Booked Carnival Spirit Sept 08

[darin2]

Well after much discussion and deliberation, my wife and I booked our first Alaska Cruise on Carnival Spirit for Sept. 3rd 2008 (Whittier to Vancouver). We got a category 8C extended balcony on the port side toward the front of the ship. My wife is a little nervous about being that close to the front. Can anyone comment on how the boat motion is on this ship for a cabin like this. Also any other tips on transfers from Anchorage to Whittier etc are appreciated. We will be booking our own airfare and looking at excursions in the next few months.

 

Darin

[Budget Queen]

Are you arriving the day before your cruise??? There will be cruise contracted buses, independent shuttles, listings http://www.anchorage.net and Alaska RR. IF you plan on no interior Alaska touring, I do suggest, you might want to consider a costly one way car rental Anchorage/Whittier with Avis, and make the most of your single day, touring and seeing what you can interior Alaska. Then getting through the 5:30pm tunnel is more than enough time to embark your ship, giving you a day of touring in addition.

 

If at all possible, do consider getting to Alaska earlier and enjoy the wonderful touring opportunities available. Take advantage of being all the way there.

[Izzy'smom]

I just got off the Spirit last Wednesday - we were in an 8E aft balcony. We really enjoyed this cruise. We took the Glacier Discovery train (booked on our own) to Whittier, and loved it. It leaves Anchorage at 10:00, and gets to Whittier around 12:15.

 

If you decided to fly from Seattle, and choose the Carnival transfer to SeaTac - this was my experience last week...

 

Carnival advertises the transfer to SeaTac airport as a 3 hour trip designed for flights after 2:00 pm. I booked a 2:53 flight out of Seattle (to save a few hundred bucks for the two of us) and bought the transfer.

 

Our luggage tag numbers were not called off the ship until after 10:00 (one of the last groups). By the time we got on the bus, and luggage loaded etc., We finally left Vancouver it was close to 11:00 - and then the bus driver tells us that it was about a 4 hour trip (depending on the wait at the border. We were lucky - it only took 1/2 an hour to cross the border, but we didn't arrive at the airport until 2:30. This was after the driver decided to stop at a gas station for a snack stop.:mad:

 

We missed our flight home, and were re-scheduled for another flight 2.5 hours later. There was another couple in our same situation, which caused them to miss picking up their dog at the kennel.

 

Hopefully this hasn't been the case for all of the cruises this year - but something to keep in mind when booking your flights.

[nightingail]

Hi Darin, hubby and I will be sailing with you next Sept. We are thinking about airfare and excursions, too. We will be flying in to Anchorage, the day before we cruise. There is a thread started on the roll call board for this cruise. So far I think the ship is EMPTY!....Nightingail.

[darin2]

Izzy, the train sounds like a good idea. Where did you stay in Anchorage? Did you take a taxi to and from the train?

 

Nightingail, we plan on flying up a day early also. I'll check out the roll call thread.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Darin2, I hope you have as much fun planning your cruise as we did! We were on the August 15 southbound sailing (If you're interested in reading a recent review, you'll find mine here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=616064--there's a link in my signature to about 200 of the more than 2,000 photos I took.)

.

We went a couple of days early, and were so glad we did! We took the train from Anchorage to Whittier on the day of sailing. Though they didn't advertise it, our hotel provided a shuttle to the train station.

 

Cheers!

Jayne

[qiangf2]

My wife is a little nervous about being that close to the front. Can anyone comment on how the boat motion is on this ship for a cabin like this.

Darin

 

Generally speaking, the mid ship is most stable. front tends to have more rolling motion.

[Izzy'smom]

Izzy, the train sounds like a good idea. Where did you stay in Anchorage? Did you take a taxi to and from the train?

 

Nightingail, we plan on flying up a day early also. I'll check out the roll call thread.

 

We stayed at the Extended Stay Deluxe in Downtown Anchorage. I was able to get an amazing deal through Hotwire last November.

 

They had a free shuttle that picked us up after dropping the rental car at the airport, and then to the train station in the morning. The train station is only about 5 minutes away or so. It was a nice place, and they had a breakfast bar in the morning.

[kellywhitehills]

You are going to have a great time...If you are not flying in a day early you can purchase Transfers from Carnival...It was so easy when we did this on our cruise in July..We got off the plane picked up our luggage then haded it right over to a Carnival rep at the baggage claim..Then they put us on the bus...If you are flying in a day early I would definately look into the train..That looked like alot of fun!

 

I dont remember much motion on the ship at all except one day at sea..We had an aft corner cabin..For the most part it was very smooth sailing..Sept. might be alittle different because the weather might be a little more aggressive..Just bring some bonine with you just in case..:)

 

Happy Planning! I know I did..The people on this fourm are very nice and helpful.

[sea_u_onboard]

Just FYI

 

Check out the thread in my signature "All Things Carnival Spirit" to get more info on the Spirit.

[dairywoman]

We just got off the Spirit 9-12. For the most part the sailing was very smooth. There were a couple of nights, however, that were quite bumpy. We were in an aft balcony and noticed it worse that when we walked to the front of the ship.