The Best Cruise Ever! Glacier Bay Alaska, 5/6/09, Pictorial Review.

[DarthGrady]

I LOVED the railroad pictures! Thanks!:)

 

Did you book this excursion through the cruiseline or through a private company? We have Alaska booked for Aug. 2010. Thanks for any info!:)

 

We booked all through Carnival except the whale watching boat tour.

[DarthGrady]

Day 6, Ketchikan:

 

Our day in Ketchikan started late, we slept in until 930 AM. We made it to breakfast just before they closed the dining room. After eating we watched the ship pull up to the pier and tie up. The NCL ship Norwegian Star was already at her berth, and we pulled up at the pier right by the downtown area. I wasn’t sure why we got the better “parking spot” since we got there later, but I wasn’t complaining either. It was convenient being able to walk off the ship and be right at the shopping area. We did a little shopping and also visited a booth set up by a bird of prey sanctuary. The guys running it were very nice, and had three birds on display. A screech owl, a red tailed hawk and a female bald eagle. All the animals had been injured in some way and could not be returned to the wild. The foundation runs on donations, so we were sure to leave one.

 

Our shore excursion for this cruise was the “Flight-seeing and Crab Feast”. It consisted of a half hour flight on a seas plane over the Ketchikan area followed by a landing at George Inlet. The plane then pulls up to the George Inlet Lodge, and the passengers debark for a Dungeness Crab feast.

 

The trip on the sea plane was really nice and our pilot Mark was friendly and informative. The take off and landing were very smooth as was the ride. The Ketchikan area from the sky is a beautiful thing to see, it also gave us a great view of the cruise ships. Our crab feast at the lodge was equally wonderful. The six of us on the tour had our own private dining room with an open beer and wine bar, as well as soft drinks. I am a big fan of crab legs, and these were the best I have ever had. Our hosts informed us that all the crab they serve is harvested within a hundred mile radius, and is very fresh. They brought helping after helping and everyone left full! The Alaskan Amber beer they served was also very good, I had two glasses. We then had a motor coach ride back to the ship, and debarked right back at the pier. It was an excellent excursion, well worth the rather steep $215 per person price tag.

 

After our great excursion, we strolled around downtown Ketchikan and down Canal Street. Canal Street is the area that most photos of Ketchikan show. All the building are up on stilts above the canal, and it was once the “red light district”. We took a little tram up to a Lodge at the top of a hill near Canal Street, but there wasn’t much to do there. We just rode the tram back down and headed back to the ship. I was very satisfied with our day in Ketchikan. After getting back on the ship we hit the spa’s hot tub for awhile. We then went swimming in the “dome pool” which turned out to be hotter than the hot tubs! Since that pool is covered, they heat it for the Alaska cruises.

I got some bad news from the pursers desk during the afternoon. We needed to be off the ship by 8 AM on the last day to catch our shuttle back to Seattle. I was counting on my VIP debarkation to get us off the ship as early as possible. On a previous cruise, I was given Concierge Club VIP tags for the luggage and a letter saying that I could be in the group to debark first. Well, those tags and letter didn’t come. We got regular tags with zone number 4 on them. I went by the Platinum desk to find out why, and was told that Carnival can’t offer VIP debarkation at Vancouver for Platinum Guests or suite guests. She didn’t give a reason why. So we were left to hope that we would be able to debark in time. Yet another reason that I DO NOT LIKE the Port of Vancouver. I am happy that Carnival will be switching to Seattle in 2010, just in case we decide to do another Alaskan cruise.

 

 

The Norwegian Star, docked right behind us

 

 

 

These longshoremen had it down pat, they used the fork lift to raise the ropes

 

We'll be in one of these fairly soon!

[DarthGrady]

The birds of prey exhibit

A screech owl

 

Red tail hawk

 

 

 

An immature female bald eagle

 

[DarthGrady]

 

At the pier

 

Arriving for the seaplane excursion

 

An old steamer berthed near the seaplane dock

 

Takeoff!

 

[DarthGrady]

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

 

 

 

The George Inlet Lodge

 

 

[DarthGrady]

 

 

Our dining room

 

 

The aftermath

[DarthGrady]

Creek Street area

 

 

 

 

Totem poles

 

[TnMama]

WOW WOW WOW!!!! All I can say! Besides I wanna take of my shoes and run through the creek! Cold or Not!:D

[Drew B]

A park near the pier

 

 

I LOVE that park! Here's my picture of it:

 

[Patneeds2cruise]

Day 6??? No, I don't want this to end!!!

Good grief, I have to wait until Sept 2010 before it's my turn!

[anamanxs]

I don't think I can wait until next May! Thanks you, Thank you, Thank you!

[jrmende63]

I loved the pics of the White Pass Rail Road. I remember fondly sitting on the left side of the train and seeing 2 bears on the side of the tracks!

[DarthGrady]

I LOVE that park! Here's my picture of it:

 

 

Hey, thats a nice picture!

[DarthGrady]

Day 6??? No, I don't want this to end!!!

Good grief, I have to wait until Sept 2010 before it's my turn!

 

Well, I still have a few to put up tomorrow. I took a few on the last sea day, and a few in Seattle. But dont worry, it will go so fast. It seems like it was just a few months ago that we were just booking ours, and that was in December of 2007!

[islandersx4]

Thanks for writing the review and the great pictures. I tried to talk my husband into an Alaska cruise this year, but I lost the battle. Alaska turned 50 this year and so do I, so I thought it would be a great way to celebrate. I am hoping to use your review to convince him to say yes to next summer.

 

Janice

 

Happy Birthday Janice, I am so sorry you're not able to celebrate with the "Great State" this year and will keep my fingers crossed your birthday wish comes true in 2010.

 

Grady, Wow, I am so impressed. How kind and generous of you to take the time and make the effort to share your Alaskan adventure with all of us. Heading to Alaska in July and am stoked by your review and pictures.

Re; White Pass Railroad. You mentioned the cost as $100. pp. Was that round trip?

Again many thanks, A West Coast Floridian

[Lovharvey]

It was late when we went up there, so only the gift shop was still open. I didn't see any eagles. We did see one in Ketchikan, but I'll be getting to that shortly.

The eagle that we saw was to the right of the gift shop. We were told it was an eagle that was rescued and it was in a cage all by itself. Your review and pictures are bringing back so many memories of our cruise. Can't wait for the rest of the review and pictures. We didn't have time to take the train, but, we did take a tour that took us into Canada and we stopped to take pictures of the train.:):)

[DarthGrady]

Happy Birthday Janice, I am so sorry you're not able to celebrate with the "Great State" this year and will keep my fingers crossed your birthday wish comes true in 2010.

 

Grady, Wow, I am so impressed. How kind and generous of you to take the time and make the effort to share your Alaskan adventure with all of us. Heading to Alaska in July and am stoked by your review and pictures.

Re; White Pass Railroad. You mentioned the cost as $100. pp. Was that round trip?

Again many thanks, A West Coast Floridian

 

Yes, that was the round trip cost. You don't debark the train at any point, they actually told us that if we got off in Canada it would be a multi thousand dollar fine!

 

We took the 3 hour trip, which just goes to the Canadian border and back. There is an 8 hour trip that goes alot farther and you take a bus back. We were told that they dont offer that one until later in the year though.

[kaylahszoo]

What a wonderful review. We have been on the Spirit in Alaska and also the NCL Star. Next May we have aft cabins on the NCL Pearl. I can't wait!! I love Alaska. This will be my 3rd time & I could go a hundred times! Each time you go, you see a hundred new sights. Being from Phoenix, I really appreciate the cold temps. I love the 'no nights, and almost all days.' Just gets your sleeping patterns a little out of whack. Our 1st on the Spirit, we did the southbound out of Whittier. We spent a week in Seward, precruise & rented a cabin. We were all hanging around and one of our family asked if it was almost dinner time. I looked at my watch & it was 10:30 pm, but still sunlight. Pretty wierd feeling, but nice, also.

[woodey]

Grady

I have Invested almost $2000 in my Camera set up Nikon D60 with lenses etc. and i have taken College courses to learn how to take a decent picture. and the pictures you took of the Cruise have been the best overall Quality i have seen anybody do...Congrats to you for having a great eye.And after seeing your picture i am ashamed of myself for spending that much money on a Camera :eek:

[MNLIvin]

Thank you a ton for this review. Fantastic job! We leave June 3rd on the Spirit and fankly had not given the boat a thought. Now I am nearly as excited to see the boat as another cruise through Alaska.

 

Thanks again.

[Hogladyrider]

The Spirit is an awesome ship and perfect for cruising in Alaska.

 

As Grady stated earlier, it is a shame that Carnival only built 4 ships in this class, as they are my favorites.

 

Happy cruising!

Susan

[Peaceful]

Grady

I have Invested almost $2000 in my Camera set up Nikon D60 with lenses etc. and i have taken College courses to learn how to take a decent picture. and the pictures you took of the Cruise have been the best overall Quality i have seen anybody do...Congrats to you for having a great eye.And after seeing your picture i am ashamed of myself for spending that much money on a Camera :eek:

 

I have a Panasonic Lumix DMZ FZ3. It is an older Lumix and was around $300 new. Recently, the on/off switch stopped working. I paid $138 for repair and shipped it to Connecticut. I would have paid $300 if there was no other way to keep this camera. Everyone comments on the quality of my pictures and I don't know squat about photography.

 

Grady, your review is fabulous. It is making me seriously consider an Alaskan cruise. Thanks for taking the time.

[RaMar]

Grady - Gorgeous!!!! Your pictures are awsome!!

We were thinking of doing Alaska this summer. One question - Does the casino operate in Alaska cruises? Love the review and these photos are fantastic.

[VolzCruiser]

Darth,

 

Thank you for sharing your pictures with us. They look great. I do have a question I saw you mentioned a crab feast was that a Carnival excursion or a private excursion?