Just back from Carnival Spirit!

[mtd1]

These are the photos we got while in port:

http://albums.koffeephoto.com/album/SabNEOPkkZOHOkaKxv4DmzSu

My review:

Ketchikan-This was our last Alaskan port. We docked at 11:00 so we made our way off the Spirit to our pick up location at the rain gauge on the north end of the visitor’s bureau. It was raining so we weren’t too optimistic about our tour with Michelle @ Island Wings. I had tried to schedule a combination glacier/fjords tour but Michelle wasn’t able to do it.

Terry picked us up at 11:45 along with another family from a Princess ship next to the Spirit and we were off to the dock where we awaited Michelle to return from a previous tour. Island Wings is temporarily located next to Taquan Air until her location is finished. We took off as scheduled and we left Ketchikan and the rain and flew toward Misty Fjords and great weather. We stopped at one of the many lakes and were able to get out and take more pictures. Michelle cleaned the windows off the plane so we would not have bug-marked photos and then took pictures of us with our cameras. We changed seats in the plane so everyone got to see a different viewpoint on the return flight.

Please see the photos at the following link:

Terry brought us back to the visitor center. My son went back on the ship for a nap while my husband and I went to Creek St., watched some teenagers fishing (one finally lost his line battling a salmon in the creek), up the Cape Fox Lodge tram (It was only $2 and the view is worth it.) and went down married man’s trail. We finally went back on board the ship to rest before dinner and my son went out to shop right before we left Ketchikan.

We enjoyed our day in Ketchikan!

We had a Coast Guard escort out of port again for safety.

[mtd1]

I was also on that cruise and the temperatures were delightful! It only sprinkled a little in Sitka, but did rain on and off in Ketchikan. The only time I was chilly was on the ship on our day at sea in College Fjord, I wore a scarf. In the other ports, I wore a knit hooded jacket with my unlined vinyl rain jacket over, which I took off in a couple of ports. The weather could not have been nicer, and I prepared for the worst because of tracking the weather channel on the computer. I guess I would say the temps were in the high 60's.

I agree with Toni. It was not cold like I thought. I had a light jacket and a fleece lined rain jacket that I used most of the trip. I wore a sweatshirt one evening and could have just used one of my jackets over another shirt instead.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I have so enjoyed your review and photos--thanks again for posting!! We leave on the Spirit two weeks from Wednesday (heading to Alaska two weeks from Saturday :D)! I'm so excited! Your review and photos have just increased our excitement. Thanks so much!

 

Jayne

[Meatball]

We also took the flightseeing with Michele ( right after you guys) it was great and also interesting to see that it looks like she landed in a differnt location for us...One of my favorite excursions was the zipline in Juneau...if anyone is up for it... its fantastic and the guides are great ( you really don't feel the heights) I would do that over and over again if I could.

[jspirit]

We also took the flightseeing with Michele ( right after you guys) it was great and also interesting to see that it looks like she landed in a differnt location for us...One of my favorite excursions was the zipline in Juneau...if anyone is up for it... its fantastic and the guides are great ( you really don't feel the heights) I would do that over and over again if I could.

 

So - you were on the cruise afterall! We missed you at the meet and greet - you were the only ones not there!

[mtd1]

We also took the flightseeing with Michele ( right after you guys) it was great and also interesting to see that it looks like she landed in a differnt location for us...One of my favorite excursions was the zipline in Juneau...if anyone is up for it... its fantastic and the guides are great ( you really don't feel the heights) I would do that over and over again if I could.

Wish you would have said something! ;) Would have loved to visit and compare notes and shots!

Wanted to do the zipline too but hey I wanted to do :D everything! Just wasn't enough time or money to go around.:)

[mtd1]

I have so enjoyed your review and photos--thanks again for posting!! We leave on the Spirit two weeks from Wednesday (heading to Alaska two weeks from Saturday :D)! I'm so excited! Your review and photos have just increased our excitement. Thanks so much!

 

Jayne

Have fun! What are you planning to do off the ship?

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Have fun! What are you planning to do off the ship?

 

:D :D

 

We're starting in Anchorage a few days early--venturing out on a drive to see some sights south of Anchorage. Then we have a 90-minute segway tour of Anchorage that we're all really excited about.

 

We'll do a four-hour PWS glacier cruise the day we board.

 

Sitka: 4-hour tour with Captain Davey, Raptor Center, walking tour (on our own)

 

Juneau: Renting a car to see Mendenhall, Glacier Gardens, Shrine of St. Theresa, and anywhere our adventurous spirits take us! ;)

 

Skagway: Renting a car and driving to Emerald Lake

 

Ketchikan: Misty Fjords and Glacier flightseeing with Island Wings

 

Then we'll stay a couple of days in Vancouver and Amtrak it home.

 

We booked a Penthouse suite as a treat to celebrate our 14th anniversary and my birthday (makes it easier to turn 49! LOL). We were on the Spirit six years ago on a northbound cruise and spent a lot of time on our balcony, so we wanted a bigger balcony this time.

 

Thanks for asking! I think my friends are getting tired of hearing about it! LOL

 

Thanks again for your review and photos!!

 

Jayne

[mtd1]

midimarv,

You are going to have a blast! The Penthouse-wow! That will be something! Can't wait to see your pictures of that. If you have any other questions let me know.

We walked around downtown Vancouver in the morning after getting off the ship and then took the Northshore tour in the afternoon. The tour took us to the airport afterwards.

[Meatball]

So - you were on the cruise afterall! We missed you at the meet and greet - you were the only ones not there!

We got a little side tracked doing some shopping ( my luggage with my sneakers and jacket didn't make it on the ship, got it when we got to Sitka). Carnival was great with working with the airline even though we didn't book our airfare with them.By the time we got to the pizza area we didn't see you guys.

[jspirit]

We got a little side tracked doing some shopping ( my luggage with my sneakers and jacket didn't make it on the ship, got it when we got to Sitka). Carnival was great with working with the airline even though we didn't book our airfare with them.By the time we got to the pizza area we didn't see you guys.

 

Sorry that you were stressed , but glad that you were able to work it out in time to enjoy the cruise. We were at the pizza place til about 1pm, then decided to go to the dining room for lunch and we had 2 tables beside eachother. It was really fun to put faces and real names to the roll callers. We all noted that you weren't there, so don't feel left out! Now I wonder if we saw you around the ship all week...

 

We had so much fun talking that we decided to meet again on the last sea day for lunch and compare excursions.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Did you attend the hypnotist show? Just hope you weren't the guy who thought he was everybody's seat belt! Or the man with the tutu?...

Thanks for getting back to us!

[coder01]

What time did you do the zipline in Juneau? I was on the 9:30am tour. It was something I always wanted to do and thought it was a blast!, not scary at all. :)

[CraftyDD]

MTD1 - we took cruise last year. Seems like we took a lot of the same pictures I enjoyed viewing as it brought back great memories. We are from Louisiana also. Have a group of friends we cruise with called "Cajun Cruisers". The people at the Red Dog Saloon would probably remember us LOL.

Glad to hear you had such a great time. We are planning on cruising northbound in 2010.

[mtd1]

MTD1 - we took cruise last year. Seems like we took a lot of the same pictures I enjoyed viewing as it brought back great memories. We are from Louisiana also. Have a group of friends we cruise with called "Cajun Cruisers". The people at the Red Dog Saloon would probably remember us LOL.

Glad to hear you had such a great time. We are planning on cruising northbound in 2010.

We live right above Hammond. You must be from south Louisiana with "Cajun" as your groups title? You'll have to email me so we can correspond

therese_duval@bellsouth.net

[Quilting_Cruiser]

midimarv,

You are going to have a blast! The Penthouse-wow! That will be something! Can't wait to see your pictures of that. If you have any other questions let me know.

We walked around downtown Vancouver in the morning after getting off the ship and then took the Northshore tour in the afternoon. The tour took us to the airport afterwards.

 

Thank you! I'll be sure to post a review and a link to photos when we return. :D

 

Regards,

Jayne

[Meatball]

What time did you do the zipline in Juneau? I was on the 9:30am tour. It was something I always wanted to do and thought it was a blast!, not scary at all. :)

I was on the 9:30 also... Were you the family with the kids or in the other group? If you were in the other group with Kyle, I was the one that sent you the video of the zipline :)

[coder01]

I was the short women that was not with anyone else, my husband did not to do the zip he went fishing. It is too bad we did not know that we were in the cc group. Thanks again for the video, I have sent it to some people and they were amazed. I would love to do the zip again,, would you? :)

[Toninutt]

Here's a picture of our group on the last day at sea, maybe you will recognize some of us from the ship. So sorry you missed us at the pizza place, we figured we waited as long as we could for you. Do you have a picture of you and your wife/family that you can post to see if we remember seeing you?

 

http://albums.koffeephoto.com/album/...lAQ6toMYFbF9zS