Carnival Legend Review - May 8, 2017 Seattle and Las Vegas

[Anyislandwilldo]

On 6/1/2017 at 2:36 PM, Anyislandwilldo said:

Tracy Arm

We were supposed to go to Tracy Arm today but the marine service reported there was too much ice in the fjord so we averted to Endicott Arm. Our excursion was set for 10:00 and since we changed course, the excursion was pushed out 2 hours to noon. At this time we were entering the Tongrass National Park Forest which has 17 million acres of forests and 1100 islands. Some of the ice in Endicott Arm is 3000 feet high while the ice could be 1000 feet below water as well. I quickly threw in a load of laundry, grabbed some coffee and met Sam in the casino. Carnival has a feature called the Carnival Hub which you can download for free from the app store onto your smart phone. If you want the chat function it will cost an extra $5. We both loaded the chat function so we could keep in contact on the ship. Back up to the launderette to put the clothes in the dryer and then fuel up on breakfast. Grabbed the clothes, folded them and put them away. Our excursion tickets stated we were to meet in the Firebird Lounge. They walked u sto the small boat and we boarded and sat on the lower level. Each seat had complimentary binoculars. During our 3 hour long tour, we saw lots of whales, seals, eagles and porpoises. Whales are migrating this time of year. So much beautiful scenery to take in. Hot cocoa and snacks on board. The fjord was filled with chunks of ice and you could hear them hitting the bottom of the boat. At one point they pulled a large chunk of ice out of the water and make some cocktails for anyone interested. When a chuck of ice breaks off the glacier, it’s called calving. Once we approached the glacier, we saw the glacier calve about 4 times. It sounds like a crack of thunder. We were probably about ½ mile from the glacier. Back on board we went back to the room to lay down for a bit. Tonight we opted for dinner on the lido deck. Down to the casino again but this time Carnival gave me $600. Early night for us since we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.

 

[Anyislandwilldo]

On 6/1/2017 at 2:37 PM, Anyislandwilldo said:

SKAGWAY

This morning we woke up at 4:30. I’m an early bird too but Sam is the early early bird. Today we booked the Best of Skagway-Rail Summit, Trail Camp, Salmon Bake through Carnival from 7:30 am to 2:00 pm. First we had to meet in the Follies Lounge and then they walked us off the ship to a coach bus where Jim our driver would take us to the train depot. We drove through the town of Skagway to the train depot. Our car was #308, the last car of the train! Woo hoo!! I could go out the back to get pictures. Our train conductor would be Trevor. We proceeded to take seats on the left side of the train. So many people recommended the best viewing would be on the left side. They were right. We started our 27.7 mile, 3000 feet descent up the mountains. Again so much beautiful scenery to take in on the way up. I stepped out on the platform of the last car to get quite a few unobstructed photos. Towards the end of the train ride, they came around and offered a hat, video and booklet for $20 as a momen to. Sam got a new hat today. After the 105 minute train ride, we reached Frasier BC, and boarded the coach bus again. While traveling on the Klondike Highway back down, we stopped at the Alaska sign for photos. A short while later we arrived in Liarsville where Peter McPeterson and his team would put on a little skit for us showing us what life was like during the Gold Rushdays. Peter and his team were professional actors from New York that work in Alaska for the season. The play was cheesy at times but still enjoyable. After the skit, the team explained how you go about gold panning. We walked over to some troughs and started gold panning. I found 3 flecks of gold worth about 10 cents!! After panning we headed for some food. They grilled the salmon over whitespruce. There was plenty to eat and the salmon was delicious! You could sit by the campfire and have hot apple cider.

The bus dropped us off at the world famous Red Onion Saloon. Here a madam gave us a history tour of the upstairs brothel area. Back in the day the girls were paid $5. Half of that went to the madam. The remaining half went to the house. Each girl was allowed to decorate her room with wallpaper of her choosing. At one time, someone peeled off 18 layers of wallpaper in one room. After the saloon tour, we walked around town. I found some scrapbooking cutouts for a very good price. The temperature climbed to 71 this day. For us it was hot since we had layers of warm clothing on. We walked 1/3 mile back to the ship and got ready for dinner. Tonight we both ordered NY strip for dinner. After dinner went to the lounge to see Steve Heights from Skagway perform songs and tell tales of the gold rush. Entertaining! Off to bed at 9:00 beat from a long day in Skagway.

 

FUN FACTS

Some tress were over 100 years old

5% of Alaska is covered with glaciers

Only 2 restaurants open year round in Skagway

$7 for a gallon of milk

 

[Anyislandwilldo]

More of the Best of Skagway tour

[Anyislandwilldo]

On 6/1/2017 at 2:38 PM, Anyislandwilldo said:

JUNEAU

Sam was up at 4:30 this morning and I rolled out of bed at 7:30. Went for coffee and breakfast right away. Packed up the backpack and headed into Juneau to walk around. We passed so many homeless people here as well. There was a rotunda in the park with a guy lying on the ground in a sleeping bag. Stopped at Taku Harley Store and talked with the owner. Suddenly some guy started yelling in the street. The owner of the Harley store told us that the homeless soup kitchen was right across the street. There is a huge heroin problem in Juneau. Walked through a few more stores and found a nice pair of earrings for my daughter. Stopped a store right outside the pier and found some Alaskan scrapbook pages for a reasonable price.

Right outside the port there are many vendor booths selling tours. If you didn’t book ahead of time,you can pick up something right at the port.

 

While walking back towards the ship we spotted an eagle sitting up in the tree. Sam posed for a few photos with the eagle. If you can see it in the pictures. Back at the pier we found a gal holding a sign that said Harv and Marv’s. We climbed into a passenger van and drove for about 20 minutes to Auk Harbor. Along the way we passed a field with about a dozen eagles hanging out. Brent introduced himself as the captain of our boat ObiWan. There was another couple from New York and a lady from Melbourne Australia that would join us on this excursion. Brent had one crew member, Jace, from Chicago. During this excursion we saw at least a dozen whales, a few porpoises and some sealions. Brent had a good eye for spottingwhales. We were taught how to announce a whale sighting. You don’t yell out thar she blows. You use the clock system. If you see a whale to the right,you yell 3:00. Or if the whale is on the left, you yell 9:00. 12:00 for straight ahead of 6:00 for directly behind you. Even thought it was cold 51° and misting, it was a great day for spotting whales. Brent explained howto spot the whales by the spouts. The whales would then come up for air and go down for about 4 minutes or so. Sam became the official clock watcher on this tour. After the tour we stopped at Mendenhall Glacier for a photo opt before heading back to port. We were back on the ship by 3 and headed straight to the lido deck for hot chocolate!!

It was reported that Juneau had received 3 feet of snow the week before we arrived so this added to the scenery of the majestic mountains. Jace told us that Brent has the best job ever because he gets paid to chase tail all day. Harv and Marv guarantee a whale siting on your tour. After 20 minutes on the water,Brent radioed a whale sighting to another boat. The guy came back and said “Nice, you get your guarantee out of the way right away” But Brent was very professional and continued to take us to spots to see whales. According to marine law, you cannot be any closer than 100 feet of the whales. But the whales could come next to you boat if they choose. This tour did not disappoint!!

Back on the ship at 4:00. Freshened up for 5:30 dinner. Tonight Sam had shrimp and I had black bean enchiladas. After dinner sat with Mary and Marty and talked about our day. They left for dinner and we played in the casino for a bit. Carnival gave Sam $650.00 off a slot machine tonight. We waited till 10:00 pm for the casino giveaway and didn’t win anything so off to bed we went.

 

FUN FACTS

Humpback whales migrate from Maui to Alaska then migrate back to Maui where they mate and bear their young. Whales store up 10 inches of fat before heading to Maui. A female whale will bear 50 gallons of milk at one feeding for her young. Whales come to Alaska to feed. Whales will travel 7000 miles roundtrip. A female whale will be pregnant for 12 months and her calf will weigh around 900 lbs.

If you watch Alaskan Bush People, Brent, will be driving the Discovery TV crew up to Brownstown for a few weeks.

The tide changes twice a day in Juneau and can rise between 12- 17 feet.

 

[Anyislandwilldo]

On 6/1/2017 at 2:39 PM, Anyislandwilldo said:

KETCHIKAN

Apparently there we some bad storms overnight. Like I said, I sleep like a baby on the ship. We heard there were 100 mile an hour winds. At one point both Sam and I jumped out of bed because it sounded like something crashed right outside our balcony. We figured the wind picked up one of the lounge chairs off the lido deck and tossed it over board. Sam was up at 6:00 and I woke up shortly after he left the cabin. Went for coffee, talked with Mary and Marty for a while and then grabbed breakfast at 8:00 am.

Today we did the Bearing Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour. The weather was about 55° and misting. We walked off the ship about 11:15, found the tour sign and walked another 5 minutes over to berth 3 for our tour boat. We found a seat in the 3rd row under an overhead heated lamp. The boat we were on is the Aleutian Ballad,made famous in season two of Discovery Channel’s TV series Deadliest Catch when it was hit by a 60’ rogue wave and miraculously survived. Some of the crew on the tour actually were fishermen on some of the other boats used on the show. At noon we took off for the open water. The crew handed out some jackets if you were still cold. Sam and I each took an extra jacket. Dave gave us a basic background on how they all started as fishermen and the TV show. Dave was a harbor master in Ketchikan for 16 years and has lived there for 25 years. The crew showed us how they pulled the crab pots up out of the water. One pot was pulled in containing an octopus. The octopus eat the crabs. So they put some crab back in the pot with the octopus and dropped it back in the water. This will keep the octopus busy for a few days. After pulling up one of the crab pots, they passed around a crab for photos. They explained ahead of time how to hold onto the crab without getting injured. At one spot along the shore, the boat stops. Here the crew tossed fish and crab off the side to feed the eagles. There were at least 30 – 40 eagles soaring around competing for the food. Sam had a huge smile on his face at this time. Sam is an eagle buff. At the end of the show, Dave said you didn’t come to here to listen to a tour guide tell stories, you came to hear fishermen tell stories. Some somber stories were told as well about other fishing adventures. We posed for pictures with some of the fishermen. This tour was highly recommended on CruiseCritic and has many 5 star ratings on Trip Advisor. This tour was definitely 6 stars plus in our books.

After the tour we walked off the boat, and headed up to Creek Street to walk around some of the quaint gift shops. Found my granddaughters a shirt and sweatshirt. Bought a jar of salmonberry jelly as well. Back on board at 4:00 and into a nice hot shower. Went down for dinner, Sam had shrimp and fries and I had salmon in honor of being in the salmon capitol of the world! Sam had apple pie for dessert and I had butter pecan ice cream.

Headed to the casino and met up with Mary and Marty again. Mary introduced us to the new ring she bought in port, an alexandrite stone. Tonight we had to set our clocks ahead. Carnival gave me $200 off their slots tonight. At 9:30 we headed up to bed. We were both pretty tired tonight after another long day.

 

 

FUN FACTS

Buy everything you need in Ketchikan. Being the closest port to the lower 48,prices will be the best.

In the 1920s and 1930s Creek Street came alive every night as gold miners and fisherman came to drink and visit the brothels built beside the boardwalk on pilings driven into the creek.

 

[Anyislandwilldo]

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[Anyislandwilldo]

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[Anyislandwilldo]

On 6/1/2017 at 2:41 PM, Anyislandwilldo said:

VICTORIA B.C.

At this port I really wanted to go to the Butchart Gardens. I knew Sam wouldn’t be that interested because it’s 55 acres of flowers, but he came along anyway. We ate a big breakfast on the lido deck and walked off the ship at 10:30. Grabbed a taxi right away over to the Empress Hotel. At the CVS tours booth we traded in our vouchers for tickets to the Butchart Gardens. We waited about 10 minutes and a coach bus arrived to take us the Gardens. The driver of the bus provided some narratives along the route. We arrived at the Gardens around 11:45. And it was raining again. Throughout the gardens they had complimentary umbrellas in stands that you could use throughout the gardens. First thing we did was hit the little café and get some hot chocolate. We spent almost 2 hours walking through the gardens. Sam was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the beauty and landscaping of the gardens. Our favorite was the Japanese Gardens. After walking around we decided to stop in at the Blue Poppy restaurant on the grounds and share a meatball sub. At 2:00 we boarded the bus back to the Empress Hotel. We were under the impression that the bus would take us directly back to the cruise pier but the bus driver said he didn’t have enough time. We asked the CVS tour booth how to get back and they said we had to walk 4 blocks up the street to catch the bus. The bus came and we walked on board and the bus driver said we needed tickets. We stated that the CVS people told us to come here to catch the bus. The fare was $6 per person. I told Sam we can catch a taxi back. The taxi was $8.50. On our way back to the ship, I mentioned to Sam about going down by the harbor and he wasn’t interested so we continue onto the ship. Once back at the port, we walked through a gift shop and were back on board at 3:30. Stopped at the Pixel Gallery and bought our portrait from the night before. Met up with Mary and Marty again. Mary and Marty were doing your time dining, which meant they could go eat at any time between 5:30 and 9:00. Sam and I had assigned dinner at 5:30. All week the booth next to us at dinner was occupied once. We asked Mary and Marty to join us for dinner in the booth. When we got to the dining room, Sam talked to Arlan our waiter about sitting in the booth with Mary and Marty. Arlan went and talked to the maître and it was no problem. Sam and I received a gift card for a free bottle of wine from the casino so we presented the card to Arlan and ordered Moscato. We waited for the wine when Arlan came over and said they ran out of Moscato. All the other wines on the list were of the dry variety and I’m not much for dry wine. Mary and I agreed on the Merlot. Marty bowed out from the wine and we toasted our new friendship. We had a small glass of wine and offered the remainder of the wine to Arlan, which he gladly accepted. For dinner I had the Salmon cakes and prime rib while Sam had Mango soup and prime rib. After dinner we said our good byes to Mary and Mary and headed back to the room to pack. Mary and Marty wanted to be the first ones off the ship because they drove to Seattle from Colorado and wanted to get an early start on the road.

 

[Anyislandwilldo]

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[Anyislandwilldo]

On 6/1/2017 at 2:44 PM, Anyislandwilldo said:

LAS VEGAS

We landed in Vegas about 15 minutes early, 1:15. After grabbing our suitcases we followed the signs for the car rental shuttles. A quick 5 minute ride or so and we were at Alamo checking in for our car. Our reservation was for a luxury car, Cadillac$50/day. Over at the garage there was a customer taking off in the last luxury car. An agent came over to look at our reservation and said he had an Audi coming in shortly. I said we would take a free upgrade to a SUV but he walked away and showed up in an Audi Quattro. After some brief instructions on how to start the car, we were off to the hotel. Our hotel was The D on Fremont Street. Check in went smoothly and we walked over to the elevator area. Deluxe city view room for $33/night. There were no up or down buttons. You had to enter your floor number in the keypad in front of the elevator. Then it told you which elevator to get on. We dropped off our luggage in the room and headed down to the casino. After a few hours of play we headed over to the Fremont for buffet dinner. There was a 15 minute wait and we got in for their seafood buffet. No problem for me even coming back from all the seafood in Alaska. I love seafood! Buffet was really good. Walked back to The D and had the valet pickup our car. We drove about 20 minutes over to Mandalay Bay to see the Michael Jackson One by Cirque Du Soleil. We had some time so I stuck some money in a slot machine and hit for $40, cashed it out and walked over to the theater. In all the times we’ve been to Vegas, we never went to see a Vegas style show. Sam really wanted to take in a show this time. I really don’t know where to begin to describe this show. Sam just kept saying WOW after every routine. Hailed by Rolling Stone as “A virtual parade of ‘wow’ moments,” Michael Jackson ONE by Cirque du Soleil is an electrifying fusion of acrobatics, dance and visuals that reflects the dynamic showmanship of the King of Pop. Your eyes were moving the entire time throughout the show. There was so much going on, from the performers on the ceilings to the performers on the walls on the side of the theater. Lots of laser lights and theatrics. The best show we’ve ever seen!! Highly recommend!!

After the show we drove back to The D, played some slots fora little while and then off to bed.