I had been very excited for this day for a long time. The last time Alyssa and I did an Alaskan cruise, glacier day was bitter cold, windy, and very rainy. While still impressive, I felt like I needed a do-over. I had seen several people post pictures of their recent visits to the glacier with spectacular weather, and I was hopeful that we would also be so lucky.

The day started as most do – with me waking up early and heading up on deck. On this morning, the cloud formations were particularly noticeable and the sky was a blue like I’ve rarely seen.

The day before, Captain Fabian had given us the weather forecast for the day and said it would be “mostly sunny”, so when I woke up to these views, I was feeling really good about an exciting day ahead.

We weren’t expected to enter the Tracy Arm Fjord until around noon, so we enjoyed a lazy morning in the stateroom paired with lots of time spent out on the verandah. I can’t think of many places I’d rather spend a morning with a hot cup of coffee.

Breakfast was in Cabanas again that morning and we were excited to receive a surprise treat – Mickey churro waffles! If you have not experienced the deliciousness that is the Mickey churro waffle, you do not know what you are missing out on. (I say it was a surprise, but a friend had actually tipped me off that they were offered on the glacier day, so I had somewhat been expecting them). Anyway, they are SO good and are worth a space on your breakfast plate.

Thankfully, it was finally warm enough for breakfast out on the back deck and the views were STUNNING.

After breakfast, we made our way down to Azure for some Disney Cruise Line trivia. Generally, I would say that I am above average (at best) when it comes to general Disney trivia, but normally I am not playing to win because I fully expect that others are going to do better. In this particular case, I was quite nervous because I felt like this was a trivia I should win. Thankfully, 18 out of 20 was good enough for the win and the pressure was off.

Alaska Mickey was meeting with people on the upper deck at 11:15 and I thought this might be the only chance we had to see him on glacier day because I was getting off the ship soon on a long glacier explorer excursion. So I went up on deck to get in line about an hour and a half before he was scheduled to arrive. It was a good thing I did because I was already sixth in line.

I’ll take any excuse to just sit (stand) somewhere and watch the scenery, so I didn’t mind the wait. I even got to see a few whales off in the distance.

The kids, who were doing a scavenger hunt in the Oceaneer’s Club, reluctantly joined us around 11 and we were able to get the family picture we had been hoping for.

After the picture, I had to hustle back to the stateroom to gather my stuff because I was meeting in the Walt Disney Theater at 11:45 for the Glacier Explorer port adventure. We had originally signed the whole family up, but a few days before the cruise, we decided that the kids probably wouldn’t enjoy this type of excursion, especially not for the amount of money that we would pay for them to experience it. I think this turned out to be the right decision, but more on that later.

The excursion started pretty promptly and a little after noon, we headed to the gangway on the deck 1 aft, port side. I took a short video as we disembarked the Wonder and boarded a (much smaller) tour boat:

It was a really cool experience to disembark the Wonder tender-style while the ship was completely stopped. As our boat pulled away, you could clearly see the engines fire up again and the propellers start to turn as the Wonder started forward into the fjord.

I was wearing a sweatshirt and beanie and also brought a light jacket, which I ended up wearing because it was quite chilly as the boat sped along through the fjord. I also brought my binoculars and some cash because there is a bar onboard that serves snacks and refreshments, though I didn’t end up purchasing anything. I want to say there were about 100 people from the Wonder on the boat, but it never felt crowded, even when there were things to look at and everyone came out to observe.

As we cruised through the narrow passageway, every time we went around a bend it felt like there was something new to take in. I know I’ve said it throughout my blog posts and on the podcast, but the sights are truly breathtaking and difficult to put into words or capture with pictures. My best advice: get your pictures and videos, but take in as much as you can with your own eyes. I think if you view most of your cruise behind the lens of a camera or a phone screen, you’ll regret it later on.

With that being said, here are some photos of the landscapes we got to experience as we moved through the fjord:

Based on some photos and videos I had seen from people who had done this excursion in the weeks before, I was REALLY hoping to see some orcas. Unfortunately that didn’t end up happening. That would have been the icing on the cake of this amazing day. What made this whole port adventure worth the cost for me was the pictures and videos I was able to take of the Wonder against these incredible backdrops.

My favorite video of the day was Instagram-worthy:

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This excursion brought us to both glaciers at the end of the Tracy Arm Fjord – the Sawyer Glacier and the South Sawyer Glacier. The Sawyer Glacier is smaller and less impressive, but the South Sawyer Glacier – the one that the Wonder visits – is pretty amazing. Our boat got really close and we were treated with a few instances of large pieces breaking off and falling into the ocean. The sound it makes when it happens is incredibly cool.

Soon after we spent some time looking at the glacier, it was time to get back onboard the Wonder.

Truth be told, our tour boat did not get us all that much closer to the glacier than the Wonder got. Later in the day, Captain Fabian would tell us that this was the closest any ship has gotten to this glacier in the last few seasons! It always amazes me how the captain is able to maneuver a ship that size in such a small area while also avoiding potentially damaging glaciers.

Back onboard, I met up with Alyssa and the kids. They were at the Mickey Pool and had been doing the slide. I pulled up a chair and it felt good to relax a little. As I was sitting there, I couldn’t help but notice the juxtaposition between the kids in the pool and the towering mountains in the background. It was a really cool sight.

We ran into Koda, Chip, and Dale walking around deck 10.

It was about that time we realized that we had not gotten a family picture with the glacier in the background. Probably not our ideal outfits, but a fun memory of them in bathing suits with a glacier in the background!

We spent the entire time time sailing out of the fjord on our verandah. It was incredibly peaceful because the ship is moving so slowly and there is nothing around us making any noise.

Later that night was the “Freezing the Night Away” deck party. Not my favorite deck party, but it had a fun storyline and they made it snow on deck, so really what more could you ask for?

We had such an amazing experience on glacier day and we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day.

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