May 16, 2016 Carnival Legend Alaska Cruise report

Family Trip Report May 15-28, 2016: 8 Night SE Alaskan Cruise and 5 days in NW Washington/Seattle

I learned a great deal from this board in the last year, so this report is to help others plan their trip.

After much review of cruise ship itineraries, costs, ports, excursions, etc., I purchased the cruise ship tickets in August 2015 then started making reservations for cars, hotels, airline, and excursions.

We were on the Carnival Legend leaving Vancouver May 16 and arriving in Seattle May 24.

It was a special transition cruise leaving from Vancouver instead of Seattle.

It was 8 nights, instead of the normal 7.

It had longer than normal port days.

It visited Tracy Arm Fjord and Glacier Bay.

The same itinerary starts next year on April 30, 2017.

The official cruise ship itinerary:

Port-------Date-----Arrival Time----Departure Time

VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA--05-16-2016 (mon)-04:00 PM

DAY AT SEA - 05-17-2016 (tues)

CRUISE TRACY ARM FJORD - 05-18-2016 (wed)

JUNEAU, AK- 05-19-2016 (thurs)-07:00 AM -10:00 PM

SKAGWAY, AK - 05-20-2016 (fri) - 07:00 AM-08:00 PM

CRUISE GLACIER BAY-05-21-2016 (sat)

KETCHIKAN, AK -05-22-2016 (sun)- 08:00 AM -05:00 PM

DAY AT SEA -- 05-23-2016 (mon)

SEATTLE, WA---05-24-2016 (tues) -- 07:00 AM

There were 3 of us on this vacation trip: myself, my wife, and adult son. This was our first cruise and first time outside the US.

Our planned itinerary (a few things changed, but this was the starting point):

May 15 Sun - fly into Seattle at noon, pickup the rental car, do the underground walking tour and visit the sky view observatory in Seattle, then drive to our hotel (Holiday Inn in North Vancouver, BC).

May 16 Mon - sleep in, pick up any last minute snacks and supplies, drop the car at the cruise terminal, board the Legend.

May 18 Wed - Tracy Arm small boat excursion.

May 19 Thur - Juneau - pickup rental car, whale watch, spend 2-3 hours at Mendenhall glacier center, then drive the coastal road to see area sites and hopefully some wildlife.

May 20 Fri - Skagway - drive the Klondike highway in a rental car, stop for lots of pictures, stop at Caribou Crossing to see the husky puppies and taxidermy museum, we'll drive at least to Emerald lake and possibly Whitehorse.

May 22 Sun - Ketchikan - Duck Tour followed by a Misty Fjord flightseeing trip then an hour or 2 at local museums.

May 24 Tues - Get off ship early, pickup rental car, start 4.5 days of exploring in the Seattle area. The plan for each day will depend greatly upon the weather.

May 28 Sat - fly home

Sunday - May 15 - Fly to Seattle then drive to Vancouver

We left a day early to be sure we’d get on the ship even if there were weather or airport delays. We arrived at SeaTac airport about noon then collected our bags. I/we took a great many pictures on this trip but didn’t get one of the luggage. We simply had too much for 3 people for 2 weeks: 2 large roller bags, 4 smaller roller bags, 2 backpacks, and a carry-on tote bag. At least checked bags fly free on Southwest. It was much cheaper to fly into Seattle than Vancouver.

First Itinerary change: there was a Seattle Mariners baseball game that afternoon in downtown Seattle. I’d been advised by the helpful West Coast Departure board (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=413), to forget doing anything downtown in Seattle on this Sunday afternoon. The team was doing extremely well and everyone was coming to see them play. So we picked up the Alamo rental car and headed North on I-5. This was the planned scenic route to Vancouver: https://goo.gl/maps/rqQFJuWSeu62

After fighting the traffic, we ate lunch at the Ivers ( http://www.ivars.com ) by the ferry port in Mukilteo. The chowder and fish/chips were good. The view of the water from inside was scenic.

Our day started very early to get to the airport, so we didn’t make scenic stops on Whidbey Island as planned. The drive on the island was scenic. We stopped at a wal-mart on the island to pick up 12 packs of soda and snacks for the ship. There were no issues crossing into Canada except our cell phones stopped working. That was a surprise.

I found out later that tracfone does not provide service in Canada with US phones; my mistake. The lack of phone mapping or phone service made it more challenging to get to the hotel, but we did. I always travel with a large road atlas covering the areas to visit.

We stayed at the North Vancouver Holiday Inn for $127usd Sunday night. It is 4 miles from the cruise port (999 Canada Place) and has no fee for parking. Many Vancouver hotels charge for parking. It was a good hotel and I would recommend it. We were still full from the late lunch and just ate some of the snacks that evening. We did not do any siteseeing while in Vancouver. A trip improvement would be to have flown into Seattle on Saturday to allow a full tourist day in Vancouver on Sunday.

Monday – May 16 – Get on the ship!

I woke early and decided to do a photo recon tour around the hotel while the others slept. Waking early would be a curse the entire trip.

I woke up at 7:00-7:30am central time no matter the local time zone.

We repacked the bags for the ship and to add the three 12-packs of soda. We stopped at a Dairy Queen on the way to the cruise port and ate a late breakfast/early lunch.

We’re new to this cruise thing and had no idea how long it would take to get on the ship.

After some confusion, we returned the Alamo rental car in the underground parking garage at the cruise terminal.

Be careful with time, the return part closes at noon normally. OK, now it was time to get us on the ship!

We first were directed to drop off checked bags. It was nice to have 5 less bags to drag around and they magically showed up outside our cabin door that afternoon. The next step was upstairs to wait in a huge room with many people to get our Carnival ship cards. It was organized chaos, but 30 minutes later we had our ship cards and headed toward US customs. It was a long winding walk, but practically no wait. After US customs, another long winding walk to get on the ship. Somewhere in the mix we had to go through security.

We were on the ship by 1pm or so. The rooms wouldn’t be ready, so they were sending everyone to Lido (9th deck) to wait and eat. Lido has several buffet options to eat along with the pools, but it was crowded until you got away from the central area. The rooms were ready at 2, but we waited and explored the outside decks. By 2:30 the elevators were clear. We were in 7252 (port side, extended balcony). The room was fine with no obvious issues. The room layout was very functional and not crowded for 3 people.

We did the muster drill sometime around 4 and the ship was leaving by 4:20. We're cruisin' now!

Vancouver from the ship in port

Leaving the cruise port (and the NCL Sun)

First Night Towel Animal

Monday - May 16 continued:

There was a presentation the first evening by the ship naturalist Michelle. She spent an hour talking about Alaska and some of the wildlife we might see.

There was a little push about the shore excursions available on the ship, but it was a good talk. This was one of the more memorable slides shown:

We did the your-time-dining and I'd choose it again. The others went to the Lido deck buffet for supper. I went solo to the MDR and chose a table by myself. The entree's of the day didn't interest me. I chose the flat iron steak and a side of fries from the every-night menu. It was a small sirloin done right. I was happy with it and ordered it two more nights. I also added a baked potato on most evenings.

We didn't go to any shows and was in bed by 10pm. It had been a long day.

Sunset the first evening from our balcony

Tuesday - May 17 - Sea Day and she was Rolling!

The ship sailed from Vancouver but did not go through the Canadian inside passage (East side of Vancouver Island). It went on the west side which is open ocean. There was a storm somewhere.

The ship spent 24 hours from Tuesday into Wednesday rolling. At least we're not easily motion sick. It was also raining that day. Wet outside decks with the ship rolling were places to avoid. I took a few pictures around the ship while exploring, but didn't do too much.

There was a shore excursion discussion (obvious sales pitch) that morning. It was hosted by Jen the cruise director with Michelle making a very brief appearance in the beginning. I left after 5-10 minutes when it started to resemble the home shopping network.

On the 2 sea days, they had a seaday brunch in the MDR. It was good (steak and eggs, french toast, ham, eggs, etc.), but they were busy and service was stretched covering everyone.

That night was the first elegant night, and the only night lobster was served in the MDR without a $20 upcharge.

The lobster was OK, but the prime rib was good that night and the 2 other nights it was offered.

I did get double entree's (they weren't very large) on some nights but you have to ask.

Carnival Legend Atrium

2nd night towel animal

Looking forward to the rest of your review

Wednesday - May 18 - Let the excursions begin!

The ship entered the Alaskan inside passage before noon and the ship was smooth again. They announced that Tracy Arm Fjord had too much ice for the ship to enter so the afternoon excursion would go into Endicott Arm Fjord instead. We were on the 3pm small boat excursion and gathered in the forward theater at 2:30pm.

This is different than other cruise lines, but the ship stopped at the fjord entrance. 2 small (about 100 passengers each) boats loaded people for the 3pm small boat excurstion from the ship. The smaller boats went into the fjord ahead of the ship and got very close to Dawes glacier. The glacier put on a show with 3 big calvings and plenty of blue ice.

The ship followed into the fjord and normally the ship would stop however close it could get to the glacier. In some instances it can not get close, especially in Tracy Arm, and the small boat is the only chance to see up close. On our trip, the ship came close to the glacier; about 2 miles away. The ship stopped there and the 2 small boats unloaded the 3pm group to the ship then loaded the 6pm groups. The ship again stopped at the fjord entrance and allowed the 2nd group to reboard the ship.

The weather misted just a little bit on the way into the fjord, but got better close to the glacier. It was cloudy and cool most of the boat ride. The scenery was great. They get a piece of ice out of the water and bring it on board the small boats for people to look at. The view inside the boat was surprisingly good, but I spent almost the entire time outside on open viewing decks where the view was even better.

I left most of these photos at full resolution. Click to see a larger version.

Typical scene on the way to the glacier.

Another mountain scene from the trip in. This excursion is not just about glaciers.

One of the large pieces calving at the glacier. That one rocked our boat.

See the Dawes glacier? look in front for the other small boat.

The ship 2 miles from Dawes glacier, just before we unloaded. The small boat captain made a special effort so we could get this picture.

Final view from Endicott Arm Fjord

Wednesday - May 18 continued -

I am only allowed 6 picture links per post, so a few more.

Picture from our beloved extended balcony while leaving the fjord

The other small boat loading the 6pm group. I guess they are small compared to a ship.

3rd night towel animal

Enjoying your cruise review. We will be on the Legend in August.

Thursday - May 19 - Juneau

The weather was great. Our plan for the day was whale watching, some time at Mendenhall glacier center, then driving around to see wildlife. Things don't always go according to plan.

None of our cell phones had service in Juneau; a surprise. I had an Avis car reservation and was there when they opened at 8am, number 3 in line. The problem was no agent to rent cars, only a poor lady who started work there 2 days before and didn't have keys to anything. We needed to be at Auke Bay (dock for the whale watch boat) at 9:10am for a 9:30am watch trip. At 8:30am, I left Avis and started walking back to the ship for plan B. There were plenty of people waiting to greet the Avis agent when he did get back.

Plan B was to use the excursion transport (a former school bus) from Dolphin Jet Boat tours. It was getting too interesting since I didn't know exactly where they picked up and no cell phone to coordinate the change with Dolphin and the family. We had planned to drive to the dock in a rental car; it's a good plan, it just requires a car. Fortunately, I did find my family and the Dolphin transport bus in time.

We had back-to-back watch trips booked with Dolphin; 2 hours on the water for each trip. Originally, it was one 2.5 hour trip with Orca Enterprises, but they were purchased by Dolphin in March 2016. Dolphin honored the paid reservation with orca and gave a discount when I asked about a 2nd watch trip. Dolphin did everything they said and advertised so I would recommend them. Let's go see some whales!

The boat used was smaller (about 30 people max) and fast. Neither trip was packed full. It was not especially cramped with front and back viewing decks. First, the watch area was very nice, postcard quality scenery in every direction. Did I say we had great weather?

The first trip out was probably a disappointment to some. We had one good whale "blow" sighting and a distant whale tail with no warning. They did circle a bouy loaded with sea lions on the way back into the dock. Per the radio, all the watch boats talk to each other, no one had much whale luck during the first trip. The second trip was much better. We saw at least 4 whale blow sightings and 3 non-surprise whale tails. It was also crazy seeing all the whale watch boats in the area come racing toward one sighting.

After the second watch trip, we boarded the former school bus for the trip back to the dock. The bus driver really was a bus driver.

She drove for the Juneau school during the year and had some good local commentary.

After returning to the ship dock, we were hungry for lunch and tired so I did not go back and try to get a car for the afternoon.

Mendenhall might have been nice, but the spectacular Dawes glacier trip was the previous afternoon and glacier bay was only 2 days away.

I'd hoped to see bear in Juneau, but we saw 2 the next day at Skagway. We talked about taking the tram that afternoon and didn't.

In retrospect, we should have eaten lunch on the ship then returned to ride the tram.

We got back on the ship and didn't leave that day. I did amuse myself trying to take longer range pictures of eagles flying high above the ship.

I forgot to mention that we puchased the middle-grade internet package for the trip starting on the 2nd afternoon. It was $60 and only had an occasional service outage. It was nice for communicating with home and checking weather, news, etc. It could only be connected to one device at a time with no video or music streaming. That wasn't an issue for us.

First trip whale blow sighting

Sea lions on bouy. look in the water on the right

A good whale blow

A whale back

A whale tail

Eagle high above the ship from our balcony (about the best shot, through essentially a pair of 20 power stabilized binoculars; 1000mm equivalent)

Friday- May 20 - Skagway and the Klondike Highway

To save the daily weather drama, we did not get rained on at any time we were outdoors on the cruise, excursions, or after we spent 5 more days in the Seattle/NW Washington area. We were very fortunate and beat the bad weather odds.

We arrived in Skagway with a simple plan: drive the Klondike highway in a rental car going to at least emeral lake and taking lots of pictures. We had a very good day.

I can't edit the first posting, but there was something else I started after putting a deposit on the cruise tickets last August. This was going to be a trip of a lifetime for us.

It was time to improve as a photographer and record the memories. I researched, purchased equipment, and practiced photo skills a great deal before the trip.

This is the optical equipment I chose for our 2 week trip: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=49811071&postcount=1

Another highly recommended thing for Skagway, if you are driving, is Murray's guide. Do a search for it. It is a $5 pdf download and describes, mile by mile, anything scenic or important on the Klondike highway.

One surprise on the trip was my wife turning into a shutter-bug. Today was the day I suggested she put down the cybershot and use the FZ-300 camera instead. It has much faster auto-focus and more zoom than the small cybershot she was using. She took some great pictures on the trip.

The day was simple. I walked most of a mile to the Avis rental place, selected the reserved rental car from a short list, and drove back to pick up the family. Isn't dad wonderful? We started driving and stopping at road turnouts for pictures and scenic viewing. Then the priority was to get to emerald lake before noon so the sun would be at our back, or at least not in front of us, while taking pictures. Emerald lake is on the west side of the road. Along the way, we saw, and stopped for, 2 separate black bears (who were brown) on the side of the road.

- to be continued -

Thanks for the review! Can't wait to hear more. :)

Looking forward to more! You photos are excellent!

Great pictures!! What kind of camera did you use??

I'm enjoying your review and hope to read more. Your photos are fantastic!

Great pictures!! What kind of camera did you use??

We brought 5 cameras and needed accessories on the trip.

The sony A6000 was my primary camera. When I wanted a second camera handy with a different lens, which was often, I carried a sony A3000 as well; they use the same lenses and batteries. The FZ-300 was used by my wife starting in Skagway. Before that, my son used it at Endicott Arm Fjord. The 2 sony cybershots were often carried in someone's pants pocket especially around the ship.

Optical equipment details are here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=49811071&postcount=1

I will finish the trip report, but work interrupts and it will be a few days. Here are a few more pictures that I'd already tweaked and uploaded to photobucket.

small bear on side of the klondike highway. I wasn't close (telephoto lens) but some were about 10 feet from it and getting closer.

The bears came out of hibernation early this year and were looking for food before the salmon started running.

other bear on the side of the highway (both are black bears)

a nice place to stop on the Klondike Highway

emerald lake at noon

2 from the taxidermy museum at Caribou Crossing (largest known mounted polar bear)

Great photos!!!! Had to save some to use as screen savers. Great trip report.

Loving your review! Thanks for sharing. I'm doing the exact same cruise next year on 4/30/17. Someone on our roll call already warned us that we could very well miss Tracy Arm due to ice and be diverted to Endicott Arm instead. From your pictures it looks like it will be fantastic either way.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Friday - May 20 - Skagway and Klondike highway continued

A few more pictures from the road trip.

A picture of the ship taken from the scenic overlook for Skagway

Husky puppies at Caribou Crossing. We arrived after the lunch rush and tour buses.

One was not interested in taking a nap

Scenic views along the Klondike highway. One advantage of going in May is snow capped mountains.

Great photos!!!! Had to save some to use as screen savers. Great trip report.

I posted the pictures at full resolution for people to enjoy, and perhaps remember a past trip or look forward to one in the future.

We were tired after returning the car at 6pm, but it was a very good day.

I forgot to mention that we stopped at the restaurant at Spirit Lake for lunch. I'd go back. I had fish-n-chips, she had a burger, and my son had some kind of french toast combo. It was good and the price was reasonable. It's on the Klondike highway not too far from emerald lake.

Saturday - May 21 - Glacier Bay National Park

This was one of the highlights of the trip. The sun was out and everything was shining. We spent the day slowing cruising glacier bay. The captain stopped for a long time at Margerie glacier (it calves often) and Johns Hopkins glacier (very scenic).

This one has an nice angle and gives perspective on how steep and tall these mountain peaks are.

The Lamplugh glacier

One of the better pics of the day.

A small boat was in the area and gives some scale to how majestic everything is here

Johns Hopkins glacier. The ship was 5 miles away.

An interesting photo - kind of artsy, but I like it.

Saturday - May 21 - Glacier Bay National Park continued

It was hard to only choose 12 pictures for Glacier Bay. It was a photo wonderland!

A group of park rangers and some other people came on board for the time in glacier bay. I was out on deck and did not see their exhibit. They provided some info on what we were seeing and some history over the PA system.

The Reid glacier

They put out extra deck chairs for the day. At the Margerie glacier, this area was packed. It was nice to be able to go down to our balcony. Preference to port side of the ship at glacier bay.

OK, another one with the ship in it. I don't think anyone will complain.

Reid glacier again, but I like the cloud and reflection effects.

Another top shot for the day.

The Margerie glacier from our balcony. I calved nicely a few times, but not going to bother with pictures. The Dawes glacier calving was spectacular 3days previous. The captain did spin the ship, but port side has a big viewing advantage throughout the day. I changed our cabin a few months before the trip just to get on the port side.

Sunday - May 22 - Ketchikan Duck Tour

Another sunny day in Alaska. We started the day with a 9:30am duck tour of the town then the town harbor. It was fun and not to be taken too seriously. The duck vehicle loads at the cruise dock. It's a steep ladder but there are people to help those that need it. There was a driver who was also a real boat captain since it did tour the town harbor. There was also an announcer who was educational about the town history and had many, many corny jokes along with a duck whistle. It's about $50 a person and a fun way to spend 90 minutes.

The young jokester (standing under the word Ketchikan on the side of the vehicle) and our duck.

Another view of the duck and you can see the entry ladder.

A picture of Creek street during the town portion of the tour

There were a few eagles around. We were in the harbor by that picture.

Sunday - May 22 - Flight Tour of Misty Fjord with Family Air Tours

After the duck tour, we had some snacks and water at the Ketchikan visitor center. Our transport to the flight was to pick us up near the big rain gauge. She arrived on time then drove us the short distance to the flight center where the plane was located. We took a few pictures then carefully boarded the seaplane. The pilot made some radio calls then we were headed across the water for takeoff. It was not as easy as I'd hoped to take pictures in flight. It was a scenic flight and we did get a few good pics. We landed inside Misty Fjord at a floating dock and had 20 minutes or so to walk around and take pictures.

We're in the air now.

At the floating dock.

View from the other end of the dock.

On the way back to Ketchikan.

Final approach back at Ketchikan

I forgot to add after the flight, I asked and was dropped off at the Tongass Historical Museum in Ketchikan while the others went back to the ship. It's not a large museum, but I do recommend it if you have an hour to spare and like history. I cheated and used my camera with the ultra-wide-angle lens (12mm) to take pictures of the exhibits and examine/read them later. It was only $3 entrance and worth more. It was good history of the area. Do a search for Tongass Historical Museum for details and a website. It's not too far from the cruise dock. I walked back to the ship and had time to purchase an ulu knife as an Alaska souvenir. I'll add it to my collection of 75 other knives.

Any questions? I'm new to this and would really like to do some editing on previous posts, but that is not allowed.

The final sea day (Monday) was nothing special. We did the self-embarkation the final day (Tuesday), even with all of our luggage. Honestly, it was confusing, but we did get off early and got to the enterprise car rental stand before many others did.

That saved at least an hour of wait time for space on the single transport van even though it was painful for us moving that much luggage by ourselves. From there, we took an enterprise van to their downtown location (in a parking garage) and picked up our car. I upgraded the car at the downtown location to full size because of all our luggage. It was $11 extra per day and worth it.

That Nissan Maxima was a performance car. One of our days after the cruise was spent driving completely around the Olympic Mountains in a 14.5 hour day. There were many curvy roads and that car was so much fun!!!

Alas, I have not even started to sort pictures from our 5 days in Seattle/NW Washington so it will be awhile before I add to this.