Jenbo57
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Posts posted by Jenbo57
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I went back in December and they have a lovely new boardwalk by the port with free wifi and fountain shows now...
[YOUTUBE]GWjmRmyB7Ms[/YOUTUBE]
Nice! I'll be there next week; now I'm really looking forward to it!
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Nice job, Scott! I'll be down there in two weeks; at least now I know the layout. I like to walk, so I'll probably walk into town and do some exploring.
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Ours was a total bust on the 4/9/16 sailing of the Miracle. 60+ people had signed up. The room they assigned us was double booked, so we had to kick some of the entertainment staff out. Once we got in the room there was nothing...nothing...in there to indicate there was to be an event of any type taking place. I went to Guest Services, where the gal at the desk made two phone calls and finally told me no food, no beverages, no nothing. I should also note that the event listing in the Fun Times was asterisked with "Not affiliated with Carnival Cruise Lines."
We would have been better off contacting John Heald and having him arrange something for us. Lesson learned...
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This is great news!
28 of us have signed up for our April 9th sailing, and I'm sure we'll have more.
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For Alaska, no, not worth it! So much amazing scenery; I would very upset with any kind of obstruction. Plus, 7272 is a great location; port side, near the aft, and not in the "indented" portions of the ship. Your view will be amazing!
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You will be fine. The ships tie up at 6:00 a.m.; debarkation begins right around 7:30 a.m. Cab fare is higher than what was quoted above (it's going to run you $45-$48), but Shuttle Express will get you to Sea-Tac for $22. I wouldn't hesitate to book an 11:25 a.m. flight.
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I've been on the Splendor twice and the Westerdam once. Honestly, without going into too much detail, I'd say to sail on the Splendor. Although in my opinion the service and the food is better on HAL, your daughter will most likely be bored out of her mind. ;)
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The 25% off a future cruise really doesn't hold much appeal to me. This will be the third of eight cruises on Carnival where something like this has happened to us. Not a great track record. This would have been our fifth Alaska cruise, so it's not like we haven't already been to all of the ports; for me it's the principle.
I'm going to take my money and run!
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When you're in Juneau, head out to Mendenhall Glacier and walk the trail along Steep Creek. I've seen bears out there twice -- feasting on salmon from the creek -- from pretty close range. If there's a lot of bear activity there'll be a ranger there, just to keep an eye on things and to keep people from doing anything dumb. (Although there will always be "those" people who do dumb things no matter what you tell them. I stood next to a guy who repeatedly used his camera flash, after being told not to by the ranger so as not to spook the bear. *Sigh*)
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I vote for you to do it!
You'll be on the road before 9:00, especially if you get to Avis before it opens (7:45 usually works). If you're one of the first cars on the road that morning, you'll beat the tour buses, etc., and will have no problem getting to Emerald Lake and back -- with stops at Carcross (be sure to get your passport stamped), the Carcross desert, and plenty of scenic vistas along the way -- in time for your 2:30 excursion.
The beauty of that 14 hour time in port is that you can really cram a lot into the day. When we go back up there in July, we're visiting Haines, doing a flight-seeing trip over the west arm of Glacier Bay, and driving the Klondike Highway to Emerald Bay, all within that time frame.
Enjoy!!!
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Another vote for renting a car! We're doing it for the third time this summer; wouldn't have it any other way.
It's a gorgeous (and easy) drive, you can stop whenever/wherever you'd like, and who knows...maybe you'll even have the opportunity to get up close and personal to some pretty fantastic wildlife!
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beautiful pic! may i save it to put on my desktop at work?? :-)
Absolutely! It's one of my favorites, too...
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Only 4? That is normal or low for the number of ships in port.
DON
In my opinion, even four sucks. I was up there in April; first cruise of the season and the only ship in each port. Heavenly! Ketchikan especially is horrible when there are multiple ships in port, especially on Creek Street.
More than any other cruise destination, I think your experience in the Alaskan ports suffers the most by having multiple ships in port. But, it is what it is. We're going back up again the middle of next summer; not my choice, but we're cruising with teachers, and that's when they can go...
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Wow...fantastic! I think mine was the first one of the season; I just went back and re-read it. Such good memories!
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FTTF is sold out for our cruise.... Any chance that would change in the next 10 days??:D lol
They could add more depending on how many Platinum and above are booked for your sailing. On our Liberty cruise last year they started with 15 and when those were gone, they added another 15. Keep watching...
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Time of year does make a difference!
Emerald Lake, May 2, 2013
Emerald Lake, early June, 2011
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I can't help but wonder if something's up with H&M. The same thing as happened to the OP happened to a bunch of folks on our roll call for our sailing in late April, only H&M canceled the tour the day before, because of anticipated rough weather. That seemed kind of strange to me, since the weather reports I had read didn't call for high craft warnings. I was able to book a tour through Juneau Tours when we got off the ship in Juneau and had a great tour, and saw at least four other tour operators out at the same time. It was grey and dreary, but no rough water.
Reading through several recent CC reviews, I saw the same thing (canceled H&M trips) mentioned at least two times. This is not like them...
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Thanks for the review -
I wanted to ask about your bed. There is a thread on here about the "rock hard mattresses" on the Miracle. I have fibromyalgia, and I am worried! :eek:
Were they really bad ... I am bringing egg crate toppers. I am hoping that will help.
I thought my bed was just fine; not too hard, not too soft. My brother had no complaints about his either, and he tends to have back problems.
Hopefully you'll do just fine! :)
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Now we're booked on the Miracle on Sept. 3 :) It's the RT from Seattle--not the last cruise of the season but the second to last.
Oh Angie, really?!?!
Now you're giving me ideas!!! Hhhhmmm...
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We were on the same cruise too, and we feel the same way. I've done the first cruise of the season, now I'd love to do the last cruise of the season so we can see the difference.
Great review Jen!
Thanks, Deb! I still can't believe our paths never crossed. I so wanted to meet you... :(
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Great review, Jennifer, and awesome pictures. It was great to meet you and Joe. Laughed out loud at the pic of your bed arrangement, knowing your relationship!
BTW - we were on the Behind the Fun tour with Joe. That was me JOKING about the swan soap being white chocolate. I mean, we were in the steakhouse with its awesome desserts, so a gal can hope, you know?!
We plan to head North to Alaska again someday! Maybe we'll see you on the Klondike Highway again!
Yeah, the look on Joe's face when we opened our cabin door was pretty priceless! ;)
Oh my gosh, I can't believe that was you who thought the soap was white chocolate! I will admit that I thought the same thing when I did the tour on the Splendor in '09.
Yup, we'll be back, too. Not sure when...probably in 2015.
It was great meeting the two of you; take care, and be careful out there on that Harley!!!
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Wanting to hit the Like button on so many of these posts!
To bad there is not that function here :(
Thanks, Marie, and especially for all the hard work you did to make this cruise special for everyone! I hope to sail with you again some day! :)
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It was great meeting you and Joe. Christine and I had a blast hanging out with you guys. Doing the roll call made this cruise that much more enjoyable and I highly suggest that everyone participate in them.
I have a new desire to do more cruises and hopefully we can meet up with you guys again in the future.
You captured some things that we didn't get to do so I'm sure there will be a third trip to Alaska in our future. ;)
Gee, thanks, Don; you and Christine were awesome! I still laugh thinking about her knocking on doors on deck 5, trying to find us! :)
We'll keep in touch via Facebook, and hopefully our paths will cross again some day!
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This was my 7th cruise on Carnival, and 4th Alaska cruise. I've also gone up there on Celebrity, Holland America, and Norwegian. If I had to say which was my favorite, I'd probably choose NCL. I like the whole Freestyle thing, and the Pearl was a great ship for this itinerary. HAL also does a great job, and I like that several of their itineraries include Sitka. I have a love/hate thing with Carnival, always saying my next Carnival cruise will be my last, but overall they did just fine. No complaints whatsoever about the food, service, etc. Would I go to Alaska again with them? Probably not (see below). But it's great that there are so many ships/itineraries to choose from, isn't it?!?
What I liked:
- It was great being the only ship in port at all of our ports. None of those places are much fun when overcrowded with cruise ship passengers.
- I loved seeing so much ice and snow! The scenery really does change with the seasons, and this was the first time I got to see what winter looks like up there (since winter lingered longer than usual)!
- The pricing on this one was unbelievable. We paid $619 (+ tax) per person for our obstructed view balcony. Pretty much unheard of for Alaska. I think the cheapest I've paid prior was around $2,500 (for two) for a regular balcony, and I thought that was a pretty good deal. The balcony was fine; if you're trying to save money but really want a balcony, book one of these without hesitation.
What I didn't like:
- Being so early in the season, there were things I wanted to do that I couldn't, because they weren't open/available yet. The ferry from Skagway to Haines and a trip to Tracy Arm Fjord were two things that I had hoped to do but couldn't. I've been there now in early May, June (twice) and August; when we go back again next year or the year after, I think I'll aim for as late in the season as possible.
- I did not like that the Miracle had no forward facing lounge. It doesn't sound like a big of a deal, but folks who've cruised Alaska before on a ship that has one know what I'm talking about!
All in all, it was a great 8 days! There was some good weather, there was some not so good weather; that's just part of the experience! Hanging out at the Red Dog Saloon is always fun. The drive to the Yukon was like experiencing a winter wonderland; truly amazing. I loved the exploration we did outside Ketchikan. And last night my husband said that he's ready to go again, so I've already started looking at what's available for 2014.
Thanks, everyone, for checking out my review.
Happy cruising!!! :)
Cabo Excursions
in Princess Cruises
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We’re on the same sailing and had also booked that tour. My best bet is that they will adjust the time to our later arrival, at least I hope so. My favorite whale watching tour down there won’t work with our port times, so booking through Princess was my only option. We shall see….