Tennessee Rose

Thank you so much! I have started taking more and better photos on recent trips but you have really inspired me to take even more. I love all the beautiful landscapes that really set the mood and make me remember how much I love Alaska. We will be on a HAL cruise for 2 weeks in July, going all the way to Kodiak and Anchorage.

I get teased about taking so many vacation pictures, but I really enjoy it. With digital cameras, it is so easy to take as many as you want. You can cull and save the best later. I would love to go farther up, and isn't Kodiak an area known for more bears? Some day.......I'll go again! Have fun!

We leave for 2nd Alaskan cruise out of Seattle in Sept. I am so excited I can hardly sit still. Thank you for sharing such beautiful pictures.

I know---I get anxious just looking at the calendar when my cruise date is so far out. When I start dreaming about the places I'm going, I have to just shut down cruise thoughts completely! As long as everything is booked and paid for, I try not to even look at anything until about 3-4 weeks out! I think this is called an addiction---but it's a great addiction to have!

You won't know until you actually try this ship yourself. So, go ahead and book the CCL ship and try it out! It sounds like it could just be an additional trip, not an either/or between this one and the Oasis class ships.

Either way, enjoy your cruises!

Thank you for the great review! I am even more excited now. 79 more days...

You are welcome; I'm glad you enjoyed it! At least you are down to double digits for your countdown! Have tons of fun!

Thank you for taking the time to share your review and photos. All the pics were great. My fave is the seal in the rain!

 

We sail on Legend in 16 days, and you provided some very helpful info!

You're welcome! Did you notice that the little seal's nostrils form a heart? They were the cutest things and worked so very hard to try to catch those fish. But, we didn't see much "catching", just a lot of jumping at them. I'm sure they catch enough for them to keep working at it!

Fantastic review! I love your pictures. Glad you had such a marvelous time. :)

Thank you----I love taking pictures and also love sharing them.

Thank you for this review. I agree, you have a great eye for detail and took excellent pictures. I have never done an Alaskan cruise but this looks like fun.

 

You are most welcome, and I appreciate the compliment! Especially, now that I've been there, I think everyone should do at least one Alaska cruise! We had actually talked about it for a year or more before we finally just said "let's do this!" And before you know it, we had actually booked.

 

Since these book up pretty soon after being made available, you might want to start looking for that 2019 or even 2020 cruise! :D

Wonderful pictures! And the Ketchikan pictures were perfect. They always have rain!! Great report.

Thank you!

Thank you for this review! We are leaving for this trip in a couple of weeks and I can't wait! Your review has helped pass the time...beautiful pictures!!!

You are very welcome! And I know how slowly those last few weeks take to pass. Wishing you a wonderful time in Alaska!

They do now we are going June 12th and super excited for this trip - my heart about dropped out when you said no Guys had to go check the ship and guess they must have added it during the last dry dock - I love Guy's burgers

Jaime, my cruise buddy, just told me this past week that Legend has it now or getting it. I just found that she's in dry dock right now and supposed to go back in service later this next week! And, yes, she is getting both Guy's Burgers and the Blue Iguana Cantina during the dry dock updates! Breathe easy now! And have a fabulous time on your cruise. Wish I could be on there with you! Our next cruises, a first time back to back out of Mobile, isn't until Nov.-Dec. :loudcry::loudcry:

You should be very proud of the pictures you got. With the super cloudy weather you had, it's not easy to get the detail you got in your pictures, especially those in Glacier Bay.

 

You chose the perfect week for your cruise. I've always cruised early in the summer, but early Fall was just gorgeous.

 

Thank you for sharing your cruise with us.

Thank YOU! We chose the time we went (1st week of Sept, also CCL's last Alaska cruise of the season) mainly to have the Glacier Bay day. I wondered about whether there would be any fall colors. What we saw was just another bonus! But, I did see some pictures from another cruiser on another line about 2 weeks later than ours and they had even more fall colors! So, if the rain/mist is okay for you, then fall is a spectacular time to visit.

Thank you again for the wonderful review and all of the photos. I can't wait until it's our turn to go.

You are welcome! You are going to have a wonderful time' date=' I promise![/b']

Loved your pictures and report!! Thank you!!

 

Thank you and you are very welcome!

 

Thanks for the wonderful review & outstanding pictures! I especially like that you got some whale pictures - when we did a whale watching excursion I never saw any! Thankfully, we did one in Hawaii with better results.

 

We head back to Alaska in August for our 3rd visit. We plan on doing the Mount Roberts tram this time as we haven't done that before. We'll be hitting Glacier Bay again. We generally cruise Princess and GB is on a lot of their schedules. We just make sure it's on any itinerary we pick.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it! And I think I was totally spoiled by seeing GB. Not sure I could go back and miss seeing it again. I don't see how anyone could get tired of seeing that beautiful place. Our port times are what messed us up with not being able to do the tram, but I'd loved to see the top of Mt. Roberts. Y'all have fun----I know you will!

Enjoyed your review. I am on the Legend in June of 2019 and it will be the first trip to Alaska for me!

Thank you! And I must tell you-----be prepared to be overwhelmed. I think you will love it. Have fun, and please share pics when you return. I need some more vicarious travel to Alaska! As in, I love reading about everyone else's trips too!

Thanks for sharing! I leave for Alaska on the Legend in August and your review makes me even more excited to go!

Alaska and Legend = perfect vacation! Please share pictures when you get back. Have fun!

Awesome review! Thanks.

We are doing our second Alaska cruise on the Legend this August.

You are very welcome! And I wish I had a 2nd one booked/planned. I thought my cruise would probably be my one and only to Alaska. But, I think I will end up going back at some point! Enjoy your upcoming cruise!

Hi, everyone!

I have just finished my first ever "posted" trip report. Yep, it is a bit late---the cruise was last fall, Sept. 2017, on the Carnival Legend. I went ahead with it because over the years of reading many reports on CC I never saw that many on ALASKA!

Here is the link: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2632022

I have a blue million pictures in it. Yes, I take tons of pictures and like to revisit my vacations that way. I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed taking them. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to try to answer them.

Happy Cruising!

LaRose

Thoughts on this cruise:

I had been really excited about going to Alaska and about being on Legend. But this cruise far exceeded what I expected. Alaska, the southeastern ports we visited, is incredibly beautiful. I had read others’ reviews of Legend and how much everyone seemed to like this class of ship. I now fully agree, having experienced it myself. I love the size and the layout; it is very easy to get around and she’s a beautiful ship. Of course, I want to go back! And on Legend!

To those of you who have your first Alaskan cruise booked and are just counting down the days, you are going to be amazed and in awe. I promise. To those of you who have already been there, you know exactly what I'm talking about! Our Earth has so many beautiful and unique areas and this is definitely one of them. At least, to me. I'm sure there are similar areas that many of you "have" seen and visited, but I had never been to any place like this. It just makes me want to see more and more!

Thanks for visiting my report, and being patient with the amount of time it took me to finish. Happy Cruising, everyone!

Tues., Sept 12, Vancouver:

We were up and having breakfast in the Lido buffet by 7:45 a.m. After breakfast, we grabbed our carry on bags and found seats on the deck 3 public area to wait until our zone 20 was called to debark. We were called at 10:00, got off the ship, through customs and on the big comfy shuttle bus very quickly. This was a super quick and easy process, except for actually finding our checked bags. At the Vancouver port, they just put all the bags out in rows all together, not in numbered sections by their zone number. So exactly why did we even have to put zone tags on them?? With having a high number, most people were already off the ship and had claimed their bags. It took about 5 minutes to locate ours. Thankfully, they were together. Our bus left the port at 10:15 for the 1-hour ride over to YVR. Our flight on Delta wasn’t until 3:15 p.m. and we arrived back in Nashville about 11:30 that night. Tired and exhausted!

These last 2 were taken from right after we changed planes in Seattle to head home. The Washington wildfires were still burning/smoldering; you can clearly see the smoke from them in the mountains.

Canada Place, port in Vancouver

Mon., Sept. 11, Sea Day:

We had breakfast at 9:00 a.m. at the sea day brunch in Truffles MDR. Then, we wandered around our usual spots of Lido and outside to Serenity where we saw----the sun! Not kidding, the sun was actually out as we headed south into the Inside Passage. I really liked the setup of Serenity on Legend, better than on the other ships I’ve been on. Immediately out the doors from the Lido buffet area is a covered area which has the bar at the back, then a short, curved wall with some tables and chairs on the bar side and wicker sofas and chairs in a double row on the other side. Just outside this covered area begins the normal area of hammocks, loungers, and clamshells. To the side of the bar was the towel check out desk, but, guess what, since we were in Alaska and the cold, you could check out blankets also! This was great for when you needed to warm up but didn’t want to go or stay inside. While on the outside deck, Jaime saw a whale spouting and we looked for whales but didn’t see any more.

About noon, we headed back to the cabin to pack our bags. Then we went to Lido for snacks about 2:00, followed by tea time at 3:00 p.m. For our last day on the ship, we made sure we didn’t miss any opportunity to snack or be waited on! After tea, it was back to the cabin for a short nap, then wandered up to Pixels and the shops to see if there were any new sales. Nope, nothing new. By this time, the weather had changed to mist and fog but we still wandered around the outside open deck anyway. Dolphins once again started jumping and following the ship on both sides near the rear for about 20 minutes. Around dusk, we went to our regular spot in the Atlantis Lounge to await dinner time. As soon as we were being seated at our table, someone noticed dolphins again jumping right outside the dining room windows which was on deck 2, so they appeared to be right there. Those of us who were there plus the servers in our area all ran to the windows to watch them. That night’s dinner was, what else, marinated pork chop, mac ‘n cheese/bacon, mashed potatoes, my AP, and the new key lime cheesecake stuffed apple (wasn’t really that great).

After dinner we were back in the cabin by 9:30 to finish up our packing and had our bags in the hallway for pickup by 10:30 p.m. We had zone 20 debarkation tags.

That afternoon we had stopped by the Guest Services desk and purchased the bus transfer from Canada Place port to the Vancouver airport. They had the info in the Funtimes and at $28 per person we felt it was a good price for a transfer we wouldn’t have to worry about. So, everything was done to finish up our cruise and get ready to return home the next day.

Sun., Sept. 10, Ketchikan, 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.:

It was 53 degrees when we woke up and there were a few light/bright spots in the sky that looked like the sun might actually come out. We had breakfast on Lido then got off the ship about 9:00 a.m. to finally do our souvenir shopping that we hadn’t done at the other ports. We were going to use our coupon book at theTongass Trading Company store---we could see the store right down the dock. (Hint—you can download TTC’s coupons onto your phone or just pick up a coupon book just inside the door. There were tons of special priced items; many half price or more off. But I got the impression that they have these sales most of the time, not just at the end of the season. In addition, the ship’s shops only had a few items that were sale priced for end of season; I was disappointed there wasn’t more based on what I had read beforehand.) As we were getting off the ship, the light rain had already started. This is really bad but we were probably in the store for about 1 ½ hours! When we walked out with our huge bags of goodies, the rain was coming down pretty good. We covered the tops with our coats and hightailed it, as best we could, back to the ship.

After going back to the cabin to drop off our bags and check on Hurricane Irma news, we headed to Lido for lunch. Then just lollygagged the rest of the day, mainly sitting in the café at a window table, snacking and watching the wet scenery outside. I did go out o Serenity a couple of times, bundled up from the rain and cold, to take a few more pictures. I got several of a red float plane coming in. And did't realize it until I had the photos on my computer (bigger view for these old eyes) that I saw the sea bird tailing the plane for the landing on the water! Back to the room for a bit then back up deck for sailaway. Not only was it raining good but the mists were settling in over the mountain tops. It was a spooky goodbye to Ketchikan. Later, we went to our dinner waiting spot in Atlantis then to Truffles where I had the beef tenderloin & short rib, mashed potatoes, green beans, key lime mousse (new, and liked!), and AP. We did go to the show in Follies this night, Studio VIP, which was 70s/80s music. It was okay; not overwhelmed though.

And now for the kinda soggy Ketchikan pictures. I was sad that this was our last port, which meant I was being forced to leave the ship and go home in another day! Why can't vacation last longer!