Another (long) Carnival Spirit report (this one with kids)

Passengers include hubby, myself, 8 and 7 year old grandsons. This trip report will be slightly different since we had the children. There will be a few more references to kids activities than most reports.

Anchorage-We flew into Anchorage on Sunday. We stayed at the Dimond Hotel and it was nice. The room was very nice but the hotel was on the outskirts of town so I am not sure if I would stay there again. Definately would not stay there without a rental car which we had. Drove around most of the sights including Earthquake Park. Funny thing was while we were at Earthquake Park, there was a 3.9 earthquake there. We went to Anchorage Bucs/Glacier Pilots baseball game. It is top level college players right before they are drafted. Some of the top players have played for Alaska baseball. We also went to the H2Oasis indoor waterpark. All in all - I was not terribly impressed with Anchorage. It was very wierd that at 11 o'clock, it was still light outside. Anchorage was ok, easy to navigate but to me it was nothing special. We used the Carnival Spirit transfers and this was very easy. The Avis downtown rental car was 2 blocks from the Egan center so hubby dropped us off with the luggage, took the car back and then walked back to the Center. Very easy transfer. Rode the bus down to Whittier. Beautiful scenery. Saw some dali sheep and eagles. Not much in Whittier. It was interesting in the fact that it was so small. We had booked an obstructed view balcony room. We had the end room. Very little obstruction. Great room.

Cruise-

Wed-The first night was open seating. The kids made a friend right away at dinner. The last night they exchanged phone numbers. Went to the kids club orientation and party. There were only 100 total children ages 2-15 on the ship. The kids did spend a few hours each day that we were not in port at the kids clubs. On port days, they did not go to the kids club at all. There was a note in our cabin that due to mechanical problems, we would be late arriving in Sitka but that it should not affect any excursions. My husband would be celebrating his birthday on the ship so I had the cabin decorated. Very festive and a great job!

Thurs-We cruised the Glaciers. AWESOME sight. Wow does even begin to describe it. I woke everyone up and we all went out on deck. Even with a balcony, you need to be on the deck for the full effect. Calving ice, sea lions, otters, glaciers everywhere. Wow, Just AWESOME! Dinner tonight was formal. Our first night at our assigned seats. Nothing good to be said here. Our waiter was very slow. It was my husband's birthday. After we had eaten our dessert, the waiter brought the cake and said oh here is the cake you ordered. We took it back to the room and ate slices of it for a midnight snack each night. It took us 2 hours to be served. Too long to me when there were things to see. Hopefully it will get better.

Friday-We arrived in Sika. We were not late as expected-in fact we got here a little early. We had the Rapture Center and Russian America booked. The Rapture Center was great. The Russian dancers were amateur but it was fun and we all enjoyed it. The Russian church is beautiful. Nice tour. It was pouring down rain and someone ask if they had to get off the bus. The driver said you do not have to but you are in a rain forest, get over it-It rains-You get wet-No big deal. I thought this while true was a little rude. Friday night at dinner, again we were the last ones to receive our food. Our waiter just seemed to be rather slow. All of the tables we could see were empty when we were just receiving our dessert menu. This would be the last night we would eat in the dining room. 2 to 2 1/2 hours for dinner was too much. We were too late to make it to the main show.

Saturday-We arrived in Juneau. We were booked with Captain Larry. What an awesome trip. We had orca whales surrounding the boat. Just incredible. The kids were totally amazed. The whales were very close to the boat. We stayed here for quite awhile and then moved to another location where we were able to see humpback whales. We saw 3 whales breach right in front of us. After seeing the whales, we rented a car. Great idea. We drove all over Juneau. We were able to drive over to Mendenhall Glacier. We then drove over to Douglas Island. Lots of beautiful scenery around Juneau. Of course, we stopped at the McDonalds (for the kids) Stopped off at the store and picked up a few gatorades for the kids.

Sunday-Today was Skagway. We rented a car and drove up to Carcross. We went to Caribou Crossing and adopted a sled dog. The kids thought this was awesome. The scenery along the way was great. We had a silver and gray wolf stop on the road right in front of us. I understand a wolf sighting is very rare. I was upset about not seeing a bear but I understand that wolf sightings are much rarer. Lots of waterfalls. We did walk around Skagway for a little while. We had reservations at the Soapy Smith show. It was ok.

Monday-We arrived in Ketchikan. We had 2 tours booked in Ketchikan. We had the Duck tour booked. It was ok. The city part was better than the water part. Lots and lots of salmon jumping. We saw a couple of eagles on the water part of the tour. Creek street is cute. We also went to the Lumberjack Show. While it is a staged show, it was still lots of fun!!!

Tuesday-Cruising to Vancouver. Several sightings of whales and porpoises along the way as well as eagles. Lots of lighthouses along the way.

Wed-Arrived in Vancouver. Booked at the Pan Pacific. Very easy to get to. Canadian Customs was tough. We had a letter from my daughter authorizing the children to travel with us. Unfortunately, my daughter has remarried and has a different last name than the kids. It took us 30 minutes to get through customs. They finally agreed to let us go. We took the trolley tour through the city. Vancouver is a beautiful city!! We loved Stanley Park. The kids had fun in the water park at Granville Island. The Celebration of Lights Fireworks show was going on at English Bay. If I had known in advance, I would have stayed at a hotel near English Bay. This is something I highly recommend.

Thurs-Aw shucks-It is time to come home. Oooohhhh, Do not cut your time short getting through customs. We arrived 2 hours early and made it to the gate with 15 minutes to spare. Lucky for us, the crew got held up in Customs and were an hour late so we had a few minutes after we got to the gate.

Final Thoughts-Our cabin steward was excellent and his tips reflect that. We added additional money to his tip amount. Our waiter at dinner was terrible to the point that all other meals after the 2nd night were eaten at the La Playa Grill. His tip was deducted to reflect this. The room was great. The beds were very comfortable. No complaints about the obstructed view room. The cruise director was wonderful. I really enjoyed her. The kids club staff was excellent. We did tip them. The weather was great. A little rain but not much. Tempertures were ok. We overpacked because we were concerned it would be colder than it was. I may get blasted for this but for me-Alaska was a trip I had always wanted to take. I have now taken it and probably will not go back. Nothing bad about the trip and the scenery was spectacular but I just do not think I will go back (unless I go with a group). The Spirit was nice. Other than the dining situation, I have no complaints about the Spirit. Being in Alaska with so much to see, I did not participate in many activities around the ship. We went to a few (mainly at night after it got dark). I did win in the casino (I played $5.00 in nickels and won $15.00). I also won at Bingo (I paid $20.00 for a card and won $200). I only played one time and won that one time. My 8 year old grandson was with me for bingo and the look on his face when he realized we had won was worth the price of the cruise. Actually, the pictures I have not only of the scenery but of all the things my grandchildren did while we were on vacation are priceless. For the first time, I bought almost all of the ship's photographer's pictures. There were all very good. The kids had a great time. They went on a scavenger hunt, they had 2 disco parties, they made candy art, had an arcade tournament and just basically had a good time. Like I said earlier, they did not stay in the club except when we were not in port so I am not sure about those days but I am sure the kids that were there had fun. Most parents were having problems getting their kids to leave. I had no problems connecting with the Internet but I may have gotten lucky on the times I was trying to connect. We also had cell phone service a large portion of the trip. Since we have cruised Carnival several times in the past, we received gold key cards and were invited to the repeat guests party. We also received pins that were nice. I will have pictures available in a couple of hours and will post the website.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Becky