Legend-ary Alaska Planning and Trip Report

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

Next post coming soon...

Edited May 25, 2019 by Mediterranean_Honeymooner

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

April 30 - First Day at Sea

 

After a good night’s sleep, we woke up ready for the day and eager for our first full day on the Carnival Legend.  We started with breakfast at the buffet.  It was okay.  The bacon was delicious, but the rest wasn’t much to write home about.  But it got the job done.  So next we went on our way exploring the ship.  

 

 

This first picture was actually taken the day before, but it fits well here so...,

 

 

 

After looking around for a while, it was time for our first scheduled activity - our Cruise Critic meet and mingle.  We were a little early, so we grabbed some seats and took a few photos.  

 

 

 

 

Promptly at 10 we were let into the Piano Bar.  We had some brief speeches by the captain and cruise director and then it was on to the mingling.  Carnival provided some refreshments - juices and pastries. They were good, but mostly we just enjoyed meeting other cruisers.

 

 

 

 

After the meet meet and mingle, we had a few minutes before our next scheduled activity, so we hung out in this area for a few minutes.

 

 

 

Then we grabbed a quick drink.  I think this is the pomegranate martini.  It was delicious and strong!

 

 

 

Then it was time for our slot pull.  I had never participated in one, but I had heard they were lots of fun, so I was actually the one who suggested this.  Fortunately, Justin has hosted several and agreed to host this one for our group. We had about 20 participants.  Here is a (very poor) photo of our host...

 

 

 

 

And his dog Sarge 🐕❤️

 

 

 

Here’s James on one of his turns...

 

 

 

And he was actually the “big winner” of the group, getting $242 on one spin!

 

 

 

Sadly, we never made it above our starting amount, and wound up playing it down to zero. 😔. That being said,  I actually had a lot of fun.  It was really neat working as a group and cheering each other on.  I would definitely participate again.  I am not a huge gambler though, so this is actually the only time I visited the casino on this cruise.

 

We did a little more ship touring after the slot pull.  And had a combination of Guy’s Burgers and the buffet for lunch.  (No photos, sorry.) 

 

After lunch we took it easy and relaxed on our balcony.  I also believe we delivered some of our postcards.  The postcard exchange was another fun first for us.  I believe this group also had about 20 participants.  We had fun exploring the ship while we were delivering them, and we had even more fun coming back to our room to new postcards!  

 

Here are some of the many urns we saw while delivering postcards.  I had previously read that the Carnival Legend is the “ship of a thousand urns” or something like that.  And they aren’t wrong.  😂 These definitely feature heavily in the decor.  But overall, I thought the ship was really lovely.

 

 

 

Here are the fun times for this day...

 

 

 

 

We knew we wanted to check out Motor City, but before that we had a date.  It was our first formal night.  I made James get dressed up and take several photos with me.  Here are the cell phone pictures of the two we bought.

 

 

 

 

Here is the menu for our first formal night...

 

 

 

And here are the choices for non-premium wines for the Cruise the Vineyard package.  I was happy to discover that you could get the 3 bottle package as I read some reports that you could only purchase the 5 bottle package on long cruises.  Since we brought 2 bottles on and didn’t eat in the dining room one night, 5 bottles (the package 3 plus our 2) was the perfect amount.

 

 

 

My hubby. 😍. He sure cleans up nice. 

 

 

And me.  

 

 

 

 

I ordered the mushroom bisque for my appetizer.  James had the meatball soup and we shared the fried oysters.  They were all excellent, but the bisque was my favorite.

 

 

 

 

And then the good stuff - it’s lobster night!!!! 🦞 

 

Here is James’.  He ate his shrimp and broccoli before I could snag a picture. 😂

 

 

 

Here’s a picture of mine with all the components.  Not ashamed to say we each had two of these! 

 

 

 

I forgot to get a photo of the dessert menu, so I grabbed a screenshot from the app.

 

 

 

We both had the hazelnut cake.  The sauce was much thinner than anticipated, but this was oh so delicious!

 

 

Dinner finished, we walked around the ship as we made our way towards the theater.

 

 

A very beautiful theater!

 

 

 

As we were waiting, this “usher” hopped over the seat and snuck in beside James.  He turned out to be one of the actors in the show.

 

 

 

The “usher” encouraged James to participate in the show.  Being the good sport he is, he obliged and wound up joining The Supremes. 🤣🤣🤣

 

 

 

 

There will be a video video at the end (if it actually loads). The rest of the show was excellent as well.  The actors and actresses are very talented.

 

 

 

 

After the show, we were just in time to catch some comedy.  Tonight was Kenny Miller.  We really loved this and after this show we made it a point to catch as much comedy as possible. 

 

 

 

Look at that dashing couple in their evening best! 😍

 

 

Beautiful light fixture in the Firebird Lounge.

 

 

 

There was some kind of drink special for the night.  Ocean water or something?  It was delicious, but not super strong.  It was the same price to buy a pitcher as it was to buy 2 individual drinks, so that was an easy choice! 🍹👍

 

 

And we will end this post with a picture of our towel friend for the day!

 

 

Edited May 25, 2019 by Mediterranean_Honeymooner

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

Edited May 25, 2019 by Mediterranean_Honeymooner

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

I guess it works better to post videos separately.  If you can actually see them, the first two videos are of the show in the dining room for formal night and the last one is of James when he joined The Supremes.

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

Thanks for joining in! More coming soon!

Edited June 7, 2019 by Mediterranean_Honeymooner

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

Sorry, post being stubborn 

Edited June 7, 2019 by Mediterranean_Honeymooner

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

 

May 1st - Juneau

 

Today was our first Alaskan Port - Juneau!  We weren’t arriving until about 1, so we took our time getting up and getting ready.  We sat out on our balcony and were rewarded with some stunning views of Alaska.

 

We delivered some more of our postcards and then headed to the dining room for breakfast. Overall, this was a disappointing visit to the dining room.  They were running super slow this morning.  We were never able to get refills on our drinks, we waited about an hour for our food, and when the food arrived it was cold. 😢. They were probably just understaffed as we had great service and food for dinner, but this was the last time we went outside of dinner. 

 

 

 

 

On the positive side, breakfast was not a complete waste of time.  We were surprised with some views of whales playing and tail slapping behind the boat!

 

 

 

It got us super excited for our whale watching tour for the afternoon.  We were hoping that we would be treated to even more whales later that day.  (Spoiler alert: we were!)

 

After breakfast, we headed back to the room to get ready for our excursion and spend some more time on the balcony. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then an unexpected surprise...more whales!  We heard an announcement and were able to run catch a pod of orcas swimming by the opposite side of the ship!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before long we were pulling in to port.  We got a little delayed which made me antsy since we were using a private excursion that was supposed to start very close to our arrival time.  We almost always book our own excursions rather than going through the ship as we find we get better prices and smaller tours. And fortunately, we were the only ship in port that day, so it’s not like we were going to miss the tour - everyone on our tour was in the same boat (literally!).

 

A glimpse of the atrium/lobby area and one more surprise whale! 😂 🐳 

 

 

 

 

We finally got off the boat about 15-20 minutes later than planned and headed to our meeting place which was at the base of the Mt. Roberts Tramway.  We were doing a tour with Juneau Whale Watch which included a whale watch, Mendenhall Glacier, and dinner at Tracy’s Crab Shack.

 

Looking back at our boat as we walked into town

 

 

Our dinner location for later and a view of Juneau and the famous Red Dog Saloon

 

 

 

 

The bus picked us up and we drove about 20-30 minutes to the dock.  We got to see some very pretty scenery along the way and even got our first glimpses of Mendenhall. 

 

(Side note:  several of the whale watching tours that I looked at included “seeing Mendenhall Glacier”, but upon further investigation the view was very similar to this.  And I don’t really consider that “seeing Mendenhall”.  I wanted a more up close view.  And while I know I could have booked transportation to the glacier separately, I wanted a tour that included everything all together for convenience.)

 

 

 

 

 

We got to the dock and were split into 2 groups/boats. On board ours we had Lance, Kevin, Christi, and Charlie.  They were great!  First we took a little boat ride out to the area where whales are usually spotted.  It took about 20 minutes to get to the area and along the way we got to see some really beautiful Alaskan views.

 

 

 

 

 

When we got to the first viewing area, we spotted a whale very quickly.  Christi, the naturalist, quickly identified this whale as Barnacles.  The whales are identified by their tails, which are unique.  We got to see several glimpses of Barnacles over the next 15 minutes or so before our captain decided to try another location. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Unfortunately, the second location was a total bust.  We waited a while, but saw nothing.  We wound up turning around and heading back the way we came.

 

 

 

I won’t lie, I was a little disappointed at this point.  I had really tried to temper my expectations. Seeing whales was my number one Alaska bucket list item.  And I had read lots of whale watching reviews.  I knew that most trips only see humpbacks and that due to the water temps, humpbacks conserve energy by not doing much.  So a few glimpses of “backs and tails” is about all you can expect.  But still....I was a little disappointed.  I was hoping to see more than one whale and for longer than 15 minutes.  But I was trying to be happy with what I had seen.  And then....things got really exciting, really fast.  We came upon a pod of humpbacks.  There were a few and Christi identified Sasha and Flame for sure. 

 

 

 

 

But wait!  Flame had a newborn calf with her!!!!   Everyone on our boat was stunned, even the captains and naturalists!  Since we were the first Juneau Whale Watch trip of the season, we were the first people to ever lay eyes on this baby.  No one else had seen it.  Christi said they weren’t even sure that Flame was expecting. ❤️. The baby (not caring about energy conservation), thrilled us all by showing off and breaching multiple times near our boat. 

 

 

 

 Flame was even acting very playful and swam right up next to the boat! (And was about as long as the boat! 😱)

 

 

 

Mother and baby together

 

 

 

 

We spent quite a while watching this pod before we had to start heading back.  I was on a total whale high at this point!  I was so excited and my expectations had been so far surpassed!!!  But we weren’t done just yet!!!  On the way back, our captain got word about a pod of orcas that had been spotted.  Even though our tour time was pretty much over, he zipped over there and we were over the moon to be able to catch the pod of orcas.  Unlike humpbacks, orcas are much more playful and these were jumping and splashing like crazy for us! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We couldn’t stay too long as we were already over our time, but we were all just on cloud nine at this point.  Christi said that we had hit the “whale lottery” and that her whole season was made on that first trip! She only sees orcas on a couple of her trips each summer (humpbacks are much more common in the area) and to be combined with seeing a newborn humpback (and breaching, no less!).  Wow. Just wow. ❤️❤️❤️

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by Mediterranean_Honeymooner

[azdmelani]

Love reading your trip report!  We also went a few weeks ago and booked a tour through Alaska Shore Tours that allowed time at Mendenhall (with a walk to a waterfall) and a Whale Watch (we saw a whale feeding on the shore and a different mama and baby).  There are still ways to do both- though your whale watch was spectacular!

[kimberlydrzymala]

I LOVE your photos. Thanks so much for sharing. I hope we get to see some whales when we are there in August. 

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

2 minutes ago, azdmelani said:

Love reading your trip report!  We also went a few weeks ago and booked a tour through Alaska Shore Tours that allowed time at Mendenhall (with a walk to a waterfall) and a Whale Watch (we saw a whale feeding on the shore and a different mama and baby).  There are still ways to do both- though your whale watch was spectacular!

 

That sounds a lot like our tour! (I’ll get to the glacier part in the next post.) I just meant some of the other companies (I know Harv and Marv and a couple others I looked at) say they include Mendenhall Glacier viewing, but it’s really just a quick look from a distance (like you see in the picture).  We also did the waterfall trail!

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

4 minutes ago, kimberlydrzymala said:

I LOVE your photos. Thanks so much for sharing. I hope we get to see some whales when we are there in August. 

 

Thank you!  I know it is definitely “luck of the draw”, but I hope you see lots of whales.

[azdmelani]

5 minutes ago, Mediterranean_Honeymooner said:

 

That sounds a lot like our tour! (I’ll get to the glacier part in the next post.) I just meant some of the other companies (I know Harv and Marv and a couple others I looked at) say they include Mendenhall Glacier viewing, but it’s really just a quick look from a distance (like you see in the picture).  We also did the waterfall trail!

Ahhh, I see!  Last time I was in Juneau i used Harv and Marv and I was disappointed that we didnt spend time at the Glaicer, but absolutely recommended.  Cant wait to see your pics.

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

Thank you for all those following along!  Next update shortly!

Edited June 9, 2019 by Mediterranean_Honeymooner

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

May 1st - Juneau (continued)

 

After getting off our whale watching boat, our bus was waiting to take us to Mendenhall Glacier.  They dropped us off at the visitors’ center and we were given a schedule for return shuttles.  

 

We knew we wanted to hike the Nugget Falls trail, so we headed that way.  We had beautiful weather this day!  62 and sunny.  It was an easy hike and soon we were being graced with these beautiful views!

 

 

 

 

 

 

But not as breathtaking as this this view a little to the left....

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked around a little bit, stuck our hands in the water, and marveled at the beauty of Nugget Falls and the Mendenhall Glacier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we started to make our way back to the visitors’ center. The views of Mendenhall are different, but equally stunning as you get further away. Further away you can really get a perspective of how far back the glacier goes. 

 

 

 

 

We got back to the visitors’ center just in time for the 6 pm shuttle. One thing I thought was odd was that even with the ship in port until 9 or 10 that night (and we were the only ship in port), the last shuttle of the day was at 6:30.  It worked out fine for us, since we were getting hungry and were done with our hiking, but it seems like they could run them a little later. 🤷‍♀️

 

We hopped on the shuttle and were dropped off downtown.  We walked over to our dinner spot for the night - Tracy’s Crab Shack! 

 

 

 

This wound up working out well as we had already been planning on having dinner here.  The sampler that was included with our package was $40 per person but the cost to add it to our tour was only $20 extra per person!

 

There was no wait when we arrived, so we got seated and enjoyed our sampler.  

 

 

 

 

Sooooo delicious!  Stuffed and happy, we headed out.  (And the line was getting long when we left, so we came at a good time!)

 

We shopped for a little bit before heading back to the ship. 

 

 

 

We have a dachshund at home, so we can’t help but stop to visit with dachshunds we see while traveling!

 

 

 

 

After our shopping and wiener dog cuddling we finally headed back to the ship. Here are a couple photos of our ship with the beautiful mountains in the background.

 

 

 

 

After getting back on board, we got cleaned up and rested for a little bit.  Because dinner was included with our tour, this was the only night we didn’t eat in the dining room, but I did take screenshots of the menu for the purpose of this trip report.  I’ve also included the Fun Times for the day and a picture of our towel animal of the day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a gorgeous view from our balcony while docked in Juneau....

 

 

 

We did head back out to see another comedy show.  This time the comedian was Stanley Ullman.  Another great comedy show - Stanley was very funny.  After his show, he and Kenny Miller got off the ship and two new comedians would be getting on in Skagway!  After the show, we called it an early night.  We had a full day with an early wake up call planned for tomorrow! (But there’s always time for a few pictures of a Juneau sunset from our balcony!)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2019 by Mediterranean_Honeymooner

[puppymama1]

Thanks for all this info... I am planning our June 2020 trip and all your pictures and very detailed descriptions are really helping me!

[masterdrago]

I'm sure glad that DW did not know about Tracy's Crab Shack or we may have missed our ship. That looks so good. Still following and so enjoying your report.

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

New post coming soon!

Edited July 27, 2019 by Mediterranean_Honeymooner

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

May 2nd - Skagway

 

No rest for the weary.  We had a full day planned and we were arriving in port at 7 a.m.  Here are the Fun Times for today.

 

 

 

There wasn’t enough time to get room service so we headed down to grab something quick from the buffet.  It wasn’t particularly exciting, but it filled us up for the big day ahead.  We docked a few minutes late and headed off the ship.  There was some confusion as our ship couldn’t dock where they intended to (something about the tides not allowing to gangway to sit flush?), so there was confusion with Dyea Dave picking us up.  But a quick phone call and they were there in 2 minutes.  

 

 

We had Rose and Cathy as tour guides and they picked up at the dock and drove us to where we met the White Pass Yukon Railway.  We took the one way service up to Fraser. Because it was early in the season, there was only one choice for time.  I have read that later in the day is a better time to take the train because of low clouds, but the early time was the only choice.  The train was highly recommended here on the boards and we were so glad we did it. The views from the train were spectacular!!! The pictures truly do not do it justice, but I’ll share some any way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can glimpse our ship between the mountains. 

 

 

Going into a tunnel

 

 

Being so early in the year, it was quite cold.  You can how much snow there still was.  But the cold couldn’t keep me away from those beautiful views and I spent most of my time out on the platforms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we arrived in Fraser, Rose and Cathy with Dyea Dave Tours were there to meet us.  We hopped in the van and we were on our way.  Our first stop was when we spotted some mountain goats and Dall sheep high in the mountains.

 

 

Then we stopped at a picturesque overlook.  

 

 

 

 

Some beautiful views from the bus.

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop was at the Yukon sign.

 

 

Our next stop was at the World’s smallest desert - Carcross Desert!  So strange to have this little desert in between all the snow covered mountains.

 

 

 

 

The next stop was the one I was most looking forward to - Emerald Lake.  I was worried that since we were going so early, the lake would still be frozen over.  As you can see, it was.  But fortunately, it was just a thin layer of ice and it didn’t keep us from experiencing the beautiful colors the lake is famous for! 

 

 

 

 

 

After all that sightseeing, we were all hungry.  Rose and Cathy brought us to this lovely restaurant....

 

 

 

....where DH and I shared two delicious entrees - a bison burger and fish and chips. They were both delicious!  The staff here was great - very sweet.  They also had ice cream, so we grabbed some cones on the way out.  I had maple.  When in Canada, right?!?

 

 

Bellies full, we headed out to our next stop - shopping in Carcross.  Such a charming little town with great handmade crafts. Our favorite was an alcoholic maple syrup (whiskey or bourbon?).  So delicious.   I should have bought some, but I had some sticker shock so I passed. Next time.

 

 

 

 

Next stop was at the Alaska welcome sign.

 

 

 

 

 

Then at a beautiful lake with some ice crystals around the shoreline.

 

 

 

 

We made one more stop to drink from a glacier fed waterfall.  The glacial water was amazing!

 

 

 

Our final stop at an overlook to take photos of our boat. And a group shot. 

 

 

 

We had a choice between being dropped off at the boat or in the town.  We chose to go with downtown.  As we were getting off, we ran into the man himself - Dyea Dave!

 

 

 

We were very pleased with Dyea Dave Tours and would definitely use them again.  They were very friendly and knowledgeable. 

 

We did some shopping and had a couple drinks and then headed back to the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We cleaned up and checked out our towel animals...

 

 

....and then headed to dinner.  Here are the dinner menus to peruse.  We got the plaice and the linguini for dinner.  And I believe that that’s the cannelloni appetizer that James has in one photo.  We ordered a couple more drinks with dinner, including “The Cruiser” mentioned on the menu.  It was delicious.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had the Bitter and Blanc for dessert and it was wonderful.  James has the chocolate melting cake which was great, as always.  

 

 

 

We had some time before the shows started, so we went down to the Alchemy Bar for a couple more drinks.  I had the Pain Relief.  Not sure what James had. 

 

 

 

 

After this round of drinks, we headed down to watch the Battle of the Sexes show.  It was okay.  But then it was time for the Love and Marriage Show.  For those who are unfamiliar, this is like the Newlywed Game.  So they chose the most recently married couple (4 days), the longest married couple (64 years), and a middle couple.  Since lots of couples fell into that “middle category”, they had us all do a kiss off for the audience.  And we won!

 

During the show they asked a series of personal and embarrassing questions to see how well we know each other.

 

And in the end, we got the most right!!! ❤️. This was super fun and a great experience on our 10th anniversary trip.  We got a fabulous “ship on a stick” and a bottle of champagne as prizes.

 

 

We were pretty exhausted after this and I had another early morning planned for us, so we went straight to bed after the show.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2019 by Mediterranean_Honeymooner

[masterdrago]

Thanks for sharing the pix. I especially like the pix of the old trestle bridge in the fog. You got there at just the right time. timing and lighting can make or break a pix. Really nice & very cool :+]  Next time we do Alaska, will most likely be a late August/ early September tour so snow will all be gone. When we were in Skagway/Yukon Memorial Day there were a lot of Winter remnants still remaining.

 

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

1 hour ago, masterdrago said:

Thanks for sharing the pix. I especially like the pix of the old trestle bridge in the fog. You got there at just the right time. timing and lighting can make or break a pix. Really nice & very cool :+]  Next time we do Alaska, will most likely be a late August/ early September tour so snow will all be gone. When we were in Skagway/Yukon Memorial Day there were a lot of Winter remnants still remaining.

 

 

 

That’s what we are thinking too.  We would love to go back to Alaska in a few years with our kids.  We are thinking it may be good to go late in the season next time. 

 

There are certainly pros and cons to each.  The biggest pros for early in the season were that the price was low and we were the only ship in every port we went to (this was so nice!).  And I loved seeing all the snow.  But I would love to get the opposite experience and see it without snow. And get to see more bears (we only saw one) and some salmon.

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

Sorry everyone....I don’t know why there are those duplicate photos at the bottom of the post and it is too late to edit.

[grammymarcia]

On ‎3‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 10:14 PM, Mediterranean_Honeymooner said:

Hello!   I LOVE reading cruise trip reports.  I have been reading every one I can get my hands on since we booked our Alaskan Cruise. I recently had the pleasure of coming across one by Anita Latte.  In addition to reporting on her trip, Mrs. Latte also chronicled her planning/thought process.  It was fantastic.  And so I thought...”I should do that!”   It may not be great journalism or perfect photography, but I may just be able to put out something that will be interesting or helpful to others planning Alaskan cruises. My plan is to discuss some of my planning and then transition into a trip report when we return. So here goes nothing....

Love your report. We ae leaving on the Legend this Tuesday. I was wondering if the Port Valet service in Seattle was available on your cruise, and did you use it. Thanks

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

1 hour ago, grammymarcia said:

Love your report. We ae leaving on the Legend this Tuesday. I was wondering if the Port Valet service in Seattle was available on your cruise, and did you use it. Thanks

 

It was definitely available.  We received the flier in our mailbox around the second day of our trip and it needed to be filled out within 2 days I believe. We did not use it because we wanted to see about the possibility of changing our return flight, so we figured it would be better to have our luggage with us.  But it seemed very straightforward and the people that did use it seemed very happy with it.

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

1 hour ago, grammymarcia said:

Love your report. We ae leaving on the Legend this Tuesday. I was wondering if the Port Valet service in Seattle was available on your cruise, and did you use it. Thanks

 

 

And have a great trip!  We loved the Legend and Alaska!

[GaHawkeye]

On 7/28/2019 at 9:33 AM, grammymarcia said:

Love your report. We ae leaving on the Legend this Tuesday. I was wondering if the Port Valet service in Seattle was available on your cruise, and did you use it. Thanks

We used the Port Valet when we debarked on 6/11 from the Legend. It worked very smoothly. After turning in the form to guest services, we received our luggage tags and boarding passes on Monday morning. Any luggage fees you may have are deducted from your sail and sign account. Be sure to leave enough in there to account for the fee. We don’t fly much, so we were nervous about all of it. We were very happy with the result. Luggage was in Atlanta when we landed. 

Hank