AS MY EYES SLOWLY OPENED, I saw something large and white outside my window. Getting out of bed, I walked over to the window and saw the whiteness was part of a glacier. Overnight our cruise ship headed to Glacier Bay and now in the morning light, it looked to me like we were blocked by white cliff mountains. I quickly dressed and went out on deck to see as much as possible. The silence was noticeable; the ocean water was still except for a periodic shudder from time to time, as if the water had gotten a chill. Admittedly, the image of the Titanic crossed my mind; however, our cruise ship was sitting in place as it slowly turned like a clock dial, to give the passengers as much of a view as possible. The slow spin and silence were lulling me into a calmer state when suddenly I thought I heard a bolt of lightening crack the air apart. To my left, a portion of a glacier snapped off and was falling into the ocean. Many of the passengers on deck oohed and aahed as they watched with me this “baby” glacier slipping under the surface, only to rise back up in a horizontal position. I remember reading in one of the tourist books that this act of ice breaking away from the glacier was called calving. Just as quickly as the silence was broken by the falling ice chunk, it reverted to its peaceful quiet place.      HAVING EXPERIENCED SUCH AN EVENT SPURRED me on to plan another trip back to Alaska. For this next trip, I wanted to go to places I had not seen before; so, I researched cruise lines to see what my options would be. I found one line that incorporated a land portion that sounded intriguing to me. Because I am someone who does not take advantage of all the cruise line offers, such as eating volumes of food or participating in group activities, I see cruise ships as floating hotels. Instead of me packing and repacking from city to city, my room travels instead. After choosing the cruise line and picking out the extra excursions, my date was set to return to Alaska. I was so looking forward to my trip and the possibility of getting some incredible photo shots that I bought an extra rechargeable battery for my camera. Everything was falling into place; however, there was one thing I had not planned. As my cruise departure was looming closer, the news started reporting on a mysterious virus that was getting people sick to the point of killing them. Every week there were more and more instances of people getting sick until states and countries were telling its citizens to stay home. I spoke with the cruise line and after a time I realized I would have to put off my trip until it was safe. After watching this documentary, I am not sure I will ever see Alaska again by boat.      AS PEOPLE WERE STARTING TO GET deathly sick, an unknown virus made its way onto a cruise ship. At the time, it would turn into the largest outbreak outside of China. This film festival winner was directed by Hannah Olson (Baby God, Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.-TV series documentary). Using passengers’ and crew members’ personal video clips; this simply made film packed a powerful punch. Not knowing what we know now, seeing the individuals on the Diamond Princess cruise liner struggle through the beginning stages of what was to become the COVID-19 virus was horrifying. I could not even imagine how I would have handled myself if I had been in their situation. As a movie watching experience, I cannot say this fulfilled everything I expect in a film. At times I felt I was watching people’s video clips posted online. However, I do not want to take anything away from the delivery method which was intimate and personal. Because of everything I saw in this picture, I must tell you I am hesitant to begin traveling in such a way again.                                        

3 stars