This morning we packed our bags for our disembarkation the following day in Whittier, Alaska. Then we attended a Holland America mariner appreciation cocktail party. The captain was unable to attend due to the thick fog on the sea this morning so we had the hotel manager hosting the event. There were only five couples present at the party so we assumed that it was for five-star mariners only, which are those who have sailed for 500 or more days with Holland America. We got our photo taken with the hotel manager.

The naturalist hosted a wildlife spotting event on the aft pool deck, but there was no wildlife to be seen. They say that the water has been colder than usual this winter and the whales are slow to return from giving birth in Hawaii. She said the scenery is much more spectacular at this time of year when the mountains are still capped with snow. May can also be a very dry month were as July and August can be much wetter, so we are happy that the fog cleared and we had beautiful clear skies once again.

We attended a multi-media presentation on the history of Holland America Line from its start 150 years ago in Rotterdam, Holland. They have adapted over all those years from transporting immigrants from Europe to the United States, to transporting cargo, to transporting troops during wartime, to passenger cruise line, survived the pandemic and now a ship is even used as a humanitarian hotel for Ukrainian refugees. They have had a very interesting history.

After lunch in the dining room we enjoyed a concert at the Lincoln Center Stage with the violinist and the pianist. They performed a selection of Johannes Brahm composed music.

In the afternoon we transited the Prince William Sound headed for College Fjord located in the northern sector of Prince William Sound; with its five tidewater glaciers terminating at the water’s edge and five large valley glaciers and dozens of smaller glaciers. This fjord was discovered in 1899 during the Harriman Expedition which included a Harvard and Amherst professor and thus the name College Fjord. Many of the area’s glaciers are named after East Coast colleges (women’s colleges for the northwest side and men’s colleges for the southeast side). Some of the names include Smith, Yale, Wellesley, Vassar and Harvard. Between 6:00pm and 8:00pm Kristi the onboard naturalist narrated the items that we were seeing in the College Fjord. The sunshine, the warm temperatures and the sheer beauty of the day was unbelievable.

The evenings main show was another production with the onboard dance team and one of the singers from the B.B. King show. This production included a lot of acrobatic moves and the dance moves appeared more complex. All of the dancers are very skilled dancers and they do an excellent job.