SPIRIT to ALASKA May 8 - 15 Review ... LOVED IT!!!

[jakeHOU97]

Amazing photos!

[LambKnuckles]

 



 

 

 

 







 

 



 





 

 

 

This is Sawyer Island... There's an Eagle nest here, but I don't get shots of it, until we're on the way out...

 

[LambKnuckles]

 

More later... I'm on the way out the door... we haven't yet reached the glacier...

 

[BenjiRodney]

Loving the review, we are doing Rhapsody of The Seas in June.

[PathfinderEss]

Great review and love the pictures.

[ladysplenda]

Can't wait for more.

[pbmsmile]

I did it for my 59th... and LOVED it!!! If he has a great camera, he'll love taking photos. if he doesn't, have the rest of the family pitch in and get him a great camera for his birthday and give him the trip and they can give him the camera to use!!! Also, binoculars are helpful and wonderful to have!!! So, if he has the camera, binocs are a nice accompanying gift... or Long jongs, or a hat with ear covers...

 

My plan is to take him out to eat and already have our luggage packed and in our son-in-laws trunk then after dinner...they will take us to the airport and SUPRISE!! I figure if i already have his boss not schedule him and have it all planned it will be sooo much fun to just wisk him away!! Wish someone would do that for me someday! ;)

[MilliesMom]

Can not wait for Tracy Arms photos!! I keep trying to decide if THIS is the trip to surprise my husband with for his 50th July 17th, 2013.....:)

 

My plan is to take him out to eat and already have our luggage packed and in our son-in-laws trunk then after dinner...they will take us to the airport and SUPRISE!! I figure if i already have his boss not schedule him and have it all planned it will be sooo much fun to just wisk him away!! Wish someone would do that for me someday! ;)

 

Your hubby and my hubby share the same birthday. Altho my hubby is just a bit older.

 

I think any cruise to Alaska is a trip of a lifetime. We have cruised on the Spirit a few times (love it) and have cruised Tracy Arm (love it too) with Princess. Next year May 2013 we are going on the Westerdam round trip out of Seattle as it includes Glacier Bay and Sitka which we have not been to before.

 

Have fun planning. The photos and the review are adding to everyone's excitement of Alaska.

[TheCalicoCat]

Thanks for the review, I can only hope that we have a similar experience on our AK cruise in 2 weeks.

[silvercrikhix]

Wow, Lambknuckles!

Your photos are making my stomach do flip flops in anticipation of our cruise on the Spirit in 1 month and 2 days! :p

It is hard to believe the raw beauty of nature in Alaska is real and we will be seeing it soon!

Soooo excited! Thanks for reving us up! :D

[Level six]

Nice! Thanks for the post!:) Keep it coming......

[Celandine]

absolutely LOVING your review and all of your pictures!!!

 

Alaska is due to be crossed off my bucket list (if all things go as planned) Summer 2014....

 

You also seem like such a fun person to cruise with!!

[2-laner]

absolutely LOVING your review and all of your pictures!!!

 

Alaska is due to be crossed off my bucket list (if all things go as planned) Summer 2014....

 

You also seem like such a fun person to cruise with!!

 

 

Me too!! I sure hope the Spirit will still be available. After looking at all these photos, I find myself really liking the decor.

[ohiogymrat]

Me too!! I sure hope the Spirit will still be available. After looking at all these photos, I find myself really liking the decor.

 

Spirit is going to Australia for year round cruises in October of this year. Miracle will be doing Alaskan cruise starting next year.

[MilliesMom]

Spirit is going to Australia for year round cruises in October of this year. Miracle will be doing Alaskan cruise starting next year.

 

As an added note ... the Miracle is the sister ship to the Spirit so is laid out the same just different decor.

[JaniceB]

Love the pictures! Different from what we saw on the Spirit from Vancouver. I may have to book another cruise to Alaska!

 

Keep it coming!

[billsrobb]

I finally got to read and see your review with pictures.

Loved it thought it was magnificent as you are

Looking forward to reading more.

[LambKnuckles]

Not knowing what to expect... I left my balcony and went to the Serenity Deck, so I could have an aft view and both port and starboard accessibility...

 

So my first view of the glacier was through the window... WOW!!! I know this photo doesn't do it justice... but there it is, faintly, in the "valley."

 

Now I know that the ship will do a 360, a full spin so both sides and forward and aft will see the glacier!

 





And it's a nice slow turnabout!!! ...so everyone has time to see the glacier, take photos, stand in the foreground and take a photo...

 

 

 

 

 

...and just enjoy and see it's blue -- this blue is because in the glacier, that ice is so compressed it absorbs all the colors in the prism, but blue and that is the color it reflects back to our eyes...

 

 

[mumofsons]

wow!

[LambKnuckles]

The fractured ice you see is floating on the surface. Our turn breaks some of it into smaller pieces, but closer to the glacier, that's where it has not been mapped yet this season, to know where it is safe to take the ship...

 

 



 



 

 

 

I am so amazed and in awe of this glacier and the whole ride up to it!!

 

On the way back out... back down on our balcony... I'm seeing the other side, now!!!

The rain has started a bit heavier -- but it's been raining or drizzling pretty much of the day...

 

 



 

 

Just more sights...

 

[LambKnuckles]

 

 

 

 

 

[LambKnuckles]

 

And... is it just me, or do you see a HAPPY FACE???

 

 

 

I don't know why... but I want to call this: Manny, Moe, and Jack...

 

...and I love this LONE TREE... high up on the edge...

 

 

 



 

[LambKnuckles]

 

 

 

 

 

Coming back to Sawyer Island... See the eagle??? Look for the white head... a BALD EAGLE in her nest!!

 

 



 



 

[jetsfan]

The beauty in this world leaves me in awe! Thank you again.

[LambKnuckles]

WOW!!! That was a full day... the ride up and back takes about 4 and a half hours. It's too amazing to describe, so I hope you don't mind that I didn't write a lot. The photos don't so the size and magnitude justice at all!

 

Standing on the ship and looking straight up the cliffs... Seeing the side of the fjord so close to the ship... seeing the little and bigger ice bergs floating...

 

I can't describe it at all! I was just speechless and in awe!!! I'm a woman of faith, and these sights, and sun rises and sun sets are always proof to me of a creator. I'm sorry... I should preach, and I respect EVERYONE's views and thoughts -- but these are my words and I was speechless as I watched it go by...

 

I was in Alaska... I was there to see a glacier... and there is so much more!!!

 

Hearing from folks who went on the Glacier Excursion, they mentioned how close they got to the wildlife and that they were able to capture photos of mountain goats on the sides of the cliffs, and the bald eagle on Sawyer Island... But, I think I experience it all too!!!

 

They also said how they turned to see the SPIRIT and how small she looked in perspective to the fjord and cliffs and glacier... and that perspective I didn't get. That excursion is $169, and I'm sure worth it... but my budget only allowed one expensive excursion... and I can't wait to tell you about the train trip!!! (That's almost here.)

 

So... we exit Tracy Arm and head to Skagway... Off into the rain, the evening and me, I'm off to dinner...

 

 



 



 

Yes... the waiters still dance and entertain... and invite the guests to join them!!!

 

Tonight the show in the Pharoah's Palace was GREAT!!! The Hillarious Comedy and Juggling of Tyler Linkin. And he was!!! His upside down juggling is WONDERFUL and SILLY!!!

 

If I had posted this map and looked at it carefully, it would have helped me remeber that the medical emergency was on the even of Tracy Arm. You can see the path we went on and that turn... and how we went up and back in Tracy Arm...

 

...and my nightie night Rueben, too!!!