The Best Cruise Ever! Glacier Bay Alaska, 5/6/09, Pictorial Review.

[DarthGrady]

The camera would seem to be a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28

 

Correct, for those that were asking, it is indeed a Lumix DMC-FZ28.

 

Its been a great camera so far, not too complicated but with enough features and settings to make it fun. I believe these types of cameras are called "bridge cameras" or "mini-SLRs". Still a point-and-shoot, but they have many of the SLR functions and long zooms, although lacking the interchangeable lenses and bigger sensors.

[RVman]

I also would like to know when is the best time to cruise to Alaska. I will definitely be booking a balcony cabin. I have always had inside or outside, but never balcony. I am planning to book one for 20l0.

 

Pat

 

Me too, it looks as tho you can get some better deals if you wait until the next year to book tho

[DarthGrady]

Wow I had forgot how much I liked the Spirit. Counting the days. Is the sports bar also the cigar bar now?

 

There were cigars for sale in there, and I saw several folks enjoying one.

[RVman]

I can’t wait to read and see the rest. Great review

[DarthGrady]

Day 1: Vancouver

 

Most of the first day has been covered above. After finally getting aboard, and exploring the ship we unpacked and relaxed for a while. The crew did a great job delivering the luggage. We had ours in only a couple of hours after arriving. We intended to go to the Supper Club the first night, but we were informed that it was closed due to lack of reservations. I went up on deck and watched the ship sail under a large bridge outside of Vancouver. Not quite as impressive as cruising under the Sunshine Skyway in Tampa, but still pretty neat to see. Our wait staff at dinner was very good, as was our bar server.

 

Leaving Vancouver

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

Mountains and our first sunset

 

 

 

I usually dont photo the food, but this was new to me. Its a carmel apple tarte, it looked alot nicer than it tasted

[DarthGrady]

Day 2: At Sea

The second day was spent at sea, cruising quickly along the coast of British Columbia towards Juneau. We had an excellent breakfast in the main dining room, their Eggs Benedict was some of the best I have had. We saw several humpback whales swimming off the port side of the ship several times throughout the day. The ships naturalist Dirk kept us updated on whale sightings several times during the day.

Our Cruise Critic Roll Call group all met up at 1:00 pm, we had many show up and it was nice to finally meet everyone that I had been talking to for so long. Around the same time, the weather was really clearing up. The sun came out and it became a really nice day. Folks were out on deck in loungers and the temperature was in the low 60s all day. It if weren’t for the snow capped mountains in the distance, I would have thought I was on a Caribbean cruise!

In the afternoon I got around to visiting the ship’s spa. I was really impressed with the facilities. The steam and sauna rooms were working perfectly, and the gym has a nice stepped design that allows more people to see out onto the water. This ship’s spa still had it’s hot tub in place. I was happy to see this since they have been removing them from a lot of ships to make room for more “revenue friendly” fixtures such as aerobics rooms.

This night was the first of two formal nights. Since the clientele of this cruise was considerably different than that of a Caribbean cruise, I saw many more folks dressed up than I usually do. I saw very few folks in jeans and t-shirts, and those that were not dressed up didn’t seem to make it to the dining room. The prime rib they served at dinner was the best I have had on a cruise. The lobster was ok, but not great.

I mostly attribute the proper dress and etiquette to an older and more “cruise experienced” group. It was refreshing, as was the almost complete lack of children onboard. I don’t know that I have ever seen a Carnival ship that didn’t have roving gangs of teens and tweens along with dozens of younger ones playing in the hot tubs and stairwells.

 

Not alot of good pictures of this day since land was pretty far off.

 

Our Juneau Caper

 

A brief glimpse of the full moon

[DarthGrady]

Day 3: Juneau

The ship was not scheduled to arrive at Juneau until 2 PM, so we attended the Newlywed, Not So Newlywed Game in the main lounge. It was funny as usual, and Chris Roberts did a good job not letting it get too cheesy. On that topic, Chris is a great Cruise Director. He has a type of humor that I really like, a sort of nerdy dry humor that could best be compared to the likes of Seth Rogen. He also does a morning news show that I have not seen done before. It is a welcome change from the standard P.A. announcements, and is done in a more entertaining talk show format.

As we came into Juneau, Dirk made lots of announcements about animal sightings and also the history of some of the buildings we were seeing. As we were pulling up to the dock I was able to get some good pictures of Juneau itself, and of RCI’s Serenade of the Seas, which was docked behind us. Before we could get off the ship, we had to wait in a huge mob of folks wanting to get off. Definitely one of the least organized I have yet seen. They only had one security card scanner going at our gangway, which made it even slower. Apparently the Spirit excels in all fields except getting guests on and off the ship in an efficient and timely manner. We eventually got off, but it wasn’t pleasant. Normally we would have waited an hour to even head down to the gangway, but unfortunately we had a tour booked. It would be nice if Carnival had priority debarkation at the ports of call for Platinum and suite guests. They already have priority tender boarding, so it would be a pretty easy (and free!) thing to add.

We made our way down to Orca Enterprises’ office and checked in for our whale watching boat tour. I learned about Orca Enterprises from Cruise Critic, and am sure glad I did. During our trip we saw two humpback whales, a whole pod of orcas, a bald eagle, and several sea lions laying on a buoy. It was a great trip, the boat wasn’t crowded at all and they even served snacks and drinks on board. Captain Larry and his crew did a great job and I wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone going to Juneau that wants to see whales. They even have a money back guarantee if you don’t see any whales. After seeing how crowded the whale watching boats were that folks who booked through Carnival were on; I was really glad we paid less and had a nicer, less crowded boat. We also learned that when he isn’t working on cruise ships, our naturalist Dirk actually works for Orca Enterprises!

After the boat tour, we were taken out to Mendenhall Glacier. We also booked this through Orca Enterprises, so they picked us up right at the dock where the whale watching tour ended. The Mendenhall Glacier was beautiful and the movie in the visitors center was very informative. We got lots of great pictures!

After getting back to Juneau we bought tickets to go up the Mount Roberts Tramway. The gondolas have a near vertical, over 2000 foot climb right up the side of Mt. Roberts. The view from the top is breathtaking. You can see the entirety of downtown Juneau, as well as the inlet and cruise ship docks. The overlook also gives you a total panoramic view of all the snow capped mountains around Juneau. We went up around 8:30 PM, so the movie theater, restaurant and bar were all closed. The gift shop was still open, as was the nature center. I walked around on some snow while I was up there, and being a Florida native it was only my third time doing so. We stayed up there long enough to watch the Serenade of the Seas to leave port. We then returned down the mountain and returned to the ship.

At the end of the day we had dinner in the Spirit’s supper club. It was excellent, and they served one of the best filet mignon steaks I have ever had. We found it to be just as good as the food we got in the Glory’s supper club. The only exception was the lobster bisque, it was too sweet and not very good.

 

Cruising slowly toward Juneau

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The first signs of civilization

 

USCG escorts

 

Almost There

 

Juneau

 

RCI's Serenade of the Seas

 

The Mt. Roberts Tramway

[DarthGrady]

At the pier

 

 

 

Our whale watching boat trip, with Orca Enterprises

 

Captain Larry, did a great job finding the animals

 

 

[DarthGrady]

A whole pod of killer whales swan around our boat

 

 

 

Sea lions

 

 

[DarthGrady]

A bald eagle

 

 

The Mendenhall Glacier and surrounding park

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The view from atop the Mt. Roberts Tramway station

 

 

 

 

Juneau at night

 

The end of the day

[DarthGrady]

Well, thats it for our first two days of the cruise. Don't worry, theres more to come. I will return tomorrow to start on Glacier Bay!

[jrmende63]

thanks for this review. Alaska and the Carnival Spriit were my first cruise experience. We went for our 25th wedding anniversary way back in May 2006. Alaska has been my favorite destination thus far, even though I love the Carribean, I am a "Alaska Girl" at heart. We intend to return again and spend time on the ship and land tours.

[nannysbob]

awesome pictures were going on June 3rd cruise from Anchorage Cant wait Photography is my hobby Hope I can do as good as you do Excellent

Do you know how to get roll call for that sailing?

[TravellinGranny]

Grady,

The pics are great!!! Am on the Spirit as I write this, and I can honestly say I am jealous that you caught that little pod of Orcas. We did manage to see about 7 or 8 different Humpbacks, some porpoises (sp?), eagles, and quite a few harbor seals, but only one Orca in the distance. Love the close-up of the harbor seals sunning on the bouy. I got a few as we passed by them.

I am waiting to hear about the rest of your trip.....

Granny:cool:

[SheriNtexas]

If the Almighty needed a balcony, this would be it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great pics! I had an aft wrap on my Miracle cruise last october, and I loved it!! Our roll call had a get together on it on our last sea day! There were probably about 15 of us on that balcony!

[SheriNtexas]

Mountains and our first sunset

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOW!! What beautiful pictures!!:cool:

[DarthGrady]

awesome pictures were going on June 3rd cruise from Anchorage Cant wait Photography is my hobby Hope I can do as good as you do Excellent

Do you know how to get roll call for that sailing?

 

It looks like there is a Roll Call going for that cruise. Its at this link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=814015

[WeBCruisin]

Grady! Thanks so much for sharing your cruise with all of us! Your pictures are amazing as well!

 

55 Days until I head to Alaska on the Serenade! Thanks so much for the photo of her!! Nice to see she is making her way safely through the Inside Passage!!

 

The excitement is building!!

[Wennfred]

Has to scan all of the pictures first, awesome pictures, and thanks for writing this review as we will be heading to Alaska next year in August.

 

 

Can't wait to read you review.

 

 

 

Fred

[ahoys]

I'm so jealous--when we went to Alaska we had absolutely no nighttime. It got "dusky" and then bright again. I wish I could have seen Juneau after dark, and I love, love your picture of the moon on the water!

 

Waiting for the rest of your great review! Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[Purplehaze21]

Thank you so much for taking this time to post this review and pictures. Its truely amazing. I never thought zi would be this excited about going somewhere cold. Thanks for sharing!

[lorilea]

Correct, for those that were asking, it is indeed a Lumix DMC-FZ28.

 

Its been a great camera so far, not too complicated but with enough features and settings to make it fun. I believe these types of cameras are called "bridge cameras" or "mini-SLRs". Still a point-and-shoot, but they have many of the SLR functions and long zooms, although lacking the interchangeable lenses and bigger sensors.

 

Yes!!! That is the camera that I bought 2 weeks ago and absolutely love! Your pictures have just confirmed that I made the right choice!