College Fjord

Today was a rocky morning - the ship was very much impacted by the turbulent waters throughout the night. Small items from our nightstand had fallen off and some folks felt very queasy. But as my mom mentioned, it definitely added to what a typical cruise experience feels like.

The captain announced that as we get closer to noon, the waters would get calmer and they did everything possible to manage the unsteadiness. Entering the Prince William Sound definitely was a relief as we were protected by the surrounding land and islands as shown here:



After breakfast, my cousin and I found cushioned lounge chairs in the back of the boat. We decided to camp out on this deck and even coaxed our moms to join. The view, the calm sea behind us, and the sun were welcomed changes from the rainy and rocky night - my aunt even did some of her exercises here:







Midafternoon, we had specialty coffees and kids meal portions of a grilled cheese and quesadilla delivered right to us. This felt luxurious and relaxing. We also took fun window selfies before we left - you can see the land reflected in the window:





The scenic cruising of the day was to see the College Fjord. Fjords are long, narrow inlets with steep sides or cliffs created by glaciers. My cousin and her family had gone on a Norwegian cruise years ago and saw many fjords there. These fjords are named after different colleges - Harvard, Yale, Williams, Amherst, Wellesley, Bryan Mawr, and so on. Apparently some ivy leaguers relish which ones have names over the ones that don’t - for instance Harvard and Yalies take pride in the fact there isn’t one named after Princeton. Typical of ivy leaguers, but fundamentally, these are all tidewater and valley glaciers so they all look the same to me!

Due to the wind last night, we actually arrived earlier than expected and my early dinner reservation conflicted with the bridge commentary from the 14th deck. However, we enjoyed the fjords in between courses on the 7th deck and even brought our champagne outside to toast these beauties:





















We had booked our last night in a specialty restaurant called Sabatini which composed of Italian fare. The cuisine was definitely a break from the buffet experience and although we are used to superb Italian in NY, we still enjoyed our final cruise dinner. Appetizers included arancini, a meat plate, burrata and tomato caprese, bean soup, salad, and calamari with fried polenta as pictured here:



We had spaghetti with shrimp, branzino, seafood pasta, lobster tortellini, carbonara, chicken scallopini, and osso bucco for pasta and main courses:



For desserts, we ordered each one which included a variety which sounded fancier than they were, but were enjoyed with delicious hot chocolate, chamomile tea, and espresso macchiato:



Afterwards we listened to one of the bands we had not heard a million times on the voyage, so it was refreshing and chatted a little in one of the many lounges:



We had been given colored tags and were told to leave our luggage in the hallway as that would help with the disembarking process in the morning. I continue to be surprised by how well the ship was run and how trusting everyone is. So we returned to our cabins to make sure we were organized and prepared.

But after packing and as a last hurrah, my cousin, aunt, and I decided to head up to the nightclub on the 15th deck which was behind where we lounged today. We had found the couches to be super comfortable as we saw many sitting around this afternoon. My cousin took a snap as we walked through the club:



There were more people in the club during the day than at night, so we headed outside as my aunt wanted to see the full moon. Due to the wind and rain, we were unable to see the super moon last night. My aunt got creative and said she wanted to touch the moon - she has such youthful energy!:





I decided to copy her as well, but also wanted to blow a kiss to it!





My cousin really obliged the both of us, but as we lifted our phones to take photos, you could see the green light and I yelped about seeing the aurora borealis, or northern lights! I was shocked to see them and was super sad in 2016 when it was too cloudy to see them on my trip to Iceland. Even when my cousin was taking a phone call on the deck later, other guests came up to her asking if she had seen the lights, so word must have really gotten around the ship! Here are some of our photos:









On our high from seeing the northern lights, my cousin wanted to take a picture of the “Grand Princess” sign, so my aunt and I posed with a heart:



Indeed, my heart is full with all this family time and fun memories!