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Allison & David's Honeymoon Adventure/ Carnival Miracle's Maiden Alaska Voyage


ucfalli

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Intro:

 

I read lots and lots of reviews in the planning of our honeymoon. I am returning the favor by writing this to help those who are planning their Alaskan adventure and for those who just like to read trip reports :D

 

To start with a little background. I am Allison and my husband is David. We are from Orlando, Fl and were married 03/02/13 (on the freak cold Saturday in Florida, temp in the upper 40s with 15-20 mph winds). Thankfully I had the adrenaline of the wedding keeping me warm.

 

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Right after we were engaged I was immediately excited to plan our honeymoon. I started looking at European cruises and found the perfect one. So how did we end up in Alaska? We were booked on the inaugural Carnival Sunshine cruise... which was cancelled and sent me into a complete panic to re-plan our honeymoon. Europe was just not meant to be. I couldn't find another itinerary that would fit our budget and had the ports we wanted. The rates on the 1st Alaskan cruise of the season were too good to pass up. So here we are on our Alaskan adventure!

 

So I am a planner and basically had to rebook our honeymoon in a couple of weeks due to the last min change of plans. Booked the cruise, flights, train, hotels, and excursions.

 

We spent 2 nights pre-cruise in Seattle and 3 nights in Vancouver. We were on the 8 day Alaska Itinerary. We flew in/out of Seattle, taking the Amtrak from Seattle to Vancouver for our departure on the Carnival Miracle.

 

Cruise Itinerary:

Day 1: Sail away from Vancouver

Day 2: Inside passage

Day 3: Sea day

Day 4: Juneau

Day 5: Skagway

Day 6: Glacier Bay

Day 7: Ketchikan

Day 8: Sea day

...... Flying home from Seattle

We used mainly a Canon T4i for photos. Also used a Canon Powershot SD1100, Kodak easyshare sport, and my iphone 5.

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Congratulations on your wedding from a neighbor in Tampa! =) Looking forward to reading your review. We sail on Miracle in 3 weeks and are very excited. Love reading other people's reviews and experiences.

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congrats to you and your hubby!

my husband and I are on the sunshine in a few weeks but are looking at taking the same alaska cruise next april. i am very excited for your review!

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Day 1: Driving to South Florida

April 23rd 2013

 

Our adventure actually started the day prior to our flight to Seattle on Tuesday. We flew out Fort Lauderdale International. The reason we didn't fly out of Orlando International was that my parents were cat sitting. There was no way I was just going to leave Poko (my cat) at home and have people check in on her over the 2 weeks we were to be gone. She is very social cat and normally goes crazy happy to see us after we leave her for a few days for a shorter trips. She needs people around. This was Poko's first time traveling to South Florida and I didn't know how she would be in a new place.

 

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So we left Orlando after working half a day. Had lunch and had to pack not only all of our luggage but all the kitty stuff. Made it down to South Florida in time for dinner with the parents. Unfortunetly Poko didn't adjust as well as I hoped. She compeltely shut down and spent the night huddle inside David's backpack/curled at my feet/or me pulling her out from any space she could squash herself. I was very worried about leaving her.

 

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your poor cat! this made me feel so guilty. we leave my cat (who just lost her "brother" two weeks ago to cancer) for 16 day on friday, and is feeling like your cat right now, she's hiding in my suitcase, and hasn't eaten since i pulled it out this morning. i'm now packing in the basement. where she doesn't go. I hope Polo managed well without you and was super happy to see you when you got home!!

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Day 2: Flight to Seattle, Washington

April 24th 2013

We woke up WAY too early for me for our 8am flight. When booking it, 8am didn't seem like a bad idea...until I realized the night before what time we had to get up. After getting through screening and grabbing lunch in the airport to take on our flight we found out terminal. About one min after arriving they started boarding super early (was about 20min earlier then it was suppose to be). We ended up leaving a little late and our flight ended up turning from a 6.5 hr flight into about 7hrs due to turbulence. We flew Alaska Airlines. Was very happy with the service and felt the seats were slightly more spacious/more comfortable.

 

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The flight went fast. Be aware that all you get is a trail mix packet and drinks, so pack food accordingly! We watched Prometheus on David's Ipad and played Mario Kart on our Nintendo DS (we are nerds). In no time we landed in Seattle at approx 12pm.

 

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We pre-booked a town car with Already There. We had booked them for transport from the airport to our hotel and then from the cruise ship back to airport for our return. We would highly recommend them for the Seattle area. They were great to communicate with and were very professional. Once we landed and had our luggage we simply went outside saw what number we were standing at and called the town care service with the number they provided. Our driver was there in about 5 min.

 

In no time we arrived at our hotel in the Belltown area of Seattle, very close to the Space Needle (about 5 min walk). We stayed at the Hotel Five. Great moderate price hotel. I think we had the smallest room (guess that what happens when you book a super low rate). We were at the very end by the staircase with a street view. The decor was modern and hip. The front staff were always very friendly.

In the lobby there are bikes that are free to use.

 

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The room

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My only complaint was that the bathroom was super dark, limited lighting (no light by the toliet) and I am not a fan of those space air conditioners/heaters. There was a Keurig in the room with K-cups for use and 2 water bottles free of charge. Internet was also free and we a good signal in the room. The shower was the best part of the bathroom. Had a rainfall shower head and Tommy Bahama shampoo/conditioner.

 

Desk area

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Already drinking coffee!

 

ry%3D400

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your poor cat! this made me feel so guilty. we leave my cat (who just lost her "brother" two weeks ago to cancer) for 16 day on friday, and is feeling like your cat right now, she's hiding in my suitcase, and hasn't eaten since i pulled it out this morning. i'm now packing in the basement. where she doesn't go. I hope Polo managed well without you and was super happy to see you when you got home!!

 

She turned around after a few days. I called my parents every day checking in on her cause she wasn't eating/drinking (making my very worried in Seattle). Eventually she threw in the towel and decided to make the best of it :D. When I came home she was way too comfortable and was cuddling up to my parents.

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Subscribed! Congratualtions on your wedding! I can't wait to read all about Alaska. I keep going back and forth between Europe and Alaska. Currently Europe is winning, maybe your review will change my mind... ;):cool::D

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Subscribing!! Really enjoying your review. I'm stressed about my cat in December :(. We will be gone about 17 days. Debating on driving him up to my sons house to stay. He's very social too and I think that's too long for him to be alone!

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I'm looking forward to the rest, also. We did Alaska (the first week in 2011)...and we're doing it AGAIN next summer in July. I'm stoked!

 

I can't wait to read (hopefully) that your experience was as magical as ours! :)

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Great review and pictures! Congrats on your wedding...and your cat is beautiful...so happy she adjusted...we have two at home..they keep each other company and I have someone come in once a day but I still hate to leave them:eek: We have cruised a lot but never done Alaska...thinking about next year:):):) Looking forward to your review!!

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I already know I am going to enjoy reading your review very much! We are cruising Alaska in September, 2014. It is soooo far away so I will try to contain myself by reading every Alaska review I can find!

 

I am glad your cat adjusted. My German Shepherd (Jesse) is miserable when I leave home. We have a petsitter come in (we have 4 dogs) if neither of my sons are at home but he still stays by the front door the entire time waiting for me to return. Makes me feel so guilty.

 

Congrations on your marriage!

 

Kim

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Subscribing to your review. We live just north of Seattle and plan to do an Alaska one day. Arriving in Seattle will make you a "Coffee Nut":D:D:D Thanks for the review! Looking forward to it.

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Good start! I am looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

We have to sneak and pack for trips so our chihuahua won't see us! When he sees a suitcase he gets all torn up. He knows what is coming.

 

Thing is, we always have a dog sitter to stay at the house with him!

 

We want to do an Alaskan cruise so bad!

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Good review so far...I am doing one from my recent cruise as well and trying to figure out how you are getting pictures included in your post.

 

I don't like to read books without pictures, so I'm sure people don't like to read my review without pictures either.

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Congratulations on your marriage!

 

Can't wait to read the rest of your review. We did the first cruise last year on the Spirit, when I saw this one was 8 days I wished I had waited a year. What a great honeymoon.

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One of my two cats HATE being anywhere but home, so it would honestly be "easier" on her if we just left her at home and had someone watch her when we're on vacation. However, I worry too much about the "what if", so I send them both off to the boyfriend's parents house...I'm told that she spends most of the time staring outside a window or curled up in a corner, hissing whenever someone walks by. My other cat adjusts very well to other people/pets but won't eat for almost two days if she's in new surroundings (vet assures me this is typical). Regardless, I feel like a better pet parent if they're supervised. It's tough!

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