice face is about 250 feet high. It is very hard to get any perspective on its size.

It was pretty calm and peaceful...

A panoramic view...

A tour boat came along to help give us some perspective on its size. This is not a small boat but it is dwarfed by the glacier.

An up close view...

Some pretty blue ice and some filled with sand and rock...

You will hear the noise that's made by a small piece of ice calving off. We always hope for a large chunk to fall, but haven't been that lucky yet!

And with a last look, it was time to head off...

It was chilly enough that we popped inside the cabin periodically to warm up and check the view with the binoculars...

Sailing away...

Lots of little bergie bits in the water...

Stunning scenery...

We're creeping up on another glacier...

With our friendly tour boat close by...

And on to our next one...

There was a park ranger on board who announced that there was a lone moose on the shore. Teeny tiny...

I was hoping he had some buddies nearby and wasn't alone!

Almost on scenery overload by now...

Our next glacier was Johns Hopkins...

Leaving that one behind...they were starting to all look alike!

Lots of little waterfalls...

The Lamplugh Glacier...it's 8 miles long!

And yet another, the Reid glacier...

An amazing day of scenery...

Tomorrow we're on to Juneau...