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Carnival Legend Review - May 8, 2017 Seattle and Las Vegas


Anyislandwilldo
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My turn to pay it forward. Thanks to everyone who has written a review or posted a reply because I have learned so much from these boards. I wrote up a pretty good review and would like to post some pictures but I'm having trouble doing so. I went to the photography boards and read through some postings but still have trouble. If anyone would like to help me figure it out, I would greatly appreciate it. On to the review.

 

Some back ground information. My boyfriend Sam, of 24 years and I Linda have been on 10 Caribbean cruises already. Alaska has been on our bucket list for years. I retired at the end of 2015 and this is a little retirement gift to myself as well. Sam, 60 and Linda 59.

 

 

 

Sam and I were blessed with another great vacation. Bit by bit I will be adding details andpictures of our Alaskan Adventure on the Carnival Legend out of Seattle. A few days in Seattle and a few days in Vegaswere also part of our vacation.

 

 

On Saturday May 6 we flew to Seattle via Southwest. Here is a picture of our luggage as we werewaiting for our layover in Vegas. Oursuitcases are the ones with the bright pink balls on the right side of thecart. At least we know our luggage madeit on the layover.

 

 

As we were flying into Seattle we had a great view of MountRainer.

 

 

 

 

 

Once we landed we took the skywalk to the 4thfloor in the parking garage. Then downto level 3 to find the phones to call or shuttle for pick up. We dialed #47 and the front desk of the HamptonInn answered and we requested a pickup. They informed us it would be about a 15 min wait. At the hotel, check in went smoothly and wewere in our room by 8:30 pm. We crashedright away from a long day of travel. Neither one of us slept well that night. Probably over tired. The room andhotel are nice.

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Sunday May 7. We bothwoke up around 5:00 am. Went down to thelobby to get some breakfast. Afterbreakfast the shuttle took us over to the Link Light Rail. We arrived about 7:30.

Sam purchasing our round trip tickets. $6.00 roundtrip.

At about 7:45 the Link arrived. We boarded and were headed down to the WestLake Center in downtown Seattle. Ridingthe Link was nice because we were able to see more of the city without thedistraction of driving. Upon arrival indowntown, we walked out of the Westlake Center, up the stairs to Pine Streetand then down to the Market Place on 4th and Pine.

Walked through the Marketplace and saw lots of flowers,fresh fish, and produce. There was some jellythat caught Sam’s eye but he didn’t buy any. Saw the guys tossing the fish at the Pike Place Fish Market. Didn’t get a picture because I couldn’t getthe camera out in time. Here I am withone of the workers.

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I really really really wanted a bouquet of flowers. They were only $10 and so beautiful. Sam didn’t want me walking around carrying flowersso he told me to take a picture. The picture would last longer. He said once we got home he would spray the picture so the scent would last as well. Here are the flowers I wanted.

 

Next we walked back to the Westlake center and bought tickets for the mono rail to the Space Needle. $4.50 round trip.

Here comes the mono rail.

 

Prior to leaving on vacation, I purchased a Seattle CityPass. The pass included 5 areaattractions in Seattle. We took the CityPass and had to go to a kiosk, scan the pass, which then spit out abooklet. Then we took the booklet up tothe entrance of the Space Needle and the gate agent said we had to go back and gettickets. So back down we went to thekiosk again, scan the coupon with the space needle and printed out admissiontickets. Before getting on the elevator,we posed for a photographer. Here is theresult.

The 42 second ride upthe elevator included a short narrative of what we will see once at thetop. At a height of 605 feet, the SpaceNeedle has 360 degree views of Mt. Rainier, Puget Sound, the Olympic andCascade Mountains. Here are some photosfrom up in the Needle.

Next we went back down the Space needle and into the giftshop for a few souvenirs. Then over toChihluy Gardens. Here they took thecoupon right out of the city pass booklet. The pictures don’t do justice towhat you actually see at the Gardens. After touring, we stopped at the Collections Café outside the Gardensfor lunch. Sam had the biggest hamburgerhe’s even seen.

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I ordered a salad. Iwas going through the City Pass and the waiter said there was a coupon in thebooklet for a free dessert. The waiter recommended a beignet. Beignets are famous in New Orleans and aresimilar to a deep fried donut with powdered sugar. The waiter bragged theirs were better thanNew Orleans. I had a beignet in NewOrleans so we will see who’s is better. The waiter brought the beignet with some carmel sauce and a honey typesauce to put on the beignet. I admittedthat theirs were better. Lunch was $40with tip. Now that we are stuffed from abig lunch, we walked back to the mono rail and took it back to the WestlakeCenter. From there we walked past thegum wall.

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Then down to the harbor. Arrived in time for the 1:30 cruise. Presented the City Pass booklet and then handed us boarding passes forthe boat. The Harbor Cruise took anhour. There was a gal giving a narrationon the boat with lots of interesting facts.

 

 

Fun facts

The original Starbucks is on 1st and Pike. There are 186 Starbucks within a 2 mileradius of this Starbucks.

Dogs outnumber kids in Seattle 6 to 1.

Not so fun facts

Many homeless people on the streets. They didn’t bother us

Huge opioid problem in Seattle

 

Walked back to Westlake Center to grab the link to theTukwilla International BLVD Station. Called the hotel for the shuttle pickup. Ended up back at the hotel about 4 pm. We both were pretty beat from the day so welaid down for a little while and then got up to refresh ourselves. Back down to the lobby to request the shuttleto take us out for dinner. At 5:30 thedriver took us over to Stanfords by the Westlake Mall. Sam had great ribs and I ordered a cobbsalad. The Steak on my cobb salad wasrare and I asked for medium well. Otherwise the food was really good. Dinner was $60 including tip. Called the shuttle again and we were back to the hotel by 7:00 pm. We asked the driver to stop at a gas stationso we could pick up some Mountain Dew for the ship. They only had 6 packs so we bought 2 ofthem. It was a long day for us so we crashed on thebed. Sully was playing on HBO so wewatched that until we fell asleep. Bothof us slept well that night after lots of walking and site seeing.

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Embarkation Day

We were up early like we normally are. Relaxed in the room for a while. Went down to grab some breakfast. Repacked up our suitcases and went down towait for Seattle Express to pick us up at 9:45. I was sitting in the lobby when the driver approached me and asked if Iwas Linda. I said yes and he said he waswith Seattle Express. He wasearly!! Extra points for SeattleExpress!! Our driver, Will, had to pick upmore people at 2 other hotels before heading to the ship. There was one couple from Burlington, WI onthe bus with us. Small world. Willprovided some commentaries about Seattle on the way to the port. We arrived at the Port by 10:40. Walked to the terminal with our luggage,handed over the luggage inside the terminal for security screening and proceededto the personal security screening. Samplaced the backpack on the conveyor and the screener stopped us and asked us toopen the backpack. We pulled out the 2 6packs of soda and showed the screener. She said she just had to check because she saw 2 six packs. No worries. Next we walked over to priority checking. There seemed to be a long line headed towardsthe ship but check in went so smooth and in no time we were headed to theship. Once on the ship we headedstraight to our room and dropped off the backpack. The room was ready but our luggage wasn’t’there yet. It’s time for lunch so weheaded over to the Lido deck to get our first meal on the ship. 11:30 am and we were are on the Lido deckeating lunch! After lunch we went downto the main dining room to check our table assignment. The maître d came through again! We were assigned a table for two, #180. Prior to sailing we emailed the maître d and requested a table for two.

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Next we went down to scope out the casino. We were sitting at a table and a man andwoman approached and asked if they could sit with us. This couple soon became good friends of oursfor the remainder of the cruise. Maryand Marty Howard from Colorado. Sam andI ordered a drink from the bar to christen our vacation. After our drink we headed back to the roomand still no luggage. Down to guestservices we went to inquiry about the luggage. We dropped off the luggage at 10:45 and both suitcases were labeled withpriority tags. Guest services said itjust takes time. We went back up to theroom at 3:00 and both suitcases were there. Our 12 pack of water was delivered as well. I preordered the water prior to sailing. Everything was unpacked and put away and wewere ready to start vacation!

Down to the main dining room for dinner at 5:30. The wait staff was running behind thisnight. We didn’t get our entrée until6:30. Our head waiter was Arlan. I told him I wanted crème Brule withoutlooking at the menu to try and save him some time. This was the worst service we ever receivedin the dining room. But fortunatelyservice improved greatly over the course of the cruise. After dinner we headed down to the casino. Wesat with Mary and Marty again and talked. The casino would not open until 9:30 since we needed to sail out intointernational waters first. Sam and Iboth donated. We headed up to the Lidodeck to get some ice cream before bed. The lido deck was empty and cold. Off to bed after a long day.

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Sea Day

Both of us slept well last night. I sleep like a baby on the ship. When I woke up, I was surprised to see Samstill in bed. Sam is an early earlybird. We got dressed and headed up tothe lido deck for coffee. Pretty muchjust sat and chilled and headed to the casino for a short while. Met up with Mary and Marty as well. They were going to do the small boatexcursion later in the day. Back up tothe lido deck for breakfast and then headed down to the theater to hear a naturalistgive a lecture on glaciers and wildlife. The lecture was very interesting and educational. After the lecture, Sam participated in theslot tournament and didn’t place. Backup to the lido deck for some lunch. Iwent to Chopsticks for some Chinese and Sam grabbed a burger. The Naturalist would come on over theloudspeaker with a sighting of a whale. Everyone on the lido deck rushed over to the windows to see, includingus. By the time we got to the window,all we saw was a splash. Sam and Iheaded back to the casino to donate again and then back to our room to getready for elegant night. I headed overto the launderette to iron Sam’s shirt before getting dressed. Prior to dinner we stopped at 4 photo backdrops and posed for pictures. Service inthe dining room was much better this night. After dinner, stopped in the casino quick and then headed over to thetheater for the playlist production of Motor City. Basically Motown sounds of the 60’s, 70’s and80’s. While the show was really good, itwas only 30 minutes longs. Back todonating again in the casino, had a drink, went for ice cream and then off tobed. Fell asleep fast.

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Tracy Arm

We were supposed to go to Tracy Arm today but the marineservice reported there was too much ice in the fjord so we averted to EndicottArm. Our excursion was set for 10:00 andsince we changed course, the excursion was pushed out 2 hours to noon. At this time we were entering the TongrassNational Park Forest which has 17 million acres of forests and 1100islands. Some of the ice in Endicott Armis 3000 feet high while the ice could be 1000 feet below water as well. I quickly threw in a load of laundry, grabbedsome coffee and met Sam in the casino. Carnival has a feature called the Carnival Hub which you can downloadfor free from the app store onto your smart phone. If you want the chat function it will cost anextra $5. We both loaded the chatfunction so we could keep in contact on the ship. Back up to the launderette to put the clothesin the dryer and then fuel up on breakfast. Grabbed the clothes, folded them and put them away. Our excursion tickets stated we were to meetin the Firebird Lounge. They walked usto the small boat and we boarded and sat on the lower level. Each seat had complimentary binoculars. During our 3 hour long tour, we saw lots ofwhales, seals, eagles and porpoises. Whales are migrating this time of year. So much beautiful scenery to take in. Hot cocoa and snacks on board. The fjord was filled with chunks of ice and you could hear them hittingthe bottom of the boat. At one pointthey pulled a large chunk of ice out of the water and make some cocktails foranyone interested. When a chuck of icebreaks off the glacier, it’s called calving. Once we approached the glacier, we saw the glacier calve about 4times. It sounds like a crack ofthunder. We were probably about ½ milefrom the glacier. Back on board we wentback to the room to lay down for a bit. Tonightwe opted for dinner on the lido deck. Down to the casino again but this time Carnival gave me $600. Early night for us since we have a big dayahead of us tomorrow.

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SKAGWAY

This morning we woke up at 4:30. I’m an early bird too but Sam is the earlyearly bird. Today we booked the Best ofSkagway-Rail Summit, Trail Camp, Salmon Bake through Carnival from 7:30 am to2:00 pm. First we had to meet in theFollies Lounge and then they walked us off the ship to a coach bus where Jimour driver would take us to the train depot. We drove through the town of Skagway to the train depot. Our car was #308, the last car of thetrain! Woo hoo!! I could go out the back to get pictures. Our train conductor would be Trevor. We proceeded to take seats on the left sideof the train. So many people recommendedthe best viewing would be on the left side. They were right. We started our27.7 mile, 3000 feet descent up the mountains. Again so much beautiful scenery to take in on the way up. I stepped out on the platform of the last carto get quite a few unobstructed photos. Towards the end of the train ride, they camearound and offered a hat, video and booklet for $20 as a momento. Sam got a new hat today. After the 105 minute train ride, we reached FrasierBC, and boarded the coach bus again. While traveling on the Klondike Highway back down, we stopped at theAlaska sign for photos. A short whilelater we arrived in Liarsville where Peter McPeterson and his team would put ona little skit for us showing us what life was like during the Gold Rushdays. Peter and his team wereprofessional actors from New York that work in Alaska for the season. The play was cheesy at times but stillenjoyable. After the skit, the teamexplained how you go about gold panning. We walked over to some troughs and started gold panning. I found 3 flecks of gold worth about 10 cents!! After panning we headed for some food. They grilled the salmon over whitespruce. There was plenty to eat and thesalmon was delicious! You could sit bythe campfire and have hot apple cider.

The bus dropped us off at the world famous Red OnionSaloon. Here a madam gave us a historytour of the upstairs brothel area. Backin the day the girls were paid $5. Halfof that went to the madam. The remaininghalf went to the house. Each girl wasallowed to decorate her room with wallpaper of her choosing. At one time, someone peeled off 18 layers ofwallpaper in one room. After the saloontour, we walked around town. I foundsome scrapbooking cutouts for a very good price. The temperature climbed to 71 this day. For us it was hot since we had layers of warmclothing on. We walked 1/3 mile back tothe ship and got ready for dinner. Tonight we both ordered NY strip for dinner. After dinner went to the lounge to see SteveHeights from Skagway perform songs and tell tales of the gold rush. Entertaining! Off to bed at 9:00 beat from a long day in Skagway.

 

FUN FACTS

Some tress were over 100 years old

5% of Alaska is covered with glaciers

Only 2 restaurants open year round in Skagway

$7 for a gallon of milk

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JUNEAU

Sam was up at 4:30 this morning and I rolled out of bed at7:30. Went for coffee and breakfastright away. Packed up the backpack andheaded into Juneau to walk around. Wepassed so many homeless people here as well. There was a rotunda in the park with a guy lying on the ground in asleeping bag. Stopped at Taku HarleyStore and talked with the owner. Suddenlysome guy started yelling in the street. The owner of the Harley store told us that the homeless soup kitchen wasright across the street. There is a hugeheroin problem in Juneau. Walked througha few more stores and found a nice pair of earrings for my daughter. Stopped a store right outside the pier andfound some Alaskan scrapbook pages for a reasonable price.

Right outside the port there are many vendor booths sellingtours. If you didn’t book ahead of time,you can pick up something right at the port.

 

While walking back towards the ship we spotted an eaglesitting up in the tree. Sam posed for afew photos with the eagle. If you cansee it in the pictures. Back at the pierwe found a gal holding a sign that said Harv and Marv’s. We climbed into a passenger van and drove forabout 20 minutes to Auk Harbor. Alongthe way we passed a field with about a dozen eagles hanging out. Brent introduced himself as the captain ofour boat ObiWan. There was anothercouple from New York and a lady from Melbourne Australia that would join us onthis excursion. Brent had one crewmember, Jace, from Chicago. During thisexcursion we saw at least a dozen whales, a few porpoises and some sealions. Brent had a good eye for spottingwhales. We were taught how to announce awhale sighting. You don’t yell out tharshe blows. You use the clocksystem. If you see a whale to the right,you yell 3:00. Or if the whale is on theleft, you yell 9:00. 12:00 for straightahead of 6:00 for directly behind you. Even thought it was cold 51° and misting, it was a great day forspotting whales. Brent explained howto spot the whales by the spouts. Thewhales would then come up for air and go down for about 4 minutes or so. Sam became the official clock watcher on thistour. After the tour we stopped atMendenhall Glacier for a photo opt before heading back to port. We were back on the ship by 3 and headedstraight to the lido deck for hot chocolate!!

It was reported that Juneau had received 3 feet of snow theweek before we arrived so this added to the scenery of the majesticmountains. Jace told us that Brent hasthe best job ever because he gets paid to chase tail all day. Harv and Marv guarantee a whale siting onyour tour. After 20 minutes on the water,Brent radioed a whale sighting to another boat. The guy came back and said “Nice, you get your guarantee out of the wayright away” But Brent was veryprofessional and continued to take us to spots to see whales. According to marine law, you cannot be anycloser than 100 feet of the whales. Butthe whales could come next to you boat if they choose. This tour did not disappoint!!

Back on the ship at 4:00. Freshened up for 5:30 dinner. Tonight Sam had shrimp and I had black bean enchiladas. After dinner sat with Mary and Marty andtalked about our day. They left fordinner and we played in the casino for a bit. Carnival gave Sam $650.00 off a slot machine tonight. We waited till 10:00 pm for the casinogiveaway and didn’t win anything so off to bed we went.

 

FUN FACTS

Humpback whales migrate from Maui to Alaska then migrateback to Maui where they mate and bear their young. Whales store up 10 inches of fat beforeheading to Maui. A female whale willbear 50 gallons of milk at one feeding for her young. Whales come to Alaska to feed. Whales will travel 7000 miles roundtrip. A female whale will be pregnantfor 12 months and her calf will weigh around 900 lbs.

If you watch Alaskan Bush People, Brent, will be driving theDiscovery TV crew up to Brownstown for a few weeks.

The tide changes twice a day in Juneau and can rise between12- 17 feet.

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KETCHIKAN

Apparently there we some bad storms overnight. Like I said, I sleep like a baby on theship. We heard there were 100 mile anhour winds. At one point both Sam and Ijumped out of bed because it sounded like something crashed right outside our balcony. We figured the wind picked up one of thelounge chairs off the lido deck and tossed it over board. Sam was up at 6:00 and I woke up shortlyafter he left the cabin. Went forcoffee, talked with Mary and Marty for a while and then grabbed breakfast at8:00 am.

Today we did the Bearing Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour. The weather was about 55° and misting. We walked off the ship about 11:15, found thetour sign and walked another 5 minutes over to berth 3 for our tour boat. We found a seat in the 3rd rowunder an overhead heated lamp. The boatwe were on is the Aleutian Ballad,made famous in season two of Discovery Channel’s TV series Deadliest Catch whenit was hit by a 60’ rogue wave and miraculously survived. Some of the crew on the tour actually werefishermen on some of the other boats used on the show. At noon we took off for the open water. The crew handed out some jackets if you werestill cold. Sam and I each took an extrajacket. Dave gave us a basic backgroundon how they all started as fishermen and the TV show. Dave was a harbor master in Ketchikan for 16years and has lived there for 25 years. Thecrew showed us how they pulled the crab pots up out of the water. One pot was pulled in containing anoctopus. The octopus eat the crabs. So they put some crab back in the pot withthe octopus and dropped it back in the water. This will keep the octopus busy for a few days. After pulling up one of the crab pots, theypassed around a crab for photos. Theyexplained ahead of time how to hold onto the crab without getting injured. At one spot along the shore, the boat stops. Here the crew tossed fish and crab off theside to feed the eagles. There were atleast 30 – 40 eagles soaring around competing for the food. Sam had a huge smile on his face at thistime. Sam is an eagle buff. At the end of the show, Dave said you didn’tcome to here to listen to a tour guide tell stories, you came to hear fishermentell stories. Some somber stories weretold as well about other fishing adventures. We posed for pictures with some of the fishermen. This tour was highly recommended on CruiseCritic and has many 5 star ratings on Trip Advisor. This tour was definitely 6 stars plus in ourbooks.

After the tour wewalked off the boat, and headed up to Creek Street to walk around some of the quaintgift shops. Found my granddaughters ashirt and sweatshirt. Bought a jar ofsalmonberry jelly as well. Back on boardat 4:00 and into a nice hot shower. Wentdown for dinner, Sam had shrimp and fries and I had salmon in honor of being inthe salmon capitol of the world! Sam hadapple pie for dessert and I had butter pecan ice cream.

Headed to thecasino and met up with Mary and Marty again. Mary introduced us to the new ring she bought in port, an alexandritestone. Tonight we had to set our clocksahead. Carnival gave me $200 off theirslots tonight. At 9:30 we headed up tobed. We were both pretty tired tonightafter another long day.

 

 

FUN FACTS

Buy everything you need in Ketchikan. Being the closest port to the lower 48,prices will be the best.

In the 1920s and 1930s Creek Street came alive everynight as gold miners and fisherman came to drink and visit the brothels builtbeside the boardwalk on pilings driven into the creek.

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SEA DAY

Sam woke up at 5:00 this morning and I woke up at 6:00. Quickly grabbed laundry and threw it in thewash. Grabbed a plate from the lido deckand put some coffee and cookies on the plate and met Sam in the casino. Met upwith Mary and Marty again. We played inthe casino for a while, no big wins or losses. Changed over laundry and went for breakfast on the lido deck. Finished up laundry and went down to thecasino to sign up for the slot tournament. At noon we played the slot tournament and neither of us placed. Mary and Marty joined the tournament after usand we cheered them on. Neither one ofthem placed either. So we sat with Maryand Marty and talked for a while. Theywent to get some iced coffee and Mary comes back with a White Forest Cake forme as a Mother’s Day Gift. What a sweetwoman!! The cake was all white chocolateon the outside with a cake filling inside. I shared the cake with Sam. At1:30 we went back to the room for Sam’s nap. I read my book while he snoozed. We showered and dressed and went down pictures. For dinner Sam had chateaubriand with CherryBing soup and I had tiger shrimp with the Cherry Bing soup as well. When you are in Alaska, you have to havebaked Alaska for dessert!

 

After dinner we went to the Follies Theater to see EpicRock. Awesome show!! The dancers and singers put on a show of 70’sand 80’s rock. The show lasted for 45minutes and included songs from Bon Jovi, Queen, Heart, Joan Jett andothers. After the show, off to bed.

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VICTORIA B.C.

At this port I really wanted to go to the ButchartGardens. I knew Sam wouldn’t be thatinterested because it’s 55 acres of flowers, but he came along anyway. We ate a big breakfast on the lido deck andwalked off the ship at 10:30. Grabbed ataxi right away over to the Empress Hotel. At the CVS tours booth we traded in our vouchers for tickets to theButchart Gardens. We waited about 10minutes and a coach bus arrived to take us the Gardens. The driver of the bus provided somenarratives along the route. We arrivedat the Gardens around 11:45. And it wasraining again. Throughout the gardensthey had complimentary umbrellas in stands that you could use throughout thegardens. First thing we did was hit thelittle café and get some hot chocolate. Wespent almost 2 hours walking through the gardens. Sam was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed thebeauty and landscaping of the gardens. Our favorite was the Japanese Gardens. After walking around we decided to stop in at the Blue Poppy restauranton the grounds and share a meatball sub. At 2:00 we boarded the bus back to the Empress Hotel. We were under the impression that the buswould take us directly back to the cruise pier but the bus driver said hedidn’t have enough time. We asked thethe CVS tour booth how to get back and they said we had to walk 4 blocks up thestreet to catch the bus. The bus cameand we walked on board and the bus driver said we needed tickets. We stated that the CVS people told us to comehere to catch the bus. The fare was $6per person. I told Sam we can catch ataxi back. The taxi was $8.50. On our way back to the ship, I mentioned toSam about going down by the harbor and he wasn’t interested so we continue onto the ship. Once back at the port, wewalked through a gift shop and were back on board at 3:30. Stopped at the Pixel Gallery and bought ourportrait from the night before. Met upwith Mary and Marty again. Mary andMarty were doing your time dining, which meant they could go eat at any timebetween 5:30 and 9:00. Sam and I hadassigned dinner at 5:30. All week thebooth next to us at dinner was occupied once. We asked Mary and Marty to join us for dinner in the booth. When we got to the dining room, Sam talked toArlan our waiter about sitting in the booth with Mary and Marty. Arlan went and talked to the maître and itwas no problem. Sam and I received agift card for a free bottle of wine from the casino so we presented the card toArlan and ordered Moscato. We waited forthe wine when Arlan came over and said they ran out of Moscato. All the other wines on the list were of thedry variety and I’m not much for dry wine. Mary and I agreed on the Merlot. Marty bowed out from the wine and we toasted our new friendship. We had a small glass of wine and offered theremainder of the wine to Arlan, which he gladly accepted. For dinner I had the Salmon cakes and primerib while Sam had Mango soup and prime rib. After dinner we said our good byes to Mary and Mary and headed back tothe room to pack. Mary and Marty wantedto be the first ones off the ship because they drove to Seattle from Coloradoand wanted to get an early start on the road.

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DISEMBARKATION

Sam was up at 6:00 and I woke at 6:30. Over to the lido deck to fuel up on a bigbreakfast because we had another long day ahead of us. We walked off the ship at 8:30, throughcustoms at 8:45 and out to Seattle Express again for an airport drop-off. Easy walk off the ship and throughcustoms. The bus left the port at 9:05and arrived at the airport by 10:10. After a quick check in, potty break, TSA precheck, we were at our gateby 10:29. Boarding started about 5minutes later and we were on our way to Vegas.

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LAS VEGAS

We landed in Vegas about 15 minutes early, 1:15. After grabbing our suitcases we followed thesigns for the car rental shuttles. Aquick 5 minute ride or so and we were at Alamo checking in for our car. Our reservation was for a luxury car, Cadillac$50/day. Over at the garage there was acustomer taking off in the last luxury car. An agent came over to look at our reservation and said he had an Audicoming in shortly. I said we would takea free upgrade to a SUV but he walked away and showed up in an AudiQuattro. After some brief instructionson how to start the car, we were off to the hotel. Our hotel was The D on Fremont Street. Check in went smoothly and we walked over tothe elevator area. Deluxe city view roomfor $33/night. There were no up or downbuttons. You had to enter your floornumber in the keypad in front of the elevator. Then it told you which elevator to get on. We dropped off our luggage in the room andheaded down to the casino. After a fewhours of play we headed over to the Fremont for buffet dinner. There was a 15 minute wait and we got in fortheir seafood buffet. No problem for meeven coming back from all the seafood in Alaska. I love seafood! Buffet was really good. Walked back to The D and had the valet pickup our car. We drove about 20 minutesover to Mandalay Bay to see the Michael Jackson One by Cirque Du Soleil. We had some time so I stuck some money in aslot machine and hit for $40, cashed it out and walked over to thetheater. In all the times we’ve been toVegas, we never went to see a Vegas style show. Sam really wanted to take in a show this time. I really don’t know where to begin todescribe this show. Sam just kept sayingWOW after every routine. Hailed byRolling Stone as “A virtual parade of ‘wow’ moments,” Michael Jackson ONE byCirque du Soleil is an electrifying fusion of acrobatics, dance and visualsthat reflects the dynamic showmanship of the King of Pop. Your eyes were moving the entire timethroughout the show. There was so muchgoing on, from the performers on the ceilings to the performers on the walls onthe side of the theater. Lots of laserlights and theatrics. The best showwe’ve ever seen!! Highly recommend!!

After the show we drove back to The D, played some slots fora little while and then off to bed.

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Wednesday morning we got up and went down to the McDonaldsin The D for coffee. Played the slots for a little while then walked out onFremont Street. Stopped in a few casinosand tested the slots. Found a DunkinDonuts in one of the casinos and had some donuts. Far cry from the lido deck breakfast. Walked through some more casinos and madedonations. Grabbed the car and drove over the World Famous Gold & SilverPawn Shop which is the basis for the TV show Pawn Stars. They had a selfie booth inside so we took ourselfie and posted it to Facebook right away. Dropped the car back at the valet. Starting to get hungry so wewalked to the end of Fremont Street to a food court. Found a man lying on the ground there. Notsure if he was homeless, drunk or hungover. Waited about 10 minutes at a Mexican eatery and wasn’t waited on so wewalked over to Denny’s’. Walked downFremont Street and checked out some of their gift shops. Stopped and watched a street magician twirl acard in midair. Then I handed him anickel and he twirled that in midair and did some midair flips with it beforetossing it back over to me. Walked backto the hotel for Sam’s nap. Around 4:00we went down to the casino and played some more slots. For dinner we headed over to The Fremont buffetagain but the line was very long. So weheaded over to the Golden Nugget for their buffet. Theirs wasn’t as good as the Fremont’s. Came out of the buffet and the light show wasgoing on. By this time Fremont Streetwas pretty crowded and a different type of crowd was coming out. There were young women standing on the streetwith just enough to cover their private parts. Vegas sure has changed since we were last there about 15 years ago. Played some more slots before heading tobed.

Thursday

Woke up early and packed up our things. Left the hotel a little after 6:00 am. Driving down I-15 I noticed we were drivingthe wrong way. I told Sam we had to turnaround. A few minutes later driving inthe right direction I could see the hotels on the strip and knew we wereheading the right way. Dropped the carrental off and took the shuttle over to the airport. Check in went smooth and we walked to the TSAprecheck line but it was closed due to TSA dogs sniffing the passengers. We were still able to go through security withouttaking off our shoes or jackets. Stoppedat an airport eatery for a breakfast burrito and then boarded the plane for our8:30 am flight. We landed in Milwaukeearound 1:45 and called Sam's sister Sandy for our pickup. 45 minutes later we were back to home sweet home.

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Afterthoughts

This was our best vacation ever! Alaska did not disappoint!! So much beautiful scenery to behold withwhales, eagles and glaciers. The weatherwasn’t very cooperative but we knew it would be cold before we left. The ship layout was so different than theother ships we have sailed on. We gotturned around quite a bit on this ship but it didn’t spoil our vacation. Westayed under the Lido deck which turned out to be ok. Never heard any noises coming fromabove. I would never book a cabin underthe lido deck for a Caribbean cruise. All the excursions we did were top notch. So many memories to cherish now. Our only Vegas style show will be wellremembered. Plus we made some goodfriends on the ship. We just need tofind some time to visit them in Colorado. Thanks for reading along.

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  • 2 months later...
Afterthoughts

This was our best vacation ever! Alaska did not disappoint!! So much beautiful scenery to behold withwhales, eagles and glaciers. The weatherwasn’t very cooperative but we knew it would be cold before we left. The ship layout was so different than theother ships we have sailed on. We gotturned around quite a bit on this ship but it didn’t spoil our vacation. Westayed under the Lido deck which turned out to be ok. Never heard any noises coming fromabove. I would never book a cabin underthe lido deck for a Caribbean cruise. All the excursions we did were top notch. So many memories to cherish now. Our only Vegas style show will be wellremembered. Plus we made some goodfriends on the ship. We just need tofind some time to visit them in Colorado. Thanks for reading along.

 

Were you happy with the glaciers you did see? We're hoping to do this same cruise the last week of July 2018 to celebrate my DH's birthday & 2 days later our anniversary.

 

I had hope to do Glacier Bay but that one is the end of August into Sept. Don't want to wait that late.

 

We love Spirit class ships and have been on Legend before so don't want to jump cruiselines. We are Platinum and don't want to start at the bottom on another cruiseline.

 

We normally do all our cruises (B2B) mid-January, Caribbean, of course.

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  • 1 year later...
On 6/1/2017 at 2:22 PM, Anyislandwilldo said:

Sunday May 7. We both woke up around 5:00 am. Went down to the lobby to get some breakfast. After breakfast the shuttle took us over to the Link Light Rail. We arrived about 7:30.

Sam purchasing our round trip tickets. $6.00 roundtrip.

At about 7:45 the Link arrived. We boarded and were headed down to the WestLake Center in downtown Seattle. Riding the Link was nice because we were able to see more of the city without the distraction of driving. Upon arrival in downtown, we walked out of the Westlake Center, up the stairs to Pine Street and then down to the Market Place on 4th and Pine.

 

Walked through the Marketplace and saw lots of flowers,fresh fish, and produce. There was some jellyt hat caught Sam’s eye but he didn’t buy any. Saw the guys tossing the fish at the Pike Place Fish Market. Didn’t get a picture because I couldn’t get the camera out in time. Here I am with one of the workers.

 

DSC03155.JPG

DSC03117.JPG

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