I'm back!!

[EdukatedRedHed]

We returned from our trip to Alaska and Canada late Friday evening. We had a great time for the most part. I'll be posting a detailed review later today or tomorrow. But for now here are some highlights that I'd like to share with the Alaska board only. :D

 

 

First of all, if you think you are even remotely getting sick before you leave ... GO TO THE DOCTOR AND GET AN ANTIBIOTIC!!! The Monday before we left I could "feel" something coming on, but I dismissed it as anxiety about the trip. :o By Thursday, the day after boarding Carnival Spirit, I had a sore throat and by Friday my voice was GONE. I ended up having to cancel our Zip-line excursion in Juneau. And to add insult to injury, our tablemates got the idea to go from us and came to dinner that evening with glowing reviews of it! At least someone enjoyed it! ;) A week and a half later I still sound like a phone-sex operator with my raspy voice and I'm getting by with OTC drugs until I can visit my doctor on Monday!

 

 

Still, I didn't let being sick ruin my vacation. I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent in Skagway (not long enough!), the White-Pass train ride, our float plane trip in Ketchikan with Island Wings (Michelle is wonderful!) and the wonderful food. Not to mention the awesome day spent in Victoria after the cruise ended in Vancouver!!

 

 

That being said, I do have some complaints. I found the general level of service to be lower than the Caribbean cruises I've taken. I also felt that the passengers aboard the ship were a lot ruder than on previous experiences. I can "explain" both, but still, I shouldn't have to.

 

 

I feel like the service level was lower, in general, due to lower levels of staff. Our cabin steward and wait staff were terrific!!! The Lido deck is where I saw the lower service. Typically there are more crew members flittering about on the Lido deck than you can stand! However since the Alaskan cruise isn't one for a lot of pool use, I think they must have lowered the number of employees they assigned to this deck, thus lowering the service. But this is only my observation / opinion.

 

 

As for the other passengers ... WOW! Rude Rude Rude!! Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the elderly. I respect my elders, but respect goes both ways!! I don't know how many times I had to jump out of the way of an older person, even when I was walking to the right and in single file with my husband! Or how many times an older person cut in front of me in line because they just wanted "this one thing."

 

 

Then there was the cultural differences. I've been around other cultures plenty, with little to no problems. This time was totally different. I won't name names, but there was one culture in particular that seemed to go around in "swarms" and when they were headed your way, there was surely disaster to follow! Whether you were excitedly nudged to the side so that they could get a picture, or hit in the head with their camera bags because they were leaning over you to get a picture, or taking chairs from your table without asking or saying "excuse me" !!!! And if you were walking down a hallway or on a sidewalk when they coming towards you, you might as well plaster yourself to the wall beside you because they would run you over! It sounds almost humorous now, but at the time it was so dang annoying! On our train ride other passengers were commenting on it, so I know it wasn't just me. If one of the "swarm" went out on the platform to get a picture, the entire swarm followed. Of course they didn't all fit out there, so they'd stand in the middle of the doorway, letting the freezing cold air into the train car. Then when they were done, they left the door open!!! I was sitting up front, and I know I personally closed the door behind them at least five times!!

 

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to go off on that tangent, but I was appalled by the rudeness of fellow passengers. And I won't even go into the jeans and SWEATPANTS I saw in the dining room every night!!! :eek:

 

 

So for the most part, a great vacation! In spite of the rudeness and lack of Lido service! I do wish we could have spent more time in Skagway! It's a beautiful, quaint little town with a real "historic" feel to it. Unlike Juneau, which felt like "Gatlinburg by the sea." Ketchikan had that quaint feel to it as well, however there were four ships in port that day and you couldn't stir the people with a stick at the streets next to the port!! But when we headed back to Creek Street, the crowds drastically thinned out and we did some serious shopping!!

 

 

I'll see about editing this post later with a link to my "official" review. But for now, any and all questions are welcomed! Remember, these are MY opinions! ;)

[EdukatedRedHed]

I wanted to add a couple of things that are always asked! :D

 

I was on the Spirit Southbound. I would highly suggest the Northbound route over Southbound. It was hard to get adjusted to the time change and we totally missed College Fjords because we didn't wake up until 10 am our first day at sea!!! :eek:

 

 

The formal nights for the Southbound cruise were Thursday, your first day at sea, and Sunday after leaving Skagway.

 

 

The naturalist, Michelle, was great! My DH kept making fun of the "white dots" and "black dots" on the shore line, but it was nice of her to still point those out! Even if he couldn't really see the goats and bears! ;) We couldn't hear her while on our balcony, but we propped the door open and tuned to channel 14 (or whichever channel that shows the view from the bridge) and could hear her fine! However, the camera is messed up on the bridge view, so you can't clearly see what's ahead of the ship!

 

 

We ate in the dining room most nights. We ate in the supper club one night and I don't think I'll be doing that again. While the steaks we had were glorious (you could cut them with a spoon!) the rest of the food was just "so-so." They were more concerned with presentation than quality or quantity. And the service wasn't great. We had much better service from our wait-staff, Raymond and Alixander. My water glass stayed empty much of the time in the supper club, and was never below 1/4 in the main dining room!!

 

 

I found the temperature of the ship to be fine, if not a little on the warm side. We were probably the only cabin to have our A/C on the entire trip! And I wore sun dresses to dinner a couple of nights and never got cold.

 

 

I'm trying to remember any of the other questions that are generally asked. The ship itself was very clean, the cabin was great and our stewardess, Yani, always addressed us by name. (It might have helped that we tipped her $60 in addition to the sail-and-sign tip. ;) ) There was a chocolate buffet on the last day at sea, but it wasn't as expansive as I've seen on Caribbean cruises. Bartenders were very attentive, and said hello when we ran into them in port. Not that we drank a lot ... we bought $60 of bar credits (12 coupons) before we left and came home with one credit in our wallet!

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Thanks for your preliminary thoughts! Can't wait for your full review. Great that you had a wonderful cruise in spite of a few bumps in the road. :) So sorry you got sick and missed your ziplining excursion!

 

Where was you cabin located? We're mid-ship, port side, and plan use our balcony a lot. We were mid-ship, starboard side last time and we could hear Michelle very clearly on our balcony, so I'm wondering if you were in a different location? If we can't hear her, we'll prop open the door and turn on the TV, so no big deal.

 

We're also sailing southbound--too bad you missed College Fjord! I don't think that'll be an issue for us since we're from the left coast already so the time difference in only one hour for us. It was a much bigger time change for you!

 

Looking forward to your review!

 

Thanks,

Jayne

[Ghia]

Thanks for the review. I head to Alaska in 4 weeks I can't wait. The only excursion I really want to do is the train ride in Skagway. I'm still looking at the others, but nothing really draws me.

I would like to say that you make a very broad generalization when you say that you had a "certain culture" act poorly on the cruise. I assure you that you did not deal with the entire culture. You dealt with a group of poorly mannered people who happend to be of a certain culture. Broad generalizations lead to assumptions and then interactions based on poorly founded assumptions. This is prejudice. It is human nature to make observations. It is what we do with these observations that set the intelligent from the ignorant.

 

Once again, thanks for the review.:)

[EdukatedRedHed]

Thanks for the review. I head to Alaska in 4 weeks I can't wait. The only excursion I really want to do is the train ride in Skagway. I'm still looking at the others, but nothing really draws me.

 

The White Pass train was well worth the money! We took the steam engine ride. The sites are magnificent! :D

 

 

I would like to say that you make a very broad generalization when you say that you had a "certain culture" act poorly on the cruise. I assure you that you did not deal with the entire culture. You dealt with a group of poorly mannered people who happend to be of a certain culture. Broad generalizations lead to assumptions and then interactions based on poorly founded assumptions. This is prejudice. It is human nature to make observations. It is what we do with these observations that set the intelligent from the ignorant.

 

I am going to make an assumption here and assume you just said I was prejudice, which is far from the truth. Believe me when I say I am not making a broad generalization. I have dealt with this particular culture many many times, and each and every time it is the same. I have even lived in a different part of the world where I encountered this particular culture daily. I do not easily make assumptions nor do I consider myself ignorant. I am a very educated individual and have found my observations of this culture to be shared among many. Like I said, other passengers on the train were also upset with the behavior encountered. However I do not speak for them when I stated my opinions of the behaviors encountered.

[EdukatedRedHed]

Where was you cabin located? We're mid-ship, port side, and plan use our balcony a lot. We were mid-ship, starboard side last time and we could hear Michelle very clearly on our balcony, so I'm wondering if you were in a different location? If we can't hear her, we'll prop open the door and turn on the TV, so no big deal.

 

 

I do believe it was the location that was the issue with sound. We had an aft balcony, and it was rather hard to hear above the sound of the motor and/or propulsion. Even with our balcony door open we had to stand just inside the door to hear the TV. I would think that a side balcony would be able to hear the announcements from the Lido deck much clearer!! :D

[Frequent Floater]

Thank you so much for your comments. I for one appreciate each and every one of them.

You mentioned having an aft balcony deck 4 which is what I have for our upcoming sailing Aug.1. so assume the noise will be same for us as you experienced trying to listen to Michelle. I love that location on the ship so will just have to deal with not hearing as well. Did you tend to spend more viewing time on it or the public decks?

I will also be one of those with the AC on in my cabin as I love the cool air. Did you ever prop the door open at night or was that just too cool?

Did you attend the past guest reception, if so when was it?

I'm sure I will have other questions and appreciate your williness to answer..

[David6028]

wow, she wrote at least 15 paragraphs, and SAYS she had a nice time, but just about all she does is complain....and ..I am 55 so I guess I am one of thos OLD people you are griping about... well, I will tell you this..I am going to Alaska in 10 days on the Spirit and rest assured I will read no more of your posts. Shame you spent so much money to come away unhappy and feel you have to put everything down about the trip....maybe they are right when they say wisdom comes with age....

[KnoxvilleSam]

 

I am a very educated individual and have found my observations of this culture to be shared among many. Like I said, other passengers on the train were also upset with the behavior encountered. However I do not speak for them when I stated my opinions of the behaviors encountered.

 

I'm not sure what criteria you are using to define "educated." Since I have lots of degrees, have lived abroad, have traveled abroad, am pretty old :D (and therefore wise ;) ), etc., can I say that I'm "educated?" Perhaps unless you are a member of a culture, you really can't understand a culture? Sure people can get on your nerves and irritate you - sometimes it is the really educated and cultured people who irritate me the most. Maybe a true sign of education and wisdom is a sense of tolerance for other people and other cultures?

 

JMO,

 

Sam

[Izzy'smom]

I do believe it was the location that was the issue with sound. We had an aft balcony, and it was rather hard to hear above the sound of the motor and/or propulsion. Even with our balcony door open we had to stand just inside the door to hear the TV. I would think that a side balcony would be able to hear the announcements from the Lido deck much clearer!! :D

 

:eek: EEK! I have an aft cabin on the Empress deck on our August trip. Was the sound bothersome 24/7 or only when you were trying to hear the announcements and the Naturalist on TV? It wasn't enough to interrupt sleep was it? I've been looking forward to our 1st aft cabin. Was the wind much calmer back there?

 

Thanks for the review!

[Frequent Floater]

Some of us appreciate what she has to say good , bad or ugly. You don't have to read it if it bothers you. I for one, read the good, bad and ugly, took from it what I needed or cared to know. Who cares about the rest, it is her opinion or assumption only.

Don't shy away Red or if you prefer you can email me so we can exchange info. and not bother the rest of them. AGAIN THANKS for taking time to share your opinions, good or bad for those that appreciate them.

[sea_u_onboard]

..... I head to Alaska in 4 weeks I can't wait.

Spirit? Which sailing?

[Frequent Floater]

We had an aft on the Liberty and loved that location. Hardly any wind like the side balconies. I believe the noise may be slighty more with the wake. Entering and leaving the ports will also have more vibration from the thrusters. It only bothered me early in the morning when I first heard them. Good wake up as it was a new day to start anyway. You will love it

[halbfl2]

EdukatedRedHed--Yes, I know exactly what you mean about the two groups of people that are RUDE! We experienced the same thing on a cruise through the Panama Canal last spring and many times on vacations that weren't on cruise ships. As to the mature traveler, that observation is frequently true, also, and you don't have to travel to observe it. :rolleyes:

[Izzy'smom]

We had an aft on the Liberty and loved that location. Hardly any wind like the side balconies. I believe the noise may be slighty more with the wake. Entering and leaving the ports will also have more vibration from the thrusters. It only bothered me early in the morning when I first heard them. Good wake up as it was a new day to start anyway. You will love it

 

Thanks a bunch! I'm glad I changed to the aft!:)

[Great Sky Girl]

I know who you are speaking of, and just having returned from our first cruise ever, we encountered the same behavior. However, I think we must see things from others viewpoint. Usually there were groups of them and there was a tremendous language barrior, so they would set their sites on one particular thing and just go - interacting with only themselves. I liken them to a group of teenagers out to have fun. They are short sighted and see things only from their perspective. We must be tolerant of others. Even though it was somewhat annoying, their behavior really didn't get in our way or keep us from doing what we wanted. It was just difficult getting a table in the buffet or being able to keep our place in line at various events. I think the shear numbers of this culture was what was bothersome.

 

But the comment on the older generation got on my nerve! I am 64, don't look it, have lots of energy and like to laugh a lot. I think I have very good manners (as most of my generation and my geographical location. We are laid back here in the south!) and resent being lumped in with others who don't.

 

We had a great time in Alaska.

[mbmadeline]

You say the "white pass train was well worth the money" but there seem to be many excursions of the white pass train ...through Royal Caribbean and privately... could you make a suggestion as to which excursion you took or which you would prefer... thank you!

[vtwolf]

I also just returned fron the Spirit SB and had a great time.

I can definitely know what you mean by a certain culture on ship.

I tried to ignore them but sometimes very hard to do, especially if they come and stand right in front of you when your seated trying to watch something on the Lido stage. But It was a great time. I also had an aft cabin and found it to be very comfortable, not much noise. And yes Yani was very pleasant.

[Frequent Floater]

Can you tell me if Raymond was from Jamacia?? We had a Raymond on our Glory cruise that was fantastic!!!

[Frequent Floater]

Thanks Red I appreciate it.

[EdukatedRedHed]

You say the "white pass train was well worth the money" but there seem to be many excursions of the white pass train ...through Royal Caribbean and privately... could you make a suggestion as to which excursion you took or which you would prefer... thank you!

 

Sorry! I thought I had included your question in the multi-quote above. :o We took the White Pass Steam Train adventure through Carnival, but it was apparently available to all since there were 3-4 cars dedicated to Carnival and 3-4 cars dedicated to the Regent ship also in port.

 

I believe you can book the very same trip through the White Pass railroad itself, but I don't know the cost. We didn't book privately because we were afraid of missing the boat. However, now that I've gone on the trip, the next time I would look at the booking times through the cruise ship, then book those same times privately. You might save some money and you're on the same train as the cruise ship passengers, meaning the ship would wait. Our train was late coming back. DH and myself were among the last six people to board before setting sail!!

 

Hope that helps answer your question!

[Frequent Floater]

mbmadeline you can book the train trip online or at the train depot when you port, at the same cost as the CCL tour. Only difference is the cruise pax that book tours thru the ship board the train right there at the pier. Others I heard have to board at the depot downtown so an additonal cost to get there and back. Everyone is on the same train so I say go for the way that suits you. Of course this is not first hand info, just what I learned from my research and others help.

 

For those that just sailed, did you see many men in tuxes on formal night or more suit/sport coats? Thanks

[bralli]

 

I was on the Spirit Southbound. I would highly suggest the Northbound route over Southbound. It was hard to get adjusted to the time change and we totally missed College Fjords because we didn't wake up until 10 am our first day at sea!!! :eek:

 

Are you coming from Asia? If you are from the states, the time difference should be favoring you gettting out of bed very early in the morning with Alaska being 3-6 hours BEHIND the rest of the United States.

 

 

Also, regarding your comment about antibiotics, most "getting sick" is caused by viruses which can't be treated with antibiotics. If I were going on a cruise, the last thing I'd want to do is take antibiotics which tend to really screw up your intestinal tract which tends to have to work overtime on vacation... ;)

[Frequent Floater]

Well done Cheryl.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome home -- good reading.