Spirit to Alaska Review With Pics

[sadajo]

Work?! No, you have far too many anxious fans waiting for you to continue this wonderful review - where are your priorities?! :D

 

Seriously, I'm really enjoying reading about your trip and your pictures are great. I'm looking forward to hearing about your Explorer excursion since we're doing that one too in July.

[ChaylaT]

I am not even going to Alaska anytime soon but reading your review is awesome! The pictures are fantastic! Cannot wait ti hear more!! Thank you!

[junebug8]

Loving this review!

 

You guys cleaned up nice.:D

 

One more ?....what type of camera are you using? Your pics are great!

[BRCruiser08]

I am really enjoying your review. We board next Tuesday and CAN'T WAIT!!! We have signed up for the Tracy Arms Excursion. I can't wait to read your review of it.

[tiggerman101]

Loving this review!

 

You guys cleaned up nice.:D

 

One more ?....what type of camera are you using? Your pics are great!

 

Almost all of my pics come from my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5. A few of my Endicott Arm pics were taken with my Canon Powershot SX10IS. I love the Canon as it is a super zoom camera with 20X Optical Zoom which is amazing. I used it on my Oasis cruise and my Freedom cruise and have been very happy with it. The downside to it has been that it has no widescreen mode. The other (major) factor is the size. It is pretty big and bulky. It is not a "pocket" camera. Therefore it can be a bear to use in situations where you need a quick Point and Shoot. The zoom is amazing on it though.

 

About a week before the cruise I broke down and bought the Panasonic. I have always read great things about the Lumix series. After a little research I realized it packed a hefty 12X Optical zoom and also has a very nice widescreen option. The widescreen works great for scenery and I think you will notice that I used it a TON on this trip. When I saw the size I knew I had to have it. It also has a lens cover that is automatic so no need to worry about a cap. The thing just slides in my front pocket with ease. I literally carried it in my pocket the entire trip. I never left my cabin without it. I also have to say that I never noticed it was in my front pocket. The thing is awesome. My only regret is that I didn't study the modes enough before I went on the trip. This is why a lot of shots I took when it was overcast tend to bleed a bit with the sky. You can see this soon with my Endicott Arm pictures. Still, I HIGHLY recommend this line of camera if you want a pocket sized Point and Shoot camera with some heft to it.

[tiggerman101]

Alright, here we go. I am warning you, the next three days were incredible and I took many, many pictures as well as did as much as we could. These posts might be quite long as we packed a lot into our days.

 

So yea, we are about to head out on the Explorer excursion. i need to backtrack a bit. Sorry.

 

Before we left on this cruise I began to realize that there was a distinct possibility that we would not make it down Tracy Arm Fjord. I knew if that was the case then we would be diverted to Endicott Arm. I was pretty bummed out about this because I have heard that Tracy Arm is absolutely stunning. I thought maybe we have a chance to get down there, but I knew I wouldn't know for certain until the day arrived.

 

See Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm are in the same area. They are both glacier carved fjords. Tracy Arm has the two Sawyer Glaciers at the end and Endicott Arm has Dawes Glacier at the end of it. Both give off tremendous ice packs that move down away from the glaciers. The problem with Tracy Arm is that it is very narrow and very curvy. If the ice pack is bad and bunched up a ship (especially a big cruise chip) cannot go far down. Endicott is pretty much straight forward and it is much wider and narrows at the end. Therefore, it is much easier to sail down and avoid massive chunks of ice.

 

being early in the season I knew the likelihood of Tracy Arm being clogged with ice was pretty high. On the upside, even if we went down Tracy, it would be nearly impossible to get more then halfway due to the ice. Therefore, there is virtually no chance of glacier viewing. With Endicott Arm the ship can get near the end so everyone can see the glacier.

 

So when I found out for sure we would be going down Endicott Arm i just took it in stride. I had still heard many great things about it and knew that it would still impress. Boy did it.

[ibm_db2]

What a great review, wow! Thanks,

[tiggerman101]

Right before the trip I found out that Carnival actually offered an excursion during its Tracy Arm day. This was a chance to get into a small boat that pulls up along side of the ship before it enters the fjord. This small ship is able to maneuver close to the shore, down narrow inlets, and get much, much closer to the glacier. I had no idea this existed since it did not appear under the "Excursions" section in your booking. It actually only appears if you go to "Alaska Excursions" under the carnival website itself. Even then you can't just sign up for it like normal. You have to send them an email requesting passes as there are only 125 (I think that is the amount) of people allowed on the boat. Oh yea, the link doesn't work that they give you so you basically have to copy and paste the email addy yourself and hope they get it. I almost gave up on it, but I am very glad I didn't.

 

It cost $149 per person and it does what it advertises. For 3 hours you get all up in that fjord. It was incredible and I highly, highly recommend this. So anyway, we had to meet in the Versailles Lounge at 10:15 or so. I signed my parents up as well and dragged them along with us. They had no real idea what it was, but I was sure they would like it. They loved it too.

 

In the lounge we all waited for a bit of a long time. The captain had to find a good spot in the tide to stop the ship so the Explorer boat could get next to us. Stu the CD talked to us and was really pumped up for it as it was only the second time they had done this. He said the week before was an overwhelming success. So finally, the ship was stopped and we all headed down to the bottom of the ship, past the crew dining hall and out of the door and onto the boat.

 

the boat itself is two levels. The bottom is inside with tables and large windows. They also have a stand with free coffee and hot chocolate. They will also sell you snacks and candy bars. Along all the seats are pairs of binoculars that anyone can use. There were a bunch of them so they were available whenever you need them. They also had a good amount of staff on board. They would just walk around and were pretty much at your disposal. They answered any questions, pointed out things and would gladly take a picture of you if you asked. They were extremely personable, helpful and knowledgeable.

 

Alright, enough of this crap, you guys want pictures......

[tiggerman101]

Heading onto the boat:

 

 

Sailing away from the Spirit:

 

 

Leaving the poor girl in the dust:

 

 

Going down the Arm:

 

 

Now, Endicott Arm starts off wide and the sides are more "hilly" like. As you move farther down it begins to narrow and the sides become massive granite cliffs. So the beginning is beautiful, but a bit of a tease.

 

We also began to see small ice bergs which caused a lot of excitement. They soon became bigger and bigger. This was one of the first of a decent size:

 

[tiggerman101]

A bit of a ways down we turned into an inlet which is actually named Ford's Terror. This area is pretty unique. It is a bit long to explain, but I will say if you are interested then it is worth it to look up (Google is a great friend of mine). Basically, the inlet has some pretty dramatic tides. When they rise they create some high class rapids that are very strong. The area itself is stunning with massive cliffs and waterfalls cascading down. Really, it is other worldly:

 

 

Now, one thing I can say about being anywhere in the arm is that you lose track of all sense of scale. Things seemed much smaller to me until I had a reference point letting me see just how big it really was. This was the case all alonge the trip. I would see these beautiful sites, but my mind didn't quite grasp the scale of what I was viewing. Suddenly, I would notice something (Like a tree at the very bottom of a cliff) and it would all come into perspective. Let me tell you, when this happened it was like a "Oh wow!!!" moment. I have a good example when I get to the glacier.

 

This here is a huge waterfall that was back in the inlet:

 

 

The boat was manuvered almost all the way under it so we could all take pictures. I really tried to get under the thing looking all the way up:

 

 

 

After awhile we started to head back. We saw that a bald eagle was up in a tree watching us. Before I could get a great shot he flew off. It is amazing to see these incredible creatures in flight off in the wild. Here is a shot I pulled off before he got out of there:

 

 

Coming out we kept passing waterfalls. They were everywhere and some were quite beautiful:

 

 

Pulling back into the main part of Endicott I spied the Spirit making it's way up:

 

[tiggerman101]

Another truly cool thing that was going on was the abundance of seals. It is a certain seal that lives and breeds on the ice bergs that come off the glacier. As we got closer we saw more and more with sometimes up to five on one berg. They were cute and there were also many pups. I got a good shot of this little guy:

 

 

Pretty soon Dawes Glacier came into view. It looked so pretty sitting in the distance. It looked big, but not huge like I thought it would be:

 

 

That was when the announcer informed us we were 4 miles away from it! Yea, my sense of scale was messed up. As we kept on the ice became constant. It was like moving through a giant slushie:

 

 

Twords the end of the arm there is an awesome valley off to the side that was carved by a glacier. You can tell when a valley is made from a glacier retreating when it makes this "U" shape. This is a classic example. I will also say this is one of my favorite pictures from this trip because it shows the raw power of nature. It is also my computer backdrop for the moment:

 

 

Now we were a lot closer to the glacier. Want to see what I mean by getting a reference point to understand the true size of this beast? Check out the raft of people near the base on the right side . They were still over half a mile away from the face:

 

 

We stayed here for a good amount of time. I am not sure who those people in the raft were, but they also paddled around in kayaks. Crazy. We did get to see the glacier calve (huge chunk of ice fall off the face) a few times. It is pretty cool to see. Unfortunately, I never had my camera ready at the exact moment. When it does calve it will amaze you. The ice trembles, then falls straight down into the water. This causes a massive splash. After a couple seconds the sound hits you and it is like a rifle going off in the canyon. Really neat.

 

The feeling of being in this place is beyond description. There is no way a photo can capture the raw beauty. If you are going, I really haven't spoiled anything. There is no way I can replicate the experience of being there in that moment. Enjoy as it was a moving experience.

 

So we headed back to the ship. The ship was stopped quite a bit back, but still in full view of the glacier. We had to wait a bit because the Spirit captain was slowly rotating the whole ship like a top. That way people on all sides could see. I also snapped what is easily my favorite picture of the Spirit at this time:

 

 

So we went up to the side again, tied up to the ship and all got out. The ship was till in front of the glacier when we got up to the Lido deck.

 

Alright, it is really late and I need to get some sleep. I will do some more in the morning. Thanks for reading and, as always, let me know if you have any questions.

[aljo66]

Wow - amazing pictures and a fantastically detailed review - thank you.

 

For the formal nights I noticed you in a suit. Were the majority of people dressed up for this?

 

I do enjoy dressing up for dinner but from other posts got the impression not many people did this anymore.

 

Were any people in a tuxedo? - as we are travelling from Europe I was wondering about hiring a suit on board to save on the extra luggage weight.

 

Thanks

 

Alun.

[Tiffany1203]

I love your review! Your pictures are beautiful!

[papanh]

Great pictures, some of the best I have seen of an Alaskan cruise

Papanh

[emeraldlover1]

OMG. I am leaving on this trip on the 8th of June and now I am more excited than ever. Thanks so much. Can't wait to read more.:)

[NeedATan]

I am loving your review. Your pictures are incredible!

[tiggerman101]

Wow - amazing pictures and a fantastically detailed review - thank you.

 

For the formal nights I noticed you in a suit. Were the majority of people dressed up for this?

 

I do enjoy dressing up for dinner but from other posts got the impression not many people did this anymore.

 

Were any people in a tuxedo? - as we are travelling from Europe I was wondering about hiring a suit on board to save on the extra luggage weight.

 

Thanks

 

Alun.

 

Thanks for asking this because I realized I forgot to address this. People on this cruise dressed more casual then any other cruise I have been on. I am not sure I even saw a Tux on formal night, but I am guessing there were a few around. Honestly, the MDR was just about "Anything Goes". Like it or not, jeans were the norm on this cruise. It was definitely a paired down experience.

 

 

Thanks everyone else for your comments. I enjoy doing this so I can have a kind of journal to look back upon.

[tiggerman101]

Alright, so after we got back on the ship we went up to the Lido to grab some food. Then it was back down to our cabin to sit on the balcony and watch us sail back out of Endicott Arm. The ship itself was back in the fjord from around 11-5 or so. We got to spend a good deal of time cruising around.

 

One thing that is good about Anytime Dining is you can go to dinner with other people if you want. A group of us off the Roll Call decided to meet for dinner that night. We all met early because we needed a big table. They were very accommodating, we had an excellent waitress (she showed some personality which was rare on this cruise) and we had a great time.

 

I knew the next three days would be early so we headed back to the cabin after dinner. It was getting stormy outside and the wind was pretty fierce. I was a bit worried about our day in Skagway with the weather being kind of bleak outside. Of course, this didn't stop us from sitting on the balcony a bit. Sometime in the evening we passed a HAL ship:

 

 

As the night fell the storm let up a bit, but it was still kind of dramatic outside. I actually thought it looked pretty cool:

 

 

So after that we just went to bed. One good thing is that I went to sleep around midnight every night (yea, yea, I know, but these were some early ports). I was still tired some in the ports, but not near as bad as it could have been.

[Girlfiend]

Great pictures and review! We were on this cruise, too--it was such a wonderful experience.

[tiggerman101]

Well, we knew Skagway was going to be a long day so we got up early and grabbed some breakfast. Originally, I wanted to do a tour of the Yukon and Emerald Lake with Dyea Dave. Once I realized my parents would be coming I figured this would be too long of a day for them. I figured they would love the train. We could do that in the morning and then go our own ways the rest of the day. I had looked at Skagway for a long time and realized this would be a cool place for Wade and I to do some hiking, etc as we love that. I downloaded some trail information and printed it out prior to us leaving. I was set for the day.

 

Pulling into Skagway it was still overcast, but not bad weather. This would be another day of being cloudy in the morning/early afternoon and then clearing up later on. Docking in Skagway:

 

 

We watched a few other ships pull in. There were four ships that day, but the others were pretty small. We had a Princess ship, a Silver Seas, and a smaller HAL ship. They all pulled in soon after we did. You are not going to see the huge ships up in Alaska (from what I saw):

 

 

Getting to the train was easy enough. We met in the theatre and left promptly on time. The train itself is right at the dock across from the ship. It really couldn't be easier:

 

 

Now people will tell you that if you are doing the train one way then the best sides to sit on are the Left for going up and the Right for coming down. We were doing the train ride that goes up and immediately back down. It really doesn't matter which side you sit on. When you get to the top you all switch sides anyway.

 

We get on the train and the seats are kind of small. They are supposed to sit two people in each, but larger people might have a problem with this. Wade and I were fine, but others struggled. I suggest going to one of the first couple train cars. They are much less crowded and you have a great chance of getting your own bench. They have a conductor that walks through and an announcer over the intercom that will highlight details as you make your way up and back. The train starts off slow and runs along the Skagway river:

 

 

Now you can sit in the seats or you can make your way out to the small platform in between the cars. If you are a picture whore like me then I suggest you take some from the outside. The glass in the car can cause some reflections and really dull your shots. They ask that you just be fair and let others get their chance as well. I was lucky because my car only had one other person that wanted to go out there.

 

 

As you keep going up there are some noticeable differences. We started to see snow on the ground and it became much colder. The ride really is fantastic. The views are amazing and you go through a couple tunnels, over bridges and quite a few narrow passages. The ongoing narrative was interesting as well. We learned a lot about the Gold Rush and how the train was built. This isa very popular excursion for good reason. My parents absolutely loved it. As we climbed the views became a bit better. I hate that it was overcast because it dulls my shots a bit. This is another case where pictures cannot do the scenery justice:

 

[Dulahey]

Thanks for asking this because I realized I forgot to address this. People on this cruise dressed more casual then any other cruise I have been on. I am not sure I even saw a Tux on formal night, but I am guessing there were a few around. Honestly, the MDR was just about "Anything Goes". Like it or not, jeans were the norm on this cruise. It was definitely a paired down experience.

 

 

Thanks everyone else for your comments. I enjoy doing this so I can have a kind of journal to look back upon.

 

Ouch, well I'll be boarding this Tuesday and I will be wearing a black suit on both formal evenings. But on non-formal nights it'll be jeans.

[tiggerman101]

Great pictures and review! We were on this cruise, too--it was such a wonderful experience.

 

I remember you. I ran into one of you a few times and you always had a smile. Thank you!

[tiggerman101]

Ouch, well I'll be boarding this Tuesday and I will be wearing a black suit on both formal evenings. But on non-formal nights it'll be jeans.

 

You will be more then fine. Have a great time.

[tiggerman101]

As I was saying the farther we climbed the more we saw snow:

 

 

We were also getting closer to the cloud line and it was very thick:

 

 

By the time we reached the top we were fully in the clouds. It was actually pretty cool. The snow was very deep (I am from Atlanta so this was a lot for me. If we get an inch of snow there are near riots for bread and milk. Seriously.) They warn you not to touch the snow while the train is going by because it is now hardened ice and like glass. Ouch.

 

 

So once we stop at the top, the engine goes off and up to the front, the backs of the seats flip over so the benches are now facing the other way and everyone switches sides. We stayed up there for a few minutes and that was a cool experience. It was so quiet and still and the snow was beautiful. Soon enough we started back down. I am not sure why this guy was standing out here, but he seemed alright with it:

 

 

As I said, there are a lot of things to see and learn about on this trip. This is an old train bridge near the top that they no longer use:

 

 

As we went down it seemed to be clearing up a bit more. I only went outside a few more times. I wanted to sit and enjoy the experience. I did take a few more shots:

 

 

At the end the train stops in town and you can get off there if you want. Otherwise you can wait and it will go back to the ship. It isn't terrible far to the ship, but it was a nice consideration. My parents got off in town, but Wade and I stayed on. We wanted to grab some lunch and change clothes before heading back out.

[tiggerman101]

After a quick lunch and a change of clothe (layer, layer, layer) we headed out. On the way I had to pose for a photo op:

 

 

I had grabbed my trail guide and decided we would hit the Dewey Lake trail. This is a system of trails that starts off to the right of town (if you are facing the town from the docks). It is easy to find as there are a few signs pointing the way as you walk into town. Basically, you can hike to Lower Dewey Lake and from there continue on to Upper Dewey Lake, Devil's Punch Bowl, etc. We crossed the rail tracks and saw the sign and trail:

 

 

the trail starts off by going under some pipes. There is a town reservoir right up from here:

 

 

There is also a neat little bridge:

 

 

Right on up the trail there is a bit of a lookout:

 

 

From here the trail starts to get pretty steep. There are a few switchbacks and it can be a bit narrow. We had to really watch our footing because the ground is covered in pine needles which made it possible to slip. It was a nice hike, but again it showed us we were not in our best shape: