Review and Photos of Denali May 18-19 and Carnival Spirit Cruise SB, May 20-27, 2009

[dnwside]

First off War Eagle. Secondly a wonderful review. I just hope i can make it till June 2010. The pictures were amazing.

[ara0926]

Hilda-

 

I don't know how I missed this amazing review! I was just browsing the boards and came across it! I am so glad I did!

 

It was wonderful meeting you and your crew as well as all of the other CC folks. I hate that I didn't get to spend more time with ya'll! I heard of some of the adventures that were had! Had a few of my own as well (one almost being reported as missing at 4am the 1st night at sea by my father).

 

Again thanks for the great review and if you talk to any of the others tell them HI for me!

 

Take Care

Ashley

[Cruise_Q]

wonderful review and wonderful pictures...

makes me want to go on this cruise:p

[CruiserKid]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

 

I'll be doing both NB & SB (b2b) on the Spirit on June 24. Your review was excellent. I loved your pictures. I can't thank you enough.

[bimmermom]

***dnwside*** War Eagle to you! We were pretty easy to spot :) You are gonna love your cruise....hopefully June 2010 will get here quickly for you.

 

***Ashley*** We thought about you a lot and hoped you were having a good time. You have an amazing voice -- would love to hear you sing again. So glad your dad didn't report you missing! Anyway, be seeing you on the CC boards, I hope.

 

***CruiseQ and CruiserKid***Thanks so much for your comments...

Q -Do plan on going, you would never regret it and Kid - wow, a b2b, I'm so jealous! Have a lot fun.

[Europebound]

Hi Again,

 

We are back from our great Disney cruise and had a fabulous time.

 

HOWEVER, I could hardly wait to get back on this thread in the hopes of continuing to ready this wonderful report and to see all the fabulous photos. We have booked the Skagway tour described here and now are even more excited about it. We're doing the dogsled ride too! :D

 

We are cruise friends of Terry and Carl who we met on a Baltic cruise last year and plan to hear about the flightseeing tour with Island Wings (and Michelle) which we have also booked. Luckily, we are heading up near their way on Friday and will be meeting them for lunch. Can't wait to see them again. So glad you all bonded and had such a fun time together. I loved the part about partying on the balcony.

 

Anyway, thanks again for the wonderful review and photos.

[luvtacruise27]

Hilda,

Thanks so much for the wonderful review and Thank God for people like you who are willing to take the time to make our vacations go more smoothly! I will be taking this cruise on August 12 and have an aft balcony on the 5th deck (although not a wrap around:(). Very excited to see everything after reading your review. Since I have a small group going (17 cabins) including some young children, I was wondering if you could tell me if the slide was open on the ship and if so, do you recall if it closed early? This would help moms/dads prepare ahead of time if it is not. Once again, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

 

luvtacruise27 (Marilyn)

 

P.S. I may have a few more questions that I can't think of right now, hope you don't mind if I impose again.

[bimmermom]

***Europebound*** Hey! Terry has told me about you guys and what a hoot you are. Hpefully, we can arrange a cruise together someday. We all know how addicting cruising is. I hope you guys had a wonderful visit at Terry's home.

 

***Marilyn*** thanks so much for your kind words. I'm so happy my review was able to get you even more excited about your trip. You are gonna have such a great time, especially with so many of your friends/family together on the cruise. WOW 18 cabins! I hope Carnival gave you a fantastic deal.

 

You are also very fortunate to have snagged that aft wrap cabin - the fantastic views from those cabins are just phenomenal. Frankly, the open plan on Deck 5 is preferred by some folks, so enjoy!

 

Anyway, no, the awesome spiral slide was not open during our cruise May 20-27. I'm not sure if that was because it was early in the season and still quite cool (at least for swimming) outside or if the slide stays closed all summer on the Spirit. Hopefully some of the later cruisers will chime in about that. But we did see that one of the outside hot tubs was open and the covered pool was also open. We didn't see many small children onboard, but again, we were still very early in the season while school wasn't out for everybody yet.

 

Well, have a wonderful cruise, and be certain to report back. And, don't hesitate to ask questions if I can be helpful to you! :)

[themerle]

Thank you for sharing your review!!!! I enjoyed reading your review this evening. I started reading and I couldn't stop! I thought your pictures were amazing! I love Alaska and I read as many reviews as I can. My DH and I have been three times with the last trip being May 25 of this year. I had hoped that we would be in Juneau long enough to go to Tracy Arm with Adventure Bound but we didn't have enough time. Our first cruise to Alaska we went into Tracy Arm but I imagine going on a smaller ship or boat would be so different. Thanks for sharing your experience with Adventure Bound! We know that we will go back to Alaska and the next time I will make sure we have time in Juneau to go out with Adventure Bound. Thanks again for taking the time to write this amazing review!!!!!!

[bimmermom]

Thank you, Merle! I appreciate your comments. I hope that we will be able to go back to Alaska like you have -- I know there are so so many more things to see and experience. We only saw the "tip" of the iceberg :) this first go 'round. Anyway, here's wishing you many more Alaskan adventures (and hopefully the Adventure Bound will be one of them).

[queenslander]

Hilda - thank you so much for the excellent review and those amazing pictures!:)

 

We are visiting Denali at the end of our Bangkok/Alaska cruise in May next year and the information you have given us will be so useful.

 

We did the Inside passage a couple of years ago on Celebrity Summit but because of problems with the propulsion system we had to miss out on Sitka. So it was great to see the photos and to read about your time in that port and to re-visit the other ports. I remember that Emerald Lake was frozen over when we did our car trip to the Yukon even though it was the same time of year!

 

Hope we meet on a cruise somewhere,sometime!

 

Bye for now

 

Joyce

[bimmermom]

Hello, Joyce! Thanks so much for reading my review and for your kind comments. WOW, I truly wish I could go to Bangkok with you and experience such a long and amazing cruise.

 

You will be amazed at the deep green of Emerald Lake, since it was frozen for you last time; plus I know you will be charmed by Sitka. Of all the places we saw in Alaska, if I could live there, Sitka would win my vote. I would love to own one of the colorful homes on its own little island in Sitka Sound.

 

Anyway, have a wonderful cruise and please post photos and a review when you return.

 

Smiles,

Hilda

[christee52]

We are on our first cruise to Alaska on 24 August. Your photos and memories are making me so excited about our trip. I hope we have great luck with the weather too!