Shadowmeboy's "Spirit"ed Return to Alaska

mixmix11 · November 4, 2022

Hello Matthew

Enjoying the review very much. Well worth the wait. Brings back memories of my 3 cruises to Alaska. The composition in many of the pictures is very good.

I am wondering, what did you do before digital cameras where you had films which had to be sent off for processing? In those days every shot counted?

What did you think of the food quality? I was recently on NCL Gem and was pleasantly surprised that the quality had not deteriorated since pre-covid times...

Simon

cruiseny4life · November 4, 2022

4 hours ago, shadowmeboy said:

Cottage Cheese and my half grapefruit

Wow! They certainly increased the portion of cottage cheese on the Spirit, compared to your last cruise. That looks like an actual human amount of cottage cheese. Glad you were able to get a real bowl of it this time!

SenatorsFan · November 5, 2022

I'm finally caught up and as usual, enjoying your pictures very much. 😊

drumming cruisers · November 6, 2022

Been waiting for more posts! Great review!

shadowmeboy · November 6, 2022

On 11/4/2022 at 6:53 AM, mixmix11 said:

Hello Matthew

Enjoying the review very much. Well worth the wait. Brings back memories of my 3 cruises to Alaska. The composition in many of the pictures is very good.

I am wondering, what did you do before digital cameras where you had films which had to be sent off for processing? In those days every shot counted?

What did you think of the food quality? I was recently on NCL Gem and was pleasantly surprised that the quality had not deteriorated since pre-covid times...

Simon

Simon,

Thank you very much!

I am old enough to have had to use film and understand the struggle with the limited number of pictures on a roll of film and having to send them off. My first camera was a camera that shot 110. Luckily, by the time Susan and I had gotten married 15 years ago, digital was starting to come into dominance.

Yet, I didn't really start getting into being really photo dominate until our cruise in 2016. Our 3rd trip to Alaska and the first cruise after a almost 7 year gap. We were getting settled into married life, paying student loans, and getting our careers going during that gap. In 2016, before we sailed, I got my first really nice DSLR. I got my Rebel T5 from Costco two months before and had seen several pictorial reviews here on Cruise Critic, so I said to myself lets go for it. Capturing a trip through photos has really helped my refine my eye for a shot, not saying every shot is perfect and the beauty of digital is if its really bad you never see it! But sometimes you have to just got for it, because it might be a Moose swimming in a lake as you pass by on the Alaska Railroad. You don't have time to set up a shot, you just have to shoot and pray. Susan likes to joke, that I have a knack for centering trees in the middle of my shots in the car. I say its talent. I digress.

While my eye for photography has gotten better, I do shoot in raw, so I am forced to edit my shots. This can help smooth and refine a shot that could have gone bad, if I shot in jpg.

I felt the food between the Spirit and Breakaway to be very good. I think that Covid really helped the cruise industry and NCL specifically make sure the meals were better, as they had to do quality over quantity with less people cruising. I have not been a fan of certain things. I will often say so in these reviews. The scallop gratin on the lunch menu is a favorite of mine. So simple, but so tasty. Yet reading the description on the menu doesn't do it justice. As I mentioned, a few posts back, Onda is not my favorite. I would rather have La Cucina or even better yet Los Lobos.

Well I have successfully made my answer to your question a book, and I do apologize for that! I hope I adequately answered all the questions!

Matthew

shadowmeboy · November 6, 2022

On 11/4/2022 at 10:27 AM, cruiseny4life said:

Wow! They certainly increased the portion of cottage cheese on the Spirit, compared to your last cruise. That looks like an actual human amount of cottage cheese. Glad you were able to get a real bowl of it this time!

Me too! I used the bowl with creamers as an example of what sized bowl I would like for my cottage cheese. The staff of the Spirit was a bit more forthcoming with the Cottage Cheese!

shadowmeboy · November 6, 2022

9 hours ago, SenatorsFan said:

I'm finally caught up and as usual, enjoying your pictures very much. 😊

Thank you!

shadowmeboy · November 6, 2022

1 hour ago, drumming cruisers said:

Been waiting for more posts! Great review!

I was hoping to get to more tonight, but I had to get the yard ready for our first snow tonight into tomorrow. Digging the patio furniture cushions out after a snowfall is not fun. Plus I had a memorial service for a friend today, which took up a chunk of time. I am going to work on it some more in the morning.

ama123 · November 6, 2022

Enjoying this, thanks for all the pictures! We visited Alaska for the first time a couple of months ago. I didnt realize how much I would enjoy that cruise. I am already wanting to plan another Alaska adventure.

shadowmeboy · November 6, 2022

2 hours ago, ama123 said:

Enjoying this, thanks for all the pictures! We visited Alaska for the first time a couple of months ago. I didnt realize how much I would enjoy that cruise. I am already wanting to plan another Alaska adventure.

You are very welcome! I have sailed to Alaska 6 times now, and it never gets old. That is why its on an every 2 year rotation for Susan and I. We have our 2024 Alaska cruise booked already, but it may change once I know what the ships and itineraries are for NCL's new dock at Whittier that is supposed to open in 2024.

Edited November 6, 2022 by shadowmeboy

shadowmeboy · November 6, 2022

Resuming where I left off, we are sailing into Yakutat Bay for Hubbard Glacier.

We start to see chunks of ice.

We can just start to see Hubbard Glacier in the distance.

Local fisherman from the Yakutat village.

Birds

Its getting closer and more people are starting to hang out on deck.

shadowmeboy · November 6, 2022

Blue Sky!

Not so happy clouds over there...

Another chunk of ice

The closer we get the chunkier the water becomes with the ice.

Susan was cold, so she got us coffee to enjoy on deck!

Another cruise liner was just finishing up viewing the glacier.

shadowmeboy · November 6, 2022

Finally able to see the logo for the line. A Viking Cruise liner.

Very nice looking ship

Trace & Maria come and join us on deck.

shadowmeboy · November 6, 2022

I love all the little waterfalls coming down the hills.

shadowmeboy · November 6, 2022

We were going really slow into the ice. I wonder why? LOL!

So normally the ship will sail in and show the starboard side the glacier and then flip around 180 degrees and show the port side the glacier. We never had a full starboard look at the glacier. They started turning to only show the full face on the port side.

Starboard side panorama

Turning to show the port side the glacier.

shadowmeboy · November 6, 2022

I had to flip to the port side.

Port side panorama

I was really disappointed how far away the ship was. Part of the fun of glacier viewing is the calving. You can't see any of that from this distance.

Max's M needed a glacier shot.

shadowmeboy · November 7, 2022

So I had plans to work on this a bunch today, but we have gotten 9" of snow today. I have had to shovel multiple times. This is a picture from earlier.

shadowmeboy · November 7, 2022

Here is our photo in front of Hubbard Glacier

One of the awesome photography staff members!

Here is the time-lapse sail-in video from Hubbard Glacier

www3traveler · November 7, 2022

2 hours ago, shadowmeboy said:

So I had plans to work on this a bunch today, but we have gotten 9" of snow today. I have had to shovel multiple times. This is a picture from earlier.

WOW!! It is too early for that much snow. All Southeastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon got was very high sustained damaging winds and lots of rain.

shadowmeboy · November 10, 2022

On 11/6/2022 at 10:15 PM, www3traveler said:

WOW!! It is too early for that much snow. All Southeastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon got was very high sustained damaging winds and lots of rain.

We ended up getting 12 to 14 inches total. So much for getting Christmas lights put up on the house this year. I have huge piles where it sluffed off the roof.

shadowmeboy · November 10, 2022

So I had started working on the continuation of the Hubbard Glacier day, but the power went out and I lost everything I had entered. Then Election day happened and I have been working 10 hour days at work. So I will try to do as much as I can tonight since I feel bad that I haven't had a chance to post since Sunday.