Happy 4th of July!!

Today we will celebrate July 4th onboard the Insignia.

This important information comes from today's Denison Report: At noon ET today, Joey Chestnut will attempt to retain his title in Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. Approximately 35,000 fans are expected to convene on New York’s Coney Island to watch. Chestnut is the top male hot dog eating champion of all time, having won the title 15 times. He holds the world record for eating 76 hot dogs in ten minutes.

We didn't break any records, but we did enjoy hot dogs and hamburgers on the deck for lunch. We're in Alaska, but the weather was actually nice enough to eat outside today. I’m somewhat picky about hotdogs but the ones on the ship are actually good, and it doesn’t hurt that they’re topped with French fried onion rings. We also enjoyed carrot cake for dessert. The chef and kitchen staff like to go all out for special holidays. Last week they had a cake for Canada Day; today it was a USA cake. There was all kind of other dishes and desserts as well - too many to name.

Just before lunch, we joined the other 180 day passengers for a group photo out on the deck. The sun was so bright we had to go back inside to get our sunglasses. This afternoon we will have our last meeting with "just us Texans" on board. Later we will sail by the Hubbard Glacier.

 

why? it's tradition!

 

one of (too many) desserts

 

enjoying one of his hoarded DP's

 

a very patriotic pair

carrot cake (it was good!)

Later: Many passengers were disappointed! We were not able to see the Hubbard Glacier because the weather had worsened and there were a lot of icebergs floating, so the captain made the call not to sail up into the passage. We've seen glaciers before (even on this trip) but some passengers on this segment have not and were quite upset with the captain's decision, especially given that there were 3 other cruise ships that had sailed within sight of it. Oh well, I'll post some photos of what we did see, even though we were still miles away from the glacier itself.

 

Horizons Lounge was dressed up today

people gathered in the lounge hoping for a better view of the glacier

passengers on upper deck hoping to view glacier

some snow on peaks even in July

a "calving" iceberg floats by

"waterfalls" from melting ice trail down mountain

beginning to see more floating ice

the much larger Norwegian Jewel

not today, Hubbard Glacier