8 Day Alaska Cruise with Friends

[Matlily]

Its Long! (Sorry no pictures not sure how to get them posted)

 

 

We choose this cruise with 19 friends, as our bucket list Alaskan cruise that it took in Glacier bay and a full day in Victoria and at most ports. Our ports were Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and Victoria and a full day sailing around Glacier bay, plus 2 at sea days, we departed on Tuesday and arrived back Wednesday the following week.

 

 

We arrived Seattle and used Citypass, our group arrived at various times on mostly the Saturday and Sunday before the Cruise on Tuesday.We arrived Saturday, we walked down to pikes Market and had a bite to eat. We arrive Saturday in Seattle and walked around we brought the Citypass online and this came in very handy. Sunday we went to the Woodlake Zoo and really enjoyed it saw a lot of animals and the zoo is set out really nicely and a lot of up close and personal experiences we enjoyed this attraction the best of all in Seattle. We also did the harbor cruise,Space Needle and Aquarium. We are a country and western dancers and our group of friends are too, we love to dance two step, waltz, polka etc and where from Texas, so we checked out the Little Red Hen and they had a great country band playing Sunday evening and we all went and danced up a storm. We stayed at the Hyatt Olive 8 which was really nice and we had the awaken package that included breakfast (very good) in their restaurant we booked with points so sorry I don't know the cost. Its was walking distance to most things, if I had to do again I would stay closer to the water. We used Lyft or Uber to get everywhere its cheap and simple way to go, if you share you get them even cheaper.

 

 

Me (53) and my hubby also 53 have cruised the Caribbean before but not Alaska. I turned Platinum this cruise so that was a nice advantage and not having to purchase faster to the fun. We were actually the 2nd and 3rd people to board this cruise behind one lady in a wheelchair. I have done 12 cruises my husband I think is at 6 by now.

We had booked this cruise 2 years ago! and it was long awaited we were so excited. Alaska was beautiful.

 

 

We had a Balcony Midship cabin on the 6th floor 6251 and we loved the location very handy for everything the cabin was a little in need ofa spruce up and deep clean and the beds were pretty uncomfortable we usually love the beds! We Loved Alaska but out of 12 cruises we would not do this again, we would do the land options, the people onboard are mostly elderly and have a bad attitude, they were surly and rude, being old shouldnt give you that, were friendly bunch but we felt that there wasnt many friendly people on the ship and they keep it 100 degrees onboard.

 

 

Our cabin had a few mishaps the cabin was boiling hot when we got onboard they sent a maintenance man and put in a brand new thermostat,plus we also got a fan, The day of Glacier Bay our cabin door would no longer open, they sent an officer down to look (I don't think they believed us and then he sent for the maintenance guy who had to remove the handle and rejig it,were on friendly terms with him now ;-), then a few days later our toilet flushed brown for a few hours, made a call but they said it was rust in the lines and that to keep flushing! Gag LOL. Our room steward was good Tri was his name and we tip pretty good we had service twice a day and asked for extra towels and ice that was it really.

We loved all the ports and had a great time,

 

 

Juneau (2pm-11pm)

We were disappointed, as I had booked the Seaplane 5 Glacier viewing and Taku lodge salmon bake excursion as my husbands Christmas present as we both had never been on a seaplane before and we met in the Lounge onboard to depart, we departed to the pier were they told us it was cancelled! just like that!! We waited 45 mins in that lounge and no one said a word about it.So standing on the pier with our day semi ruined we were so looking forward tothat adventure, I grabbed the Carnival rep and managed to get us on the Mendenhall Glacier and wild life adventure $400! refund of $600+ from the Seaplane one. This one was good we saw humpback whales and Orca whales sealions far away but I guess as close as a two story boat can get, no food, only for purchase, and got to Mendenhall with only 55 minutes left to see it so too late to walk to the falls and it was raining and 7pm by now! we came back to the ship around 8:15pm a quick trip to a giftshop at port after and ate pizza starving, we made the most of it but would have been nice to have a little more notice on the cancellation.

 

 

 

Skagway (8am-7pm)

We did the train white pass up and back in the morning and it was pretty and we enjoyed it. In the afternoon we went Ocean Rafting this was fun, didn't see a lot of wild life but we had fun and the scenery was breathtaking.

 

 

Glacier Bay was awesome! (Coldest day) its so beautiful

 

 

Ketchikan (10am-10pm)

We did the lumberjack show which we just purchased when we got there $39.99 and then my friend had booked a taxi tour, I went out with the girls that morning as my husband did the the fishing trip with another friend.we had a lot of fun and its a very pictureque town and the beautiful Creek Street, went to a totem pole place, waterfalls etc. we saw a lot of salmon trying to get upstream and seals trying to eat them, and bald eagles etc.

 

 

Victoria (10am-10pm)

Went to Butchart Gardens they were beautiful, expensive about $70 for two to get in, Cab fare was $55 dollars Canadian try to take small bills, the Canadians will not break them and its $1.20 Canadian to a US dollar, they sucked at breaking them or giving US change back. No one would change a $100 bill US they wanted to give us Canadian dollars back. live and learn, after the gardens we had lunch over looking the marina and went got a couple of fridge magnets and Christmas ornament we might have brought more if they gave us the dollars back. went back to ship.

 

 

Can't tell you a lot about entertainment we went to the casino we brought Mexican train dominos with us and played that with our group, its very different from the fun with Caribbean cruise. We enjoyed it but wouldn't do it again, we got to see Alaska and that's why we were on it. would do land based next time.

 

 

Food was good and we did steakhouse one night and ChefsTable another night. Staff were excellent as usual. We lucked out on the weather it was a little rainy by the end of the day in Juneau and early in Skagway but beautiful by the afternoons blue skys sunshine only day I was super cold was Glacier Bay.

[bingomamma19]

Its Long! (Sorry no pictures not sure how to get them posted)

 

 

We choose this cruise with 19 friends, as our bucket list Alaskan cruise that it took in Glacier bay and a full day in Victoria and at most ports. Our ports were Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and Victoria and a full day sailing around Glacier bay, plus 2 at sea days, we departed on Tuesday and arrived back Wednesday the following week.

 

 

We arrived Seattle and used Citypass, our group arrived at various times on mostly the Saturday and Sunday before the Cruise on Tuesday.We arrived Saturday, we walked down to pikes Market and had a bite to eat. We arrive Saturday in Seattle and walked around we brought the Citypass online and this came in very handy. Sunday we went to the Woodlake Zoo and really enjoyed it saw a lot of animals and the zoo is set out really nicely and a lot of up close and personal experiences we enjoyed this attraction the best of all in Seattle. We also did the harbor cruise,Space Needle and Aquarium. We are a country and western dancers and our group of friends are too, we love to dance two step, waltz, polka etc and where from Texas, so we checked out the Little Red Hen and they had a great country band playing Sunday evening and we all went and danced up a storm. We stayed at the Hyatt Olive 8 which was really nice and we had the awaken package that included breakfast (very good) in their restaurant we booked with points so sorry I don't know the cost. Its was walking distance to most things, if I had to do again I would stay closer to the water. We used Lyft or Uber to get everywhere its cheap and simple way to go, if you share you get them even cheaper.

 

 

Me (53) and my hubby also 53 have cruised the Caribbean before but not Alaska. I turned Platinum this cruise so that was a nice advantage and not having to purchase faster to the fun. We were actually the 2nd and 3rd people to board this cruise behind one lady in a wheelchair. I have done 12 cruises my husband I think is at 6 by now.

We had booked this cruise 2 years ago! and it was long awaited we were so excited. Alaska was beautiful.

 

 

We had a Balcony Midship cabin on the 6th floor 6251 and we loved the location very handy for everything the cabin was a little in need ofa spruce up and deep clean and the beds were pretty uncomfortable we usually love the beds! We Loved Alaska but out of 12 cruises we would not do this again, we would do the land options, the people onboard are mostly elderly and have a bad attitude, they were surly and rude, being old shouldnt give you that, were friendly bunch but we felt that there wasnt many friendly people on the ship and they keep it 100 degrees onboard.

 

 

Our cabin had a few mishaps the cabin was boiling hot when we got onboard they sent a maintenance man and put in a brand new thermostat,plus we also got a fan, The day of Glacier Bay our cabin door would no longer open, they sent an officer down to look (I don't think they believed us and then he sent for the maintenance guy who had to remove the handle and rejig it,were on friendly terms with him now ;-), then a few days later our toilet flushed brown for a few hours, made a call but they said it was rust in the lines and that to keep flushing! Gag LOL. Our room steward was good Tri was his name and we tip pretty good we had service twice a day and asked for extra towels and ice that was it really.

We loved all the ports and had a great time,

 

 

Juneau (2pm-11pm)

We were disappointed, as I had booked the Seaplane 5 Glacier viewing and Taku lodge salmon bake excursion as my husbands Christmas present as we both had never been on a seaplane before and we met in the Lounge onboard to depart, we departed to the pier were they told us it was cancelled! just like that!! We waited 45 mins in that lounge and no one said a word about it.So standing on the pier with our day semi ruined we were so looking forward tothat adventure, I grabbed the Carnival rep and managed to get us on the Mendenhall Glacier and wild life adventure $400! refund of $600+ from the Seaplane one. This one was good we saw humpback whales and Orca whales sealions far away but I guess as close as a two story boat can get, no food, only for purchase, and got to Mendenhall with only 55 minutes left to see it so too late to walk to the falls and it was raining and 7pm by now! we came back to the ship around 8:15pm a quick trip to a giftshop at port after and ate pizza starving, we made the most of it but would have been nice to have a little more notice on the cancellation.

 

 

 

Skagway (8am-7pm)

We did the train white pass up and back in the morning and it was pretty and we enjoyed it. In the afternoon we went Ocean Rafting this was fun, didn't see a lot of wild life but we had fun and the scenery was breathtaking.

 

 

Glacier Bay was awesome! (Coldest day) its so beautiful

 

 

Ketchikan (10am-10pm)

We did the lumberjack show which we just purchased when we got there $39.99 and then my friend had booked a taxi tour, I went out with the girls that morning as my husband did the the fishing trip with another friend.we had a lot of fun and its a very pictureque town and the beautiful Creek Street, went to a totem pole place, waterfalls etc. we saw a lot of salmon trying to get upstream and seals trying to eat them, and bald eagles etc.

 

 

Victoria (10am-10pm)

Went to Butchart Gardens they were beautiful, expensive about $70 for two to get in, Cab fare was $55 dollars Canadian try to take small bills, the Canadians will not break them and its $1.20 Canadian to a US dollar, they sucked at breaking them or giving US change back. No one would change a $100 bill US they wanted to give us Canadian dollars back. live and learn, after the gardens we had lunch over looking the marina and went got a couple of fridge magnets and Christmas ornament we might have brought more if they gave us the dollars back. went back to ship.

 

 

Can't tell you a lot about entertainment we went to the casino we brought Mexican train dominos with us and played that with our group, its very different from the fun with Caribbean cruise. We enjoyed it but wouldn't do it again, we got to see Alaska and that's why we were on it. would do land based next time.

 

 

Food was good and we did steakhouse one night and ChefsTable another night. Staff were excellent as usual. We lucked out on the weather it was a little rainy by the end of the day in Juneau and early in Skagway but beautiful by the afternoons blue skys sunshine only day I was super cold was Glacier Bay.

 

We were on the cruise right before you and had room 6279--we also had tri for our room steward.

 

The crowd definitely was different than a carribean cruise. By midnight, the ship was dead..very unusual to see.

 

I loved the Legend and am actually booking the same room..6279 for spring 2020 when it is in Tampa. Its a premium balcony room that had a TON of room, storage and a huge balcony. Loved that room and I loved the layout of the Legend and the size of it.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[supertop]

We are considering an Alaska cruise next year in May and the one we are looking at says we arrive at Victoria at 7:30 pm. What time does it get dark? What can you advise about Victoria? We won't be spending a lot on shore excursions.

[Luckysll]

Why would you expect US money back when you are in Canada? And, most vendors are leery of $100 US bills because there are so many counterfeit ones around.

 

You make it sound like you were being taken advantage of. Just be glad we do accept US currency at all. I’ve been in the US and accidentally included a Canadian nickel when paying for something, only to have it tossed back to me with a nasty comment.

[skiorcruise]

We were also on the 8 day trip. We enjoyed it, and will do it again in a few years when our adult children can join us.

 

Yes, it was an older crowd - school has started and it was an 8 day leaving mid week.

 

Yes, it is different than a cruise out of Florida - it is weird wearing a coat on a cruise.

 

Do you expect US change when making a purchase in Mexico?

 

My wife says "Chubby", the Matre De (spelling) in the dinning room was the best we have ever had.

 

To each their own, but this was a cruise to remember - it filled a bucket list item and we will do it again.