Carnival Legend August 25/2015 Alaska

[WinnipegCruiser]

For the most we booked this cruise simply because we wanted to cruise in August, and needed to avoid the bad weather (hurricanes) that can happen in the caribbean that time of year.

 

It was our first Alaska cruise. I had done research before and I knew I wanted to be sure to do the inside passage and especially the Tracy Arm Fiord.

 

It was also the first time we booked an Aft Cabin. I liked the idea, mostly for the sightseeing we could do from it during the Fiord day. I will explain later how well that worked out.

 

We always fly out the day before. That means a hotel stay in Seattle. It was a challenge to get a nice hotel with a bay view and close to the port (as opposed to the many Airport hotels), but we found a really nice Hilton downtown.

 

We got the bay view room, and there was certainly a lot of huge buildings in the way of the view. However on the morning of our cruise, we did see the Legend in port from our room. That was a nice bonus.

 

 

It was an expensive room, but a really nice hotel. This is another higher cost to the Alaska cruises. It is certainly cheaper to stay in really nice hotels in Florida. Seattle is expensive.

 

The cab ride to the port was $40.00 plus tip. Not bad, but again slightly higher than we are used to.

[WinnipegCruiser]

The embarkation in Seattle was fantastic. Very fast. 20 minutes from the time we got out of the cab and in our room. We did it at about 11:30 am, if that makes a difference.

 

 

Our luggage made it to our room within the hour. That was a first for us. I always tip the porters $5 a bag on shore, but I don't think that really mattered here. Everyone I spoke to seemed to have a good experience on embarkation.

 

Our cabin was, as I mentioned earlier, an Aft Cabin. 6th deck, and in the center. It was a little bigger (longer) than normal, and the view was great right at the start. We could see Seattle framed really nice as we steamed out of port.

 

 

Our early seating dinner companions were very nice. We had a really nice table in a sort of private area off the main dinning room. We have a large window and were able to get nice views every night. If you really like the dancing waiters, then this table would not be for you. However the great view and quieter area really suited us.

 

The first day is a sea day. Steaming full out to get to fiords. A real advantage to the inside passage cruise is that you spend most of the time protected from the open sea and waves. The first day and the last are really the only days where the water was not perfectly still.

 

We used the time to get familiar with the Legend. We had just been on the Carnival Pride in March, and the two ships are very similar. Almost identical really. Missing from the Legend was the BlueIguana Cantina (tacos and burritos), the EA Sports bar and Guy’s Burger Joint. Certainly lack of the south caribbean weather was another difference, so we didn't spend any time in the Legend pool area. Some people did, but we just didn't feel like braving the cooler temps. Even though they close the roof over the pool, it was still not to our taste.

 

We did spend time at the casino. I admit that is a draw for us. I don't think we would cruise on a ship that didn't have a good casino. It is our entertainment. Win or lose, we enjoy the thrills and fun.

 

This was also one of only two days that we didn't have any cell phone coverage. OK, I admit that I like having internet coverage, and this cruise stopped in US cities with AT&T coverage and one Canadian port with Rogers service. That was a nice change from our caribbean cruises. We didn't have to pay for any Carnival Wifi. That saved us at least $75.

[marshhawk]

waiting for more, and subscribing to your review, I do however have to wait until later in the evening to actually see the photos, since my boss turned off that option at work.:(:mad:

[WinnipegCruiser]

The Tracy Arm fiord was a wonderful day. It is part of a rain forest, and you can see the clouds catching on the many trees and all the waterfalls. The naturalist (Nancy) makes her announcements from the bridge and you can hear her in the cabins on channel 19. We brought a small bungee cord to keep the balcony door open. So while the ship moved slowly through the water, we could see everything and hear the announcements.

 

 

It was really nice. No question about it, a wonderful experience. Having an aft cabin was definitely a good idea and a bonus.

 

 

 

The ship moved quietly and slowly through the fiords and only turned around when it came to the glacier. At that point the ship made a 180 degree turn. This framed the glacier perfectly for us. The people with the starboard cabins would see that view for a short time while the ship spun around, and the port side cabins would not get that view at all.

 

 

We were very lucky, almost no fog, just a small amount of mist. I am told that earlier in August it was nicer. However I thought it was really nice as it was.

 

If I did this cruise again, I would probably pay for the excursion. They offload people from the ship on to smaller boats at the start of the day. Those people get to see more detail. They return at the midpoint, when the ship turns around and the second group gets on the smaller boats.

 

No internet, and in fact no satellite TV during this day.

[WinnipegCruiser]

We ate dinner almost every night in the dinner room. Early dining (5:30 pm). The only exception was the last night, were we ate in the Steak house.

We won a nice jackpot at the casino, and got our "drinks on us" cards for free drinks in the casino.

 

 

 

I take a large "Bubba" mug with me and it can hold 36 oz of drink. I get my first free drink, pour it into the mug. That way I don't have to be empty before they offer me another drink. We also tip the waiter $1 for each free drink. Once they get the idea, they are falling over each other to get us our drinks.

 

Our next port was Skagway, Alaska. We booked the White Pass train excursion. This was easy for us. The train is right across the dock from the ship.

 

 

There are two different times, an early morning (7:45am) and an afternoon time. The risk is that might be a lot of fog, but you don't know ahead of time if it will be a morning fog that burns off in time for the afternoon, or a clear morning and fog rolling in during the afternoon.

 

[WinnipegCruiser]

We did the morning, and it was perfect. It goes all the way to the border with Canada and a small lake at the 2888 feet above sea level point.

 

 

 

 

[WinnipegCruiser]

In the afternoon, we walked a little bit in the town. That was a ten minute walk from the ship, but there was a wonderful easy walkway. There also was a nice stream filled with salmon. Really packed with salmon trying to swim upstream.

 

Other than outside of town when were on the train, we had full internet and phone service. sorry, I am a geek, and I really loved that. We were in port for a really long day. 7 am to 9 pm, so that was nice. It is a really nice little town with a lot of character.

 

That night we spent time in the casino and didn't do as well. However, we did get our Platinum members gifts. Little logo'd notebooks with nice pens. In my opinion, better than the backgammon sets, but not as nice as the Travis mugs.

 

 

 

Nice treats in the room from the Casino hostess. A bottle of wine for dinner, and plate of cookies on the cabin.

 

[WinnipegCruiser]

Next port was Juneau Alaska. This is a much bigger port. We did a lot of shopping. There are so many excursions. The ship really recommends the nature boats, and the guarantee that you will see whales. The people who went that I spoke to, said they did see whales, but not that much more than we saw in the Fiords.

 

 

 

It is a really busy port. and you could just sit on your balcony and watch the ships and float planes coming in and out.

There is a tram that costs $33 a person. It takes you high above the city. There was a very low cloud cover in the morning, so you didn't see down, but I am told the park is really nice.

 

That night we won another nice jackpot in the casino.

 

 

 

 

It is a nice way to end the day. This is also when the casino hostess offered us the Steak house dinner. They offered to let us take the couple that was dining with us in the dining room. So it was the steakhouse for all four of us on the last night. Thanks Casino.

 

Next stop, Ketchikan, AK. It was really raining here. We did leave the ship, but only went to a couple of stores. It was just too wet and a bit stormy, so we went back to the ship pretty quickly. I was told that it was shirt sleave weather only the week before. Oh well, you can never tell what the weather will be like.

That night we entered the slot tournament. Our Platinum status gets us "buy one get one free" entries. So for $50 we got four entries. The DW got on the board with her first try. I used all three of our remaining entry tickets and finally got on the board in the second spot. It was exciting for a bit.

 

I didn't win the $500 but I did get a neat shirt. We also decided to take in the show in the theater. It was a Rock and Roll show. The dancers did a great job with the dancing and singing. Some might find it a bit loud, but it was rock and roll after all.

 

The next day were were not arriving to Victoria BC until after dinner (7:30pm). So the casino was open most of the day. We knew they were having the "Big Loot draw" at 10am. It had grown over the week to a whopping $1,350.00. They would have to give it away that morning. So while so many were taking advantage of the later port time and sleeping in, we got up and showed up.

 

After drawing at least 5 names of people who were not in attendance, and therefore missed out, they called DW's name. Very exciting, win the $1,350.00 at the start of the day.

 

 

She was walking on air for the rest of the cruise. The casino closed at 3pm that day, and didn't reopen. So we had to take our cash from our casino bank. We had won another $300 in the morning, so we had almost $3,000.00 in cash. It was a really good week.

[WinnipegCruiser]

We had dinner in the steakhouse. We got a table with an amazing view and the service was great. Yes, the food was wonderful. Everyone enjoyed their steaks. We had a bottle of wine (also comped by the casino), and a wonderful time. It is a nice dining experience that is more than just better food. You also get more attention from the dining staff, and a real 5 star dining feel that you don't even realize you are missing in the main dining room.

 

We didn't get off the ship in Victoria. It was really late (like 8:30pm) and everything was closed. It was also raining and cold. Bad timing. I know how fantastic Victoria can be. However in this case it felt like the stop was just tacked on so that Carnival could show they stopped at a foreign port (Canada). It was just too late at night for us to do anything.

 

So that evening we spent most of our time packing and getting ready for the Seattle debarkation the next morning. I printed off our bill

 

We put out our luggage in the hallway the night before and fell asleep before the ship even left port. Our cruise had gone so well, we slept very soundly.

 

I set the alarm for 7:20am in order to do the check in for our flights home. We didn't fly until the next day and had an airport hotel stay still. Being docked in Seattle, we had full internet service and checking in went easy.

 

We got dressed, had a nice breakfast on the lido deck and then did a relaxed debarkation. It went really easy. Not even one line up. You know how sometimes there is a huge lineup at customs? Not this time, we moved through the process quickly. Faster than I remember ever before. Our luggage was in a clear, well labeled area and we grabbed it and were outside within about 15 minutes. I just can't even imagine a better debarkation process. I suspect the fact that we visited American and Canadian ports gave the customs people in Seattle confidence to clear us faster. I also think the ship was docked in Seattle very early. The distance from Victoria to Seattle is not big.

 

Anyway, a wonderful experience. Alaska was great, the Legend was great and the weather was good.

 

Recommended.

[marshhawk]

Thanks for the review, and congrats on the wins.

[nybumpkin]

Thanks for sharing your review! We sailed Alaska last year on Miracle and loved it. And congratulations on the casino winnings.:D

[LUVMYGSDOG]

Thanks for the review! Hopefully I will get to cruise Alaska one day!

 

Kim

[daredneck]

Thanks for the Review. We are booked June 2016. Did you happen to notice if taxes were charged for drinks while in Alaska waters? Did you see the hot tubs being used? The idea of aft hot tube while sailing thru the fiords sounds like relaxation!

[Uncwrn93]

Not the original poster but when we were on our Alaskan cruise hot tubs were used a lot, pools not so much. Don't remember getting taxed on our drinks.

[Buffettfan 225]

Following--may return with questions--

[cruiseonthebrain]

Thank you for the Terrific review! We have an aft view cabin this summer and I am so excited!!!