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Alaska Review on the Carnival Spirit

laniriveira

By laniriveira,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Poorplaya

Poorplaya

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I am so glad i came back to see these pictures, amazing, thank you so much, you have an adorable family and I cannot wait until i get to take an Alaskan cruise, it looked like you guys had an amazing time.

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laniriveira

laniriveira

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Glacier Bay continued...

 

After what feeled like taking a zillion pictures of the glaciers we rested a bit then went to dinner in the MDR. Didn’t take any pictures of what we ate (sorry foodies) then headed to Pharoahs Palace for the $800 jackpot bingo.

 

Bingo is always $20 for a card which is actually one paper that has 3 cards on it. They say it gives you 3 chances to win. I play bingo here in SoCal quite often with my DH, Mom, Grandma and Aunties and where I go it is $1 a sheet which has 4 bingo cards on 1 sheet and the payout is $500!! So the bingo on the ship is waaay different than what I’m used to but its does keep one busy for 20 minutes or so.

 

Well this $800 jackpot bingo had 7 games that payed $100 and the 8th game paid $250. I had horrible cards and got down to 2 numbers on one game other than that I sat there and watched as all the people started to stand around me (which meant they were down to 1 number).

 

 

Day 6 - Ketchikan

 

As we sailed away from Glacier Bay and toward Ketchikan the night before the seas were a little rougher than the days before. We docked in Ketchikan a little late and by the time we got off it was 8:30 a.m.

 

Dad really wanted to go Salmon fishing and I found a wonderful price for 4 people on a 4 hour fishing trip, whole boat to ourselves for $140 a person plus $20 for king salmon stamp and $10 for fishing license. As we got off the boat Josh from Salty Sea Charters was waiting for us right outside the ship. He told us the awful news, that our excursion along with a lot of others were being cancelled due to the weather. The float planes, fishing trips and most every other water excursion was cancelled!! We were all sad as we were really looking forward to eating Salmon for months.

 

I was refunded and the money was back in my account 2 days later. Next time I go to Alaska I will def book with Salty Sea Charters!!

 

So, off we went to do some shopping. When we first boarded the ship on Tuesday in Vancouver we received these booklets with all sorts of info, advertising and coupons. Well we never used any in the other ports but def used them in Ketchikan.

 

I went to the Tongass Trading Co and used a handful of coupons. Bought a nice hooded Alaska sweatshirt for $14.99, DH bought an Alaska jacket for $14.99, socks, stuffed animal for DD and DS, and much more.

 

Also walked inside the Outlet Store which has almost the same things being sold as Tongass plus other things also. This is where the candy store is. Went up stairs to use the restroom and there was other stores.

 

 

We walked all along the board walk area. They had a ton of jewelry stores!!!!

 

Candy store, Christmas in Alaska store and kettle korn was being sold in a little tent.

 

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laniriveira

laniriveira

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We were out about a good 2 hours but the wind and rain was horrible. Once back on the ship we went back to the room. I caught a couple of pictures of the Alleutian Ballad. They have the Bering Sea Crab Fishermans Tour.

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Also here is a couple of the houses that were right in front of our balcony.

 

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laniriveira

laniriveira

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That night was the last of the formal nights. We all went to the mdr for dinner and went to the Comedy Show. Pretty funny ...

 

That night was the worst of the whole cruise. The water was rough and a lot of people were getting sick. They had taped barf bags at all the elevators. Kids and I called it an early night as DD got sick at dinner.

 

Day 6 - Last Sea Day

 

The whole day was spent relaxing and packing to get off the ship the next day. Kids went to Camp for a while and I walked around the ship taking last minute pictures. I did run into the Cruise Director Stu in the elevator. He introduced himself and I said, “Oh! I read a lot of good things about you on cruise critic”. He asked me why and I told him little things like your very funny, accomidating and just all around a nice down to earth guy. He made like I wonder why they would say such nice things about me and I said may be it was the dimples. He laughed and said they call me DIMPLES!

 

He was very sweet!!

 

 

 

Overall my whole family had a wonderful time cruising on the Carnival Spirit. The layout was a little hard to get used to as we have only cruise on Fantasy class ships. We picked it up around day 3. The staff in all departments that I encountered were pleasantly helpful and very sweet. Our waitstaff was excellent and our room steward was amazing! We had a memorable time onboard and wish everyone who has an upcoming spirit cruise the best of time!!!!

 

I’ll leave you with some pictures I didn’t know where to put on my review.

 

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coastalkate

coastalkate

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Wow! What a great review - thanks for sharing your insights and photos with us!!! I sail on June 19th out of Seattle (so a slightly different itinerary) but I'm SO excited I don't know how I'll manage the next 38 days...

 

Now...I'm off to the store for some Bonine. :p

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stiej

stiej

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you dont have to fly! you can always take the train. We are actually taking Amtrak as a kind of "side vacation" with a cross country train trip. We are excited about seeing parts of the country we have never been to on the train!

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libtrek

libtrek

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we did this cruise 2 years ago in June. We did the "cruise within a cruise" at the Glaciers. It was pricey but absolutely awesome. Up close to the glaciers, saw calving. Lots of wildlife. Can't say enough.\

Libtrek

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Vmalcolm

Vmalcolm

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Just wanted to ditto your comments on the Quick Coach shuttle. We were on the cruise with you but we took the shuttle on Saturday afternoon. Over a six hour drive up! We've rented a car twice in the past and I think the longest it took to drive from airport to hotel was 3 1/2 hours! We must have had the same bus because we were seated toward the middle/back and it really stunk! I did not even think of using it.

 

It was a great cruise!

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Kissyfur19

Kissyfur19

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Dad really wanted to go Salmon fishing and I found a wonderful price for 4 people on a 4 hour fishing trip, whole boat to ourselves for $140 a person plus $20 for king salmon stamp and $10 for fishing license. As we got off the boat Josh from Salty Sea Charters was waiting for us right outside the ship. He told us the awful news, that our excursion along with a lot of others were being cancelled due to the weather. The float planes, fishing trips and most every other water excursion was cancelled!! We were all sad as we were really looking forward to eating Salmon for months.

 

I was refunded and the money was back in my account 2 days later. Next time I go to Alaska I will def book with Salty Sea Charters!!

 

What a bummer!! We fished with Josh during our Alaska cruise and it was fantastic!! I'm so sorry you missed out on this.

 

I am loving your review btw....it makes me miss our Alaska trip. We did the exact itinerary, but the last of the season in 09. Glacier Bay is magnificent and we loved every port. Glad you & your family had a good time!

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JaniceB

JaniceB

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Great review. I was on the cruise with you. I remember seeing your son with his Capt. hat. You kids are very cute.

 

I didn't know what to expect in Glacier Bay either. I went to the park website and there is a video that explains what will happen and what you will see. We also got a different map in our stateroom. I went up to the lido and got a current map. The ranger said because the Spirit only goes there twice a year we had an outdated map.

 

Did you wait in line long in Vancouver? We got in line around the same time you did. I thought the wait was long but because we had VIP boarding we didn't wait once we were past customs.

 

I wanted to do the B2B too and found out on cruise critic that it was a violation of the Jones Act. Sounds like it was a good thing since the ship went through some very rough seas.

 

We also enjoyed the train ride. I am glad we waited until the afternoon.

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pcrum

pcrum

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Loved your review and the photos. It brought back many happy memories of our NCL cruise to Alaska. The scenery is so stunning in Alaska that I'd never do that itinerary without a balcony! Although we prefer Carnival to NCL, one thing that was nice about NCL was the coffee maker in the room to make hot drinks to enjoy on our balcony as we sailed by the glaciers! We went in July and the only time we really felt the cold was as we sailed by the glaciers!!

 

P.S. Your kids are so cute!!

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