Carnival Spirit

We loved the Carnival Spirit!  It is a beautiful ship, the layout is easy to maneuver, and, best of all, it never seemed crowded. Even with nearly 2,000 passengers onboard.

Embarkation
Embarkation in Seattle was the easiest we've ever done. We arranged for Seattle Shuttle to pick our family of 9 up at the hotel at 10:00am. The cost was only $7 per person. The shuttle van arrived about 15 minutes early and we were ready to go. We arrived at the port, tipped a porter to take care of all our luggage, and went inside the terminal to begin our embarkation. There was absolutely no waiting in line. We showed our passports and tickets to security, and then went straight to the check-in window. We had a booked an Ocean Suite cabin, so we were given VIP boarding cards. That meant we would be in the first group to board, following those needing special assistance (i.e. wheelchairs).  After getting our Sail & Sign cards, we had to wait about 30 minutes until they had set up the screen and camera for the embarkation pictures. But we didn't mind waiting . . . we just spent that time looking through the Alaska coupon book that one of the employees was passing out. After we got our picture taken, then we waited about another half hour until it was time to board.

At 11:30am they began the embarkation process. They called for those in wheelchairs first. Then the VIP passengers. Again -- no waiting in line. We walked up, showed them our Sail & Sign cards, had our pictures made (this time for ship security), and then began the walk up the winding gangway.

Exploring the Ship
Once onboard, we were directed to elevators to take us to the 9th floor Lido Deck for lunch. It was absolutely empty since we were the first group to come aboard.

The Lido Deck offered several dining options.  We couldn't decide between the hot meal buffet line, sandwiches and paninis at the deli, hamburgers and hot dogs at the grill, or pizza. I think we ate a little bit of everything that first day. And my brother-in-law Tom was sent on a mission to find Carnival's famous french fries. They have the best, crispiest shoestring french fries! They remind me of what McDonald's french fries were like back in the day. He brought back a plate full of french fries from the grill that everyone quickly devoured.

Since the room stewards were still cleaning the cabins, we went exploring after lunch. The ship was still virtually empty. The kids felt like they had the whole ship to themselves! We saw it all, from stern to aft, top to bottom. One of our first stops was the Jungle, a long hallway at the front of the ship that leads to Camp Carnival and the Arcade. We noticed lots of crew members in the Jungle making calls to their family while the ship was in port. So we tried to keep it quiet as we walked through there.

Next we went outside to explore the decks. The kids wanted to see everything!

We found the waterslide on the aft deck, but all agreed that it would probably be too cold to use it on an Alaskan cruise.  But there were two other pools on the Lido Deck, one of them with a retracting roof. The roof was kept closed our entire cruise making it a nice, warm indoor swim area. Even this area, though, never seemed too crowded. Just a handful of people there at any given time.

We also found the giant chess set at the back of the Lido Deck. That became a favorite spot to hang out and play while enjoying ice cream from the nearby ice cream machine.

And one deck up was the sport court with basketball, miniature golf, and a running track. The scenery from this top deck was always breathtaking!

Our Cabin
Finally it was 1:30pm and the cabins were ready. We were all excited to see our new home for the next week. We were in Ocean Suite 6195, located in the middle of deck 6, starboard side (right). The rest of the family had cabins on deck 7, port and aft. Our suite had a king-sized bed with bunks directly across from it. The bottom bunk was actually a couch that had been made into a bed. And the top bunk folded down from the ceiling. But we just left it in the bunkbed formation for the whole cruise, rather than fold it up and down each day.

One of the nicest things about having a suite, especially with four people, was the large bathroom and dressing room. If you've ever been on a cruise ship then you know that most bathrooms are barely big enough for two people to turn around in. They have a sink, toilet and shower crammed into a room the size of a closet.
But the suite bathrooms have double sinks and a full-sized jacuzzi bathtub with a shower.

 The freebies in the bathroom included a new razor, shower gel, tooth whitening toothpaste and lotion. There's also shampoo and shower gel dispensers in the shower, so no need to bring those from home.

The dressing room just outside the bathroom got lots of use. Since it has a pocket door that closes it off from the rest of the cabin, I would sit in there most mornings while everyone else slept and use the vanity as a computer desk. I had trouble sleeping in when the sun would rise each morning between 3:45am and 4:00am!

Closet space and storage was plentiful in our suite. The dressing room had a large closet divided into two sections, one for hanging clothes and the other with shelves where we stacked our jeans and t-shirts. The bedroom had another closet with two sections for hanging clothes. And then we had 4 large drawers plus 3 nightstands with drawers. So everyone had their own space for their belongings.

Our balcony was a nice size, too. It was one-and-a-half times bigger than a standard balcony. Plenty big enough for all four of us to enjoy.

Our inlaws had one of the coveted aft Vista Suites with a wrap-around balcony. These large cabins are always the first ones booked on every cruise and are pretty hard to come by. (I think they made their reservation a year in advance.)  The Vista Suite is comprised of two separate rooms, a bedroom and a living room. Plus it has a huge walk-in closet in the bedroom. The bathroom and dressing room, though, are identical to the Ocean Suite.

But it's the balcony that makes the Vista Suite so nice. There are only two of these cabins on each deck, so the balcony is half the width of the back of the ship . . . and then some. It wraps around the side, too. Leah and Tom graciously made their cabin and balcony available to the rest of family throughout the cruise. So each day when the ship sailed away from port, we'd all sit out on their balcony and enjoy the scenery. And the balcony is so big that there was plenty of room for all nine of us.

Nana and Poppa had a standard balcony cabin just a few doors down. These cabins are plenty big for two people, with a king size bed and a couch. The bathroom, though, is the typical closet-sized one with no tub, just a shower.

Dining Onboard
The Carnival Spirit has one formal dining room, the Empire Room. It is located on deck 2, with a balcony area for anytime diners. We had early dining which was moved up from 6:00pm to 5:30pm.  Aside from the two Elegant Nights, the dress was very casual in the dining room. Most night we wore slacks or blue jeans and sweaters.

We had a fabulous table right in front of one of the large round windows. In our section, all the large parties were seated in front of the windows. The smaller tables and booths were located in the center of the room. So every night at dinner we got to enjoy a close-up view of the ocean and were always on the lookout for whales.

Our head waiter Orlando, from the Philippines, was super friendly. His assistant Zoran from Serbia was new to the Spirit. He seemed shy and quiet the first night, but it turns out that he was simply tired since he had just arrived that very day from Serbia. But he soon perked up after we introduced ourselves and the rest of the week we could always count on Zoran finding us on the Lido Deck at lunch to offer his assistance.

The food in the Empire Dining Room was always good and the servings way too big. Or at least they seemed big after eating on the Lido Deck and snacking on ice cream throughout the day. But we always seemed to find room for dessert! Carnival's famous Warm Chocolate Melting Cake was usually the dessert of choice, with a scoop of ice cream on the side.

We only ate breakfast in the main dining room once. We had room service twice and the rest of the time we headed up to the Lido Deck for some cereal and yogurt before our excursions ashore. Lunch was also usually pizza or burgers on the Lido Deck. Although on one of our days-at-sea we did find time for a leisurely lunch of Chicken Parmigiana in the main dining room.

The Carnival Spirit also has a Sushi Bar on deck 2. It seemed like there were always 2 or 3 people waiting in line, but we never did eat any. It just seemed too far out of the way from where we happened to be.

The Steakhouse is one flight up from the Lido Deck, under the big red Whale Tail (which cast a red glow over the restaurant). We did not eat at the Steakhouse, but our inlaws did and said it was fabulous. The Steakhouse is a reservations-only restaurant where you pay an extra $30pp to dine. But we hear that for your $30, you receive food and service comparable to a $200+ meal.

We did however attend the wine tasting in the Steakhouse on our first afternoon at sea. For $15 pp, we sampled 5 different types of wine -- a Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Beaujolais Villages, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Each glass was filled about half full and the head sommelier, Yuros, would tell us about the different varietals as we sampled them. (And if you finished your glass before he finished his explanation, he would have the waitress refill it for you.) Each person was also given a plate of food to sample with the wine (steak, fruit, cheese & crackers). The wine tasting lasted a little over an hour and was a fun, educational way to spend the afternoon. Unfortunately, I never could figure out how to smuggle out that bottle of Opus One that sat right in front of me throughout the wine tasting.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries, again and again. MMmmmm . . . 

The only unfortunate incident, if you can even call it that, happened one night in the dining room. On the second or third night of our cruise Jackson found a nut in his chocolate cake. Thankfully, being allergic to both tree nuts and peanuts, he saw the nut before he ate it! The Warm Chocolate Melting Cake does not have nuts in it and Jackson had ordered it a couple times already. But on this particular night at dinner there had been another dessert that did have a nut topping. So we think one of those nuts just fell off the top and landed in Jackson's chocolate cake.

Now before the cruise, and again our first day onboard at Camp Carnival, I had filled out tons of paperwork and it all stated that Jackson was allergic to nuts. But I had forgotten to mention it to our waiter that first night. We're always cautious and carefully read through all the descriptions on the menu before ordering. But when I asked Orlando to bring Jackson another cake that was nut-free, he became very concerned. They take food allergies very seriously! He immediately brought Jackson another dessert and then sent the main hostess over to speak with us. She made a note of our table and Jackson's food allergy. And every night thereafter she brought me the menu for the following night so Jackson could select his meal and it could be specially prepared for him. I was very impressed that the Carnival crew was so proactive about this. But I felt they went over and beyond their duty when the next day we found a plate of chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us in our cabin with a card from the head chef!  Jackson single-handedly ate 4 of them before he stopped to think that maybe he should offer to share them. Haha.

Speaking of chocolate covered strawberries -- yes they are delicious. Even more so when you're not expecting to receive them! So you can imagine our surprise and delight swhen we got them not just that once. Not twice. But THREE times. We were quite spoiled by Carnival's crew and their excellent service.

We first received a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries from John Heald, Carnival's Senior Cruise Director and Ambassador. He writes a daily blog for Carnival and has a popular Facebook page that I had  'liked' a few months before our cruise.  When we arrived at our first port in Alaska, I posted a comment on his wall that we were having a great time on our Alaska cruise.  Well, we were pleasantly surprised when we came back from our shore excursion and heard a knock on the cabin door. It was a waiter delivering a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries with a card saying they were from "John Heald, Magic's Cruise Director".  Since he was currently sailing the Mediterranean aboard Carnival's newest ship, the Magic, I'm not sure how he managed to contact our ship, figure out what cabin I was in, and arrange for the strawberries to be delivered. But, thankfully for us, he did!

The next day, after Jackson's cake incident, is when we received the chocolate covered strawberries from the chef.  But I must say that we were absolutely, positively shocked a few days later to find them waiting for us a third time when we came back from our shore excursion in Ketchikan. And this time they were accompanied by the prized Carnival Trophy aka a "ship-on-a-stick". These little trophies are handed out to winners of the various onboard contests, like trivia, hairy man, etc. They are apparently quite a collectors item.

Our special treat this time was from Stu, our Cruise Director aboard the Carnival Spirit. To this day I don't know why he sent them since we'd had no personal contact with him. Nor had we filed any complaints onboard or volunteered to go onstage during one of the evening shows. But even more surprising, and a testimony to Carnival's excellent customer service, was what he said as we were debarking on the last day. I saw Stu standing near the door leading to the gangway saying goodbye to all the guests. So I walked over to him and said that I wanted to thank him for the chocolate covered strawberries that "he" had sent us. (I  assumed that he probably had an assistant or someone onboard that handled such matters for him). But you could have knocked me over with a feather when he shook my hand, smiled real big, and said in his Australian accent, "Oh yeah, you must be Wendi. Glad you enjoyed them."  And that pretty much sums up our overall wonderful experience on the Carnival Spirit.  I'll leave you with a few more random pictures of the ship.

Onboard the Carnival Spirit

This is the Chapel where we renewed our wedding vow with Captain Roberto Volpi.
Our wedding anniversary was just a few days before we sailed.

This hallway was called Fashion Blvd and is where the shops

are located. The day we left Alaska they had a big sale on

Russian items like Nesting Dolls and Vodka.

One of the four 24-hr Ice Cream dispensers.

The Library aka Internet Cafe

Internet Pricing available onboard

The Lobby Bar

Playing chess outside the Champions Sports Bar.

The NBA finals were shown in there all week, so Freddie and Jackson

positioned themselves outside the bar where they could keep an eye on the score.

A champagne toast to a wonderful vacation.

Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan, the Salmon Capital of the World, was the final Alaskan port on our cruise.  This small island-town is only accessible by boat or float plane. It is also known for being the rainiest town in southeast Alaska. And its reputation proved true for us. We finally got to use those expensive weatherproof jackets that we'd purchased from Land's End just for our cruise. We'd been fortunate enough to have unusually warm, sunny weather for the rest of our days in Alaska.

But the overcast skies didn't deter us. In fact, we were excited to finally experience true Alaska weather. Since I had heard that Alaskans never use umbrellas, we didn't take one ashore with us. And we didn't need it. Even though it was overcast and drizzly in Ketchikan, it never rained hard enough to actually get you wet. Just a sporadic, light drizzle throughout the morning.

Since we would only be in Ketchikan until 12:30pm that day, we set our alarm clocks so we'd be ready to debark at 7:30am when the gangway was lowered. There were four cruise ships docked at this small town the day we were there, so that made it even more important to debark early since the town would soon get very crowded.

As soon as we debarked, we walked a few blocks from the ship to Ketchikan's famous Creek Street. This historic street is actually a wooden pier with restored buildings built on stilts over the Ketchikan Creek.

It was notorious for being the local Red Light District up until the 1950s. Today the buildings house restaurants and shops. But there is one museum, Dolly's, which is a restored brothel. It's hard not to miss the costumed Madam standing out front waving to the tourists.

Our next stop, a few blocks down from Creek Street, was the 55 ft. tall "Chief Johnson Totem Pole".  It was carved from a single cedar log. Ketchikan has the largest collection of totem poles in the world -- over 80. Each one of these Native Alaskan totem poles tells a unique story or represents a specific part of native history. http://www.experienceketchikan.com/native-american-totem-poles.html#types

We then had some free time before our scheduled tour, so we decided to head back toward all the souvenir shops near the pier. The locally-owned Tongrass Trading Co. has three locations in Ketchikan, and some of the best bargain shopping in all of Alaska. If you plan to do some souvenir shopping while on an Alaskan cruise, make sure you get the free Alaska coupon book that is given to passengers as they arrive at the port in Seattle. And save most of your shopping for Ketchikan -- this town is bargain-shopping paradise.

Thanks to that free coupon book, I was able to take home a free Ulu. My son was thrilled! An ulu is type of knife with a curved blade that has been used by native Alaskans for centuries.  In other ports, we had been warned that security might not let us on the ship with the knife, so we hadn't bought one. But who can refuse a free gift? And we had absolutely no problems bringing the souvenir knife back home with us. We just kept it in its original package as we boarded the ship and then we packed it in our checked luggage for the flight home.

After we finished shopping, it was time to board the Duck for our tour of Ketchikan. We had never taken a Duck tour before, even though they are offered at home in Austin. So we were all excited to climb aboard the amphibious vehicle for our 90-minute tour by land and sea.

The duck tour drove us by the famous Salmon Ladder where the salmon come each summer to spawn. Supposedly so many of them come to this one spot that you can walk across the stream on their backs without ever getting your feet wet. But we were a month too early to see that. Eventually our duck made its way to the harbor and we drove right into the water and sailed by the local fishing fleet and the seaplane dock.

But seaplanes weren't the only things flying around that day. We saw lots of bald eagles in Ketchikan. After the duck tour, it was time to head back to the ship and begin our 30-hr journey through the rough north Pacific seas to Victoria, British Columbia.

Juneau & Mendenhall Glacier

Day 3 in Alaska was again sunny and beautiful with temperatures in the mid-50s. We arrived in Juneau around 7:00am and had to be back onboard the ship by 2:30pm.

Juneau, Alaska's capital, has a population of 31,000 but still maintains that small-town feel. The cruise ships dock just a few blocks from downtown where you'll find lots of shops to visit, as well as the aerial tram that takes you to the top of Mount Roberts.

We did not book any excursions in Juneau but chose to go it alone. We hopped off the ship and walked down the wooden sidewalk to the tourist huts that surround the area just outside the tram station.

We walked up to one of the huts and bought a $16 round-trip ticket to ride the Blue Bus to Mendenhall Glacier. The buses run every half hour. This was by far the cheapest and one of the best excursions we did!

Mendenhall Glacier is located 13 miles from downtown Juneau. Our bus driver told us to be on the lookout for bears and wolves in the forest that surrounds the park. Although we didn't see either one ... we did see some rather large, ominous tracks that looked pretty fresh. We were later told by a friend that they were wolf tracks.  I'd hate to see the giant wolf that made those deep tracks in the second picture below!



Just below the Visitor's Center is a paved trail to a lookout point where visitors can see the glacier and take pictures. 

To the right of the glacier face is a 5-story waterfall named Nugget Falls. 

And in the pond at the foot of the glacier and falls you'll see lots of icebergs. To get some perspective of the massive size of these glaciers, if you look closely at the picture below you'll see an orange kayak on the left, just under the big glacier. 

Our children noticed that in the distance you could see tiny people standing right next to the glacier and falls.  So, of course, they were determined to do the same!

And so began our big adventure which turned out to be the best experience of the whole trip! My kids love camping and the outdoors. So to be able to hike through a trail in the woods and walk alongside an iceberg-filled pond and end up standing next to a waterfall and glacier -- well we truly felt like we were experiencing Alaska.

The trail in the beginning was paved and easily managed. But at one point it turns off on a dirt path with a sign that tells you the 3/4 mile hike to the glacier will take you approximately 45 minutes. It took us considerably longer, though, because we made several stops along the way to look at animal tracks, rocks, icebergs, and just about anything else that crossed our path. But overall it was a very easy walk with beautiful scenery all around. Just make sure you're wearing tennis shoes or hiking boots.

Jackson decided he wanted to gather some rocks for his rock collection. I told him that he could gather as many rocks as he wanted just as long as his suitcase did not weigh more than 50lbs when it was time to fly back home. Well, he must have had more than enough because he decided to use some of the rocks for skipping in the pond. He also tried to hit one of the icebergs but never could throw the rock quite far enough.

All along the path there were huge chunks of granite. Anyone need a new coutertop?

At one point, Jackson notice a small chunk of ice floating near the shoreline. He wanted to pick it up, but wasn't quite close enough to do so without falling in the icy waters. So Freddie held onto his backpack while he leaned over and grabbed the chunk of ice. He barely got it lifted out of the water before he dropped it on shore. He said it was so cold that it burned his hands.



We finally made it to the overlook at the waterfall. The view was gorgeous and the roar of the falls was loud.

We hiked down from the overlook and stood so close to the falls that we could feel the spray of water on our faces. And seeing the glacier up close gave us a new perspective of just how majestic it truly is. 

Someone even built a small monument out of rocks on the beach near the waterfall.

It was soon time to begin the hike back to the visitor's center so we could catch the blue bus back to Juneau.

We were just a little anxious, though, hiking back through the woods after seeing the wolf tracks in the mud. Every time we heard a bird rustle in the trees, we all jumped! But we were pleasantly surprised to see bluebonnets growing on the side of the path. It was nice finding a reminder of home in the Alaskan wilderness.

Once we arrived back in Juneau, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town buying souveniers and seeing the sites, like the famous Red Dog Saloon and former Governor Sarah Palin. Then it was time to board the ship and begin our journey to Ketchikan.