Carnival Spirit SB Review-July 10-26(Plus land)

[lorilea]

Our family of 4 (myself 46, DH43, DS14 and DD11) just returned from a 5 night independent land tour to Denali, followed by a 7 day Southbound cruise on the Carnival Spirit, and finally a night in Vancouver and 3 nights in Victoria. I spent a year and a half planning this trip mostly with the help of the boards plus Trip Advisor. What an amazing trip!

I’m going to do my review in sections with pictures so you won’t have to read the whole thing at once. As soon as I get through my pictures, I'll post a link. We were very lucky and saw a ton of wildlife on this trip.

Here’s a brief summary of our July 10 – July 26 trip.

Day 1 – Toronto to Anchorage – Homewood Suites, Avis Downtown, Glacier Brewhouse

Day 2 – Anchorage to Healy – Iditarod HQ, Fred Meyer groceries, Denali National Park – Wilderness Access Center, Aspen Haus B&B, Black Diamond Grill

Day 3 – Shuttle to Wonder Lake, Denali Salmon Bake restaurant, Aspen Haus B&B

Day 4 – Rafting the Nenana River with Denali Outdoor , Denali Fireside Cabins – Talkeetna, Mountain High Pizza Pie

Day 5 – Fly fishing with Just Fly Fish – Talkeetna, breakfast the The Roadhouse in Talkeetna, Comfort Inn Ship Creek, Wild Ride Sled Dog Rodeo and Dinner Show, Anchorage

Day 6 – Bus to Whittier, 6 hr PWS tour with Prince William Sound Glacier Cruises, board Carnival Spirit

Day 7 – At sea

Day 8 – Sitka – Alaska Raptor Center, Sitka National Forest, 4 hr Tour with Captain Davey on the Esther G

Day 9 – Juneau – Whale watching with Captain Larry – Orca Enterprises, Mendenhall Glacier, Red Dog Saloon, Panning for Gold(ship’s tour)

Day 10 – Skagway – Best of Alaska Tour with Chilkoot Charters

Day 11 – Ketchikan – Misty Fjords with Island Wings

Day 12 – At sea

Day 13 – Disembarkation, Avis Vancouver, Stanley Park, Vancouver Aquarium, Holiday Inn & Suites – North Vancouver

Day 14 – Capilano Suspension Bridge, Grouse Mountain, Ferry to Victoria, Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour

Day 15 – Empress Hotel, Royal BC Museum, Imax Theatre, Wax Museum, Harbour Taxi tour, Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour

Day 16 – Butchart Gardens, Ocean Life Discovery Centre – Sidney

Day 17 – Victoria to Toronto

Day 1 – On to Anchorage – Friday July 10th

It was an early morning for us, a 7am flight with Air Canada from Toronto to Anchorage with a changeover in Vancouver. Air Canada allows 2 pieces of luggage per person so I managed to get everything packed into 4 mid-sized suitcases, 2 small carry-on size cases and 1 garment bag. The kids each had back packs and DH and I had carry-ons. Not bad for a 17 day trip that included dress clothes, rain coats and pants, shorts and t-shirts, and long pants and jackets.

We arrived in Vancouver a few minutes early but our connecting flight was delayed by an hour and 45 minutes. There were a number of people that were quite concerned about the delay as they were cruising the same day. They were on their phones to their travel agents or trying to rent cars out of Anchorage as they didn’t think they would make their shuttles to Seward. We learned this lesson the hard way a few years ago when we missed our ship for a Caribbean cruise on the Celebrity Millenium at embarkation. Always fly in at least a day early!!!

The only concern I had with the flight delay was my plans for our arrival in Anchorage. I was planning to take the hotel shuttle to Homewood Suites, check in , get rid of our luggage and then either take a cab or take a hotel shuttle to pick up our van at Avis’ downtown location. I decided to go with plan B and take a cab directly from the airport to Avis. Plan C was to call Avis and let them know that we would pick up our vehicle on Saturday morning instead. I had put all of my reservation contact #’s and confirmation #’s into my cell phone so that I could easily contact anyone if I ran into a problem. This was a good piece of advice that I picked up on these boards.

When we arrived in Anchorage it was quite smoky / hazy. The cab ride from the airport to Avis was approx. $20 for the 4 of us. I had reserved our minivan well in advance and had gotten a pretty good price. We had a new Toyota Sienna and had plenty of room for all of our luggage. We brought our GPS from home and this was very helpful – especially since I forgotten to pack the road map I had bought for the trip. We easily found our hotel and check in went without a hitch. The girl at the desk commented that I had an excellent rate. Again, it paid to book early – as soon as rooms became available. We were very pleased with our suite – 2 double beds in one room and a pull out couch in the other – great set up when you have a 14yr old boy and an 11 year old girl.

There are a number of restaurants very close to the hotel – TGI Fridays, Applebees and a couple of steak houses but we had reservations for dinner at the Glacier Brewhouse. We waited only about 10 minutes with reservations but if you did not have a reservation the wait was 1 hr and 45 min. This was one of the best meals of our entire trip. While they didn’t have a children’s menu, my DD was happy with soup and Caesar salad. My DS had ribs, DH had halibut and I had the Chicken, mushroom pasta dish. It was all excellent and well worth it. After dinner, my daughter tested out the hotel pool and we all went to bed exhausted but eager to start our adventure in the morning.

[lorilea]

Day 2 – Anchorage to Healy

This morning we slept until 8am and had breakfast at the hotel before embarking on our journey. It was still very hazy outside and we hoped that things would improve. Our plan was to stop at Fred Meyer in Wasilla to pick up a few groceries before continuing to Healy. As we headed north, the skies gradually cleared and became increasingly sunny. The grocery store was right along the highway in Wasilla – we picked up buns, meat, cheese, fruit , snacks and drinks for our trip plus a bag of ice. We had packed a soft sided backpack style cooler and we put everything inside of it.

As we were driving we saw the sign for the Iditarod Headquarters and decided to make a stop here. It was not busy at all. We paid $10 each for a very short dog sled cart ride with the Reddington dogs. It was fun while it lasted. My kids enjoyed holding the puppies here.

We had our first wildlife experience just past Wasilla when we stopped to look at a moose standing near the side of the road. The drive was very scenic and we were quite excited that we were able to see the top of Mt. McKinley – although it was still a bit hazy. We stopped for lunch in Trapper’s Creek and then continued on stopping along the way to take pictures and enjoy the views. When we arrived in Denali, we stopped at the Wilderness Access Centre and picked up our 5:30am shuttle bus tickets. We also watched the little movie about the history of the park before heading to the Aspen Haus B&B in Healy.

Aspen Haus B&B was easy to find with the directions given to us. We were very pleased with our accommodations here. We had reserved the family cabin which had one room with a double bed and a 2nd room with a double plus 2 singles. The place was spotless. Anne Marie was there to greet us when we arrived and showed us where everything was. She recommended a couple of places to eat - the Black Diamond Grill and the Denali Salmon Bake. We decided to get settled and head to the golf course for dinner at the Black Diamond Grill. We were the only ones there at 5 pm and the prices seemed a little steep but the food and service were both excellent. We stopped off at Otto Lake and waded in the water before returning to our cabin for bed. Anne Marie had baked some pumpkin bread for us and had provided us with cereal, milk, juice, coffee and hot chocolate for breakfast.

Day 3 – Denali National Park

It’s hard to believe that an 11 hour trip on a school bus turned out to be the best day of the trip for myself, my DH and DD (DS14’s favourite day was the Misty Fjords floatplane trip in Ketchikan). I had booked the 5:30 am shuttle and we arrived at the WAC around 5 am. There was someone there to print tickets if you had not picked them up the day before as we had. They asked us to line up and we were first in line. There were only about 20 people on the bus so most people had an entire seat on the way out to Wonder Lake. I sat on the left 2 seats behind the driver, DS in the first seat on the right and DH and DD in the 2nd seat on the right. This worked out well for us.

We were extremely lucky on this day. Most of the animals were very close to the bus. We saw 9 grizzly bears, 9 moose, 7 foxes, a wolf, a lynx, 2 caribou, 3 Dall Sheep, Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, and Trumpeter swans, Arctic terns, ptarmigans, snowshoe hares, picas. The lynx and wolf were directly in front of the bus – and we got some amazing pictures because of where we sat. The grizzlies were very close to the road and stayed there so we were able to watch them for a long time. Even our bus driver was taking pictures.

Past the Eilsen Visitor center, we only saw birds – but the scenery was amazing. We opted to continue to Wonder Lake because we were having such a great day. We were also fortunate that the mosquitoes – although present – were not that bad. Our driver even went swimming in the lake – it was quite warm out. We were able to see the top of Mt. McKinley early in the day but it was covered by a smoky haze from the forest fires as the day wore on. We also decided to stay with the same bus for the whole day as we seemed to be having such good luck. We were able to keep our things on the bus for the whole trip. My kids were the only kids on the bus and we saw very few kids at the rest stops. My kids were content to look for animals for the whole trip but I could see where others may not be. There were some restless adults on the bus. We picked up a few people on the way back but the bus still wasn't full.

I would definitely do this again but I’d be afraid that my expectations would be too high after this trip. We talked to many people throughout our trip that did not have the same experience that we did.

After leaving the park, we decided to stop at Denali Salmon Bake for supper. We enjoyed the food but our server was not the greatest. We ate upstairs in the bar section so perhaps we would have had better service if we had sat downstairs.

We were pretty tired after our long day so we headed back to the Aspen Haus to get a good night’s rest before our morning raft trip. There were some freshly baked blueberry scones on the table when we returned. Yummy!

[lorilea]

Day 4 – Rafting on the Nenana River, Healy to Talkeetna

This morning we planned to take the 2 hr Scenic Wilderness Rafting Tour on the Nenana River with Denali Outdoor Center. We were confirmed for a 7:45 am pick up at their Otto Lake office. Anne Marie at Aspen Haus offered to let us check out late so that we could come back and have a shower after we rafted. When we arrived at the Otto Lake office, they had no record that we were to be picked up even though I had a printed confirmation from them that clearly indicated we were to be picked up. Luckily we had a vehicle and could drive 10 minutes down the road to where the tour began. I’m sure they would have gotten us there if we were unable to get there ourselves.

We chose the mild 2 hr tour as we were worried about our tiny 11 yr old dd. We were outfitted in drysuits and had a really enjoyable tour. I think we probably would have enjoyed a few more rapids. A moose crossed the river in front of the raft – this was pretty cool. We bought a disposable water camera so I hopefully I have a few good pictures. We did get suckered into buying the raft photo for - $29?? I think - but we wanted a photo memory just in case our pictures didn’t turn out. It was funny that all of the other people that were in our raft were also going on the Carnival Spirit on July 15th as well.

We returned to the Aspen Haus to finish packing up and the kids had showers. We spotted a moose in a big pond and stopped for pics before heading towards our next destination – Talkeetna.

As we drove along, we could see the mountain but again it was a bit hazy because of the forest fires. We had booked the Denali Fireside Cabins for the night and they were just on the right as you approach ‘downtown’ Talkeetna. The cabins were beautiful inside and out and once again we were extremely pleased with our choice. We were right beside the train tracks but the only train I heard was about 10 pm and I jumped when the whistle blew! We were forewarned. My DH said he heard a train in the night but the whistle blew at the other side of town and I didn't hear it. Once we checked in, we walked into town. It was a really neat little place and I am so happy we stayed for a night. We decided to eat at Mountain High Pizza Pie and the pizza was excellent. We stopped in a few shops and had some ice cream before returning to our cabins. The one thing that I noticed was that a lot of people had pit bulls - not leashed. In the city where I live, this breed is banned so I was a little nervous.

Day 5 –Talkeetna to Anchorage

My DH and DS were picked up at 5 am for a fly fishing trip with Just Fly Fish. My DD and myself slept a little later and walked to the infamous Roadhouse for breakfast. This was fun. We sat with a grandma who was getting her floatplane license and then a couple of mountain climbers sat with us. They has been on McKinley for a month but were turned back because of the weather. The food was also good – we had mixed berry sourdough hotcakes! We bought some cranberry blueberry scones for the boys and waited for them to get back from fishing. They also had a great time! If you have a chance, take a trip to Talkeetna!

We packed up and drove back to Anchorage after the fishing trip. Before we returned our minivan, we checked into our motel – Comfort Inn Ship Creek and dropped off our luggage. We all returned the van together and walked back to the Comfort Inn – very walkable – down hill. We stopped and watched the fly fishermen at Ship Creek and walked through the ULU factory which was right beside the Comfort Inn.

We had a reservation for the Wild Ride Sled Dog Rodeo Dinner Show which was also right beside the Comfort Inn. Our dinner was before the show and it was really good. I was skeptical before booking as I could not find any reviews on the dinner but that’s because it’s the first year they’ve done the dinner. We had prime rib, chicken, potatoes, vegetables, buns, iced tea and cheesecake for dessert. During the dinner, Jen and Dallas Seavey talk about their Iditarod experience and answer questions. If you follow the Iditarod, this is very interesting and we all enjoyed it. After dinner we were led outside to watch the show. This was also good – fun for the kids. Jen and Dallas are very energetic and passionate about their dogs and racing. Following the show, we got to pet the dogs and hold the puppies. One of the dogs from Disney’s Snow Buddies is in the show and the kids thought this was pretty neat. (So did I.)

I planned to do my laundry tonight but apparently so did everyone else at the hotel – many Carnival Spirit passengers. I only did 2 loads so that I wouldn’t hold anyone else up. I was shocked that it was 11:15 pm when I returned to our room and it was still light outside. We were pleased with the Comfort Inn – our room was clean and comfortable.

Tomorrow we finally board the Spirit.

[vegs1]

Hello fellow Ontarian!

Great review so far. You must have boarded after we got off! We had wonderful weather and we so thrilled with everything. We'll definitely go back! Can't wait to read the rest of your review.

Too bad the time goes by so quickly!

[bimmermom]

Hey Lorilea!

Loving your review and can't wait for more. So happy you had a great trip and are sharing with us. My family and I hope to return someday as well.

Smiles,
bimmermom

[lorilea]

Thanks vegs1 and bimmermom. I really wanted to post a review as I found the reviews that I had read while planning extremely helpful.

I'll add some more tomorrow.

Lori

[lorilea]

Day 6 – Wed July 15th -

Today we would finally be boarding the Carnival Spirit for our SB cruise. Breakfast was pretty busy at the Comfort Inn but we found a table and the food was good.

I had initially booked the train from Anchorage to Whittier and had made reservations for the 4 hr Prince William Sound tour with PWS Glacier Cruises. About 3 weeks before our trip, they called me and said that they had cancelled their 4 hr trip and would upgrade us to their 6 hr Esther Passage trip at no charge. I told them that this wasn’t possible because we were booked on the train and would not make it on time. I knew I would have to pay a penalty to cancel the train and their bus was more expensive because you had to pay for the round trip even though we were only going one way. The other option was to have them move our reservation to another company. As it turned out, they cancelled our train reservations and we got a 100 % refund, they put us on their bus at no charge because of the inconvenience and upgraded us to the 6 hr cruise. We were picked up right at the hotel and they also delivered our luggage to the cruise ship while we were on the tour. Amazing customer service!

We really enjoyed our ride from Anchorage to Whittier. Our driver was a school teacher and was very knowledgeable. We stopped to watch some Dall Sheep that were at the side of the road and the weather could not have been better. The PWS tour was not very full at all and it was easy to find a table or a spot to stand on deck. They served a really nice lunch of crab cakes and rice. (chicken for my daughter) We saw birds, Stellar Seal Lions, Dall porpoises and sea otters. We went to Surprise Glacier and witnessed some calving but not a lot. The scenery was stunning! We were very happy that we had taken this trip before boarding the Spirit.

Following the tour, we were picked up by our driver – we were the only ones boarding the Spirit – the rest were returning to Anchorage. This was around 5 pm. When we got there, it was a little confusing. It was very busy and although we qualified for VIP embarkation (we had booked a suite), we probably would have checked in just as quickly in the other line. No problem – we were still excited and eager to get rid of our carry-on bags and see our suite. As soon as we got our cards and stopped for our picture, we headed to our port side Cat 11 cabin # 6158. We decided to splurge on this once in a lifetime vacation and it was the first cruise for our kids. We were thrilled with the size of the cabin and were happy to see our luggage there waiting for us. I took the time to unpack immediately.

I had also called the Bon Voyage Dep’t about 3 weeks before the trip and ordered a litre of Irish Cream and a litre of Crown Royal. This came to approx $100 but was still cheaper than buying shots. We had purchased some coke and diet coke at the Fred Meyer Store in Wasilla and split it up between our carry ons. I like the fruity frozen drinks on a Caribbean cruise but figured rye and coke would be better for Alaska. The Irish Cream was for our morning coffee on the balcony. Anyways, the 2 bottles were waiting for us, adorned with carnival ribbons and had a card that read to Lori from Lori.

After we unpacked, we went to sign the kids up for their respective kids clubs. DD11 (who will be 12 next month) was not too happy to be in Camp Carnival with the 6 – 11 yr olds but we signed her up anyways. Next we went to Circle C (12-14yr olds) and signed my son up. When we left, DD was in tears so my husband went back and asked if it was possible to move her into the group with my son as she was going to be turning 12 in August. They said that we could, so we signed her up too! She was not the only 11 yr old in Circle C but as there were only 17 kids in the group – space was not an issue. Quite frankly, we were happier with this situation. I felt better having her with my son and the activities were more suitable for her.

The first night was open seating in the Empire Dining Room. Our last 2 cruises were with Celebrity and RCCL but we have always thought that Carnival’s food was better. Unfortunately our first 2 meals (dinner and breakfast) in the dining room were not the greatest. After that , all of our meals were excellent and up the standard that we expected. We located our regular dinner table – late seating. We requested late seating because we did not want to rush back from excursions for dinner. As well, we wanted our kids to experience traditional dining – with the same servers every dinner. We were happy with our choice.

We went to the first show but our kids decided to check out Circle C instead. It was good – the cruise director – Chris Roberts does an excellent job. There was a comedian and he was okay. I was really impressed with the dancers and singers. We finally went to bed with our alarms set for 6 am and room service scheduled for the same time. Coffee with Bailey’s on the balcony as we cruised Prince William Sound and College Fjord.

[woowoochick]

Wonderful review. Sounds like you had a fantastic time. I hope we get as lucky as you did with the 5:30 shuttle to Wonder Lake. We will be taking that shuttle in a couple weeks. I'm looking forward to reading more of your review and seeing some pictures!

[lorilea]

Day 7 – July 16th – At sea – Cruising Prince William Sound & College Fjord

This morning I had my travel alarm set for 6 am and room service ordered for the same time. DH filled our travel mugs with coffee and Baileys before heading out to the balcony to look at glaciers. The kids didn’t budge from their beds.

It was quite comfortable outside but it was a little gloomy. We were happy that we had taken the PWS Glacier cruise the day before because we really saw so much more and we were a lot closer to the glaciers. The ship sat in front of the glaciers and turned slowly so that both port and starboard sides could see. We could hear a little calving but never really saw it. Michelle, the ship’s naturalist described what we were looking at and I thought she did a good job.

Once we sailed on, we decided to get ready and have breakfast in the dining room before the 9:40 am Mandatory Lifeboat Drill. I had a craving for Eggs Benedict. We were really disappointed as this morning, all of our meals were cold when served. My kid’s waffles were really soggy too. We decided that we would eat breakfast on the Lido deck next time.

Lifeboat drill was the same as always except that our 1st whale was spotted while we waited outside with our life vests. Because we really hadn’t explored the ship yet, we did so before going back to our cabin to relax and sit on the balcony. I decided that this would be a good day to finish up the laundry. There was one on Deck 6 on the port side forward which was convenient. There were only 2 washers and 4 dryers that were $3 per cycle. 2 of the dryers were out of order and the other 2 were on their last legs. It cost me $6 before I could get my load dry. I called guest services and they said that they would send someone and suggested that I try to do my laundry on either the 5th or 7th deck. I just gave up. There were others waiting to use the laundry room while I was there. There were 2 ironing boards and irons so I took advantage of these and ironed my DH and DS’s dress shirts as tonight was formal night.

Although I had booked all of my excursions independently, my family decided that they really wanted to pan for gold in Alaska so I bought tickets at the excursion desk for a 1 ½ hr gold panning tour at 5:30 pm on our Juneau day.

Tonight was formal night and DH and DS wore their suits, DD wore a dress and I wore black dress pants with a long dressy sweater. We were appropriately dressed – I was surprised that there were still a lot of suits(even a few tuxes) and dressy clothes. We attended the Captain’s welcome aboard party before dinner and had our photos taken a couple of times.

Our first dinner at our assigned table was excellent. Eka and Mile did an excellent job! My DH and DS ordered both the lobster and steak for dinner and loved it! DD really loved being able to choose from the menu and tried some new things. They offered her the children’s menu but she never used it. DH ordered the premium wine pkg @ $150- 5 bottles of wine. He received a little ticket listing his choices that he filled out at dinner. If we didn’t finish the bottle, we just took it back to our cabin. After dinner we went to the show which was excellent. The kids went to Circle C and returned to the cabin just after midnight when it was over.

Day 8 – July 17th Sitka

We got up early again this morning and had coffee (and Bailey’s) on our balcony as we sailed into Sitka. I checked off Danish on the room service menu and we got 16 of them for 4 of us!! Needless to say, we didn’t eat them all. We ate breakfast on the Lido deck and everything was very good and hot – much better than yesterday’s breakfast!

Tender stickers were to be available in Club Cool at 8:30am. I went down at 8am and sat in a chair as the room gradually filled up. Around 8:15am, they started hand out stickers and there wasn’t an organized line – everyone just crowded to the front of the room. Tender #2 was the first being handed out and I got 4 of these stickers. Make sure that you are ready to go before you get your sticker as your tender could be called very quickly. The whole tender process went very quickly. This morning we had planned to walk to the Alaska Raptor Center through the Sitka National Historical Park. It was a little drizzly out but not enough to bother us. The walk to the Raptor Center was nice – the entrance to the raptor center is uphill. It wasn’t very busy and it started to rain a little heavier when we got there. We enjoyed our visit here. When we finished, we walked into town and had some reindeer hotdogs for lunch. DD refused to eat them but I thought they were okay.

After doing a little shopping, we headed to the spot where we were to meet Captain Davey Lubin for our 4 hr sightseeing trip on the Esther G.
He was there to meet us right on schedule and sent us down to his boat while he made a pitstop. We were the only 4 on this trip. This was an absolutely wonderful relaxing tour. Davey is very knowledgeable and we learned a lot. We went out to St. Lazaria and stayed and watched the birds for a long time. We also saw harbor seals and sea otters. On the island we saw puffins, oyster catchers, murres, peregrine falcons, an eagle eating a rockfish and many other birds. After this, we went whale watching and saw many humpback whales. This was another of our favourite days. The last tender back to the ship was at 6:15 and we made it to the dock by 6pm but had to wait until nearly 7 pm as they thought they were missing 2 passengers that turned out to already be on the ship.

We had a wonderful dinner. We really enjoyed the show once again – a tribute to the Blues Brothers starring the Cruise Director and Ass’t Cruise Director. They were really good! The kids spent another evening at Circle C and we all were in bed by 12:15. We had a busy day planned in Juneau the next day - whale watching, the Mendenhall Glacier, Red Dog Saloon and panning for gold.

[Coolcruise02]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review!

[lorilea]

Day 9 – July 18th – Juneau

Today we had a busy day planned. The Spirit would be in port from 7:30 am until 11 pm. We started the day once again with coffee from room service (with Bailey’s) on the balcony as we sailed into port. Breakfast on the lido deck was great again.

We were to meet at Orca Enterprises offices at 8:30 am for whale watching. We easily located the office and waited about 30 minutes for our bus to pick us up. We decided that we wanted to be dropped off and picked up later at Mendenhall Glacier and we added this on to our tour when we got to the desk. Today was overcast and it rained lightly on and off. The naturalist who was driving the bus, pointed out the sights on the way to Auke Bay. Today’s tour was fairly full. We found a seat inside near the front of the boat and the window beside me opened easily. Luckily the whale activity also seemed to take place on my side. Captain Larry introduced himself and spoke briefly and then did what he does best – find whales! The naturalist did an excellent job as well. It wasn’t long before we came across approx 16 humpback whales bubble net feeding. This was absolutely amazing and we spent most of the tour watching this over and over again! I ventured outside to the upper deck once but came back to my seat inside as it was raining. Part way through the tour, crackers, cheese, salmon and peanut butter were served with juice boxes, coffee and tea. The trip went by quickly as we were all mesmerized by the continual bubble net feeding. I would not hesitate to book with Orca Enterprises again.

When we arrived back at the dock, those of us who were going on to Mendenhall went in one bus and the others went in another. Our driver dropped us off and indicated where we would be picked up roughly and hour and 15 minutes later. This was a perfect amount of time here. We walked on the trails towards the glacier, then went and explored the visitor’s center (we paid $18 per adult for the trip to the glacier plus our admission here). We found the displays in the visitor’s center to be quite interesting. Finally we decided to walk some trails to see if we could see some salmon (and maybe a bear). We saw neither. Our driver was there to pick us up as promised and she dropped us off in town as we asked.

It wasn’t raining anymore so we decided to look for Tracy’s King Crab Shack. We asked someone who pointed it out to us – very close to the cruise docks along a line of other food booths. DH and DS were really looking forward to this as they love crab. We placed our order – the combo (King Crab and Dungeness for both - mini crab cakes for me) DD wasn’t interested in anything here but there was another shack close by that made crepes to order. She had a nutella and strawberry crepe that she loved. A trip to Tracy’s King Crab Shack was definitely worthwhile. We all enjoyed our lunch.

After lunch, we wandered around the stores for a bit. Everything was wet from the rain and my son slipped and fell while walking on the sidewalk. He was okay and we all laughed, until 5 minutes later when I wiped out too – I still have a nasty bruise as a souvenier. My DD really wanted to stop in at the Red Dog Saloon. It was fun and my DD who had seen pictures of this place really enjoyed it. She had some hot apple cider and my DS had rootbeer while DH and I had real drinks! A fellow who was playing the piano and singing was really entertaining. When we finished, we took our time walking back to the ship. We had a Gold Panning tour booked (our only ‘ship’ excursion) for 5:30 pm.

After our little rest stop in our suite, we headed back out to pan for gold. Our guide Kenny met us at the dock and we boarded a bus. There weren’t too many others – a couple of families as this was a kid-friendly tour plus it was relatively inexpensive. Kenny was dressed as a gold panner and gave us a good tour on the way to the river or creek. He demonstrated how to pan for gold and then he handed each of us a pan. We headed to the river, sat on a rock and away we went. Of course, we all found a few gold flakes but as Kenny said, if there was enough gold in there to make you rich, he wouldn’t be a tour guide. We all had fun. It was only an 1 ½ tour so it went very quickly.

We returned to the ship for another excellent dinner. I was exhausted so DH went to the show by himself. The kids spent another evening with their new friends at Circle C.

Tomorrow – Skagway – our trip to the Yukon with Chilkoot Charters.

[woowoochick]

Thanks for another installment of your review. We will also be doing whale watching with Orca Enterprises. I'm glad you mentioned that you could add on Mendenhall. I would love to do that too and will make sure to ask about it when we get to the office.

[poolwife]

Love reading your review. Think I might take your idea of the float trip in Denali. Hadn't considered that. Do you think we could do a morning float trip and then drive from Healy to Anchorage that day. About how long did it take you to drive from Healy to Talkeetna. We have been to Talkeetna before and I think it is about 2 hours from there to Anchorage.

Thanks so much.

[TracieABD]

Thanks for your review. Glad that you had a great trip.

[Podie]

I'm enjoying your review. We did the Spirit northbound on 5/24 and lucked out with wonderful weather. Also visited Denali and Talkeetna.

I have to return to Anchorage on business next month and wish I could find a way to sneak a trip to Juneau and Sitka as they were my favorite places!

[lorilea]

Originally Posted by poolwife

Love reading your review. Think I might take your idea of the float trip in Denali. Hadn't considered that. Do you think we could do a morning float trip and then drive from Healy to Anchorage that day. About how long did it take you to drive from Healy to Talkeetna. We have been to Talkeetna before and I think it is about 2 hours from there to Anchorage.

Thanks so much.

We did the 8:30 am Mild Scenic Wilderness tour with and we were done around 11 am. We returned to our B&B, the kids showered and we packed up and were on the road by noon. We really took our time from Healy to Talkeetna and stopped to take pictures multiple times. We got there around 3:30 pm. So yes, I think you could drive from Healy to Anchorage after a float trip.

[lorilea]

Day 10 – July 19 – Skagway - 7.5 hr Yukon Rail & Bus Excursion with Chilkoot Charters

Our morning started out the same as all of the others – coffee and bailey's on the balcony as we arrived in Skagway. Again the weather was a little overcast but it wasn’t raining. After breakfast on the lido deck, we headed outside to find the person with the Chilkoot Charters sign. This was a little confusing as there were many people looking and Chilkoot Charters offers a number of tours but we eventually found our guide. There were 2 busloads of people and our guide Terrell pulled up to the train second. Chilkoot had a car reserved and when we got on the train every seat on the left except 1 at the front was taken so we disappointedly sat on the right. I guess everyone else got the same advice that we did. What was somewhat annoying here was that all of the seats on the left were occupied by a large group travelling together and there were a few with only 1 person per seat – some of them children. DH was not happy but there wasn’t anything we could do. The only people that were not with this group were the 4 of us and another family of 3.

We didn't complain but when the conductor came through the car, he said that if anyone would like to move to the car in front of us which only had 2 people on it, we could when the train stopped to drop off some hikers. Both our family and the other family not travelling with the group moved to the car in front. The left side of the train was definitely the place to be going from Skagway to Fraser.

We loved this excursion. DH and I stood on the rear platform between the cars for much of the trip - there wasn’t any competition for the platform as we now only had 9 people in our car and the others used the front platform. It was a little foggy but still very beautiful and as we approached Fraser, the weather became increasingly better.

Once in Fraser, we got off of the train and onto the bus. We took the two seats at the front on the right and the other family took the two seats beside us. Half of the big group were scattered in the seats behind us. We really enjoyed listening to our guide and he made frequent stops for us to get out and take pictures. He asked us all to look out for wildlife and we spotted 2 black bears at the side of the road. The scenery was beautiful. By now, the sun was out and it was getting warm.

We stopped at Caribou Crossing Trading Post for lunch. We all thought it was pretty good. You could have 1 or 2 BBQ Chicken legs, a baked potato, coleslaw, a bun and some doughnuts for dessert. They also had tea and coffee. I bought a beer for my DH and 3 pops for the kids and I. There was also a vegetarian choice which was perogies instead of chicken. DD didn’t feel like chicken so she had this and said it was really good. After lunch we wandered around the wildlife museum and went to look at the puppies. Some people in the group did the sled dog cart ride and seemed to enjoy it. We didn’t feel at all rushed.

On our bus trip back to Skagway, we spotted the same bears we had seen earlier and stopped again for photos. The group of people travelling together were a little loud and we had to strain to hear our guide speak. They weren’t paying any attention to him and we found them to be a little rude. When he stopped the bus for photo ops, they didn’t even get out but rather , seemed annoyed that we stopped. The weather in Skagway was the same as it was when we had left in the morning. We were tired so we opted to go directly back to the ship but Terrell dropped many of the others in town and they probably had about an hour to wander around.

We headed back to our cabin for a rest and a drink before dinner. We sat on our balcony and watched as we sailed away. We had another wonderful meal and enjoyed the show while the kids hung out at Circle C until midnight.

[lorilea]

Day 11 – July 20 – Ketchikan – Misty Fjords with Island Wings

Today we took the opportunity to sleep in a little later as we wouldn’t arrive in port until 11 am. I had tried to do a load of laundry when we returned from Skagway the day before but the dryers didn’t work at all now so I had wet clothing hanging everywhere in the cabin – jeans of course. Luckily our suite had lots of closet space and lots of hangers. Today there was a laundry special - $15 per bag but it was a small bag and you could only put in the items that they had listed (did not include jeans). I jammed as many pieces of clothing as I could into the bag – socks, underwear, t-shirts and left it for our cabin steward when we headed to the Lido deck for breakfast. We returned to our cabin and watched as we pulled into port from our balcony – incidentally, we docked on the port side in Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan.

Ketchikan lived up to it’s reputation and it rained here. We donned our waterproof jackets and headed out to explore. I had already warned everyone that there was a chance that our Misty Fjords trip might be cancelled because of the weather. We were in port from 11-8, our flight was from 4-6 and I hadn’t booked anything else so there was a chance that we would not be doing any excursion here.

We headed towards Creek Street and although it was raining, we still enjoyed the walk and exploring the shops. Afterwards we decided to head back to the ship for a late lunch before our excursion. Around 3:30pm we went back out towards the rain guage where we would be met by the Island Wings van. It was there right on schedule and luckily our tour was still on. When we got to the docks, we had to wait for Michelle to arrive back with another group. They all seemed very happy and said that it was beautiful. There were only the 4 of us on this tour but Michelle also let one of her friends join us. I sat in the back with the camera, DH up front with Michelle and the kids in the middle.

This was an absolutely amazing trip and despite the weather, visibility was very good. We all had headsets and could ask questions and listen to music. We landed on a lake and got out for approx. ½ hour to explore before going back. On the way back, my son sat up front. He is 14 and wants to be an airplane mechanic and would love to fly planes but is colour deficient and cannot fly commercial planes. The plane has dual controls so she let him ‘fly’ the plane. He even got to ‘land’ it. (DD nearly freaked out at this point and my DH had to keep her calm). This was the highlight of his entire trip and I don’t think you could have wiped the smile off of his face for the next 2 days! He’s still talking about it almost 2 weeks later! I can’t thank Michelle enough for giving him this experience.

After the float plane trip we made a stop at the candy store before returning to the ship. My laundry was on the bed (in 2 bags now) all clean and folded. Again we had a great dinner and show and the kids did their usual – Circle C until midnight.

Tomorrow was our last full day at sea.

[lorilea]

Day 12 – July 21st – At sea\

We took another opportunity to sleep in for a bit today as it was an ‘at sea’ day. We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning. We decided to try out the breakfast in the Empire dining room one more time – love Eggs Benedict. This time it did not disappoint!

This being our 8th cruise, we’ve learned to relax on a cruise and don’t feel like we need to participate in all of the activities because “we paid for them”. We went to the shops – I bought some Swarovski Crystal Puffins for a great price , as well as some t-shirts for DH and DS. DD wanted to swim so we sat outside for a few hours at the back of the ship while she swam outside. It was funny to see some people in bathing suits while other were wearing long pants and jackets. It really was warm and we all got a bit of a sunburn! Don’t forget your sunscreen just because you’re in Alaska! There was none of the deck chair issues that you see on Caribbean cruises – lots of chairs available.

DS decided to participate in the Circle C activities for the afternoon and we did not see him again until close to dinner time. I also decided to go on the galley tour. This was very crowded but I found it interesting. All in all, this was a very relaxing day. We also spent time on our balcony enjoying the scenery .

We reluctantly packed our bags before dinner – they had to be in the hall by midnight. Our last dinner was once again very good and we tipped our servers a little extra. We had requested envelopes from our room steward earlier in the day. Tonight’s show was the passenger show and was also very entertaining.

The kids stayed at Circle C until the end and traded e-mail addresses with their new friends. We put our luggage in the hall and went to bed.

Day 13 – July 22nd – Disembarkation – Vancouver Aquarium, Stanley Park

This morning we got up and enjoyed coffee with Bailey’s on the balcony for the last time. We had not yet arrived in Vancouver when we awoke so it was nice to watch us pull into port. We were very organized and all had our showers, dressed and were out of our suite on time. We decided to eat on the Lido deck again, although we had plenty of time to eat in the dining room. We did not have to make a flight so we were not in a hurry to leave.

When our number was called (23) we made our way off of the ship. This whole process went very smoothly and we had no difficulty locating our luggage. We had rented a car from Avis’ downtown office and decided to walk there. We left the kids with the luggage (DS is 14 and 6 ft tall – big kid) and DH and I set out with our GPS to find the Avis office. This was quite a hike – especially if we had carried our luggage. When we arrived at the office, it was very busy so DH walked back to where the kids were so they wouldn’t worry. I told him I would get the car and drive there to pick them up. I had a reserved and Chevy Impala - one way rental to be dropped off in Victoria 3 days later. My Impala had a chipped windshield so they gave me a Lincoln Towncar instead. I was stressed that I may have to parallel park a ‘limo’ in downtown Vancouver but thankfully I was able to pull right up to my family. On a positive note, there was more room for luggage but it still didn’t all fit in the trunk.

I had heard great things about the Vancouver Aquarium and this was where we headed first. It was very busy here and perhaps my expectations were too high but none of us was really thrilled with the aquarium. We have visited the Toronto Zoo almost twice a year – just over an hour from our house – and it is a superb zoo. I found that the Vancouver Aquarium didn’t even compare. We also walked around in Stanley Park for a bit and found the park quite beautiful.

After we left the aquarium, we drove around in circles for a bit (it was very busy as there was an International fireworks competition in Vancouver on this evening) before we managed to get on the bridge so we could get to the Holiday Inn and Suites in North Vancouver. We chose this hotel as we planned to visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge the next morning and it was very close by. This hotel was considerably cheaper than the downtown Vancouver hotels, had free parking and got great reviews on tripadvisor. As it turned out, this was the nicest Holiday Inn we have ever stayed in. Service was great, rooms were beautiful and spotless, the pool was great, laundry facilities were excellent. We also ate dinner at the restaurant in the hotel and it was very good. After dinner, DD wanted to swim so I did laundry and watched her. We were able to see some of the fireworks from our room so we watched them before we went to bed.

[krogerlady]

Its been two months, and I relive every moment when I read someone else's review, especially as good as yours. Alaska is fabulous, and I don't know about you, but I am ready to go again!!