A 40th Birthday Escape: Alaska

[Indytraveler83]

On my Father's 40th Birthday, I clearly remember my grandparents stepping out of their car, wrapping a shawl over his shoulders and placing a cane in his hand.  That man aged 30 years that day.

 

I hate my family.  

 

While ships were frozen for the pandemic, my PVP contacted me about great deals for Alaska.  A full deposit could place us on the ship for about half of the normal going rate.  I seized this idea, and booked a 7 day Alaskan cruise on the Freedom that departed on my birthday. While the rate was great, we were unsure of how personal finances would go through the pandemic, so we only booked an interior room and crossed our fingers.  I would not suffer the same ravages of family as my father.  The black balloons could go to some other sucker that let this milestone pass without planning ...

 

Time passed, ships began moving again and our luck improved.  Carnival's irritation with Australia's multiple re-opening delays benefitted us greatly when the Spirit was substituted in for the Freedom.  Lacking the interior rooms the Freedom had, we were "forced" into a balcony room on the 6th deck, far forward on the ship.

 

We cruised 3 times between booking this trip and the start.  We had two great cruises together on the Horizon, but earlier this year we came off our worst cruise ever on the Valor, that left us seriously reconsidering our feelings on cruising and left plenty of doubt and anxiety as we packed for this trip.  

 

For this review, I will return to my normal style of posting entries with  pictures, going day by day.  I felt going into this trip like Alaskan cruises are harder to find reviews and advice for, so I'm hoping to provide as many details as possible. We also spent two days in Seattle, which I will cover, but not as completely as the cruise. Please feel free to ask questions, and I'll either answer them directly or within an entry.  

Next up: Trip prep (learning what and what not to do).

 

[PayneAS]

Did you post a different post about the Valor? I also did not enjoy cruising on her but I love cruising on her sister ship, the Glory. So I'm just curious why you might have had such a negative experience.

I hope your trip to AK is amazing! I hope I get to book one there soon.

[Indytraveler83]

Trip prep:

 

While our cruises on the Horizon had been enjoyable, the traveling was not.  We live in Southwest Michigan, and are a little closer to O'Hare than airports in Indy or Detroit, and had flown Spirit out of O'Hare.  Along the way, between the city of Chicago and Spirit's increased extra fees, we found ourselves spending far more than we thought to travel the busiest airport and most uncomfortable airline we could manage.

 

For this trip, we booked Delta out of Detroit.  History has told us that both of those choices would be far less stressful and fees would be far more predictable (not to mention Delta's higher weight limit vs Spirit seemed necessary for a long trip in colder weather).

 

Packing for this trip was interesting.  Seattle promised to be warm (mid-80's) while Alaskan ports projected to be in the mid 60's during the day.  Knowing the rain is always possible and our trip would take us near glaciers, we packed shorts, jeans, t shirts, coats, rain coats and jackets.  The layers were appreciated through the trip, but the shorts, swimwear and much of the lighter stuff went unused after Seattle.  In retrospect, I would have packed none of those things, and focused on a few more choices for layers, as my sole hoodie was abused in the week that followed.

 

My mother in law spent the night prior at our home and we left for Detroit in the wee hours of the morning.  Park N Go is an easy option right off the interstate , and the airport was a ghost town when we arrived.

 

We got through security and to the gate in less than 20 minutes, boarding our 6 AM flight with relative ease.  I was happy through the flight to be offered water, tea, coffee and soft drinks, as well as an array of snacks twice.  I was pleased to see they had no intention of charging for any of these things, while also offering free in flight entertainment.  Ironically, the flight was cheaper than Spirit when baggage fees and seat selection were included.  

 

 

Landing in Seattle, we took the light rail ($3 per person) to downtown Seattle and checked into Hotel Andra for our two day stay.  They were nice enough to offer a free room upgrade and early check in, getting our trip to Seattle off to a great start.

 

Up next- Seattle Summary

[Indytraveler83]

15 minutes ago, PayneAS said:

Did you post a different post about the Valor? I also did not enjoy cruising on her but I love cruising on her sister ship, the Glory. So I'm just curious why you might have had such a negative experience.

I hope your trip to AK is amazing! I hope I get to book one there soon.

 

I did, but it was a summary as I had no intention of reliving the disaster day to day.  In short, we found our fellow passengers to be rude, angry and disruptive.  The Valor was in awful shape, with tons of things not working (including our bathroom for over a day).  I hated the ship design overall (likely won't step foot on another Conquest class ship), found poor entertainment onboard (the violin trip being the only exception) and found Costa Maya to be a fairly poor port as well.  To top it all off, it was a large family cruise full of personal drama and travel nightmares.  I mostly have good travels and shake off the bad fairly well, having never previously said a cruise was bad.  But that is one trip I wish I would have never taken, and it's likely put me off of cruises out of New Orleans, Conquest class ships, and anything shorter than 6 days permanently. 

 

That said, I hope my day to day review of the Spirit clues everyone in that I'm not an extremely negative person or reviewer.  Alaska is a far different thing than a 5 day booze cruise.  

Edited September 5, 2023 by Indytraveler83

[Indytraveler83]

Seattle:

 

We stayed at Hotel Andra, as I mentioned in the previous post and found it to be one of the best hotel stays in a while.  In addition to the room upgrade and early check in, we found premium shower and toiletry products in the room, an in room espresso maker and a somewhat old fashioned experience with bags brought to your room, doors opened by staff and the extreme politeness you usually associate with very high end places.

 

The Public Market area was fun, but too full of the tourist wares and reproduced things we've seen at about every place we travel on the first level.  Going deeper, there were cool eateries, some antique stores and special places that were were exploring. 

 

Food and drink overall was good, but fairly pricy.  Our favorite though was a hole in the wall pizza place called the Alibi Room (literally a hole in the gum wall) where the happy hour specials included half price pizza, discounted drinks and a welcome relief from the throngs of folks flooding the area.

 

We also took a Seattle Underground tour through Bill Speidel's which was an entertaining hour jaunt through the tunnels below the city

 

My only negative feeling for Seattle comes with the complicated topic of the homeless population.  We found Pioneer Square to be unexplorable, and often some of the main downtown areas overrun with homeless people openly using drugs and stumbling through the streets.

 

I'm not going to venture into social commentary, but as a tourist looking for welcoming, safe places to explore, we found this city more difficult to feel that way than Chicago and New Orleans.  

 

After our time in Seattle was done, we took an Uber to the dock and boarded the Carnival Spirit!

 

Up next: Day one and first impressions.

[lazydayz]

Looking forward to your review.  Thanks for doing it. 

[Crusin Karen]

I LOVE the Spirit and always wanted to do

Alaska but I dont think it will happen so I’m happy to “cruise along with you!” 👍👍👏

[Indytraveler83]

Glad to see the interest everyone!  Our flight schedule yesterday ended up more brutal than expected, so I've been up for nearly 48 hours.  I'll write an entry again once I've slept and am a bit more coherent!

[MalleyCat]

We were on this cruise and had the best time! Everything from flights (CLE-SEA on Alaska), to pre/post cruise hotel and actual cruise were flawless-we also got moved to balcony, 6th floor, front of the ship with the change to the Spirit. Can’t wait for your review. We’re ready to book again. 

[Indytraveler83]

2 hours ago, MalleyCat said:

We were on this cruise and had the best time! Everything from flights (CLE-SEA on Alaska), to pre/post cruise hotel and actual cruise were flawless-we also got moved to balcony, 6th floor, front of the ship with the change to the Spirit. Can’t wait for your review. We’re ready to book again. 

I wish I could say our return flight went smoothly... lol.

 

Gonna try to get a few entries in today!

[Indytraveler83]

Getting to the ship was fairly easy.  The Spirit was the only ship in port and we had selected an 11:30 check in time.

 

Despite arriving at 11:10, we found ourselves whisked through security and onboard by 11:18 am.  Now while we usually attend the safety briefing right away, we were left no choice once onboard.  Everyone was shuttled to their muster station where we were taken through a very brief safety briefing and then we're free to find some lunch.  

 

Blue Iguana never disappoints, so we found ourselves with tacos on our new home for the next week.  

 

Exploring the Spirit, it felt both familiar and fresh.  We have cruised on the Miracle in the past, but sailing on origin ship of the class felt different.  I'll say that the Spirit didn't feel like a 21 year old ship.  While it still holds the same flare as the original Farkus ships, the bronze theme throughout gives it a much more toned down feel versus it's sister ships.

 

Most public spaces felt clean and kept up, with only a few small signs of wear and tear.  Throughout the trip we found that everything we touched functioned and we never sat on a worn out chair or saw anything broken.  Neither our previous trip on the Miracle or the disaster on the Valor presented us with a ship kept up quite as well.  

 

That said, both the dining room and the main lounge had heavy theming that reminded us of the 90's Vegas style that these ships were known for.  

 

 

We snapped a quick picture of the surrounding hills before the Spirit slid away from the dock and we prepared for a special birthday dinner at the steakhouse.  We also met our room steward for the first time.  His name was "John" and he seemed very eager to speak with guests.  After having a fun conversation with him about his favorite things to do in Alaska, we headed to eat.

 

The food at the steakhouse was good as usual.  Steaks cooked exactly to order, soup served piping hot and the complimentary wine came quickly with good service.  Our only disappointment was that it seems folks in the steakhouse are seated closer and closer together, so my special birthday dinner appeared to have been shared with four random strangers next to us.  

 

Additionally, the price hike to dine there and the "good" food didn't quite meet the mark.  To be clear, everything was good. But was it $42/person better than the MDR?  Not really.  This will likely be our last steakhouse visit unless/until it undergoes some changes.  

 

Now we had taken dramamine prior to departure, having heard the Pacific Ocean could be a little bit rougher.  That combined with the wine has us feeling quite sleepy.  John saw us on our way back to our room to change and asked about our plans.  We told him we wanted to hear some music and watch comedy.

 

Well, the only music I heard was the sound of snoring.  We sat down on the bed very briefly with the intention of dressing into comfortable clothes at around 8 PM.  I woke up at midnight and we still hadn't changed.  Whoops!

 

Next up: First sea day!

Edited September 7, 2023 by Indytraveler83

[Indytraveler83]

We awoke the next morning refreshed and ready to start the day early.  As is typical, dining room breakfast was a little rough, made worse by the throngs of people unfamiliar with the Hub App and check in.  That said, the food was good and we decided it was warm enough to head outside and relax.

 

Now the wind was a little high and rain came and went all day.  But it was still in the 60's, so the covered part of the Serenity deck was the best place to relax.  Thankfully, we were nearly the only folks to think so, and spent much of the late morning and early afternoon reading, sharing a bucket of beers and unwinding a little.

 

 

Heading to dinner, I captured a picture of the signature drink in Alchemy, which felt more than fitting for me (yet I forgot to get one on the way out).  Dinner went smoother than breakfast, but I don't particularly remember anything notable as we were eager to get out and enjoy the evening.  

 

We changed in the room quickly (making sure not to get close to the bed this time) and headed out first to the atrium to enjoy the music.  As we sat there, we noticed a couple on the other end of the bar staring at us.  They'd stare, then whisper, then stare some more.  Just as it was getting uncomfortable, the woman approached us.

 

"Did you two go sightseeing in Seattle?" She asked.

"Yes." We replied, confused.  She looked over to the man and nodded her head vigorously.  

"Were you on the Seattle Underground tour Sunday? With Bill Speidel's?"

"Yes," we replied

"TOLD YOU!" She shouted across the bar to the man.  "Thanks guys, my husband owes me $100.00 now!  I told him I recognized you!"

 

We were fast friends from that point and would share quite a few good moments over the course of the cruise.  They became our atrium bar buddies and we looked forward to sharing our days with them.  But this wasn't the only familiar face.

 

The violin trio was "New Age" which we recognized from the Valor earlier in the year.  We were eager to watch them, as their time on the Valor only overlapped our dinner, catching them in short spurts after dinner when they were finishing their set.  We had enjoyed them previously, but only caught about 30 minutes of their music in total prior to this.  

 

Yet on their first break, one of the members came down and recognized us.  She said it's the first time she's seen a repeat face on a different ship. We were shocked, and a little humbled she had noticed us.  She would come down and talk to us frequently during the cruise, even asking for advice on the ports.  They are new to the ship and trying to enjoy the few remaining weeks of the Alaskan season.

 

 

Our evening ended in the piano bar, where we met Jamie, one of the better piano played we've had in a while.  While he's still building his song list, he's rather good at granting requests in a timely manner and even better at reading the crowd and choosing songs based on the audience.

 

We headed to bed late, ready to cruise Tracy Arm Fjord and sight see from the comfort of the ship the next day.

 

Up next: Tracy Arm Fjord!

Edited September 8, 2023 by Indytraveler83

[VIFP1987]

Enjoying your report, can’t wait to read the rest of it! 

[Indytraveler83]

Getting ready to post my next entry, and this is where the cruise sort of shifted gears.  Up to this point, it was a "cruise," one that was going fairly well, but still your run of the mill, nothing out of the ordinary ordeal.  Had we gotten off the ship after a few more days of that, we would have enjoyed ourselves, went home relaxed, and thought about what to do next.  

 

But we had arrived in Alaska. And well folks, that's a game changer...

[Indytraveler83]

The morning to cruise Tracy Arm Fjord had arrived in dense fog.  I know we ate breakfast in the dining room, but for the life of me I don't remember it.  We ate quickly and emerged to see this:

 

The Spirit was cutting through soupy fog, blowing it's horn every so often.  While interior decks were packed, the outside of the ship was ghostly as an icy chill still hung in the air.  At times, the fog was so thick you felt you could have parted it with your fingers. 

 

And yet, there were outlines in the distance, suggesting massive shapes and looming ridges were just beyond sight.  

 

Light was bending in fantastical ways, sending bent rainbows arcing through the fog and off onto the horizon.  Pictures truly do not do it justice.  It's as if thick clouds were mimicking glaciers as they rolled down the mountains and into the sea.

 

And as the fog cleared, great peaks began to emerge in the distance, showing evidence of a land so young that top soil has barely made its mark yet on the rocky outcroppings.

 

(Part 2 next, I'll try to limit posts to 3 pictures each to assist with uploading issues)

Edited September 8, 2023 by Indytraveler83

[Indytraveler83]

The reason for the frequent foghorn emerged into the open about as quickly as the fog vanished.  

 

A member of the Princess fleet was emerging from the Fjord, and glided quietly by as the Spirit slowed to a crawl.

We sat on Serenity until lunch time, but distant whale sightings (too far for pictures) and the towering cliffs began attracting crowds to the rail.  It is specifically this day that a balcony makes all the difference.  As chunks of ice floated by, and the ridges grew ever closer, we retreated to our balcony, threw on warm clothes and emerged just in time to hit an ice berg!

 

Ok, ok, so this isn't exactly Titanic level stuff here, that is probably the size of a king sized mattress.  But at least I can say we were on a ship that hit an iceberg!

 

(Part 3 coming up!)

[Indytraveler83]

We raised a toast after pulling the blankets from the bed and every ounce of warm clothing from the closets.  We weren't going anywhere.

 

But the ice sure was.  Larger and larger chunks of ice drifted by, the one below bigger than a city bus, and some even larger than the boats that emerged from the mist to pick up passengers to get and up close view of the glacier.

 

The ridges kept growing impossibly tight against the ship, making it feel like we'd arrived in a narrow canal of ice and wonder.

 

Hope you aren't sick of pictures, because there's more coming up!

Edited September 8, 2023 by Indytraveler83

[Indytraveler83]

I've included the picture below for reference, so you can see how overwhelming it is from the balcony.  My pictures are not zoomed in from a distance.  These scenes are almost on top of you.

 

Waterfalls, ice flows and rocky scars from both scarred the landscape:

 

The glacier itself wasn't fully visible from where the ship turned around, and only those who paid the extra to go see it got to travel down an even more narrow corridor.  I hear it often isn't worth it, but our friends from the atrium went, and reported a chunk of ice came loose, giving them amazing pictures and video of it.

 

I could keep posting pictures, we probably took well over 100 each, and stayed out on the balcony until it grew bone chillingly cold.  

 

Afterwards we ate in the dining room, went the the piano bar and enjoyed ourselves onboard, but most of it is a blur, as our minds couldn't possibly refocus from the breathtaking views we'd seen that day.

 

Next up (sometime this weekend): Twelve intense hours in Skagway.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Indytraveler83

[PinaCarada]

Thank you for the great review so far! Looking forward to hearing more. We're going to Alaska for the first time for 11 days on the Miracle from San Francisco in July 2024 and I've been so overwhelmed looking at excursions. I'm thinking you're going to help me narrow some down 😉

[Indytraveler83]

1 hour ago, PinaCarada said:

Thank you for the great review so far! Looking forward to hearing more. We're going to Alaska for the first time for 11 days on the Miracle from San Francisco in July 2024 and I've been so overwhelmed looking at excursions. I'm thinking you're going to help me narrow some down 😉

 

I will do my best to try and help with that. I literally created spreadsheets and poured over my options for months. The Alaska specific boards here are also very helpful.  A few thoughts overall on Alaskan excursions:

 

1) You will miss something you want to do.  There is so much cool stuff and only a few days.  You really have to narrow down on what type of experience you want to have.

 

2) Excursions can be insanely expensive.  We can't afford most of that stuff (helicopter rides, sea planes, etc) and we did this trip on a fairly strict budget.  In fact, we only budgeted $400/person for excursions the entire trip (which wouldn't even cover some of the singe excursions).

 

I'll save my specific thoughts on each port for my entries, but as an avid hiker and wildlife enthusiast, my theme was "boots in the soil" and I decided I wanted to see as much as I could, as close as I could. So I ruled out aircraft, the train and anything else that kept me behind a window and in a seat.  

 

My first poet was Skagway, and I'll start writing on that epic adventure sometime this weekend!

[LibertyBella]

When we cruised to Alaska, we splurged on the helicopter ride that took us to a glacier where we trekked a bit on the blue ice with crampon boots.  I have to say that was probably the most memorable experience of the entire cruise, even though we did zip-lining, canoeing, rock-climbing, wildlife watching, and a bunch of other stuff.  (I never count food or ship entertainment as extremely memorable, because I have been on many, many cruises, and it all kinds of blends together.) I also would not bother with the dog sleds--there are much more comprehensive (and more reasonably priced) dog sled experiences in Canada, as I can attest.

 

I know you are on a budget, but some times remarkable experiences are worth the cost! Have a fantastic cruise.

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by LibertyBella

[Indytraveler83]

7 hours ago, LibertyBella said:

When we cruised to Alaska, we splurged on the helicopter ride that took us to a glacier where we trekked a bit on the blue ice with crampon boots.  I have to say that was probably the most memorable experience of the entire cruise, even though we did zip-lining, canoeing, rock-climbing, wildlife watching, and a bunch of other stuff.  (I never count food or ship entertainment as extremely memorable, because I have been on many, many cruises, and it all kinds of blends together.) I also would not bother with the dog sleds--there are much more comprehensive (and more reasonably priced) dog sled experiences in Canada, as I can attest.

 

I know you are on a budget, but some times remarkable experiences are worth the cost! Have a fantastic cruise.

 

 

I would have loved to stepped foot on the ice like that!  I'm hoping in the future to be able to afford to do just that.  

 

I also agree with you about the dog sledding excursions.  My parents did that excursion in Skagway last year, and while they enjoyed it, they expected something more from it.  Aside from being pulled very briefly by a team of dogs on a large buggy of sorts, it was basically them paying quite a bit of money to pet dogs.  

[MalleyCat]

<<The glacier itself wasn't fully visible from where the ship turned around, and only those who paid the extra to go see it got to travel down an even more narrow corridor.  I hear it often isn't worth it, but our friends from the atrium went, and reported a chunk of ice came loose, giving them amazing pictures and video of it.>>

 

We did the TAF excursion and it was the highlight of the cruise for us. I’m *almost* looking forward to going back to work on Monday to show everyone the pictures. 🙂

Next time, ask your steward for a blue blanket-they were game changers! We kept them ready for hanging out on the balcony and didn’t have to mess up the beds. Super warm and cozy. I’m on a mission to find one to buy for home. They are much warmer than the Dive In Movie blankets and queen sized.

[Indytraveler83]

Onto Skagway! (This will be another multi entry day)

 

We woke up on this morning to find the ship docked fairly early.  Thankfully breakfast in the dining room was moving faster now, and we got in and out in under 30 minutes.  Knowing it would be a long day, we had oatmeal and yogurt, hoping for some base foods to fuel us for the day.  

 

We got off the ship shortly after 7 am and headed right out, hoping for some early morning hiking.  Our departure was slightly delayed as the train passed before us, which resulted in a very cool video, and a few good pictures.

 

Once the train had passed, we followed some online directions that took us briefly through town and toward the river crossing, with the intent to hike to Smugglers Cove.

 

 

This picture was taken on the bridge across the river, and we experienced some of the strongest winds we had ever seen without a storm.  The windsock are the nearby airport was fully sideways in the wind, and the landing aircraft shimmied and bounced as they fought the wind.  

 

Many helicopters were able to take off, but just as many were forced to cancel.  If a helicopter excursion is in your future be warned: the wind here is constant and your excursion is not guaranteed even in clear weather.  

 

On our way to Smugglers Cove, we encountered a very cool little beachhead where we got some great pictures.  

 

The cove itself was not quite as picturesque, but had a cool historical significance to the region.  At this point, we had hiked about 5 miles from the ship.  Thankfully, we are both very experienced (and very fast) hikers, so not much of the morning had passed yet.  We continued on the branching trails, weaving in and out of the woods and along the river.

 

We happened upon a touching pet cemetery, where we didn't take pictures out of respect, but were moved by the care that the local population has for their pets.  

 

After that, we headed across the river and back into town to explore further. 

[Indytraveler83]

Heading back through town, we looked briefly through the shops, but while they were all housed in the neat historic buildings, we found far too many to be occupied by the regular cast of souvenir shops (Diamonds International, etc etc) and places that stated they were Alaskan owned, only to still be hawking mass produced goods.  There were a few small shops owned by local artists and craftsmen, and I would encourage you to seek those places out, as they had some pretty awesome artwork and products.

 

Having spent little time shopping, we decided to continue hiking through town and onto Lower Reid Falls and the Gold Miners Graveyard north of town.  

 

The route is another few miles, but you can take a shuttle (or excursion) if you wish.  However, if you don't mind walking, there's plenty of time to head there for free.

The route takes you past the rail yard, where we wondered the story beyond this long abandon (and badly damaged) steam locomotive.

 

Again, we did not take photos in the graveyard, despite being a tourist destination, but we were able to learn some interesting stories about the frontier life and some true heroes of the Last Frontier.  It's a touching and honestly sobering place that grounds you in the dreams and heartbreaks of the early people to try and make a life up north.

 

The fall were a cool place where you can step right up to the waters and touch the icy flow from the glaciers above.  There are signs all over of the ever changing landscape, trails that start and end in fits, signs of old rockslides or avalanches, and the scars of glacial movement are apparent on every rock face.  

 

We finally hiked back into town and headed to Skagway Brewing to try the Spice tip ale and some local seafood.  The picture above isn't great, but it shows half of the thick salmon sandwich I had for lunch.  The food was very good, and despite being busy, they seem to have a very good system to turn tables and get food to customers without a horrible wait.

 

Once we finished eating, we still had a few more hours before our chosen excursion.