Live from NCL Spirit 06/21/23-07/05/23 - Alaska B2B Vancouver to Seward to Vancouver

[TfromBC]

1 hour ago, Seas2mountains said:

@TfromBC I didn't want to hijack @YVRteacher's live review on the Star or on her Spirit review but know you are looking for excursions on your B2B on the Spirit. I know it can get really expensive and some budgets don't allow for all excursions at all ports.

Like @YVRteacher recommended, I will second many of hers:

 

Sitka - we did the NCL Best of Sitka tour which takes you to the Raptor Center, Fortress of the Bears, and Sitka National Historical Park where you will see the totem poles. I would do this tour again. You can read some of my comments earlier in this review. 

 

Juneau - I do recommend going to Mendenhall Glacier and a whale watching tour as Yvonne suggested. You can also ride the tram up to Mt. Roberts and the views are excellent if the clouds aren't too low. I know you have two stops here. I also did a review on the Alaska museum which we did on one stop as we have been to this port a few times. It was very interesting if you want to learn more about the native Alaskan tribes and their history. 

 

Skagway - I definitely recommend the White Pass railway excursion and the Ghost and Good Times Girls Walking tours as Yvonne did.  I do cover the Ghost and Good Time tour in this review. You should also go to the creek in the park near the port as the salmon may be running and they can be fun to watch. 

Icy Strait Point - we did like our whale watching tour but I think the one we did in Seward was better for seeing a variety of whales. You may be lucky and will see one or more from the ship as we have at times. The free tram with a chance to walk around the beach area and towards Hoonah are great choices, too.  

 

Seward - I second Yvonne's recommendation for Major Marine or Kenai Fjords tour and found that the one we took on Major Marine was probably the best excursion out of all the excursions we took in Alaska besides the White Pass railway but if those aren't in the budget, you can walk or take a free shuttle to the Sealife Center or you may also find a way to get to Exit Glacier to walk on it as we have done in the past. If you can do the Major Marine or Kenai Fjords boat tour, you will likely get close to a glacier and they will even make margaritas out of glacier ice. For some crazy reason, they let everyone touch the glacier ice and after everyone touched it - then they made the margaritas. We didn't care to drink ice that had been touched by 50+ people. LOL.

 

Ketchikan- we did not do any excursions here but enjoyed walking around town and Creek Street. We only saw 4 salmon swimming and a seal that was trailing behind them. We have stopped here on other cruises and saw many more salmon than on this visit. Our bus driver mentioned that the commercial fishing of the salmon had been impacting their salmon population. 

 

Hubbard Glacier - we struck out on both scheduled visits due to fog or too much and no one even got to go on the Hubbard Glacier boat trip that Yvonne and her Dad got to do. It looked lovely and if you can't do an excursion in Seward to see a glacier up close from a boat, it sound like this would be a great choice. On previous cruises with Hubbard Glacier on the itinerary, we got up much closer and were thrilled to see the calving. 

When on the Spirit, do not miss a chance to eat dinner in Taste as the service was a bit better than in Windows for dinner and the food temperature was hot. Onda was also a favorite of ours and I know Yvonne also mentioned this as one she also enjoyed.

 

I also wanted to thank @bluesea777 for the many suggestions given to me during this review including the recommendation to go to Taste for dinner. If you search, you may find a previous review @bluesea777 did on the Spirit or maybe they can tag it for you that covers many details about the ship that were really helpful to me when I was considering the Spirit. 

 

Have a wonderful cruise and I hope my additional comments confirming many the great suggestions @YVRteacher made are helpful to you. Maybe you can do a live review so we can all follow along? 😀

Wow! So helpful!! Thank you! I’ve been watching videos and narrowing down my choices this afternoon and it’s nice to see some of them align with your feedback. I’ll report back when I’ve got it all figured out. 

Thank you again!!! ❤️

[Mac4YYZ]

Quick question. I am on Jewel sailing north on Aug 7 from Vancouver. Is NCL still doing a prime rib night? Grand buffet? Or any other special night where I shouldn't book a specialty dinner?

[TfromBC]

Well, I just spent my daughter's inheritance! 😂🤣 

 

I booked every bucket-list excursion that I wanted, including the Taku Glacier Flight & Feast, whale watching in Icy Strait Point, Best of Skagway & White Pass Rail, and the Hubbard Glacier Cruise. Fingers and toes crossed that the weather holds for the trips that rely on it.

 

I think it's now sunk in that I'm really truly going on this cruise. I'm SO excited! 🙂 

[YVRteacher]

@TfromBC this is so exciting! You have a wonderful andventure ahead of you with fabulous excursions! I keep telling my dad to spend his money on himself and I love that you are treating yourself!

[YVRteacher]

8 hours ago, Mac4YYZ said:

Quick question. I am on Jewel sailing north on Aug 7 from Vancouver. Is NCL still doing a prime rib night? Grand buffet? Or any other special night where I shouldn't book a specialty dinner?

Yes, they do. I have all the Jewel Freestyle Dailies posted in my Live From the Jewel thread and the special themes tend to stay consistent if you want to see them.  You can see the themes for both lunch and dinner in the Garden Cafe posted on page 4 of the Freestyle Daily. Below is a screenshot @Seas2mountains shared and I have circled the food themes for this day so you know where to look.

[TfromBC]

19 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

@TfromBC this is so exciting! You have a wonderful andventure ahead of you with fabulous excursions! I keep telling my dad to spend his money on himself and I love that you are treating yourself!

Thanks @YVRteacher!

 

I refinanced recently to do some renovations and maybe take a vacation with whatever I had left after that. Somewhere along the line I realized that, for probably the first time in my life, *I* needed to come first - and that this was my chance. So I ran with it.

 

After this, my only reno might be a new toilet. Such is life. 🤣

 

 

 

[YVRteacher]

You really need this cruise!

[Mac4YYZ]

7 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Yes, they do. I have all the Jewel Freestyle Dailies posted in my Live From the Jewel thread and the special themes tend to stay consistent if you want to see them.  You can see the themes for both lunch and dinner in the Garden Cafe posted on page 4 of the Freestyle Daily. Below is a screenshot @Seas2mountains shared and I have circled the food themes for this day so you know where to look.

Thank you. Can you post a link. I tried searching the boards but can't find this thread.

[Seas2mountains]

 

 

[Seas2mountains]

16 hours ago, Mac4YYZ said:

Quick question. I am on Jewel sailing north on Aug 7 from Vancouver. Is NCL still doing a prime rib night? Grand buffet? Or any other special night where I shouldn't book a specialty dinner?

On the Spirit, they did have Alaska seafood one night in Garden Buffet with what tasted like fresh salmon. They did this on the pool deck for lunch and it was also in Garden Buffet, too.

 

I seem to remember that O'Sheehan's/the Local may have Prime Rib specials and I think it may be listed in the daily but they always have a sign at the host stand.

 

 I am sure the dailies that yvrteacher posted will be helpful.  Have a wonderful cruise!

Edited July 23, 2023 by Seas2mountains

[Seas2mountains]

7 hours ago, TfromBC said:

Thanks @YVRteacher!

 

I refinanced recently to do some renovations and maybe take a vacation with whatever I had left after that. Somewhere along the line I realized that, for probably the first time in my life, *I* needed to come first - and that this was my chance. So I ran with it.

 

After this, my only reno might be a new toilet. Such is life. 🤣

 

 

 

Have a wonderful cruise! 

Travel is something I don't regret spending money on. 

8 hours ago, TfromBC said:

Well, I just spent my daughter's inheritance! 😂🤣 

 

I booked every bucket-list excursion that I wanted, including the Taku Glacier Flight & Feast, whale watching in Icy Strait Point, Best of Skagway & White Pass Rail, and the Hubbard Glacier Cruise. Fingers and toes crossed that the weather holds for the trips that rely on it.

 

I think it's now sunk in that I'm really truly going on this cruise. I'm SO excited! 🙂 

These are some amazing excursions! Enjoy and please post to let us know how it was. 

[TfromBC]

Question for you on Sewerd… it looks like the only excursion NCL offers is the one on the way to the airport. Can I book the Kenai Fjords tour outside of the cruise and is it possible to fit that in with the logistics of changing cabins? Or would I be better off just hanging about the town?

 

Also, I’m not a drinker (just because I haven’t found many drinks I like the taste of), but after seeing your daily drink pics, I am going to put myself out there and try a few! 😊🍹🍸

 

I’m maybe more than a little bummed to read that the ship won’t sail the inside passage. That means I won’t get to wave at my friends as I sail past my village, or see the spectacular views of the IP.

 

However, since I’ve seen parts of it while boating on a small craft, I will survive! I also haven’t seen much of the wide open ocean on the west coast of the island, so that will be exciting in itself. (One west coast trip under my belt that included sailing around Nootka Island, which was spectacular.)

 

Ten days and counting!! 😊

 

Terry

 

[Seas2mountains]

34 minutes ago, TfromBC said:

Question for you on Sewerd… it looks like the only excursion NCL offers is the one on the way to the airport. Can I book the Kenai Fjords tour outside of the cruise and is it possible to fit that in with the logistics of changing cabins? Or would I be better off just hanging about the town?

 

Also, I’m not a drinker (just because I haven’t found many drinks I like the taste of), but after seeing your daily drink pics, I am going to put myself out there and try a few! 😊🍹🍸

 

I’m maybe more than a little bummed to read that the ship won’t sail the inside passage. That means I won’t get to wave at my friends as I sail past my village, or see the spectacular views of the IP.

 

However, since I’ve seen parts of it while boating on a small craft, I will survive! I also haven’t seen much of the wide open ocean on the west coast of the island, so that will be exciting in itself. (One west coast trip under my belt that included sailing around Nootka Island, which was spectacular.)

 

Ten days and counting!! 😊

 

Terry

 

Hi Terry -  You can book tours on either Major Marine or Kenai Fjords - hope these links work.  We were really happy with a 6 hour tour but I know others have highly recommended the longer tours. I have tried Major Marine and the meeting location for the tours is in the Harbor 360 hotel which is about a 1/2 mile walk from the port.  

Maybe @quack2 can share more about the Kenai Fjords experience and meeting location.

I'm glad you plan to try a few drinks.☺️  Yes, it is disappointing about the inside passage but I hope the weather will be nice so you can enjoy the views in between ports. 

That is so exciting that you will be down to single digits for the count down to the cruise starting tomorrow!

[bluesea777]

@TfromBC Hi Terry, we went on Major Marine’s 7.5 hour Kenai Fjords National Park cruise and the boat went over the ice to get as close to the two Glaciers. It was a fantastic experience not to be missed! We saw wild sea life as well. 
 

There is a free shuttle bus courtesy of Seward that stops at the ship terminal and will take you to the stop opposite Harbor 360 Hotel where you need to check in  by 8:30 am for the 9:30 am cruise (finishes at 5pm). You can book online. (the Kenai Fjords cruise, I mean). I would suggest you get off ship at about 7:45 am for the shuttle bus as it goes to

other stops before the Harbor 360 stop. 

 

After the Kenai Fjords cruise you might want to go back to the same free shuttle bus stop and hop on bus for a ride thru Seward to sightsee and head back to ship for dinner!

 

We spent 2 nights in Harbor 350 hotel and loved it. We ate in Ray’s restaurant close by both nights - fantastic crab legs!!

 

we loved Seward!

 

 

[quack2]

7 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

Hi Terry -  You can book tours on either Major Marine or Kenai Fjords - hope these links work.  We were really happy with a 6 hour tour but I know others have highly recommended the longer tours. I have tried Major Marine and the meeting location for the tours is in the Harbor 360 hotel which is about a 1/2 mile walk from the port.  

Maybe @quack2 can share more about the Kenai Fjords experience and meeting location.

I'm glad you plan to try a few drinks.☺️  Yes, it is disappointing about the inside passage but I hope the weather will be nice so you can enjoy the views in between ports. 

That is so exciting that you will be down to single digits for the count down to the cruise starting tomorrow!

I disembarked the Spirit on June 28 in Seward.  I had a reservation on the 8 hour Kenai Fjords tour to Northwestern Glacier that departs Seward at 8:30 a.m.  I carried my bags off the ship and caught the Kenai Fjords shuttle just outside the cruise terminal.  It was a 5 minute drive to the Kenai Fjords office at the dock.  The shuttle folks even took my big bag to the Alaska Railroad depot since I was departing on the train at 6:00 p.m. that evening to Anchorage.

 

My boat tour got back around 5 p.m. and it was a short shuttle ride to the train depot.  I got back to Anchorage about 10:30 and my big bag was waiting for me.  I've been impressed by how well the cruise ship arrival/departure, the train schedule and the Kenai tours are all pretty much in sync.

[TfromBC]

Thanks @Seas2mountains @bluesea777 and @quack2 - very helpful info!

 

In the clarity of a new day, I’m wondering if perhaps I’ve taken on too much (but I don’t want to miss a thing!) and maybe by the midway point I’ll need some down time. I’m going to let fate figure this one out for me, I think! 😂😂

[quack2]

4 minutes ago, TfromBC said:

Thanks @Seas2mountains @bluesea777 and @quack2 - very helpful info!

 

In the clarity of a new day, I’m wondering if perhaps I’ve taken on too much (but I don’t want to miss a thing!) and maybe by the midway point I’ll need some down time. I’m going to let fate figure this one out for me, I think! 😂😂

Find a way to make it happen.  The tour of Kenai Fjords may be the highlight of your cruise.  If 8 hours sounds like too much, take the 6 hour.  I've now done both and they are both awesome, even if weather not cooperating.

 

Are you doing a B2B that does its turnaround in Seward?

[TfromBC]

8 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

Hi Terry -  You can book tours on either Major Marine or Kenai Fjords - hope these links work.  We were really happy with a 6 hour tour but I know others have highly recommended the longer tours. I have tried Major Marine and the meeting location for the tours is in the Harbor 360 hotel which is about a 1/2 mile walk from the port.  

Maybe @quack2 can share more about the Kenai Fjords experience and meeting location.

I'm glad you plan to try a few drinks.☺️  Yes, it is disappointing about the inside passage but I hope the weather will be nice so you can enjoy the views in between ports. 

That is so exciting that you will be down to single digits for the count down to the cruise starting tomorrow!

I can’t believe it’s happening so fast! A week ago I was still waiting for my passport and told I could expect it in mid-August. It got here in six business days - without sending it off for express service!

 

I couldn’t seriously look at anything while that part was in limbo (though look I did!) and it was killing me to find deals I couldn’t grab. Once I got my passport I was on a mission! But I never dreamed I’d luck into a balcony - or a 14 day trip - given the unavailability of both anytime I checked prior to Friday night. 
 

This week is going to be crazy! 😁

[TfromBC]

8 minutes ago, quack2 said:

Find a way to make it happen.  The tour of Kenai Fjords may be the highlight of your cruise.  If 8 hours sounds like too much, take the 6 hour.  I've now done both and they are both awesome, even if weather not cooperating.

 

Are you doing a B2B that does its turnaround in Seward?

It does sound like this is an excursion I need to go on! I’ll see if I can line something up!

 

Yes, Seward is my turnaround spot. I start in Vancouver Aug 2nd. After some of the research I’ve done, it sounds like a couple of extra days here would have been great, but starting in Vancouver means I only have to take a ferry over. Maybe next trip! 😊

[quack2]

Just now, TfromBC said:

It does sound like this is an excursion I need to go on! I’ll see if I can line something up!

 

Yes, Seward is my turnaround spot. I start in Vancouver Aug 2nd. After some of the research I’ve done, it sounds like a couple of extra days here would have been great, but starting in Vancouver means I only have to take a ferry over. Maybe next trip! 😊

Just to be clear, I don't think this is an "excursion" available from the cruise ship.  You need to book direct with Major Marine or Kenai Fjords tours.  Both great operators.

[TfromBC]

14 minutes ago, quack2 said:

Just to be clear, I don't think this is an "excursion" available from the cruise ship.  You need to book direct with Major Marine or Kenai Fjords tours.  Both great operators.

Thanks - I understand that. NCL only has the excursion tied in with the trip to the Anchorage airport. 
 

Is this trip also at the mercy of the weather?

 

Thanks!! 😊

[Seas2mountains]

@TfromBC  I agree with @quack2 about the quality of the excursion in Seward through Major Marine or Kenai Fjord tours.  The boats have nice sheltered areas with comfortable seating to keep you dry from any rain with outside decks to use.  It is one of the highlights of the trips we have made to Seward. We saw so much on that tour that we didn't see on other excursions.

 

If you have to switch cabins, you will leave your luggage in the room you are vacating and will find it in your new cabin. I do understand how many excursions may make this seem overwhelming.

[quack2]

7 hours ago, TfromBC said:

Thanks - I understand that. NCL only has the excursion tied in with the trip to the Anchorage airport. 
 

Is this trip also at the mercy of the weather?

 

Thanks!! 😊

I'm sure there are sea conditions where the boat wouldn't go out.  I've gone out in rain and drizzle.  As @Seas2mountains noted, there are ample indoor seating areas on two levels.  I find the glaciers to be more spectacular in overcast skies.

[TfromBC]

12 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

@TfromBC  I agree with @quack2 about the quality of the excursion in Seward through Major Marine or Kenai Fjord tours.  The boats have nice sheltered areas with comfortable seating to keep you dry from any rain with outside decks to use.  It is one of the highlights of the trips we have made to Seward. We saw so much on that tour that we didn't see on other excursions.

 

If you have to switch cabins, you will leave your luggage in the room you are vacating and will find it in your new cabin. I do understand how many excursions may make this seem overwhelming.

Thanks for the extra info - the part about the cabin switch is a big relief for me!!

 

Major Marine tour BOOKED! 

 

I'm going to need a vacation from my vacation! 😂🤣😂

[TfromBC]

Thank you all for so much info! I have all my trips booked and a petsitter secured, so the countdown is on. ONLY 9 DAYS TO GO!! 

 

Terry