Carnival Spirit Northbound Review

[TamaLee]

I don’t even know where to start. This was a great vacation and to all my friends who don’t want to go on an Alaska cruise….you don’t know what you are missing!

My husband and I are in our late 30’s early 40’s and we did not feel like this cruise was for a bunch of older people. There seemed to be a great mix of ages and everyone was active and excited to be going on a cruise.

We traveled from Phoenix to Vancouver via America West Airlines. We took the 4:30 pm flight on Tuesday night and arrived in Vancouver around 11:30 pm. The Vancouver airport is very nice and it didn’t take us long to get through customs and pick up our luggage. This was probably because we were the only flight that had arrived at this time. The airport was pretty much empty.

We had reservations at the Sheraton Four Points near the airport. They have a free shuttle that will come to the airport and pick you up and take you back to the hotel. We had to wait about 10 to 15 minutes for the shuttle to come pick us up. We saw a lot of airlines employees carrying these food to go bags out of the airport while we waited for the shuttle. I guess they knew a lot more than we did. The hotel did not have a restaurant that was open nor did they provide room service that late. There didn’t seem to be any suitable restaurants open near the hotel either. The hotel is in an Asian area and there were mostly Korean restaurants that catered to the locals. We did end up getting food from the restaurant next to the hotel. Not bad, but it was probably the only time in my life I wished for a McDonalds.

The hotel is across the street from a low budget strip mall with a Target like store in case you forget something….which we did.

The hotel did not provide a shuttle to the pier so we caught a cab. The cab fare from the hotel to the pier was $32 US. We did see a couple of people on the same cruise catching the free shuttle back to the airport to take the Carnival Transfer. I’m not sure if that would have been worth the hassle.

Since the ship did not leave until 5:30 pm and it was only 10:00 am we decided to drop our luggage off and take the double-decker bus tour of Vancouver. This is operated by Grey Line tours and picks you up right outside of Canada Place. The tour was $30 US and took about 2 hours to complete with frequent stops to allow passengers to get on and off if they like. We got off at Stanley Park and had a very nice lunch here. We got back on and didn’t get off again until Gastown. We walked around here a little bit and then walked back to the ship.

The Destination Alaska coupon books are right at the door when you walk into the security area. People were handing them out. Make sure to pick one up since they contain coupons that you can use in each port to pick up souvenirs.

You could also buy water near the security area. I believe it was $12 for 6 bottles or $20 for 12 bottles. In case you wanted water but didn’t want to fly with it. I don’t think you have to worry at all about your water situation since you can just pick it up in a store at any of the ports.

It was around 3:30 when we got back to the ship. At this time the crowd was very small. There was only one other ship boarding that day as well. It took about 30 minutes to get through security, customs and Carnival check-in.

They did have check in for Skippers Club, but the regular check in line was shorter. And really all the Skippers Club was was two chairs at a desk in the same area. No real advantage unless the line happens to be shorter at the time you arrive.

It started to rain for sail-a-way which made it cold but it warmed up when the rain stopped.

One of the CC members on our roll call thread arranged with Carnival for us to have a room for our Meet and Mingle. We all got together at the Shanghi Bar before late seating dinner the first night. This was the perfect time for all of us to put faces with names. Having this gathering early on made it fun to great each other throughout the cruise.

Carnival has instituted a game that they believe gets passengers involved in the onboard activities. In the dining room you are divided into three teams..red, white and blue. As you participate in things on board your team is awarded points. You don’t win anything but I guess you get bragging rights. I thought this was a little stupid but some people seemed to get into it.

I had emailed the Ocean Players Club before we left with our travel arrangements and they had sent us an email back saying they would have a gift waiting for us. The gift turned out to be Bon Voyage decorations in the cabin. This was a nice touch and something we didn’t expect.

We had room 8273 which is a Cat 11 aft wrap suite. This is our favorite room and we were excited to be sailing in this room again.

I’ll post more tomorrow...

[mom23guys]

Keep the review coming. We sail NB on June 28. How was the weather?

Can't wait to read more tomorrow.

[Beach4me]

Especially your thoughts on the aft wrap. (Please tell about the views you had, what to be sure to be out there for, etc.) I've got one booked on deck 7 for next July, SB.

[gail811]

Would love pictures of the suite as well if you have them! I have this same room booked on the August 2nd SB with my mom.

[TamaLee]

gail811 - here is the link to my pictures. For some reason I don't have the ones of the balcony uploaded, but there are plenty of pictures of the room. I'll try to upload the pictures of the balcony so you can see them tomorrow. Although if you want you can go back to all my albums and look at the pictures from my other Carnival trip. I believe there are pictures of the balcony in that set.

 

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tamara_cowan/album?.dir=be14re2&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

 

Beach4me - The best part about this balcony is that your view isn't limited to just the side. You can see a great view from the back as well as from the side. You want to spend all your time out on the balcony because you're afraid you are going to miss something more beautiful than what you've just sailed past. Make sure to be outside when Michelle the naturalist is speaking. She always points out animals or other interesting items as you sail. You can't hear her in the cabin but you can out on the balcony.

 

mom23guys - It was cold and rainy the whole time. But we enjoyed it. Being from Phoenix it was nice to experiance some weather.:) Funny thing was that the temperature when we were in Juneau was in the 50's and rainy. I saw on the news when we got home that the temperature one day in Juneau was 80! So I guess it just goes to show that you truely can not predict the weather in Alaska.

[DASA]

Hi all, i traveled with Tamalee and her husband on this cruise . I had started a roll call thread which is where we all met. First let me tell you that Tamalee and her husband are really a great couple as were there traveling companions.

 

There aft balcony is really great and offered lots of viewing of the sights. Especially the glaciers.

 

I will be in and out to offer anything that she might leave out or needs more explanation on. I believe that 2 opinons of the same cruise at the same time is very helpfull.

 

As she said to all my friends also you don't know what you are missing by not taking this cruise. Some of the sights will humble you and hard for me to say but actually bring a tear to your eye because of the sure beauty of it.

 

The only draw back from this cruise was the lack of night life unless you were in the casino.But most days you were too exshausted from the days and port activities to want to stay up too late so that you would miss something the next day.

 

The one advice i will offer is to get a balcony cabin, this was our first and i was glad we booked it.:D

 

Oh and like Tamalee said be sure to get the coupon book for souveniers for your friends who say i will never do a cold cruise.

[TamaLee]

We both woke up early...around 5 am since the sunrise was at 5:23am. The view was incredible. The shore was so close it was wild. You could actually smell the forest. Now before you think I'm just a nut, remember I live in the desert and this was just awsome for us. My DH was heard to say, "This is the Sh** jig saw puzzles are made out of".

 

Michelle the naturlist on board has a talk today about glaciers. It actually is very intersting. She's not very enthusiastic in the way she presents the information but learning about the glaciers really helped with the rest of the cruise.

 

We participated in some of the on board activities..such as the putting contest for both men and women. My friend Karen beat me to win the womens contest and both our husbands won the mens. While this is just a silly contest it was a lot of fun and a great way to pass some time. If you win you get the much coveted ship on a stick. I was the only one in my group to not get one.:(

 

We also played in the slot tournament. It's $20 to enter and you can enter as many times as you like. Bryan the Casino Host is great and made our time spent in the Casino a lot of fun.

 

Don't miss the Newlywed Game...always a hoot. Shaun, the cruise director, is very good and seems like she enjoys her job. Make sure to go early to get a good seat.

 

It drizzled rain most of the day, but I don't think anyone really minded. If you wanted to use the pool they had it covered to keep the rain out.

 

I had purchased the book Alaska by Cruise Ship by Anne Vipond before we left. I strongly encourage you to get this book and take it with you. The book provides detailed maps that you can refer to while you sail so that you can identify the things you are sailing past. We used it the whole trip. You can view the map on the TV in your cabin and then match it up with the maps in the book to get a better idea of where you are and what you are looking at.

 

Once last little note today...the rooms and public areas are very warm. Make sure to take some short sleeve clothes to wear inside.

 

More tomorrow.

[mom23guys]

Great pics. Who did you go whale watching with?

[gail811]

Thanks for the great pictures! Is the bedroom actually separate from the LR? Is there enought room to split the bed into two singles? I am even more excited now after seeing pictures of the actual room!

[TamaLee]

gail811 - Yes the bedroom is seperate from the living area. The bed however can not be seperated into two twins. There are bed side tables attached to the wall that would prevent you from moving the beds apart. If you really don't want two people sleeping together the couch in the living area can be made into a bed. All the linens are in the drawer under the couch. Make sure to look here for extra pillows and blankets even if you don't use the couch as a bed. You could take turns on who gets to sleep where.:D

 

mom23guys - We went whale watching with Harv and Marv. They were excellent. The boat only held six people and we loved the personal attention. If you haven't scheduled with anyone you might want to give them a call. They were the same price as everyone else if you have six people and it was much nicer to have such a small group. If you don't have six people you may want to see if others from your cc group would want to split the cost with you.

[tapia]

Wow, those are great pictures and I appreciate the review. Thank you!!!!

 

What kind of camera were you using?

[Beach4me]

Did you ever see any whales or other sealife out the back of the ship? I'd love to sit out on the balcony and see a whale or two.

[kaylahszoo]

Great review! We're from Phoenix, too- actually Cave Creek. We're on the Southbound Spirit 7/19. We fly onto Anchorage Tuesday July 11 for a week in the Kenai Peninsula.. You're making me more and more excited!!! I love Carnival and all the stuff going on all the time. Obviously the food on their ships is fine for me- I always manage to gain 5 lbs or more!

I've always only done hot weather cruises- this summer we decided we'd like to try to cool off for a bit!! And we welcome the cool and rain, too! But I bought good Gortex rainsuits for the family. It probably won't even cloud up.

[gail811]

Thanks for the heads up on the bed Tamalee! I will let my mom have the bed; at 75 she rates it! I am thrilled the rooms are separated too! I am an early bird and this way I won't disturb her. We also have this room booked on the Miracle in April 2007 when my DH and DS will be with me. Thanks for sharing the info!

[TamaLee]

gail811 - You will love the room. We have this same room reserved for our Mexico cruise on the Pride in April. I think it's the best room of the whole Carnival fleet!

 

kaylahszoo - Hi neighbor. We live in Laveen. It was nice to have cold weather and rain while everyone back home was enjoying the 110+ temperatures.:D For the first couple of days after I returned home from the cruise I would get ready for work and think to myself, "Am I dressed warm enough?" Silly me.....

 

Beach4me - Yes we did see wildlife from the ship. Michelle, the naturalist on board, will use the public address system and point them out for everyone. We saw bald eagles, whales, dolphins, bears and sea lions.! In fact, one day we saw over 200 whales at once. It was wild. Mostly you just see the mist from when they come up and blow out air, but sometimes you get to see the tails or the middle of their backs as they come out of the water. One day we actually saw a baby humpback whale jump out of the water two or three times! It was so very exciting.

 

tapia - I have a very inexpensive Sony Cybershot. Small and compact. Perfect for traveling.

[TamaLee]

We were up early again...sunrise was at 4:14am...very nice scenery coming into Ketchikan. When the buffet opened my DH went up and got us hot chocolate. It was very nice to sit on the balcony and drink my hot chocolate and watch as we arrived in Ketchikan.

 

It had rained all night, but cleared up for us to walk around town. It started to rain again as we got back on.

 

People were able to get off the ship as early as 6:30:eek: . We prefered to have a nice breakfast and get off a little latter.

 

Temperature was in the 50's. I wore three layers..being from Phoenix and all....long sleeve t-shirt, fleece jacket and a wind-breaker. Stupid me forgot my jeans so I wore knit capris with my tennis shoes. Trust me...I was a walking fashion statement.:D

 

We did a walking tour of Ketchikan. You can get the map from the Visitor bureau right near the ship. We saw lots of totem poles so you really don't have to go to Totem Bight or Saxman to see them. The Eagle Sanctuary/Totem Center are worth the price of admission. I want to say it was $12. They have a couple of eagles and you get to see them nice and up close. Very impressive. The Totem Center has some very neat older pieces that were very interesting to look at.

 

We had lunch at Steamers. It was very good. If you like beer, they have lots of different ones you can try.

 

We use our coupons in Ketchikan from the book we picked up in Vancouver. We were able to buy silly things like a totem pole toothpick holder for 99 cents, Ulu knives and smoked salmon. One thing about the Ulu knives...security will take these away from you when you get on the ship. They give them back the last night.

 

We saw lots of eagles flying around the cruise ship. Around 9:00pm after we left Ketchikan we saw some whales.

 

Great, relaxing day.

[ahoys]

We're going on the same trip the exact time next year. I am thoroughly enjoying your review. Thanks for taking us along and sharing your pictures. Did you bring back any Capers that you can share?

[mason525]

Awesome pix especially the ones of Vancouver which you don't get to see very often! Keep the review coming- love your detail & style. Thanks. Meg

[DASA]

For you beer conniseurs , try the ALSKAN AMBER on tap. Smooth beer that really tastes good.

 

Tamalee is right about all the widlife you see, it is awesome.

 

Don't have to pack any heavy clothing, layers work best and if you hit a spot of cold there are great bargains on jackets at most ports of call. Very nice reversible wind breakers for like 19.99 and jackets with the light fleece lining for like 24.95. Beats overpacking and taking up space.

 

They are pretty strict about the luggage weights coming home so don't over do it or buy anothe piece of luggage or a duffle type bag if you think you will exceed it coming home.

 

The tie wraps ,we find or best for securing your luggage and are inexpensive. Just put a finger nail clipper in the outer zipper to get to it so you can cut them off.(IN YOUR CHECK IN LUGGAGE NOT YOUR CARRYON )

 

 

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR PASSPORTS AND DOCS """IN HAND """AS YOU GO THROUGH CUSTOMS AND EVERYTHING SHOULD GO QUICK AND SMOOTH.

[TamaLee]

Dean is right about your suitcases. They made us redistribute the weight in ours right at the check in counter. Thankfully we had an extra bag we always take with us to stuff things in.

 

ahoys - I do have copies of the capers. Some of them are missing the side panel that you can tear off that has the daily schedule on it. So I'm not sure if you still want to see them or not. But I'd be more than happy to email them to you.

[Beach4me]

TamaLee,

 

Would you mind emailing them to me as well?

 

(aol addy SCCharmi)

 

I'm LOVING your review! Thanks for putting so much into it!

[coordinator]

We just got back Jun 14th sailing southbound...to sum it up......we booked our next cruise to Alaska on the carnival Spirit this time northbound and staying a few days longer.The best vacation ever had..we are in our early 50's and love to party..The Spirit is a ship for all ages.....The atrium bar seemed to be the hot spot for us who like to have a "few",, it was always crowded. Best value as far as we are concerned. Hope all who go on this ship enjoy as much as we did, from the food to entertainment to the cleanliness of our cabin to the service of our Cabin Steward to all the staff. Good job Carnival!!!

[TamaLee]

Woke up to more rain and fog. But we didn't care. This was our day to go find some whales.:D

 

One of the ladies on our roll call had invited us to go with her on her whale watch trip with Harv and Marv. Since the boat only held six people we took her up on her offer. I think it was very kind of her. I believe it worked out to be $125 per person. They even offer a $100 money back if you don't see any whales!

 

They picked us up right on time in a nice warm van. There were the six of us plus four gentlemen who were going fishing first and then off to look for whales.

 

The boat we boarded was very clean and had plenty of room for the six of us. During the trip they offered water and soda to drink. They even have homemade chocolate chip cookies to eat! Yummy.

 

We only saw one whale but I don't blame Harv and Marv. It was very foggy and so that made it tough to see the spouts of the whales. However, we did enjoy the time we spent following our one lone whale around. We also saw porpoises (sp), sea lions and eagles.

 

If you haven't scheduled your whale watch tour you may want to give Harv and Marv a shout. You will need to put together a group of six to get the best rate. They don't put these groups together for you.

 

After our whale watch trip they dropped us off at Mendenhall Glacier. WOW is all I can say. Don't miss this while you are in Juneau. For folks from the desert this was an awsome sight.

 

There are trails you can walk and a visitor center. The visitor center charges an entrance fee, but you can sneak in to use the restroom if you need it.

 

The bus ride from the pier to Mendenhall is $6 each way. We did not pay to take the bus ride back to the pier. We got on the bus, but no one asked if we had paid. So we just tipped the driver.

 

We had lunch at the Twisted Fish near the pier. The food was very good, but the service was horrid. We are still waiting for the glass of ice we asked for three times.:D

 

Since the Phoenix Suns were still in the NBA playoffs at the time we asked the bartender at the Twisted Fish where a good sports bar was. He directed us to the Hanger at the Warf..it may have been pier. Wish we would have gone here to eat. This was a great spot and very popular. We had drinks and watched the game. They have great steamed clams..so if you go there make sure to try them! Prices were very reasonable.

 

After losing the game :( we walked back to the ship. We hung out in the Atrium Bar and did tequila shots.:eek: This is where it all gets kind of fuzzy. HA. We had dinner at the buffet. I don't recommend this. There was hardly any food and none of it was any good. We should have gone back off the ship for dinner, but we were in no shape to travel.

 

Matt in the Atrium bar was the singer and he is very good and is very enjoyable.

 

If our favorite Tequila Shot girl is still there...Boonthip...have a shot and say hi! She is a great bar waiter.

 

One last thing...the driver had mentioned on the bus trip back to town that you could use the internet at the Juneau Public Library for free. The library has about six computers. You may have to wait a few minutes to use one. They do ask that you make a donation to the library. Small price to pay to use the internet compared to the huge fees charged by the ship.

 

tomorrow...Skagway

[ahoys]

I'd love a copy of the Capers. Our email is haugheys@tampabay.rr.com.

 

Thanks, bunches!!

[TamaLee]

The sun was peaking it's head out today but still a little chilly.

 

Today we were going to drive to Carcross in Canada using the excellent guide provide by Yukon on these boards.

 

We had reserved a car with Avis for around $60 for the day. They provided us with a Nissan Altima for the day. This was fine for four adults for the day.

 

We stopped at the local grocery store to stock up on snacks and beer. Found out that the grocery store didn't sell beer so we had to drive to the liquor store. No problem. The grocery store was very intersting. Not sure if I'd eat any of the meat that they had in the meat case. But they had Pringles and other snacks to purchase for our trip..and a cheap cooler to put everything in.

 

So off we went. The weather quickly turned on us. It started getting foggy and really, really cold. We could only see about 10 feet in front of the car. This was really kind of wild for us folks from the Southwest. If you've looked at my pictures you can see the kind of weather I'm talking about. We had a blast!

 

We stopped at numerous places along the way and the views were just incredible.

 

We had to wait a little bit at the Canadian border. The tour buses carrying the White Pass train people had arrived at the same time we did. I guess the border agents have to collect everyones passports and process them. This took about 10 to 15 minutes.

 

Then we were off again...after asking the nice border agent what the temperature was and to stamp our passports. Temperature....35 degrees.:eek:

 

We made Carcross our turn-a-round. We stopped to look around and have some ice cream. I think we could have made it all the way to Emerald lake but we just didn't want to be late getting back to the ship. The reason I say I think we could have made it was because there was a man in the Avis rental office at the same time when we left and also when we returned and he drove all the way.

 

We decided on the way back to take the road to Dyea that is right outside of Skagway since we had some extra time. Don't waste your time. Really nothing to see in Dyea except some grave markers and a bunch of wood on the ground. It was fun however to drive to the end of the road and hear all the sled dogs barking. There is some kind of facility at the end of the road.

 

There is a nice pull out for a great view of the ships on this road so you might want to drive that far and then turn a round a come back.

 

Making this detour really made it close getting back to the ship. But we made it! Since they boys didn't want to have to fast walk back to the ship us girls dropped them off at the ship and then went back to the Avis office an got our exercise on the way back to the ship.

 

This was a nice relaxing way to spend the day and really inexpensive for four people.

 

We did see some whales after leaving Skagway. Again mostly just spouts and humps but it is fun to know that they are out there swimming around.

 

This is the night we ate at the supper club. It's a great night to schedule it. The scenery was out of this world while we ate! Service was excellent and the food was well worth the extra money.

 

Right after dinner we got a special dessert. Michelle the naturalist spotted a baby humpback whale swimming next to the ship. We ran outside and were treated to this little fellow jumping all the way out of the water three or four times. It was incredible. All the crew from the restaurant and some other places came running outside as well to see the show. We were all like little kids. It was a wonderful experiance.

 

I won't be able to post again until Monday...everyone have a nice weekend.

 

Those of you that have requested the Capers, I will try to make copies this weekend and send them out on Monday to you.