8237 on Spirit to Alaska

[musicgal]

After the Red Onion, we shopped a bit and went back to board the bus for our second excursion to the Brewery. Oh my goodness- not to be missed.

 

Lacey the young lady who works there should be a STAR! Seriously- what an amazing voice she has... it is a perfect voice for radio or animation. If you hear her, you will know what I mean.

 

She kept our glasses full of the microbrewery's offerings- I am not usually a beer drinker but it all was very good. There wasn't much to the tour:p but we saw the brew room and had a visit from the local odd duck, who ended up being the owner of the brewery. Then, after telling Lacey that we had several fine singers in our group... she encouraged us to sing! What fun! We all went up to get some views from their upstairs deck and went back to town happy-

Above- Lacey explaining the brew room-

Up on deck at the brewery in Skagway-

A river runs past it;)

[musicgal]

We spent a full day in Skagway and then departed for Juneau. We had other ships coming into port when we were there too. Here's a Princess ship coming in.

 

We'd booked the salmon hatchery, Mendenhall glacier and salmon bake combination. BTW, our kids in the meantime were doing other things like kayaking, rappelling, ziplining, etc. Sorry- just the old folks write reviews.

I can tell you what they said about the different things though if you are curious.

 

First let me say that I don't criticize an excursion lightly since I know that people's livliehoods depend on summer tourism, but I have to say something about the Juneau excursions. Namely- the salmon hatchery.

 

There were some runs on the other side of this area... but no fish to be seen. Fine- it's not the season- but this was pretty much a view of a building without anything much to see but a gift shop and some smallish aquariums and taxidermy specimens inside. The biggest "smile" I guess, came from the bus guide touting the salmon "caviar" samples, which interested me. Hey, I eat caviar sometimes. I even have a can in the pantry right now. Well, when I went to the counter to ask for the sample, the sullen girl behind the counter whom I was obviously bothering- opened up a can and gave me an egg. 1 egg the size of a champagne bubble. No kidding. This was basically a gift store stop that we paid for. Below, you will see the highlight of the tour, the empty salmon run.

 

So just saying. If you are there when something is going on, it might be somewhat more exciting, but for us it was a waste of time and money.

 

On to Mendenhall-

 

This is an absolutely amazing place. I loved this part of the tour which required a good bit of walking on our parts. Needed a stretch of the legs at that point. If you are quick enough you can take the trail down to a waterfall which is quite spectacular. It would have been stretching our time limit there to do that since we wanted to see the excellent film at the visitor center.

I really wanted to climb to the top of this rock but it was quite slick. You can see the visitor center above with people looking out at the glacier with binoculars. There were a ton of geological and natural history displays here with panoramic views of the area. I bought something at the bookstore here from a non-sullen employee.

[musicgal]

We did enjoy the salmon bake food and the area it was in. Like a church picnic. Not a waste for us although there is not much time there.

[musicgal]

Well that's all for tonight. Will leave you with a picture of Creek street in Ketchikan. We took an early walk out there before the Duck tour. I like Ketchikan a lot-

[musicgal]

Did you have a live band? If you did how were they?

 

We had a live show band and they were excellent. There were single live entertainers all over the ship, but no small dance bands that I bumped into. But there might have been and we just didn't make it to that area.

[musicgal]

We explored Ketchikan early before our Duck tour. It was wet and cold but we dressed for the weather. These guys are locals, gleaning some free wifi from one of the museum/info buildings in the center of town.They dressed for the weather too.

We saw several of our CC group out and about this morning. A lot of people just got out and walked the towns and Ketchikan would be good for this, especially in better weather. We were on the Duck tour though, which turned out to be my husband's favorite tour because of the great shots of the Bald Eagles he got as we traversed the waterfront.

This picture is the one he likes the most. It is the "eagle buffet".Note the lone, brave raven;)

[musicgal]

Our Behind the Fun tour was conducted on the day trip to Victoria. It started early in the morning and was led by the training officer Manu. We saw the galley, the laundry, crew's lounge, the steakhouse galley and chefs, the engine control room and the bridge. I LOVE the towel folding machine. Wish I had one. We were not allowed to take pictures of our own for security reasons but here is our tour shot on the bridge with Captain Binacchi and Officer Mateo who gave part of our bridge tour. I asked Mateo a trick question- why Italians made the best sailors;) and the Captain didn't miss a beat. He said it was because they were surrounded by water and that's why Italians were such good sailors. The Captain was very cordial- he has an impressive green thumb demonstrated by the potted garden up on the bridge.

[musicgal]

As we docked in Victoria- these little guys showed up for their free meal. They seem to know that they will be fed, even though the passengers were specifically told not to do so. Suffice it to say, they left happy-

Coming into pretty Victoria-

[musicgal]

Don't know if anyone is reading this- but will continue on until I run out of my Flickr space for pictures.

 

We were scheduled to do the Twilight Craigdorrach Castle tour in Victoria and I am very happy to say it was a nice tour- mainly because it allowed us to pass through that lovely town. It is pretty much perfection... homes from all decades in the 20th century perfectly cared for and gardens that are out of this world. They have a little waterfront, downtown area that is all lit up at night. My DIL loved Victoria and wants to live there-

[musicgal]

Craigdorrach Castle when we arrived-

 

Beautiful stained glass inside the "Castle"- We had a cellist playing as we toured the rooms. Interesting history behind the construction of the place and the family that lived there.

 

 

It was becoming twilight as we were leaving...

 

Pretty Victoria at night- I'd like to visit again and stay for a few days.

[littlelion]

Yes I am just not saying anything until I get to the end. My folks have done Alaska but not us yet. I see many things they saw in your photos. They did like the salmon tour but they were there just at the very beginning so not too many fish jumping yet for them.

[musicgal]

Yes I am just not saying anything until I get to the end. My folks have done Alaska but not us yet. I see many things they saw in your photos. They did like the salmon tour but they were there just at the very beginning so not too many fish jumping yet for them.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

I do think a lot of people are reticent to post their objective opinions about excursions because they don't want to step on any toes. I post both the good and bad because that's how I make my own travel decisions from afar... based on other's reviews. In my case, I was really looking forward to the salmon hatchery tour- was disappointed there. I DID get to see some salmon at the Seattle Aquarium- THAT was exciting. Here's a pic-

[musicgal]

Last post for the night. As you can see, we really enjoyed Victoria. The stop was very short and we returned to our cabin already packed with bags set out. That is the best course of action if you are going out into Victoria at night. We had a change of clothes in our carryon and toiletries. Everything else was outside and ready to go for Zone 1 debarkation.

 

Tuesday morning we woke up... well, it was a really noisy night so I really don't know how much we actually slept. I did a room check and we went up to the lido above our room for juice and coffee until we were called- which was very soon after we got up there.

 

Walked off the ship and our luggage was smack in the front of Zone 1 holding which we grabbed and walked out of the terminal to wait for Seattle Express. We'd called them early in the morning and at first they disclaimed knowledge of us, but we had a confirmation number on a printed email. PRINT EVERYTHING folks;) Anyway, the trip to the Hampton Inn cost $9 per person and it was just me and DH. Hampton checked us in early into a 2 bedroom suite near the City Center (more on that later). But I had time to take a nap before the rest of our group showed up from Zone 21.

[Lizstar319]

Thanks for your review! I am headed out on the Spirit in August with my mom and sister (first cruise for both of them), and have been finishing up some final planning the last few days.

 

We are booked in the aft 8268, and can't wait. Everything looks so gorgeous...but it looks COLD! :p

[musicgal]

Thanks for your review! I am headed out on the Spirit in August with my mom and sister (first cruise for both of them), and have been finishing up some final planning the last few days.

 

We are booked in the aft 8268, and can't wait. Everything looks so gorgeous...but it looks COLD! :p

 

 

Hi Lizstar- Yes, our week on the cruise was coldish. Not cold in the sense that we were wishing for our ski jackets, but definitely colder than our previous Alaska trip had been in the same time period of early June.

I know that you will have fun though, and that Panorama aft is a great location to reach the lido and Serenity area.

 

Somebody who never seemed too cold was Lula in our cabin. She never managed to put anything on at all;) This is DS and DIL eating chocolate covered strawberries under Lula's watchful eye.

 

[musicgal]

So... on to our last few days on the trip.

 

We planned to stay for a couple of nights in Seattle after debarkation and I am soooo glad we did. We really did not spend a lot of time at the hotel or a lot of time on the roads to get around; we used all of our time wisely and saw a lot. But after debarkation, everybody was POOPED! And we were walking around in kind of a sleep-deprived fog. Fortunately, there are plenty of these around:D

 

This is the FIRST Starbucks location in Pike's Place Marker in Seattle. We also stopped at a neat little restaurant called Etta's near here and had the best clam chowder I've ever tasted in my life. Our kids had a later flight so we took them to explore the market which is very colorful.

 

 

Seriously heavenly. The food smells were wonderful.

 

Outside along the boardwalk, workers were finishing up the new ferris wheel which was reported to be opening soon... See the crane working on the cages-

[musicgal]

Now that's a pool table!

This was in the billiards room at Craigdorrach Castle in Victoria and I forgot to post it in that section of the review. I just wanted to say a few things about playing pool onboard-

The pool tables are located in the corner of the casino- the most pleasant casino, by the way, I've ever encountered on any ship. It is completely lighted by windows and not a dark, gloomy smoke hole of a place. I actually spent some money in there on this cruise as a result. Anyway... I guess our group had good sea legs because we played pool while the ship was rockin' and rollin'- which was hilarious to watch. It's definitely a different kind of game when the ship pitches and half your balls roll in!!:D

On the Alaska trip, one would expect all the pools to be shut down due to the cold, but they were not. We had access to all the hot tubs and there were many times the covered pool was open, as well as the outdoor splash area. Can't say that many people braved that area though:p

[musicgal]

Okay- just a few more pictures of our couple of days in Seattle which everyone really enjoyed. We bought city passes which got us general admission into the "EMP" a fabulous musical and visual treat, the Pacific Science Center (was originally the US Exhibit at the 1962 World's Fair), an Argosy Harbor Cruise, Sky Needle, Seattle Aquarium and an option to see either the Zoo or the Flight Museum. We chose the latter and used the pass' full $69 value.

 

And because of our wonderful location, the Hampton Inn and Suites, we were able to easily walk to City Center past the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation building... an easy 4 or five blocks. My husband loves to take pictures of me and our kids in front of signs, so sometimes I ask him to take one like this... just because.

 

Anyway-

We loved the hotel. The suite we had was as large as a condo with two full baths, separate bedrooms, sitting area and kitchen. There's a 7-11 behind the hotel and several restaurants facing different sides. We even had a fireplace and verandah- so, our group were happy campers.

 

I'll start with the waterfront, which is where the Aquarium, Argosy Cruises and Market are- we'd been there briefly for a few hours the day before but went back to use our passes. There is public parking all over this area and there is always public transport and walking if you don't want to deal with a car. Here's the Market sign-

And the monorail which runs from the City Center to Seattle's business area which is relatively close to the waterfront.

 

 

We had our Argosy cruise on the "Lady Mary". That was a very informative cruise about the nature and history of both the waterfront and the skyline- they had a very nice concession inside for snacks and such as well.

[susan123]

I've enjoyed your trip report, especially since we'll be on the Spirit July 3. In your photos you always have on a coat while onboard. Is it that cold onboard, or were you just coming and going outside? We've always cruised in the Caribbean, and I'm still trying to adjust my mind to taking cold weather cruise clothes. It was 96 here today, and I'm having problems thinking of sweaters, hoodies, jackets, etc.

[musicgal]

I've enjoyed your trip report, especially since we'll be on the Spirit July 3. In your photos you always have on a coat while onboard. Is it that cold onboard, or were you just coming and going outside? We've always cruised in the Caribbean, and I'm still trying to adjust my mind to taking cold weather cruise clothes. It was 96 here today, and I'm having problems thinking of sweaters, hoodies, jackets, etc.

 

Hello Susan- The pink raincoat/uniform was necessary on our trip because it was so misty/sprinkly- and my husband doesn't take inboard shots when we are "dressed up". It was unusually chilly up there- I say that from experience having been up there(Alaska) before about 8 years ago. I wore pink too, because it was a happy color. There are not many pictures of me in regular clothes unless it's inside the ship- On our previous trip we had sunshine almost every day... this one was unfortunately very dank- luck of the draw.

[Princess123]

Thanks for your report. We're doing Miracle from Seattle next year so it's good to read about both the Alaskan ports and Seattle itself, and to see photos.

[musicgal]

The Experience Music Project is in a building that looks like a gigantic squashed coke can. It's right beside the Sky Needle on what was once the fairgrounds of the 1962 World's Fair. We used city pass to tour it and it has an amazing collection of historical guitars including the Les Paul and original Stratocaster models. It also has a Nirvana exhibit... being Seattle.

Multi-storied, the main atrium features an art sculpture of guitars and other instrments that are rigged to pluck their own strings- making music that can be heard over ear phones.

 

[musicgal]

The Experience Music Project is in a building that looks like a gigantic squashed coke can. It's right beside the Sky Needle on what was once the fairgrounds of the 1962 World's Fair. We used city pass to tour it and it has an amazing collection of historical guitars including the Les Paul and original Stratocaster models. It also has a Nirvana exhibit... being Seattle.

Multi-storied, the main atrium features an art sculpture of guitars and other instrments that are rigged to pluck their own strings- making music that can be heard over ear phones.

 

 

The EMP also has an impressive collection of sci-fi and horror movie memorobilia. Here's Neo's dreamcoat-from the Matrix. Loving Keanu:)

And Christopher Reeves' Superman suit. I was a great fan fan of both Superman and C. Reeves.

[K.T.B.]

Regarding your steakhouse reservation and cost:

 

Carnival had mentioned that they'd honor the $30 per person until July 31st.

 

Anyway, good review. I cannot wait to see the pictures! (My workplace blocks Flickr....)

[musicgal]

Regarding your steakhouse reservation and cost:

 

Carnival had mentioned that they'd honor the $30 per person until July 31st.

 

Anyway, good review. I cannot wait to see the pictures! (My workplace blocks Flickr....)

 

 

Hi Kevin- I'm really sorry you can't see the pictures at work- there are some really pretty ones, especially of the glacier. Hope you get a look when you get home.

 

Yes- the Nouveau Steakhouse was just $30 for our party of 7, but it was already advertised in the Funtimes as $35 per person. We also got in under the wire for the past guest party- but free drinks are really no big deal to us anyway as we always purchase a Bon Voyage bar for our cabin. I still have vodka from the cruise in the drink cabinet... even though I've been working on it at night;) One thing I was very glad of doing was ordering canned sodas for the room. We flew into Seattle and basically used shuttles and didn't have a place to shop the first morning near our hotel... and I had no room for soda in the suitcase:) Even though the prices were ship's prices, it was convenient to have entire cans of soda in the room since the balcony was so nice.