Sunday, June 20 - So Much To Do! - Our First Whole Day at Sea

Slept in a bit today until Bruce brought some coffee and danish up to the room for me. We both got ready and then went down to the Lounge for a line dancing lesson. I had been a little disappointed that I wasn't up in time to take an aerobics class, but this definitely made up for it! What a great workout, and lots of fun. The instructor did an excellent job teaching us 4 or 5 dances and there were lots of laughs as people were going the wrong way, forgetting steps, trying to keep your balance when the boat swayed, etc. After a short break for water (and sampling the sushi bar), we went to the martini demonstration (unfortunately didn't win a free one!), then on to hear the on board naturalist give his talk on glaciers. Made a lunch stop at the buffet, and went back to hear the naturalist lecture on the Gold Rush (although I took a little cat nap during this talk...).
Around 3:30, the captain announced that we were coming up on Hubbard Glacier. The ship got as close to it as possible with all the icebergs that were in front of it (don't want to run into any of those....). We were amazed when he told us that the part we were seeing rose about 400 feet above the water - that meant we were fairly far away from it, because it only looked about 20 feet tall! We all went out on deck and many photos were taken.
It was a beautiful bluish color and very rugged looking. We were hoping to see it calve; someone thought they saw a chunk fall off, but we didn't see that. We did see a sea otter playing in the water but unfortunately didn't have our binoculars with us at the time to see it close up - need to remember to keep those with us when on deck. It was pretty brisk out there (around 50 degrees), but the wind was down and it was dry, so it was very pleasant. The ship sat for quite awhile so everyone could get their fill, then turned around and headed out. Dinner tonight was a formal night in the assigned seating dining room. I was surprised at how formal many people dressed - lots of glitz and glitter! Definitely more dressed up than our other cruises. I found it humorous that 2 other ladies were wearing the same top and jacket set that I was (and a third one said she had one at home). I had bought it at Stein Mart several years ago and they still carry it....so I guess it's a crowd pleaser! Looking forward to tell my coworkers that story! We were the first to arrive at our table for the 7:45 seating - but soon another couple joined us (Steve and Linda from Boston). They were not very talkative and unfortunately no one showed up for the other four seats. Our waitress was very entertaining though - Elena from Romania. Her other table was completely empty, so we had her all to ourselves. We also chatted a bit with our bus boy from the Philippines. Hopefully we will have a full table tomorrow night. Dinner was not quite as good as last night (duck strips with cassis sauce, asparagus soup, shrimp newburg and a chocolate souffle), but I did enjoy it. We then went to the show at the Princess Theatre. The production was entitled "Dance" and that's what the cast did for an hour. From the '50s to flamenco to Riverdance, they did a fantastic job. The costumes, props, lighting and the dancing were amazing! We definitely had a fun day at sea!