Carnival Spirit Happily ever "AFT"ter

[mumofsons]

This is my views for our recent Spirit to Alaska July 3rd to July 10th.

We left our home in Greensboro NC via American Airlines with a quick stop over in Denver on Sunday July 1st (Happy Canada Day!) - Our flight left a little late and we had about twenty minutes to make our connection - this was slightly stressful for a couple of reasons - I had watched the gate for this flight for the past few days and Friday and Saturday flights had been cancelled and we had to change terminals. We got to the second gate and they had not started boarding so we made it phew!

We got to Seattle at around 4:30 pm Seattle time and made it to the hotel without any issues.

I got Grand Hyatt in downtown Seattle on Priceline for $133 per night which rack prices stated they were $220 so I felt we got a good deal. We ended up getting a King room and they brought a twin bed in for our 16 year old for $15 additional which was great. Of course we didn't have a great view but we weren't complaining.

I didn't take any pics of the room but if you search on this site you can get plenty of pictures. The bathroom is out of this world and I did take a hot bath in the soaker tub. The only issue was that they had not cleaned our room the second day but we called them and they came right away and said they thought our privacy button was pushed. The front desk personal were very helpful as was any of the bell hops (sorry if this is not their correct name anymore or not PC) when we asked for directions.

As you walk down the street on the first corner is a Cheesecake Factory which is where we ate dinner on sunday night - food was great and so was the service.

We woke up monday morning and the market is straight down Pike street - I think six or seven blocks.

Half way there we stopped at the McDonalds had a quick oatmeal and was heading down to the Market. Here are a few

[Pee-ah]

Waiting to hear more!

[mumofsons]

I forgot to mention in my first post that I have finally been visited by the upgrade fairy. :D

I had booked a 4J (obstructed french doors) to save money for the excursions since they are very expensive and at 530 seattle time Monday morning I got a call on my cell phone. I thought who would be calling me and ignored it - around 830 Seattle time I checked my voice mail and Carnival was offering me a extended balcony aft for an additional $400. Since this was less than I almost paid total for an obstructed balcony 7A - I jumped at the offer. I don't regret it one milisecond.

[mumofsons]

sorry still having problems with images

[mumofsons]

[mumofsons]

OK I think I have a better idea on how to post this pics here's a flying fish!

[mumofsons]

More market pics - random

Balloon guy

My son and I at big foot

 

Flowers everywhere - so beautiful

[mumofsons]

a few more market photos

[mumofsons]

After the market we headed over on the tram to the Sky Needle area - we had booked lunch at the sky needle and had a couple of hours to kill so we decided to do the duck tour - I would highly recommend this tour to anyone that wants a good general tour with lots of humor to see Seattle.

There is so much art everywhere in Seattle it is wonderful!

Bamboo forest

Metal tree

 

Sleepless in Seattle house OK it's not a great pic but it is the greyish house kind of in the middle of the pic

Gas works park - which for any Amazing Race fans apparently has been used at least two seasons

[mumofsons]

Onto the space needle - I had read a couple of reviews of the food at Sky City but was willing to take the chance. We walked up to the bottom of the space needle and there was a huge line - I thought wow we will never make our reservation but I asked a nice guide if there was a separate place for people with reservations and sure enough - he lead us to a different elevator and up we went. We were actually about fifteen minutes early and they apologized for not being ready for us! They gave us a pager and we went up to the observation deck - we were there less than five minutes and the pager went off.

I really thought it was a good value as it costs $19 per person to ride the elevator to the observation deck. With our meal - drinks we paid around $100 for the three of us so we were happy with it. I had fish and chips/DH had a huge hamburger and DS had a New York strip. The service was excellent! So was the food.

Interesting fact about the space needle - it only takes 1.5hp to rotate it as it so equally balanced. It rotates every 42 minutes.

Here are some pictures:

Observation deck

[Cushing985]

I gotta tell you...your pictures are great!

[mumofsons]

Thanks wait until you see the Alaska pictures ;)

[mumofsons]

I forgot to put in a picture of one of the Ducks

Some images of our Lunch rotation ;)

[mikeg001]

Thanks wait until you see the Alaska pictures ;)

 

This is great, we were on the same cruse and also did the duck tour while in Seattle. Did you get to see any of the whales while we were cruising? We were eating dinner (early seating) and was able to see the while we were eating.

[mumofsons]

The mariners were playing when we were at lunch

Disney ship in Port - I think it's the Disney Magic

Two ferries passing in the sound

[dustyroad]

i love the market in seattle. all of your pictures are really great.

[mumofsons]

Thanks Dusty

Mike001 - we went on a private Whale watching with Harv and Marv in Juneau I have some great pictures, I will post as I go along.

I only saw whales on the ship one time while eating lunch on Monday afternoon.

[mumofsons]

After the late lunch we made our way back on the tram to downtown and walked back to the hotel for a nap.

DH and DS decided to go to the midnight showing of Spiderman which was fine with me and I went to bed.

We got up early and ready for the first day of our cruise.

We arrived at the port around 1030 am and got a zone three card. I will mention here that the port of seattle isn't the same as any of the Florida ports. No one rushed over to grab our bags and we ended up walking our bags right into the port - through the security and no waiting in line to see a Carnival Rep. - OK Huston we have a problem - no room keys - WHAT??? no keys - just sit over there and we will bring them to you in a minute or two - ok - I am on vacation - I am going on a cruise and I am not tired so hey I will go with the flow. Zone one boards - Zone two boards - Zone three boards - ok now I am getting a little miffed. I walk over and get three different excuses - another couple is having the same problem - they don't have any ink in the card printer - they can't communicate with the ship blah blah blah - ok so finally I say to them - can't someone just go to the ship and get new keys from the purser? Ding Ding ding we have a winner - we and another couple get walked into the ship and go straight to the purser - new keys - bad side of this resolution we don't get to get an embark picture - bummer I always buy them.

We go up for lunch and then when it's time we go to our room. I didn't tell DH about the change and when he opens the room door and sees the aft deck he thinks I have been pulling his leg the whole time since I booked the cruise - lol I didn't ever tell him any different. ;)

Leaving Seattle

[SuntanaGirl]

My family of 4 just booked this cruise for next August. We are going to fly in on Sunday as well and visit the Market too. It will have been 15 years since I was in Seattle. I am so looking forward to going back to the Market and seeing all the different sights of the city. Your first few photos are awesome, I can't wait for the rest.

 

What type of camera are you using? Will you tell how you booked each of your excursions? I am researching those now. Looks like I will have to add the Duck tour to the list!

[mumofsons]

Ok I will pause for a moment to give my opinion and a few random thoughts.

We love Carnival but I would never say I am a cheerleader - we have always loved the value we got for our money.

We did see alot of cutbacks but not enough to stop us from staying with Carnival.

There weren't as much of the drink pushing but I don't know if that is because it was an Alaskan cruise or if it was a cutback. The service was a bit slower in the main dining room but not enough for us to get upset.

One of things that bothered both DS and DH the most was no shaving cream in the freebie bowl - I never have had to pack shaving cream before - not a big thing for me of course but they missed it.

I didn't take any pictures of food and I would say everything we ate was good - I hate buffet style eating so we did make it to the dining room at least once for breakfast but we had early early excursions for Tracy Arm, Skagway and Junea so I bit the bullet and went to the buffet.

The piano guy Keith is HORRIBLE! He embarrased one of the cruise critic gang because she asked him to play piano man. His style was rhythm and blues and believe me he didn't like to go away from that style. We usually love the piano bar - went the second night and never went back again.

We had an UMAG and OMAG - unofficial meet and greet on Tuesday afternoon and then Wednesday afternoon the official meet and greet. It was great meeting all the people who had been talking on the boards.

We actually stumbled on a trivia game after getting back on the ship in Ketchican and won two ships on a stick but we only had another couple for competetion - the entertainment guy asked if we wanted him to just give us the ship on a stick and we said no we need to earn it so we made him ask us the questions. lol

First sea day - we played trivia and just chilled - I forgot to pack both my son's and DH's dress pants and they wore jeans with a nice shirt to both formal nights. (Opps- it was an honest mistake and it's the second time I have done this - I quess they need to pack for themselves.)

Next up the Tracy Arm excursion - Not to be missed.

[mumofsons]

They did have games and gave away small American flags for the 4th. They also had a late buffet on the lido but we had late dinner so DH and myself didn't endulge but DS did.

We woke up to a beautiful but chilly day. These pics are from about 530am

[mumofsons]

The next few posts will be dedicated to the Tracy Arm - we did see both South Sawyer and Sawyer Glaciers. We witnessed the South Sawyer calving - which was awesome. Anyone that tells you it isn't worth doing the excursion is fooling themselves. You get up close and personal. Anyone who wants to book it should do it as soon as possible - they do an 11am and 2pm excursion and you need to be in the Versailles lounge around 10am. I think they were both sold out. I don't usually pay off my cruise until the final date but I wanted to make sure we had a spot on this excursion so I paid off the cruise early so I could go ahead and book. There is an email address that you send the number of people and what time you want. It was $179 per person and they don't charge you for it until you get on the ship - I put money on my sign and sail card ahead of time so that we wouldn't get hit with $549 plus $240 for tips on the first day. OK here we go!

leaving the Spirit

[jetsfan]

We are doing this cruise in 18 days!

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[mumofsons]

some more Tracy Arm

Lots of seals :)

This picture shows just how huge these glaciers are (although getting smaller everyday)

 

 

[mumofsons]

Jetsfan - this was our 11th cruise and by far the best one yet! You will love Alaska!