Indytraveler83

I'll have to keep an eye on that. We have been fully Carnival, but part of it is simply because we are now about two cruises away from Platinum, and trying to get that loyalty status! Lol. I'd be open to trying others, especially for specific places or itineraries.

We had a bit of an adventure heading home. Delta has some sort of pilot issue that caused our initial flight to Salt Lake City to be delayed. When we landed there, we had 5 minutes to make the gate on the flight to Detroit, so we ended up sprinting to the gate like in the movies! The rest of the trip was pretty easy, justifying why we'd chosen to fly out of Detroit rather than O'Hare. Final thoughts: *Alaskan ports are amazing. It's an epic adventure I will never forget, and I hope everyone gets a chance to do this at least once. *Carnival does a pretty good job of adapting to the cold weather cruise and we really enjoyed the onboard experience, even if it's a bit toned down. *If/when we do this again, we will likely take one of the slightly different itineraries that permit more time on every port. Our least favorite part was the very short port times to end the cruise. * After a very rough experience on the Valor, we were happy to have a good overall cruise on the Spirit. The Spirit class might be the only remaining older ships we will sail in the future. Questions? Thought? Here to answer anything that you think I missed!

Victoria BC: One of the most unusual days we've had cruising. We woke up very late and had a true brunch for once. We spent most of the day hanging out on Serenity, reading and relaxing as the ship headed to Canada. Onboard entertainment was pretty much non-existent, with no evening entertainment scheduled at all. We had signed up for Seattle's Port Valet service, so for the first time in our cruise career we set our bags outside after dinner as we prepared for the port stop. Ok, so this was the lowlight of our cruise. Carnival shuts down entertainment and let's you know how badly they want you to get off the ship and explore Victoria. We didn't get an excursion as the stop is only a few short hours. Once off the ship, if you don't have an excursion, you have two options: attempt to board a double decker shuttle bus with every single person on the ship for $17/person or take a pedicab into town for $80. We stood in line for the shuttle for a few minutes and realized it was going to take forever to get on the bus, let alone get downtown and do anything. Frustrated, we got back on the ship and got a snack before heading to bed. I know this stop is a legal necessity for Alaskan cruises. But this stop is junk. Absolutely junk. There's no effort to even make is slightly appealing or even accommodating to passengers. And shutting down all onboard entertainment to encourage people to get off the ship is even more junk. Next time we will eat late and get a drink or two on the open decks to close out the evening. Up next: Heading home and final thoughts

The next day was Ketchikan, and we were dragging badly. At first look, the area is cute and historic looking. We got off the ship looking to do the "Salmon Walk" to get our blood moving in the morning. Again, at first it was nice. We crossed a bridge and watched seals hunt salmon at the mouth of the creek. We continued down Creek Street and saw the dying days of the salmon run here as well. However, low tide and some pretty rocky ledges combined to create a gory scene (which I won't show) of stranded, torn up, rotting fish. The area smelled of them too. The salmon ladder was a cool thing to see though: We were a little disappointed to find this historic district teeming with non-local mass market vendors. Yes there are a few locals here, but as with much of Alaska, finding local artists and locally made goods is a little harder than it should be. The Salmon Walk turned a little harder as well. The street signs do little to help direct you, and we twice found ourselves in parking lots with no way to go. Another attempt put us in front of the local homeless shelter, where we were finally offered some locally made goods. Unfortunately, illicit drugs weren't the type of souvenirs we intended to collect, so we headed back toward the toward the dock to attend the nearby Lumberjack show. The show itself was cute and filled with both humor and history lessons. While not the legendary experience our other excursions were, we laughed and cheered enough to make it worth it. Given our rather smelly and irritating walk through town, it felt worth it. We walked around a little more and I bought a few cheap Alaska items from the shops I rather despise as gifts for friend and then we headed back to the ship. Note: I'll note here that this is likely not a bad stop. We were worn down from over a week of hiking and exploring at this point, and being a relatively short stop, we had directed most of our shore excursion budget to the first two stops. We heard of some very fun fishing excursions here, and if it was longer, we likely would have done more. We made it back on the ship in time for a rare seated lunch, which looked as good as anything on formal nights: We spent the rest of the evening listening to music on a very weird feeling day. This is the last night of evening entertainment on the cruise due to the late stop in Victoria on the next day. The violin trio was nice to hear for the last time, and the member that recognized us actually spent one of her breaks talking to us, asking for advice on shore excursions (they just boarded the ship and we're trying to make the most of it before it repositioned in a few weeks). The piano bar was fun as well, and we spoke with everyone for a while after before finally heading for bed around midnight. Up next: Victoria BC

Leaving the glacier was bittersweet, as we found ourselves again snapping so many pictures our phone batteries were dying. We boarded our tour bus back to the port. They allowed a stop downtown if you wanted to eat or shop, but with less than an hour till back on board and our adventures leaving us with badly aching joints (why hello 40th birthday, here's my reminder!) we opted to return to the ship. I'll also remark that it appears the only way to get more authentic shopping and dining is to get away from the pier. As we rode back, we saw many cool places 1/2 mile or even more than a mile from the ship. But the ship itself is parked in the middle of mass produced novelty mecca, which we had no interest in. Back on the dock, we saw that the beautiful Carnival Luminosa had arrived for its stay here, and I captured a wonderful photo of it from our balcony once we boarded the Spirit. I'm not sure how it looks inside, but the repainted Costa Funnel looks marvelous in Carnival colors, and the ship is a very handsome addition to the fleet. Saying goodbye to Juneau, we found ourselves aching and hungry. Dinner service continued to improve as we ended up with the same wait staff again, who started to learn our preferences. The rest of the night was admittedly a bit of a blur. My knees and back hurt badly, and when Tylenol didn't touch it, I decided it was time to see Mr. Jack Daniels about the problem. I'm not certain if it helped the pain or not, but we found our friends we met in Seattle and decided to attend both comedy shows with the comedians who were freshly aboard. All of us were pretty...um... let's just say not ok to drive... and we found the comedy to be some of the funniest we'd seen in years. The Spirit has a fairly large comedy club, permitting them to not have to clear it after every show. We spent the rest of the night laughing and trying to drink away the pain of miles of hiking and adventure. Next up: Ketchikan!

Ok folks, let's get back to it! Juneau was a rough morning, having deeply overextended ourselves the night before. We somehow dragged ourselves to breakfast and found oatmeal, toast and yogurt parfaits to be the easiest source of energy. Getting off the ship, we proceeded slowly to our meeting place with Juneau Whale Watch, a non-cruise ship excursion. On the way, we walked the dock, read about the history of Juneau and dodged some overly aggressive tour operators that were certain we'd have time to enjoy their tours as well. We picked our private excursion for two reasons: 1) It was both cheaper than the ship and locally owned. 2) It has a combo of whale watching and a trip to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center and Park, which would allow us the up close glacier experience we hadn't had yet. The whale watching did not disappoint. We were told shortly after we boarded the fairly new boat that we were in for a treat. Turns out, there was a bit of a feeding frenzy going on, and we quickly found ourselves in the middle of 6-8 whales actively feeding. I've seen videos of boats as they hunt for one or two whales, and that was not the case here at all. Our Captain would put us upriver, turn off the engine and let the boat drift through the feeding frenzy. Once we'd drifted safely away from the whales, he'd repeat. We got about an hour of excellent whale watching (though they are impossibly hard to photograph well) After that was done, we boarded a bus for the short ride out to the glacier. Many folks had booked this part of the tour in the hopes of seeing bears hunting salmon in the nearby stream. Those people would find themselves disappointed, as the salmon here were starting to get fairly rotten, so instead they got the interesting and so.wwhat sad sight of salmon at the very end of their lives, fighting to the bitter end for breeding rights that may never come. However, we did not book this part of the trip to see bears. We wanted to hike and see how close we could get to some cool sights. We were not disappointed. Nugget Falls is about a mile hike down an easy trail, and if you want to get really close, at low tide you can wade out to a gravel island that allows you so close you can feel the spray. Here is where we also got close enough to photograph the edge of the glacier. Sadly, it is receding fast, as evidenced by the various markers on the trail reminding you that 40, 30 and even 20 years ago, you are standing where ice once was.

Sorry to leave everyone hanging. I'm going to get back to this review soon, but life got REAL busy this week! The worst part of vacation is catching up when you get back!

The best way to buy beer on board is by the bucket (assuming you don't have Cheers). You get 6 sealed, canned beers for $6 off, in an ice filled bucket. Staff all over the ship seems pretty willing to refill the ice if it melts as well. I'd buy by the bucket, then carry it around the ship until I was out. If I wasn't drinking heavily, it could last a few days, with the occasional ice refill.

We wandered around near the port and found that we had totally missed a neat feature of this port! Ending in a small pond off of the river, there was a significant salmon run in progress! We spent nearly an hour watching salmon fight, try to spawn and even take their last breaths as they finished their lifecycle in the spot their lives began. It was a cool and unexpected event that we would end up seeing to some degree in each and every port. Coming from a place where fish weighing a few pounds are hard to find, it was crazy to see a river boiling with 10-15 lb fish, uncaring that they were seen and unwavering in their determination. Our chosen excursion was a fairly new one, and the only Carnival excursion we took during the trip: Rock climbing and rappelling. We ended up being very lucky, as only one other couple selected the 3PM tour, leaving only four people in our group. We started with three guides, who rode in the van with us to the site, giving us heavy recommendations on what else to do locally and heavily recommending Skagway Spirits for a post climbing drink. We didn't feel we would have time to visit though, and they were bound to drop us off at the port by contract. The climbing was outstanding. Sheer rock faces and easier climbs scattered the landscape. Two of our guides departed, heading to larger groups of zip lines in the area, leaving us with one calm and reassuring guide who helped all four of us learn how to climb. It was a difficult and scary experience, but it was exactly what I wanted to do to prove to myself that at 40 I'm not as old as my family would make it seem. Despite that, I nearly has a panic attack when one of our climbing mates ended up misstepping and hanging upside down from her safety rope, giggling loudly the entire time. Our guide was calm in assisting her in getting righted and back on the wall, and we found the entire experience to be nerve wrecking, yet we felt 100% safe the entire time. On the way back, our guide asked us if we needed a drink. We told him we did, but repeated that we didn't think we'd have time to hike from the port to the distillery and back. He just winked at us and dropped us off right in front of Skagway Spirits, where we enjoyed vodka, gin and mixed drinks that were infised with spruce tips, fireweed and other local flavors. Our short time there was one of the most local feeling things we'd done the whole day, and I can't recommend it any higher, especially if you'd like to experience a place that doesn't feel quite so touristy. But the time we got back on the ship, our Fitbits registered 18 miles of hiking and walking, and we'd spend a true 12 hours moving, leaving us exhausted after one of the most unique, fun and rewarding port days we've ever had on a cruise. We nearly feel asleep during a dinner I can barely remember, and were in bed by 9PM. Skagway notes: The train remains one of the coolest things to do, and we will likely ride it the next time we go. There's tons of time here, enough to do multiple excursions or plenty of hiking and exploring. I'm sure there's some cool airborne excursions here, but in a place literally named after the strong winds, it isn't the ideal place to book a helicopter if you don't have backup plans. Really pay attention if you want local goods and products. Shops try hard to seem local, even if they aren't. There are "Alaska made" labels that can help assist you, but even then it grows confusing when shops put those logos in the windows, only to represent a few of the items in their stores. Overall though, this is likely my favorite cruise port ever. There is so much to do, and even 12 hours in port isn't enough. The local flavors, the smell of spruce and the epic scenery are overwhelming and the experience of a lifetime. Up next: Juneau!

Heading back through town, we looked briefly through the shops, but while they were all housed in the neat historic buildings, we found far too many to be occupied by the regular cast of souvenir shops (Diamonds International, etc etc) and places that stated they were Alaskan owned, only to still be hawking mass produced goods. There were a few small shops owned by local artists and craftsmen, and I would encourage you to seek those places out, as they had some pretty awesome artwork and products. Having spent little time shopping, we decided to continue hiking through town and onto Lower Reid Falls and the Gold Miners Graveyard north of town. The route is another few miles, but you can take a shuttle (or excursion) if you wish. However, if you don't mind walking, there's plenty of time to head there for free. The route takes you past the rail yard, where we wondered the story beyond this long abandon (and badly damaged) steam locomotive. Again, we did not take photos in the graveyard, despite being a tourist destination, but we were able to learn some interesting stories about the frontier life and some true heroes of the Last Frontier. It's a touching and honestly sobering place that grounds you in the dreams and heartbreaks of the early people to try and make a life up north. The fall were a cool place where you can step right up to the waters and touch the icy flow from the glaciers above. There are signs all over of the ever changing landscape, trails that start and end in fits, signs of old rockslides or avalanches, and the scars of glacial movement are apparent on every rock face. We finally hiked back into town and headed to Skagway Brewing to try the Spice tip ale and some local seafood. The picture above isn't great, but it shows half of the thick salmon sandwich I had for lunch. The food was very good, and despite being busy, they seem to have a very good system to turn tables and get food to customers without a horrible wait. Once we finished eating, we still had a few more hours before our chosen excursion.

Onto Skagway! (This will be another multi entry day) We woke up on this morning to find the ship docked fairly early. Thankfully breakfast in the dining room was moving faster now, and we got in and out in under 30 minutes. Knowing it would be a long day, we had oatmeal and yogurt, hoping for some base foods to fuel us for the day. We got off the ship shortly after 7 am and headed right out, hoping for some early morning hiking. Our departure was slightly delayed as the train passed before us, which resulted in a very cool video, and a few good pictures. Once the train had passed, we followed some online directions that took us briefly through town and toward the river crossing, with the intent to hike to Smugglers Cove. This picture was taken on the bridge across the river, and we experienced some of the strongest winds we had ever seen without a storm. The windsock are the nearby airport was fully sideways in the wind, and the landing aircraft shimmied and bounced as they fought the wind. Many helicopters were able to take off, but just as many were forced to cancel. If a helicopter excursion is in your future be warned: the wind here is constant and your excursion is not guaranteed even in clear weather. On our way to Smugglers Cove, we encountered a very cool little beachhead where we got some great pictures. The cove itself was not quite as picturesque, but had a cool historical significance to the region. At this point, we had hiked about 5 miles from the ship. Thankfully, we are both very experienced (and very fast) hikers, so not much of the morning had passed yet. We continued on the branching trails, weaving in and out of the woods and along the river. We happened upon a touching pet cemetery, where we didn't take pictures out of respect, but were moved by the care that the local population has for their pets. After that, we headed across the river and back into town to explore further.

I would have loved to stepped foot on the ice like that! I'm hoping in the future to be able to afford to do just that. I also agree with you about the dog sledding excursions. My parents did that excursion in Skagway last year, and while they enjoyed it, they expected something more from it. Aside from being pulled very briefly by a team of dogs on a large buggy of sorts, it was basically them paying quite a bit of money to pet dogs.

I will do my best to try and help with that. I literally created spreadsheets and poured over my options for months. The Alaska specific boards here are also very helpful. A few thoughts overall on Alaskan excursions: 1) You will miss something you want to do. There is so much cool stuff and only a few days. You really have to narrow down on what type of experience you want to have. 2) Excursions can be insanely expensive. We can't afford most of that stuff (helicopter rides, sea planes, etc) and we did this trip on a fairly strict budget. In fact, we only budgeted $400/person for excursions the entire trip (which wouldn't even cover some of the singe excursions). I'll save my specific thoughts on each port for my entries, but as an avid hiker and wildlife enthusiast, my theme was "boots in the soil" and I decided I wanted to see as much as I could, as close as I could. So I ruled out aircraft, the train and anything else that kept me behind a window and in a seat. My first poet was Skagway, and I'll start writing on that epic adventure sometime this weekend!

I've included the picture below for reference, so you can see how overwhelming it is from the balcony. My pictures are not zoomed in from a distance. These scenes are almost on top of you. Waterfalls, ice flows and rocky scars from both scarred the landscape: The glacier itself wasn't fully visible from where the ship turned around, and only those who paid the extra to go see it got to travel down an even more narrow corridor. I hear it often isn't worth it, but our friends from the atrium went, and reported a chunk of ice came loose, giving them amazing pictures and video of it. I could keep posting pictures, we probably took well over 100 each, and stayed out on the balcony until it grew bone chillingly cold. Afterwards we ate in the dining room, went the the piano bar and enjoyed ourselves onboard, but most of it is a blur, as our minds couldn't possibly refocus from the breathtaking views we'd seen that day. Next up (sometime this weekend): Twelve intense hours in Skagway.

We raised a toast after pulling the blankets from the bed and every ounce of warm clothing from the closets. We weren't going anywhere. But the ice sure was. Larger and larger chunks of ice drifted by, the one below bigger than a city bus, and some even larger than the boats that emerged from the mist to pick up passengers to get and up close view of the glacier. The ridges kept growing impossibly tight against the ship, making it feel like we'd arrived in a narrow canal of ice and wonder. Hope you aren't sick of pictures, because there's more coming up!

The reason for the frequent foghorn emerged into the open about as quickly as the fog vanished. A member of the Princess fleet was emerging from the Fjord, and glided quietly by as the Spirit slowed to a crawl. We sat on Serenity until lunch time, but distant whale sightings (too far for pictures) and the towering cliffs began attracting crowds to the rail. It is specifically this day that a balcony makes all the difference. As chunks of ice floated by, and the ridges grew ever closer, we retreated to our balcony, threw on warm clothes and emerged just in time to hit an ice berg! Ok, ok, so this isn't exactly Titanic level stuff here, that is probably the size of a king sized mattress. But at least I can say we were on a ship that hit an iceberg! (Part 3 coming up!)

The morning to cruise Tracy Arm Fjord had arrived in dense fog. I know we ate breakfast in the dining room, but for the life of me I don't remember it. We ate quickly and emerged to see this: The Spirit was cutting through soupy fog, blowing it's horn every so often. While interior decks were packed, the outside of the ship was ghostly as an icy chill still hung in the air. At times, the fog was so thick you felt you could have parted it with your fingers. And yet, there were outlines in the distance, suggesting massive shapes and looming ridges were just beyond sight. Light was bending in fantastical ways, sending bent rainbows arcing through the fog and off onto the horizon. Pictures truly do not do it justice. It's as if thick clouds were mimicking glaciers as they rolled down the mountains and into the sea. And as the fog cleared, great peaks began to emerge in the distance, showing evidence of a land so young that top soil has barely made its mark yet on the rocky outcroppings. (Part 2 next, I'll try to limit posts to 3 pictures each to assist with uploading issues)

Getting ready to post my next entry, and this is where the cruise sort of shifted gears. Up to this point, it was a "cruise," one that was going fairly well, but still your run of the mill, nothing out of the ordinary ordeal. Had we gotten off the ship after a few more days of that, we would have enjoyed ourselves, went home relaxed, and thought about what to do next. But we had arrived in Alaska. And well folks, that's a game changer...

We awoke the next morning refreshed and ready to start the day early. As is typical, dining room breakfast was a little rough, made worse by the throngs of people unfamiliar with the Hub App and check in. That said, the food was good and we decided it was warm enough to head outside and relax. Now the wind was a little high and rain came and went all day. But it was still in the 60's, so the covered part of the Serenity deck was the best place to relax. Thankfully, we were nearly the only folks to think so, and spent much of the late morning and early afternoon reading, sharing a bucket of beers and unwinding a little. Heading to dinner, I captured a picture of the signature drink in Alchemy, which felt more than fitting for me (yet I forgot to get one on the way out). Dinner went smoother than breakfast, but I don't particularly remember anything notable as we were eager to get out and enjoy the evening. We changed in the room quickly (making sure not to get close to the bed this time) and headed out first to the atrium to enjoy the music. As we sat there, we noticed a couple on the other end of the bar staring at us. They'd stare, then whisper, then stare some more. Just as it was getting uncomfortable, the woman approached us. "Did you two go sightseeing in Seattle?" She asked. "Yes." We replied, confused. She looked over to the man and nodded her head vigorously. "Were you on the Seattle Underground tour Sunday? With Bill Speidel's?" "Yes," we replied "TOLD YOU!" She shouted across the bar to the man. "Thanks guys, my husband owes me $100.00 now! I told him I recognized you!" We were fast friends from that point and would share quite a few good moments over the course of the cruise. They became our atrium bar buddies and we looked forward to sharing our days with them. But this wasn't the only familiar face. The violin trio was "New Age" which we recognized from the Valor earlier in the year. We were eager to watch them, as their time on the Valor only overlapped our dinner, catching them in short spurts after dinner when they were finishing their set. We had enjoyed them previously, but only caught about 30 minutes of their music in total prior to this. Yet on their first break, one of the members came down and recognized us. She said it's the first time she's seen a repeat face on a different ship. We were shocked, and a little humbled she had noticed us. She would come down and talk to us frequently during the cruise, even asking for advice on the ports. They are new to the ship and trying to enjoy the few remaining weeks of the Alaskan season. Our evening ended in the piano bar, where we met Jamie, one of the better piano played we've had in a while. While he's still building his song list, he's rather good at granting requests in a timely manner and even better at reading the crowd and choosing songs based on the audience. We headed to bed late, ready to cruise Tracy Arm Fjord and sight see from the comfort of the ship the next day. Up next: Tracy Arm Fjord!

Getting to the ship was fairly easy. The Spirit was the only ship in port and we had selected an 11:30 check in time. Despite arriving at 11:10, we found ourselves whisked through security and onboard by 11:18 am. Now while we usually attend the safety briefing right away, we were left no choice once onboard. Everyone was shuttled to their muster station where we were taken through a very brief safety briefing and then we're free to find some lunch. Blue Iguana never disappoints, so we found ourselves with tacos on our new home for the next week. Exploring the Spirit, it felt both familiar and fresh. We have cruised on the Miracle in the past, but sailing on origin ship of the class felt different. I'll say that the Spirit didn't feel like a 21 year old ship. While it still holds the same flare as the original Farkus ships, the bronze theme throughout gives it a much more toned down feel versus it's sister ships. Most public spaces felt clean and kept up, with only a few small signs of wear and tear. Throughout the trip we found that everything we touched functioned and we never sat on a worn out chair or saw anything broken. Neither our previous trip on the Miracle or the disaster on the Valor presented us with a ship kept up quite as well. That said, both the dining room and the main lounge had heavy theming that reminded us of the 90's Vegas style that these ships were known for. We snapped a quick picture of the surrounding hills before the Spirit slid away from the dock and we prepared for a special birthday dinner at the steakhouse. We also met our room steward for the first time. His name was "John" and he seemed very eager to speak with guests. After having a fun conversation with him about his favorite things to do in Alaska, we headed to eat. The food at the steakhouse was good as usual. Steaks cooked exactly to order, soup served piping hot and the complimentary wine came quickly with good service. Our only disappointment was that it seems folks in the steakhouse are seated closer and closer together, so my special birthday dinner appeared to have been shared with four random strangers next to us. Additionally, the price hike to dine there and the "good" food didn't quite meet the mark. To be clear, everything was good. But was it $42/person better than the MDR? Not really. This will likely be our last steakhouse visit unless/until it undergoes some changes. Now we had taken dramamine prior to departure, having heard the Pacific Ocean could be a little bit rougher. That combined with the wine has us feeling quite sleepy. John saw us on our way back to our room to change and asked about our plans. We told him we wanted to hear some music and watch comedy. Well, the only music I heard was the sound of snoring. We sat down on the bed very briefly with the intention of dressing into comfortable clothes at around 8 PM. I woke up at midnight and we still hadn't changed. Whoops! Next up: First sea day!

I wish I could say our return flight went smoothly... lol. Gonna try to get a few entries in today!

Glad to see the interest everyone! Our flight schedule yesterday ended up more brutal than expected, so I've been up for nearly 48 hours. I'll write an entry again once I've slept and am a bit more coherent!

For me it's not small vs big per say. It's about ship design of public spaces. I personally find the Conquest and Dream classes the least desirable. Both of them seem to have a few, but very large public areas that make the ship feel very crowded. The Spirit class has quite a few public spaces, and rarely are there enough passengers to fill them. The Vista class has smaller spaces(relative to ship size), but a LOT of them, making it feel like there are a ton of choices and making it feel like there's always somewhere that isn't crowded to escape if needed. But it really depends on what you are looking for. As pointed out above, the Dream class may have the best spa, and the uninterrupted lanai is another strong point. If you are looking for a true throwback experience and a reminder of earlier days, the remaining fantasy class ships are a strong option.

Seattle: We stayed at Hotel Andra, as I mentioned in the previous post and found it to be one of the best hotel stays in a while. In addition to the room upgrade and early check in, we found premium shower and toiletry products in the room, an in room espresso maker and a somewhat old fashioned experience with bags brought to your room, doors opened by staff and the extreme politeness you usually associate with very high end places. The Public Market area was fun, but too full of the tourist wares and reproduced things we've seen at about every place we travel on the first level. Going deeper, there were cool eateries, some antique stores and special places that were were exploring. Food and drink overall was good, but fairly pricy. Our favorite though was a hole in the wall pizza place called the Alibi Room (literally a hole in the gum wall) where the happy hour specials included half price pizza, discounted drinks and a welcome relief from the throngs of folks flooding the area. We also took a Seattle Underground tour through Bill Speidel's which was an entertaining hour jaunt through the tunnels below the city My only negative feeling for Seattle comes with the complicated topic of the homeless population. We found Pioneer Square to be unexplorable, and often some of the main downtown areas overrun with homeless people openly using drugs and stumbling through the streets. I'm not going to venture into social commentary, but as a tourist looking for welcoming, safe places to explore, we found this city more difficult to feel that way than Chicago and New Orleans. After our time in Seattle was done, we took an Uber to the dock and boarded the Carnival Spirit! Up next: Day one and first impressions.

I did, but it was a summary as I had no intention of reliving the disaster day to day. In short, we found our fellow passengers to be rude, angry and disruptive. The Valor was in awful shape, with tons of things not working (including our bathroom for over a day). I hated the ship design overall (likely won't step foot on another Conquest class ship), found poor entertainment onboard (the violin trip being the only exception) and found Costa Maya to be a fairly poor port as well. To top it all off, it was a large family cruise full of personal drama and travel nightmares. I mostly have good travels and shake off the bad fairly well, having never previously said a cruise was bad. But that is one trip I wish I would have never taken, and it's likely put me off of cruises out of New Orleans, Conquest class ships, and anything shorter than 6 days permanently. That said, I hope my day to day review of the Spirit clues everyone in that I'm not an extremely negative person or reviewer. Alaska is a far different thing than a 5 day booze cruise.