Our Legend… (Wait for it) …Dary Alaskan Cruise 2017

This was our seventh cruise on Carnival and our first to Alaska. While on the Back-to-Back cruise on the Dream, we booked this cruise. We talked with the cruise planner about several different cruises, before settling on this one. She recommended cabin 6277. It is an extra wide cabin, due to the configuration of the ship. It turned out to be a good move.

All our previous cruises were warm weather locations. They may not have been during warm weather times here in the US, but it was warm where we went. Going to a cool weather location for a cruise would be different in many ways.

First of all, on the previous cruises, packing was easy. You tend to wear LESS clothing in the Caribbean. In Alaska, you wear MORE clothing. Packing was much more difficult.

Second, excursions tend to be water related. The beaches in the Midwest tend to suck. There is not a lot of sand, or water. The surf is never up…. Therefore, wen cruising, we try to get to as many beaches as possible. Alaska has a lot of beaches, but the water is COLD!

I enjoy the sea days. These days tend to be relaxing, and allow us to reenergize for the next port. Once we get to Skagway, there were no more sea days.

We talked DW’s sister and brother-in-law to join us on the cruise. We also talked DW's cousin DC to also join us on the cruise. DC asked a friend to go with her. So, SIL, BIL, DC, DCF, DW, and I were all set for the cruise.

Alaskan expeditions are not cheap. I figured it will be a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, so I wanted to get the most out of it. I had a few things that I wanted to accomplish on the cruise.

• Get to the Yukon. I read too many Jack London books when I was young.
  
• See a live bear. I want to get a close-up of one, but not to be close up when I do. I have long lenses to help do this.)
  
• See some eagles.
  
• Get a photo of a whale.
  
• See a glacier.
  
• Visit Seattle. I had not been there since 1979-80. (New Year's Eve in Vancouver, BC.)
  
• Go back to Canada.
  

I did a lot of research on what to do in Alaska and what would be the most economical way to do it. Some of the excursions were much cheaper booking directly. Others were not that much cheaper than what Carnival charges. Given some excursions may be going a long distance from the port, and Carnival guarantees the return to the ship, if the excursion is late, some we booked through Carnival. Others did not go that far out of town, and we booked directly.

The trip to the Yukon was booked through Carnival. There were too many risks booking directly (distance, weather, customs, etc.) It was a good choice, even though we got back in plenty of time.

Booking the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show directly was half the price of Carnival, and it was a two minute walk from the port.

Finally, the 15 months passed between booking the cruise and leaving for Seattle. It seemed like the cruise was going to be cursed. Everyone had something happen leading up to the cruise that would prevent them from going. The last one kept BIL from going. He wound up in the hospital and was going to be there for a while, so he told SIL to go ahead and cruise.

After getting the last suitcase packed, we headed to KC Sunday afternoon to catch the flight to Seattle. We booked a room at the airport Marriott. We stayed there on our wedding night some 31 years ago. (We were flying out for a cruise that time, as well.)

We checked in at KCI about 2 hours before the flight. The flight plan took us over Northeast Kansas, South and Central Nebraska, Central Wyoming, Yellowstone NP, Central Idaho, Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, around Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier before going over Redmond and turning south to land at Sea-Tac.

Flying Alaska Air

Somewhere over Wyoming

Columbia River

Mount Adams

Mount Adams and other peaks in a line.

Mount Rainier

Once we landed, we grabbed the subway and headed to the terminal to pick up our luggage. What was a big surprise to see all our luggage there as we arrived at baggage claim. Alaska Air did well. SIL's flight was to be there an hour behind us. It was delayed about an hour before takeoff. We were planning on meeting and heading to downtown Seattle as a group. It was not worth the wait. We took the Link (Seattle’s light rail) from the airport to Westlake Station. It was hefty $3 per person. It was a great decision. There was a place to put our luggage and sit down. 45 minutes later, we were downtown.

The Pan-Pacific Hotel sent a courtesy car to pick us up at the Link’s Westlake Station downtown and took us to the hotel.

Courtyard Outside the Hotel

Buildings around the hotel are getting taller and taller as Seattle continues to explode.

Finally, SIL called to say she was at the La Quinta and checked in. So, we walked over to the La Quinta to meet up. Then we took a cab to Pike Place Market.

Amazon Biospheres

Pike Place Market is not quite what I thought. It is just an open-air market, that is very crowded. The vendors had a lot of produce and flowers. The fish looked very good. The one vendor that is known for throwing fish, does not continuously do that. They only throw fish whenever someone buys it. There is a large crowd butting in there to get a photo when they do the toss. As a tourist, I was glad to go there. It was worth the price for sure (free). If I was a local, I would go there to shop, but I would avoid the time most tourists are there. If I was staying in Seattle where I could prepare my own food, then I would get some fish and prepare it.

After traversing the market, we worked our way down to the pier. We were hungry and were looking for somewhere to eat and sit by the bay. We found Fisherman’s Restaurant and Bar right on the dock overlooking Elliott Bay. The food was good and the location was excellent. It was right next to the Ferris wheel.

Seattle Great Wheel

The viaduct is in the process of being replaced by a tunnel.

After dinner, we walked around the pier area.

Seattle's Sports Stadiums

Party Bike

After we ate, I called the hotel shuttle. They picked us up and returned us to the hotels. I was thinking about walking to the Seattle Center. The fifteen-minute walk each way did not seem too bad. I wanted to get some shots of the Space Needle with the sun low in the sky. I laid down on the bed to rest a few minutes. So much for the walk. DC and DCF were arriving late and were staying at the Sheraton. They called once they were checked in.

Enjoying your review and nice photos!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thanks for sharing the review...looking forward to more!

Loving your review so far! Planning on this cruise June 2018 so I will be reading every post.

I was out on a solar eclipse trip. I will continue shortly

I am very optimistic for your cruise review, an Alaskan cruise has been on my bucket list for a while, I've been told that it's a photographer's dream. Your pictures and commentary have been great! :D

Hi NWACruiser. Great photos! Really looking forward to this review. We're booked for the Legend's run to Alaska next year. I can't wait. I'm already going through my camera gear determining what I need to take with me (yes, my camera suitcase often rivals my clothing suitcase!). If you don't mind me asking, what side of the plane were you on to get those shots of Mt. Rainer and Mt. Adams?

I'm anxiously awaiting the rest of your review. We are going on an Alaskan cruise next year, and I am at the very beginning stages of researching what to do.

I plan on continuing the review tomorrow. I have been busy with this:

We headed to KC to see the eclipse. The weather was cloudy with storms in the area. We had a break to see the eclipse. Once the totality was complete, we went in to eat lunch. It was a good move... 2 inches of rain fell within an hour, causing floods.

Hi NWACruiser. Great photos! Really looking forward to this review. We're booked for the Legend's run to Alaska next year. I can't wait. I'm already going through my camera gear determining what I need to take with me (yes, my camera suitcase often rivals my clothing suitcase!). If you don't mind me asking, what side of the plane were you on to get those shots of Mt. Rainer and Mt. Adams?

We were on the port side of the plane. We also went over Redmond and landed going south. I have heard northbound landings see the mountain on the starboard side.

Also, I have a 55-250 mm lens and a 178-135 mm lens for my Rebel T5I. I am looking at a Tamron 150-600 mm lens to add to the collection. It would have been great for the cruise.

Thank you for doing up this review...

Following ,planning Alaska trip in a couple of years.

"Pike Place Market is not quite what I thought. It is just an open-air market, that is very crowded. The vendors had a lot of produce and flowers. The fish looked very good. The one vendor that is known for throwing fish, does not continuously do that. They only throw fish whenever someone buys it. There is a large crowd butting in there to get a photo when they do the toss."

I was on the Legend August 1st - 8th. We stayed in Seattle a few days before the cruise. We stayed in the Hampton Inn near the Space Needle and walked to Pike Place. It was a nice day for a walk and it took about 30 minutes. I wanted to walk through the market but it was so crowded. I did get some video of the fish throwing. I had to use selfie stick with my Go Pro to get over the crowd. I agree that it was a let down. Wish I had gone to the Pier.

It's Cruising Day! :ship:

We woke up early, so we can get ready to head to the ship. We had breakfast at the hotel. Afterward we took our hotel shuttle over to the Sheraton to meet up. DC arranged to have all of us meet at the Sheraton and take a shuttle together over to Pier 91 to embark. A few minutes later SIL showed up. This gave us time to chat before we left.

The shuttle arrived finally, and off we were to the pier.

Just a Little Baggage

OMG! Where is the Kitchen Sink?

The Carnival Legend was the only ship in port. It made quite an impression to the rest of our party.

Pier 91 did not impress us. We had to lug everything quite a distance from where the shuttle dropped us off. There were no porters nearby, nor were there any self-help carts.

Once we made it to the entrance, there was a guy who put our room tags on the luggage. We then had to haul the luggage through the door to a point near the back of the building, where TSA checked it in. Then we had to go back to the entrance to begin the embarkation process. The rest of the process went well.

The port needs to handle luggage near the entrance, where they can collect and scan as needed without having the customer lug them all the way to the back.

We all were FTTF, so we had shorter lines to go through. It seemed that it was somewhat faster than the normal lines. That was only a small advantage. The big advantage was getting on the ship within 20 minutes of completing the embarkation process, and having the cabin ready so we could drop off everything before heading to lunch.

Once on the ship, we met up on the Lido deck to have lunch and make a few plans before dinner. I checked our dinner reservations for the steak house. Everything was all set up for dinner tonight.

I walked around the ship to take a few photos and tried to locate the coin, unsuccessfully. (When a ship is built, a coin is encased into the hull as a sign of good luck.) DW and I went to the cabin to see if our luggage was there. Our first piece was there. SIL came over and we chatted for a while. She was very impressed with the ship.

Outside the Legend:

Inside the Legend:

Looking Up the Atrium

Legend Lobby

Table 207. Our table for the week.

Limelight Lounge

Limelight Lounge

Limelight Lounge