Carnival Miracle to Alaska 9/10/13 Review – Glacier Bay Itinerary

[HeatherC430]

We were in 7301 there were 4 and cost 820 each . On the same cruise

 

With two of us in the room, it was just over $3k total for the cabin. Slightly, over $1500 each.

[HeatherC430]

Great review. We want to do Alaskian cruise one day. Any photos to share?

 

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Forums mobile app

 

Once I finish the review I'll attempt to put up or link some photos to here.

[HeatherC430]

Enjoying your review. I just booked helicopter flightseeing and glacier walkabout for our Alaska cruise in July based on your review. I couldn't decide which helicopter tour to do. You helped me decide. Thanks!

 

You won't be sorry! It was easily the BEST excursion we've ever done on any cruise in any port. It's literally once in a lifetime. I was skeptical that almost $800 for the both of us (total) for a couple of hours would be "worth it", but it totally was for us! I'll definitely post pictures of that at the end. Hightlight of the trip! :)

[HeatherC430]

Do the safes use number pad or magnetic card? Thanks

 

I just double checked with my DH (since one of his cruise duties is manning the safe). He said it was the magnetic card variety. He said you can use any card with the magnetic strip.

[HeatherC430]

Cruising Glacier Bay

After much reading on the message boards, I knew Glacier Bay day would be nonstop glacier viewing and other sights all day long – and it was! We got up pretty early that day, had breakfast, then went out on our balcony. It became clear pretty quickly that there was only so much we could see from our balcony, so we decided to go up to the top decks to check out the views from there. Glacier Bay was literally the highlight of the trip! The only other thing in contention would have been the helicopter/glacier hike in Juneau – equally as amazing. I talked to someone during the cruise that had sailed to Alaska several times. She mentioned that she wouldn’t do another Alaska cruise that didn’t include Glacier Bay. Now I know why! If you can book a Glacier Bay itinerary, do it! It was unbelievable glacier viewing literally all day long.

 

We spent the majority of the day on the top decks going from side to side as the view changed. Once up top, we quickly realized that you could see much more from the top decks (or at least that was our opinion of it). It was crowded on the top decks, yes. But, it seemed that everyone was constantly moving like us, so it wasn’t difficult to find a place along the railing to stand for a bit, and then move onto another spot. Plus, moving helped you from being cold! Glacier Bay day was one of the few times on the cruise I was actually cold. I think it seemed colder because the wind was blowing. Carnival did have small throw blankets on the top deck during this day. You could check them out similar to how you do with beach towels at the pool. Also, they have kiosks that were selling warm beverages for you at well on the top decks. I did have one of the caramel hot chocolate something-or-another with Bailey’s – pretty good. This was also the only time I wore my “warm” jacket the whole trip too.

 

At lunch time, we went indoors to take a break from the cold and get something to eat. It also worth mentioning, that all the tables inside on the Lido deck were pretty much full at all times during the day – at least during the times that we walked through Lido. I suppose that would have been a good way to take in the sites (at least for a period of time) without having to battle the cold. It seemed like a lot of older people where inside doing that. Being outside on the top decks were where all the action was though! It’s also worth mentioning for those with balconies, once we were at the main/best glacier (I can’t recall the name offhand) the captain stopped the ship, and turned it at all angles for a period of time so that those with balconies on all sides could view the glacier from their balcony. When the aft was facing the glacier, that was when we decided to leave the top decks and go to our balcony. After glacier viewing for a while longer, I went inside the stateroom to take a nap for a bit, and my DH woke me up at one point, because he didn’t want me missing any of the sights as we were cruising through Glacier Bay. You wouldn’t think a “sea day” would be so busy, or that I would have been so exhausted, but it was almost busier than a day in port! Glacier Bay was amazing though! No question about it! I’ll be sure to post pictures of this at the end of the review.

[HeatherC430]

Skagway

Kayaking in Alaska was at the top of our list of things to do on this cruise. We have single person kayaks at home and figured we’d really enjoy kayaking with the Alaskan scenery in the background. Therefore, we booked the Glacier Lake Kayak & Scenic Railway Experience excursion through Carnival ($219.99 per person). Kayaking in the Glacier Lake seemed like one of the best options available and it was a bonus that this included the railway. The tour company Carnival used was Packer Expeditions.

 

We met our tour operator at the end of the pier. After about 10-15 minutes of waiting for everyone to gather, we headed on our way to the White Pass Depot. It was a short 10 minute walk. Our tour guides hopped on the train before it departed to introduce ourselves. They were going to meet us at the glacier lake for kayaking. Once the train got moving, everyone passed around the chipboard that had the waivers for everyone to sign. We were on the scenic rail for alittle less than 2 hours. Before going on this excursion I was worried the scenic rail wouldn’t be long enough based on the distance on the train before arriving at the glacier lake. I had no idea the rail experience was as long as it was. 2 hours was more than enough time on the rail imo. The sights from the train were pretty outstanding, however, I was glad at the end of the 2 hours I hadn’t booked one of the longer train rides.

 

Once we arrived at the train stop in Fraser B.C, we debarked the train where we were greeted by our guides. Everyone was given a safety briefing, got their gear, etc. Luckily, everyone in our group claimed to have kayaking experience so they didn’t have to go into much detail. The kayaking on Lake Bernard was fantastic. I can’t say enough about the sights we saw on and surrounding the lake that day. We kayaked from one end of the lake and back to the starting point. We were paddling for about one hour. The time was about perfect. My arms had just started to get tired by the time we got back to the starting point.

 

After kayaking, we returned our gear to their respective areas. It was really nice that they had hot chocolate and apple cider packets for you to make a drink. Also, they had bags of snacks and granola bar for you to help yourself to as well. We had about 15 minutes before the bus was there waiting for us to take us back to the ship. The bus took the Klondike Highway back to Skagway. It was a nice scenic drive that lasted about 50 minutes. Important: you must have a passport for this trip since you go into British Columbia. There was a checkpoint upon returning back to Alaska. Once we were back in Skagway, we strolled around the town for about an hour or so before returning back to the ship.

[rosecruise]

I'll be patient for the photos. I love how detailed you are. It is so helpful. Good to know about the balcony not being a necessity. We plan on going a land tour before the cruise whenever we decide to go and this will save us some money.

 

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[tracyvansmith]

Cruising Glacier Bay

After much reading on the message boards, I knew Glacier Bay day would be nonstop glacier viewing and other sights all day long – and it was! We got up pretty early that day, had breakfast, then went out on our balcony. It became clear pretty quickly that there was only so much we could see from our balcony, so we decided to go up to the top decks to check out the views from there. Glacier Bay was literally the highlight of the trip! The only other thing in contention would have been the helicopter/glacier hike in Juneau – equally as amazing. I talked to someone during the cruise that had sailed to Alaska several times. She mentioned that she wouldn’t do another Alaska cruise that didn’t include Glacier Bay. Now I know why! If you can book a Glacier Bay itinerary, do it! It was unbelievable glacier viewing literally all day long.

 

We spent the majority of the day on the top decks going from side to side as the view changed. Once up top, we quickly realized that you could see much more from the top decks (or at least that was our opinion of it). It was crowded on the top decks, yes. But, it seemed that everyone was constantly moving like us, so it wasn’t difficult to find a place along the railing to stand for a bit, and then move onto another spot. Plus, moving helped you from being cold! Glacier Bay day was one of the few times on the cruise I was actually cold. I think it seemed colder because the wind was blowing. Carnival did have small throw blankets on the top deck during this day. You could check them out similar to how you do with beach towels at the pool. Also, they have kiosks that were selling warm beverages for you at well on the top decks. I did have one of the caramel hot chocolate something-or-another with Bailey’s – pretty good. This was also the only time I wore my “warm” jacket the whole trip too.

 

At lunch time, we went indoors to take a break from the cold and get something to eat. It also worth mentioning, that all the tables inside on the Lido deck were pretty much full at all times during the day – at least during the times that we walked through Lido. I suppose that would have been a good way to take in the sites (at least for a period of time) without having to battle the cold. It seemed like a lot of older people where inside doing that. Being outside on the top decks were where all the action was though! It’s also worth mentioning for those with balconies, once we were at the main/best glacier (I can’t recall the name offhand) the captain stopped the ship, and turned it at all angles for a period of time so that those with balconies on all sides could view the glacier from their balcony. When the aft was facing the glacier, that was when we decided to leave the top decks and go to our balcony. After glacier viewing for a while longer, I went inside the stateroom to take a nap for a bit, and my DH woke me up at one point, because he didn’t want me missing any of the sights as we were cruising through Glacier Bay. You wouldn’t think a “sea day” would be so busy, or that I would have been so exhausted, but it was almost busier than a day in port! Glacier Bay was amazing though! No question about it! I’ll be sure to post pictures of this at the end of the review.

 

nice to see your trip report. I am the one who told you I would never take another Alaska cruise that did not have Glacier Bay in it. Glad to see it did not disappoint. :D

[alohagirl808]

Great review!! Looking forward to the rest and photos :)

[what to go here and there]

Heather great review and I have to agree the Glacier Bay cruise is the one I recommend to everyone. It was jaw dropping, when we were having the wine tasting that one Glacier calved three times and lucky for us we were right in front of it when it happened.

[HeatherC430]

I'll be patient for the photos. I love how detailed you are. It is so helpful. Good to know about the balcony not being a necessity. We plan on going a land tour before the cruise whenever we decide to go and this will save us some money.

 

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Forums mobile app

 

Yes, In hindsight, I would have kept my original interior with french door room (for half the cost). The $1600 more the aft balcony cost me would have covered all of our excursions (which also happened to cost exactly $1600). There's a lot of people on the boards who would probably disagree with this - which is why I was initially swayed to say upgrade to the balcony room. After reading countless reviews that said, you MUST have a balcony for Alaskan cruise. For me, between the pre-Seattle 3 day stay, cruise fare, flights, hotel, excursions, spending $...the list goes on I estimate we spent about about $8k on this trip (way more than I had initially planned). I'm glad we did it though. It was a once in a lifetime trip we'll remember forever! But we warned, the trip can end up costing you a bundle (at least in comparison to what we normally spend on a standard Caribbean cruise).

 

Yes, be patient with me. This review is taking longer than I would have liked (lately I’ve actually had work to do at work…imagine that!). Once I’m done with the review I’ll focus on getting pictures uploaded. If there are any specifics you want to see, let me know! And I’ll be sure to include those. I think we took about 1100 photos.

 

I would have loved to do a land tour too, but we had already planned on 10 days. My DH doesn’t like to take anymore vacation day at a time, even that was pushing it!

[HeatherC430]

nice to see your trip report. I am the one who told you I would never take another Alaska cruise that did not have Glacier Bay in it. Glad to see it did not disappoint. :D

 

You did not disappoint! I've been telling everyone that will listen since we've been home to not take an Alaskan cruise unless it includes Glacier Bay! Highlight of the trip! I can see why you told me that now! :D

 

It was great talking to you at the CC cocktail party! :)

[HeatherC430]

Ketchikan

During the researching phase, there were no excursions that were blatantly standing out as a must-do in Ketchikan. We had a hard time deciding which we’d like to do most. Since we spent a lot on excursions in Juneau & Skagway, we didn’t want to overspend on one of the elaborate tours in Ketchikan. We thought the Misty Fjords sounded nice and would have ideally wanted to do one of the flightseeing tours, but figured we’d pass since we already did the helicopter tour in Juneau. Anyways, we ended up booking the Misty Fjords & Wilderness Explorer through Carnival ($184.99 per person). I’ll preface this by saying that this tour was the only part of the cruise I would have done differently in hindsight. Not to say it wasn’t an “ok” tour, but our expectations based on the pictures online and tour description were entirely too high for what we received in return (especially for the cost) in our opinion.

 

In the past, all of our excursions have always been booked directly through Carnival (we don’t mind the extra cost for peace of mind). Generally speaking, there’s always a representative waiting with the sign at the pier or dock immediately upon getting off the ship. In this case, we couldn’t find anyone. We asked someone with signs, they gave us some convoluted directions to find someone with a specific colored jacket standing outside of a Christmas in Alaska store (whom would be collecting our tickets). Luckily we found the person, and shortly were on our way to boarding the boat. It was a double decker boat. We immediately went to the top floor since that is where the viewing area was. Since we were among the first handful to board, we had our choice of seats. There were binoculars left on each set of seats for people to use. This tour was operated by Allen Marine Tours. It lasted 4.5 hours. Typically that amount of time is a shorter excursion for us. Not in this case. We felt like the tour was never going to end.

 

So, we wait in our seats until the boat is fully loaded (past the time in which we were scheduled to depart I might add). The boat gets going, some people sat in the few seats they had outside. There was enough room for 3-4 people to sit on the bench outside on the viewing deck. Once we got moving, it didn’t take long before they realized it was too cold & windy to be sitting outside and they came inside. My DH & I are looking out the window enjoying the scenery. At one point I said to him…”we’ll go outside when there’s something to see”. In my mind, I thought there were supposed to be all these great viewing opportunities based on the pictures. Little did I know the scenery we were viewing was going to be pretty much the same the duration of the trip.

 

 

I will say that it was nice that they came around with different tastes of “snacks” during the course of the cruise. Early we had some sort of cookie, the followed by soup (we passed on the soup) mid-way through, and at the end we had smoked tuna on a cracker. Each was just enough for a taste.

 

Once we actually got to the Misty Fjords, we did go outside and take some pictures. Not to sound like a complainer, but the day was full of sunshine (which has it benefits) so there was no “mist” like we had expected. Also, all the pictures showed this area where there were waterfalls – no waterfalls because it was dry that season. So as we saw it…it was more like this is where the waterfall normally is, but today you’re just seeing this big rock. The part at had me most upset was the fact that the description says you see harbor seals (which is one of the main things I was looking forward to on this trip). They show pictures of the seals, sitting on a rock, close enough for you to almost reach out and touch them. That my friend was not the case! So we slow down the boat to an area where these seals apparently frequent. Everyone rushes outside. The issue was we were so far away you literally could not even see if there were seals there. It didn’t matter how much I zoomed in on my camera, you couldn’t see the seals. What a disappointment.

 

About an hour into the trip as we looked around in our seats, we saw a middle-aged woman chugging a beer. My DH looked at me and said “I think she has the right idea”. He immediately went down below and bought us both an Alaskan beer (at $6 each). There was a snack bar below where you could buy drinks & food. After about another 4-5 beers each, the excursion became a little more tolerable. Mid-way through, we couldn’t help but notice others sitting around us, literally sleeping with their mouths wide open. We laughed realizing it wasn’t just us. Even the old people on the tour weren’t entertained by this. Also, its worth mentioned that a woman spoke over the intercom the entire trip. Some of what she spoke about was interesting, however, 4 plus hours of talking got to be a little much and you couldn’t help but tune her out at some point. As the end of the tour drew near, we went downstairs to find a seat (so we could debark the boat as quickly as possible). It was that bad. And we weren’t the only one. As the boat pulled into the slip, there was literally a line of people waiting to get off.

 

Disclaimer: It is possible that others could have totally enjoyed this excursion. My DH & I may be biased because we have our own speed boat and frequently take weekend trips to a lake surrounded by mountains and picturesque scenery (in West Virginia) many times throughout the summer months. To us, the sights were on bar with that experience we’re so accustomed to. Our expectations out of our Alaska cruise were to see new and different things we can’t close to home. Now I realize the fjords in Alaska and mountains/trees in West Virginia are very different, however I’m just comparing the viewing experiences in our opinion. To us, the boat ride could have been several hours shorter and the sights would have been virtually the same. Also, at almost $400 for the two of us combined, we would have expected a little more excitement or viewing opportunities. This tour is on par with $50-75 tours we’ve taken in the past on other cruises.

 

After the excursion, I was anxious to stroll around Creek Street and checkout some of the shops. From the reviews I had read and pictures posted on CC, I had high hopes of this little shopping area. To our dismay, half of the shops were closed! I’m not sure if this was because it was the end of the tourist season, or perhaps it was after 5 on a Sunday? In any case, we went into the shops that were still open, and then made our way back to the ship.

[HeatherC430]

Cruise Inside Passage – last day at sea

This was our last sea day and also happened to be my DH’s birthday. My last cruise on the Breeze was the first in which I had tried the Punchliner Comedy Club, and while we could have done without the “comedy”, we both loved the food that was offered. The coffee and orange juice was far superior to that offered on the Lido. You were given a basket upon arriving of fresh muffins, breads, croissants, etc. I believe this was the only day on this particular cruise where the brunch was offered. I had been looking for it in the Fun Times all week. We plotted our arrival time so that we did not have to endure the 5-minute “comedy” routine. The only thing I didn’t like on this trip was that they sat us with others at a large table without asking us if we minded sitting with others.

We do mind sitting with others. Anyhow, we both had the huevos rancheros (with sides) & loved it (just as we had on the Breeze)!

 

After brunch, we spent most of the day roaming the ship and having some drinks. The weather was very nice as we approached Vancouver. My DH insisted on wearing shorts and a t-shirt, a last ditch effort to have it feel like a warm weather cruise (he said).

We asked the guy operating the water slide if anyone had gone down all week. He said not a single person! My DH contemplated doing it (as he has on other cruises) but said he wasn’t in the mood to go change into his trunks. We did see a few women lying out on lido in their swimsuits on loungers. Personally, I think that was pushing it. I had jeans and a short sleeved top on and I was comfortable that day. Most of the day as we cruised you could see the coast, a few lighthouses, etc. The sights were better than a normal “sea day” where you don’t see anything other than water. But I wouldn’t say that that there was anything specific or phenomenal to see that day. I wasn’t sure what to expect prior to cruising.

 

I had sent my DH a birthday cake to the room through Bon Voyage (from our cats at home – sometimes I entertain myself by doing such things :D). It arrived around noon that day. I got the chocolate cake with chocolate icing and it was really good. We ate it later that night when we got back to the room.

[HeatherC430]

Debarkation – Vancouver

On the last day at sea, we did book the 2 hour city tour of Vancouver and shuttle to the airport combo offered through Carnival. Since we had some time before our flight home, we figured it would be a good way to see the city and pass some time. It was. The morning of debarkation they scheduled us to meet in the main theater at which point our group departed from there. I don’t recall the specific zone (maybe 3?) but we were among the first few waves of people to leave the ship. We carried our own luggage off the ship as we normally do, so while others where gathering their luggage at the terminal and going through customs, we didn’t waste any time. We were the first people on the bus.

 

The bus tour was indeed 2 hours, although it felt like it went by very quickly. It was an enjoyable drive through the city. The bus driver was great at pointing out various points of interest along the way. We had a brief stop at Stanley Park were we were able to get out for about 15 minutes or so and walk around on our own. There were some totem poles there in the park. I would recommend this city tour & shuttle for those looking for something to do rather than sitting at the airport for that additional time. We got to the airport around 11 and had plenty of time to check ourselves in, go through security, & get some lunch. We flew from Vancouver to Chicago, then Chicago to Pittsburgh. It was after midnight by the time we got home that night. I will say that the airport and flights went much smoother and easier than we had anticipated.

[HeatherC430]

[B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Random tid-bits[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]I literally only saw one kid on the ship all week! For someone like me who isn’t wild about kids running amuck on the ship, this was glorious! I figured it would be worth noting for others who might be taking children to be aware that there may not be many others for your kids to socialize with on the ship. Also, while I expected the age of those on the Alaska itinerary to be much older than the typical Caribbean cruise, the age range was even older than I had expected. We had met 2 nice couples during the week onboard who were in the same ballpark age wise to us, but other than that pretty much everyone else was older. [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]It was a much mellower crowd than what we were used to on previous cruises. Most nights after we’d eat dinner, we retire back to our rooms early & rent a movie on demand (most were 10.99 each). I think we only drank on day 1 & the last sea day (my DH’s birthday) - which is also very uncharacteristic of us. We didn’t go to any shows, didn’t watch any comedians, we only watched about 2 songs worth of Karaoke (normally one of our favorite past times onboard). We didn’t swim or go in the hot tubs. We didn’t spend any time in the Casino. I bet you’re wondering what we did do onboard? Honestly, the week flew by in a flash! It was very different than our normal cruising past times when going to the Caribbean. And while it was very different, we still enjoyed our time nonetheless.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]We only ate in the MDR ONCE all week! Most nights we just didn’t feel like doing a long dining experience and were happy just to eat at the buffet, pizza or otherwise. The night we ate in the MDR the room was really good though (we had your time dining). The service was very good - as it always is. Actually, the next day at brunch, our waiter from the night before actually remembered me. I heard “Good Morning Heather” from across the dining room. I was pretty much shocked he had remembered me since we had only ate in the dining room once all week! This was also probably the quickest dining experience we had in comparison to past cruises. I know a lot of people on the message boards say that service can be slower in your time dining. That was not our experience this cruise! The food was on par with what we’ve experienced on all our other Carnival cruises. I had heard that the pizza was good on the ship per many Miracle reviews. Indeed it was! Our favorite was the 4 cheese pizza – I don’t recall the name they used, but it was like a white pizza with several different cheeses! Amazing! We ate it several times throughout the week![/SIZE][/FONT]

[HeatherC430]

[B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Clothing:[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]I’m a chronic overpacker, I’ll admit it. But, with this cruise, I made a concerted effort to keep my packing under control. With the clothing being bulkier items, I really had to watch so my large piece of luggage didn’t weigh in at over the 50lb threshold. I took one warmer jacket with hood that was fleece lined – I only wore this once on Glacier Bay day. In hindsight, I probably should have just bulked up with layers so I didn’t have to lug this heavier jacket. I took a Columbia lightweight windbreak of sorts jacket (with hood and water resistant). I got a lot of use out of this. I wore it most days with a layers under neither. I took a bunch of fleece, thermal tops, and scarfs – and wore all of those. I took 2 pairs of Columbia active bottoms. I wore those a lot. I almost wished I had taken an extra pair of those. During the days I wore those or one of the 2 pairs of jeans that I took with me. The clothing on this trip was much more about comfort & warmth rather than coordinating “outfits” like on most cruises I’ve been on.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]I bought a Coach crossbody bag before this trip. I really liked it. It was perfect to carry my camera, cash, etc while in port. I liked that you could fold a piece of paper or put travel brochures in the back pocket. It was perfect for Alaska since I wasn’t carrying around a tote bag like in the Caribbean. I know a lot of people on the boards say to take a backpack to put layers in, but I wasn’t interested in carrying around a backpack and/or layers of clothes while in port. Each day we took our best guess as to what we thought we should wear and didn’t have any issues in terms of what we had on or if we were dressed appropriately for the weather conditions.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]I kept my shoes to a minimum of just what I expected to need. Therefore I wore everything I took several times. I took a pair of hiking/tennis shoes, 2 pairs of black slip on loafers (both Crocs) – one of dressy (fur lined) and other other casual canvas.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]When packing for all cruises, I always pack one day and one evening outfit for each day. Then toss in a few “extra” outfits, tops, etc. Since we only went to the MDR one night. I literally only wore one of my seven “evening” outfits. My evening outfits were 3 dresses, a pair of black dress pants with a few coordinating dressy tops. I came back with literally half of my clothes unworn. That was with me attempting to pack just what I thought I needed too. I still had way too much stuff. I also should have factored in that I would inevitably buy a few long sleeve and/or fleece tops. I brought the items I bought home unworn too.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Things I read to take on CC that I never used: gloves, umbrella, sunscreen, bug spray[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]If anyone has any other questions about dress that I might be overlooking, let me know. This was my biggest concern pre-cruise, making sure I packed appropriately. We really lucked out with the weather on our trip, that it was especially nice and didn’t rain, wasn’t too cold.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[Anyislandwilldo]

Love your review Heather! I will be using your review to help plan our 2016 Alaskan cruise. Thanks!

[HeatherC430]

[B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]My First Platinum experience:[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Needless to say, I had really been looking forward to my first platinum experience after many years of cruising. The best (imo) and really the only real benefit is going through the VIP line on embarkation day and being among the first to board the ship. It was also very nice that your room was ready upon arrival on the ship. Another bonus was being able to skip the line at guest services when you had a question rather than waiting in the line with everyone else. Chocolate covered strawberries and my tervis tumbler were delivered to our room during the cruise. Other than that…no different than any other cruise that I noticed. I’m not sure what I had expected, but it was a little bit anticlimactic. [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]I was also looking forward to trying these free bags of laundry (which I’ve never done in the past). Typically, about mid-way through your cruise, they will leave the empty bags in your room along with the costs associated with laundering the bag of laundry. I had expected this to be the case with my platinum experience, except I’d have a note or something stating how many bags of free luggage I would get. This was not the case. There were no bags for laundry period all week! Now, I’m sure if I tracked down my steward for the bags he would have given them to me, but it seems as though they didn’t want you to take advantage of this perk of platinum cruising.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]In conclusion[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]This cruise was unlike any others we have ever taken. The sights in Glacier Bay were truly once in a lifetime, as was walking on a glacier! We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise to Alaska, but we’re very much looking forward to our upcoming cruise to the Caribbean. Alaska was well worth the high price tag associated with the experience. And while I do recommend others take a cruise to Alaska, I don’t anticipate us cruising to Alaska again. Now that it’s crossed off our bucket list, we look forward to venturing to new places (in addition to our routine Caribbean cruises).[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]If anyone has any questions, let me know! [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]I’ll attempt to load some pictures in the upcoming week or so…[/SIZE][/FONT]

[ccruisequeen]

[quote name='HeatherC430'][COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]Yes, In hindsight, I would have kept my original interior with french door room (for half the cost). The $1600 more the aft balcony cost me would have covered all of our excursions (which also happened to cost exactly $1600). There's a lot of people on the boards who would probably disagree with this - which is why I was initially swayed to say upgrade to the balcony room. After reading countless reviews that said, you MUST have a balcony for Alaskan cruise. For me, between the pre-Seattle 3 day stay, cruise fare, flights, hotel, excursions, spending $...the list goes on I estimate we spent about about $8k on this trip (way more than I had initially planned). I'm glad we did it though. It was a once in a lifetime trip we'll remember forever! But we warned, the trip can end up costing you a bundle (at least in comparison to what we normally spend on a standard Caribbean cruise).[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]Yes, be patient with me. This review is taking longer than I would have liked (lately I’ve actually had work to do at work…imagine that!). Once I’m done with the review I’ll focus on getting pictures uploaded. If there are any specifics you want to see, let me know! And I’ll be sure to include those. I think we took about 1100 photos.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]I would have loved to do a land tour too, but we had already planned on 10 days. My DH doesn’t like to take anymore vacation day at a time, even that was pushing it![/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Which cabin. Had you booked? We booked 4155.

l[URL=http://s809.photobucket.com/user/ccruisequeen717/media/Copyofth_Carnival-VIFP-Platinum_zps41db4d4e1_zps02e438c7.jpg.html] [IMG]http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz18/ccruisequeen717/Copyofth_Carnival-VIFP-Platinum_zps41db4d4e1_zps02e438c7.jpg[/IMG] [/URL]

[HeatherC430]

[quote name='ccruisequeen']Which cabin. Had you booked? We booked 4155.

l[URL="http://s809.photobucket.com/user/ccruisequeen717/media/Copyofth_Carnival-VIFP-Platinum_zps41db4d4e1_zps02e438c7.jpg.html"] [IMG]http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz18/ccruisequeen717/Copyofth_Carnival-VIFP-Platinum_zps41db4d4e1_zps02e438c7.jpg[/IMG] [/URL][/quote]

I don't recall. I have already thrown away my original paperwork from the first booking.

[flounder315]

Hey Heather did you notice???

You are doing the double digit dance!!!

Thanks for the review, we did Alaska in June and loved it. I did all the preplanning and took advantage of the Seattle days before the cruise lie you.

But with all the research I did, I felt comfortable booking our excursions with independents and saved a bunch of money...

I hope to do another Alaska cruise 1 day and if I do I will stay at least a week and do a land vacation, so I can see Denali & do some fishing

[HeatherC430]

[quote name='flounder315']Hey Heather did you notice???

You are doing the double digit dance!!!

Thanks for the review, we did Alaska in June and loved it. I did all the preplanning and took advantage of the Seattle days before the cruise lie you.

But with all the research I did, I felt comfortable booking our excursions with independents and saved a bunch of money...

I hope to do another Alaska cruise 1 day and if I do I will stay at least a week and do a land vacation, so I can see Denali & do some fishing[/quote]

I did notice! Now my countdown to my first Celebrity cruise REALLY begins! While I love Carnival, I'm excited to try something new. This upcoming cruise has 2 ports we have yet to visit (Grenada & St. Croix) which Carnival currently doesn't go to. And, we were able to get the classic beverage package included with the promo they were running at the time. It was too good to pass up! And I'm looking forward to the Super Bowl at Sea too! :)

I am going outside my comfort zone with this next cruise and booking independent excursions. I'm hoping for the best! Stay tuned for my Carnival/Celebrity comparison. Hopefully by then I'll be sophisticated enough with posting pictures and can do a detailed play by play with photos - that's my goal anyways.

[flounder315]

You already said you are a planner.

Do your research...

Book the best deal...

Save some money...

Take a watch or make sure your cell phone is set to the ships time...

The tour guides want to make sure you get back on time, they do not want bad publicity...

[dane225]

Thank you so much for posting this review!! I just booked our cruise to Alaska today and was really excited to find your review. Lots of great information!!!