Alaska's Spirit 5/15 cruise

[pryd]

This will be a short but informative review about my Canival Spirit adventure. Alaska was calling me, no not Bali High as in the South Pacific song, but calling me to discover all she was, is and will be. This cruise clebrated my 25th Milestone cruise on Carnval, so I decided to Break the piggy bank, and do it up big for this trip. The cost of the cruise and every excursion were the highest I had ever paid in my cruising career. Most of the excursions were over $100 most close to the $200 range. So the 25% cruise fare OBC came in very handy. I have cruised on the Spirit before and know she is indeed a very beautiful vessel and most of the crew seemed to show this on this cruise. The CD Stu...was fantastic, he was funny, informative, and available, but not ovedone like some CD's can be. The naturalist on board, Michelle was very talkative, and educational, so it balanced out the chatter.

 

At the pier...Seattle pier is very low key, right up front, warehouse style of pier. No seperate waiting area for VIP, but it moved very, very fast once you checked in. Check in, well this is where I nearly had my first meltdown. I did not get my milestone card from the agent. When I asked her about my special card she said " What is Milestone, I have never heard of that". I knew guest services could fix this once on board, so I breathed through it and boarded the ship. Cabin, I chose a french Door Obstructed view cabin #4133. the French doors were really only "A" french door since only one of them opened. The view was between the lifeboats #5 and #7 so I got some ocean view from straight on only. The new TV's LCD flat panels were great, the color and size were perfect. I liked the way it played a tune when it was turned on or off. And the on board menu of folio, movies, menu, shore excursions etc. was much better than some of the lesser equiped ships.

 

Shows...All shows were versions of the same ones I had seen time after time on my other cruises, there were 4 main singers all very talented. The dancers, well as usual, they need to understand the meaning of synchronised movements..."You sre supposed to ALL turn, flip, twist etc at the same time".

 

Shore excursions, besides being astronomical in price, some of mine were cancelled the day before they were supposed to be done, and Victoria was cancelled for everyone. This aggrivated me because I had planned and researched them online and booked way in advance. The other problem was crediting my cancelation of the tours to my account. Even though they (Carnival) cancelled my tour they did not credit my account till I pestered them about it, and even had to surrender my tickets to them before the credit showed up on my folio. The other Non-Cancelled tours I took were Tracy Arm Excursion, This was a medium sized catamaran that took up to the Sayer glacier, waterfalls, icebergs and cruised the Tracy Arm Fjord. The Best of Juneau included whale watching, the Mendenhall Glacier, and a fantastic Salmon Grill. Well worth the extra money for everything I saw and the Salmon was devine. In Ketchikan I went on athe Wilderness expedition and Crab Feast. So this photo says it all. I am the one in the morror taking the photo. The caption should read...Yes sir I did eat all that crab..https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_6w2NpxKmeI/T7xBCl_NTmI/AAAAAAAAHZo/wjmsAAZxVKY/w343-h228-n-k/IMG_2060.jpg

 

Steakhouse. Well this should have been the crowning gem of my adventure but alas i was anything but. The food was exellent, but the service was very poor. An example, If you have to ask 3 servers to fill your ice tea glass...Not a good sign, If 3 servers ask you if you would like pepper on both your soup and cesar salad, and the 4th server finally brings it to you half way through the course...not a good sign. Lastly when you order a side dish and it never arrives...you guessed it..So with some well placed "Team Building" constructive criticism my 2 1/2 hour gastronomnical meal was reduced to 45 minutes of good food sucky service.

Victoria...

Never got there the winds to port the ship were too strong so the whole stop was cancelled.

 

The Bar service, Cabin Service, wait staff, especially Kaarina the Asst. Maiter'd were superb. Recognition of my milestone from the crew....Nothing said, no welcome back, Wow that is incredible, hope to see you again...NADA. I guess the memo about doting on Milestone memebers was not distributed yet...LOL

 

All in all this was one cruise I won't soon forget and have many photos to insert on my next posting if you guys want them. And I find out how to post them???

[belkin]

Sounds like you had a great time, thanks for posting!! Cant wait for my turn in August :D

 

Not that I will watch it but do they have the big TV on the Lido deck?

 

Were blankets and hot chocolate available on deck?

[pryd]

No big screen. Even if they did it would be on the other side of the Dome Pool area and it was too cold to be out there.

 

Hot chocolate on the Tracy Arm and Juneau tours but no blankets...LOL

[belkin]

No big screen. Even if they did it would be on the other side of the Dome Pool area and it was too cold to be out there.

 

Hot chocolate on the Tracy Arm and Juneau tours but no blankets...LOL

 

So it sounds like no hot chocolate on the Spirit or blankets :(

 

We booked the Tracy Arm tour...hope we like it.

[DUCHESSRN]

We have the Tracy Arm Tour booked also , I would love to know if you thought it was worth it.

[AndyP7]

So it sounds like no hot chocolate on the Spirit or blankets :(

 

We booked the Tracy Arm tour...hope we like it.

 

I was on the Glacier Bay May 1 cruise...Hot chocolate is available on the Lido deck anytime and blankets are available on Serenity deck :)

 

 

 

Andrea

[pryd]

The Tracy Arm Fjord was the first tour I did. The cost was a little high for what you got but the scenery was fantastic. You can't get any closer to the Sawyer glacier unless you kayaked in there.

Ray

 

Here is the link to the real photo of the Crab Feast https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-q0MOu-XRaz0/T7xEZJPYHXI/AAAAAAAAHsA/utbJIbtyJwk/w343-h228-n-k/IMG_2192.JPG

 

Ray

Edited May 23, 2012 by pryd
misspelled words

[pryd]

here is the link for the entire album for the Best of Juneau Adventure

https://plus.google.com/photos/106192276140071607303/albums/5745538005025238865?authkey=CIzF6oj3xKC37QE

 

Enjoy

Edited May 23, 2012 by pryd
Misspelled words

[Frank12]

While in Tracy Arm, did the Spirit get within sight of the Sawyer glacier?

[pryd]

Yes the Spirit came to within about 3 miles of the glacier. The Tracy Arm Excursion got much closer

[coastalkate]

here is the link for the entire album for the Best of Juneau Adventure

https://plus.google.com/photos/106192276140071607303/albums/5745538005025238865?authkey=CIzF6oj3xKC37QE

 

Enjoy

pryd - your pictures are great! Thanks for sharing them (and your review) with all of us! :0 I'm off on my grand adventure in just under a month now...can't wait!!!

[cruiseclues]

It was definitely informative...thank you for your review. :):):):)