Alaska Carnival Spirit

[MyImagination]

Great Info! Im waiting on pricing for Sept 06 Glacier Bay

[phabric]

We will be on the Spirit Sept 7/05, first time with Carnival. We will be in Juneau 2pm-11pm and Ketchiken 11am-7pm. We have first seating in the dining room. Do most people go back to the ship for dinner or do you go to the Liddo deck for food.

[csteck]

Alaska Airlines is having a sale on Air fare to Anchorage. We booked our from San Francisco to Anchorage for under $ 750.00 for both of us. This included the return trip from Seattle. Check it out if interested. Carla

[glrounds]

I have a special question for those that fly to Vancouver, take the cruise, and then fly home from Seward (or vice versa).

 

Do you, in effect, have to purchase 2 one-way flights this way, or is there a special way to book this cheaper than paying, One way to Vancouver, One way home from Seward ? :confused:

 

This probably seems incredibly stupid of me, but this problem keeps me from considering, at the current time, an Alaskan cruise. One way tickets to Vancouver and from Seward are more expensive than the cruise itself almost. :(

 

Thanks for your help. :)

[WhansaMi]

My husband, children (then 13 and 14) and I went on the Spirit to Alaska last July. It was *spectacular*! You will have a great time. I loved the sea days, and just sitting on our balcony watching the land go by. You'll not be disappointed you got a balcony room.

 

In Ketchican we weren't sure what we wanted to do, so we walked around town a bit and then got on an old-fashioned trolley bus for a tour. The driver, Woody, was a local (had lived there for 20 year, having come initially to be a fisherman) so he was able to give us a lot of information about the town that non-locals wouldn't have had. The most special part came when we were at the Totem poles. Woody had done a favor for an elder of the Tlingit tribe earlier in the week (had given him a ride into town). At the time, the elder had said that he owed Woody a debt; the Tlinglits are very big on repaying debts. So, when he saw Woody with a group of tourists (us!) he came over and told us an old Tlingit tale and sang us a song in his native language. It was quite a treat!

 

In Skagway we took the White Pass Railway and Gold Rush Village tour. It was a good way to see the interior of the state. The Gold Rush Village was a bit hokey, but the kids enjoyed it.

 

Juneau was the *best*. In the morning we went whale watching with Captain Larry. My daughter was so inspired, she decided she wanted to be a marine biologist! Then in the afternoon, the Orca bus dropped us off at the airport and we took a helicopter up to the glacier, to a dog camp. The early morning flights had been cancelled because of weather, so ours was the first tour of the day for the pilot, so he was feeling a bit frisky. We started to land at the dog camp, and then he decided to take a little detour -- all of the people on the ground are pointing and shaking their heads like, "Where are they going??" He took us further up the glacier and then dropped down into one of the large crevasses. It was amazing. We came back to the dog sled camp, and rode (me) or drove (husband and each kid) around on the glaciers for about 35 to 40 minutes. We even saw a small avalanche. Yes, this excursion was a bit pricey, but it was worth every single penny.

 

I loved the ship. I was a bit concerned about being on a ship at all -- I'm a bit claustophobic -- but I never felt cramped. I, personally, thought the interior was lovely.

 

Go, enjoy, and have a GREAT time!

 

Sheila

[ukcruisefan]

Agree with much of what has already been said about the Spirit...we had a fantastic time.

 

Don't miss:

 

Juneau- Captain Larry and the whales. We had an awesome day and will never forget watching them bubble feed.

 

Ketchikan- Michelle and Island Wings. DH's favorite part of the trip was the ride over Misty Fijord.

 

Skagway- The White Pass Railroad is great fun and the scenery is spectacular.

 

As for the ship, don't skip the balcony. It was so worth the extra to enjoy College Fijord in my bathrobe.

 

Have a great time.

[csteck]

I think the air arrangements depend on where you live. I live in Northern California. It was cheapest for me to book round trip air from SFO to Seattle.

They run specials with airfare around $100.00 rt pp. Then I booked one way air fare to Anchorage from Seattle. Almost all flights from SFO to Anchorage stop in Wash or Utah. It's a short drive from Van Couver to Seattle. Check it out and good luck. Carla

[AlaskaOrBust]

glrounds, try checking "multi-city option" instead of two one-way tickets. We were able to get much better pricing by selecting that option (we'll be flying from Minneapolis to Vancouver and Anchorage to Minneapolis).

[DaytonCruiser]

Great info. I saw someone on the Alaskan port of call board was sending people Spirit capers from the Northbound Alaskan route

[JesterPlaying]

This is WhansaMi's DH. Originally we weren't able to book a helicopter tour out of Juneau early. However, when we booked with Orca Enterprises (Captain Larry) they also booked our Dogsled Glacier tour at the same time. The price was the same as we found online and they included running us from the boat to the Airport at no additional cost. All arrangements were made for us and the day was fantastic.