Holland America Nieuw Amsterstam Cruise 2022, Part I
We’d said adieu to our tour guide Bridget when we arrived in Anchorage, so we had to be responsible adults and get ourselves to the bus outside the hotel at the appointed time to transfer us to the train to Whittier, where we would board the Nieuw Amsterdam. Unfortunately, we lost eight of our group due to positive COVID tests (we had to test the day before leaving Anchorage and 8 people either tested positive or their partner tested positive and were denied boarding).
The weather remained cloudy, but clear, and we were treated to views of over twenty glaciers between Anchorage and Whittier. The tracks skimmed along the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet, providing views of the sea and mountains.
The tide was out, so not a lot of sealife, but the glaciers were stunning. Gazing out the windows for two hours was easy with so many sights.
We checked in for the cruise while on the train, so just a quick walk through security and into our rooms. Back down to the Pluto deck, but on this particular cruise, looking out just above sea level sometimes provided the best view of wildlife and “growlers” – the small icebergs.
The Nieuw Amsterdam is a sister ship to the Zuiderdam – which did not mean we remembered where everything was – but at least it looked familiar. We again had excellent service, and the first three nights, an identical menu to the one on the Zuiderdam. Our first full day took us through Yakutat and Disenchantment Bay (the bay was named by Alessandro Malaspina in 1792 when it failed to be an entrance to the NW passage) to see the Turner and Hubbard Glaciers.
The Hubbard Glacier was named after Gardiner G. Hubbard, the founder and 1st President of the National Geographic Society. It is 76 miles long- starting in the Yukon at Mt. Logan (2nd largest peak in North America), 7 miles wide, and 600 feet high at the terminus in Disenchantment Bay (only half sits above the waterline), making it the largest tidewater glacier in North America. 700 years ago, the glacier filled the entirety of Yakutat Bay. The Bay is part of the Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Tongass National Forest – so I was able to check off another National Park on my list!
The next day brought us into Glacier Bay – part of Glacier National Park – the entire bay ringed by massive tidewater glaciers. A National Park interpreter came onboard and spoke about the area, educating anyone interested about glaciers, their formation, and the wildlife abounding in and near the bay. I’m a good spotter. At breakfast, a pod of orcas cruised alongside, just after breakfast a sea otter swam near the ship. Birds of all kinds swam, dove or rested on the growlers filing the bay, seals jumped off and on a small iceberg near Margerie Glacier, and eagles dotted the shoreline.
I had visited Glacier Bay once before with my mother in 2014. I remembered the groaning of the glaciers, and we watched an iceberg calf. This time – the glaciers were quiet. When standing outside, just the sounds of murmuring tourists, a low thrum of the ship’s engines, and waves slapping on the boat.
It was a beautiful day, the sun made brief appearances, highlighting the blue of the compressed ice of the glaciers. It was an interesting day.
Next stop – Skagway!