7 Day South Bound Alaskan Cruise on Carnival Spirit July 2009 My wife and I took the 7-day Alaska cruise on Carnival Spirit, departing from Whittier, Alaska on July 1, 2009. We had good weather (mostly sunny with highs in the 60s and 70s) for the first 6 days of the cruise. The week before the weather was overcast and wet with highs in the high 50’s. The following is my review of our cruise. Pre Cruise Trip We rented an Avis Car in Anchorage and kept it for 5 days, total cost Including a $200 drop charge was $720! A car gives you the freedom to come and go as you wish and to stop and take pictures when we wanted. We spent a night in Anchorage and 3 nights in Seward. In Anchorage we did a little shopping at the outdoor shopping event on 4th Street that is held every Sat and Sun, lots of good bargains there. We also watched the movie at the Performing Arts Center on the Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis, a very good show. We had dinner at the Marriot (where we stayed) and the food was wonderful. We had wild fresh Halibut – heaven! In Seward, there is plenty to do. The scenery is great. We did the Major Marine Kenai National Park boat tour, 7 hours, we saw Orcas, Puffins, Sea Lions, glaciers - great trip. Going out of Seward, into the wind, was very cold sitting outside, inside was fine, food and bar service were good, fresh wild salmon and prime rib lunch was served on the Major Marine trip for $20 per person. Book the trip on line and save 15% or more up to 24 hours before the trip. Ray's Seafood on the Harbor in Seward is a great restaurant, very busy, smart to make reservations; you'll jump the queue. We ate there twice, the food was so good and the view of the harbor was good. The drive from Anchorage to Seward is stunning. The first segment from Anchorage to Portage Glacier (and the tunnel to Whittier) along the Turnagain Arm (fiord) is spectacular, with many turnouts for photos, it can be windy. Portage Glacier is spectacular, plan on spending time there. The drive from Portage to Seward was less spectacular, but still nice, expect some construction delays, we even had a Moose cross the road in front of us. It was our only Moose sighting. Total drive time is less than 3 hours from Anchorage to Seward, but plan on more time for stops along the way. Seward to Whittier (90 minute drive) - You need to take the one-way tunnel to get to Whittier from Seward or Anchorage to catch the Spirit. The tunnel is open in the southbound direction every hour (on the half hour) and lasts for only 15 minutes. The Spirit doesn't start boarding until 12:00; so don't get there too early. You will check your bags in a small covered shed in the parking lot of the Terminal building. Just bring your carry-ones into the terminal Building, have your paper work ready. Check in goes quickly, then you Go through security and then onto the ship. The state rooms are available At 1:30. The only things to do are to have lunch on deck 9, and Explore the ship; the shops and casino are closed while in port, so there isn't a lot to do. The ship leaves at 9:00 pm, so no need to get to the ship too soon. I’d spend more time at the Portage Glacier rather than boarding too soon. We took another boat trip with Major Marine from Whittier, we saw Whales, Sea Otters, glaciers and again had wild salmon for lunch. This trip leaves from a Dock next to the Spirit. We got back to Spirit at 6:30 and the bags were in our suite. Returning Your Avis Rental Car - There is only one gas station in Whittier; it will be on your left just past the creek, just past the Cruise terminal building. You have to walk down a near by ramp to the boat fueling station to pay for your gas. The Avis building is in the small boat harbor to the south of the creek, an easy 5-minute walk south of the Cruise terminal building. The Spirit The Suite - very nice room, with a wonderful king bed and plenty of closets and drawers. The room had a nice desk and sofa and coffee table and there was a dressing table outside of the bathroom. The room is equipped with 220 and 110 power, although the power point next to the desk was a 220 outlet, not handy for using your laptop, bring a converter and 2 prong adapter if you want to watch DVDs on your computer from the sofa or bed. The TV is useful for seeing the ship's position and for listening to ship programs and announcements. It carries CNN and FOX news, but no sports channels. The naturalist will make announcement about wildlife sightings and glaciers on channel 15. There is a free safe is in the room. We brought a power strip so we could plug in all of our chargers (cameras, laptops and cell phones) The balcony has 4 chairs and a small table. You'll need to wear a jacket while the ship is moving. We had a left or port cabin thinking we would see more stuff on this side than the other side, I don't think we did and the sun rose into our windows each morning before 5:00 am, so maybe a starboard cabin would have been better. The only time your see glaciers up close from the Spirit is the first morning south bound (6am) and both sides get their views as the ship spends extra time near the glaciers. Bring your binoculars. Laundry - there are Laundry Rooms on each deck that has cabins. The washers and dryers are coin operated, 8 quarters each, no change machines. You can buy a roll of quarters at Guest Services on deck 2 in the main lobby area. There are 2 irons and boards in the Laundry Rooms, there are none is the guest rooms for fire safety reasons. Workout Room - deck 9 all the way forward - plenty of nice cardio equipment. The resistance machines were the old Keiser air pressure machines, which don't work very well. There is a complete set of Barbells, but someone is usually using the weights that you need. The Spa - typical for cruise ships- facials, massages, this ship even had an Acupuncturist ($150/hr). The Spa pushes an expensive Algae based detox programs pretty hard. Entertainment – Typical for cruise ships which was good for the most part. Plenty of opportunities to rock out after 10:00pm. Several lounge singers throughout the afternoon and evening. It's really amazing how many activities are going on Spirit. The Spirit singers and dancers are first rate and their production shows are excellent, a good way to spend an hour after dinner. Casino - The Casino was a busy place. The table games were fun and the minimum bets were only $5. They take cash or you can charge chips to your shipboard account for a $3 service charge. The Casino is only open when the ship is sailing. Cell Phone Service The cell service in the Alaskan ports was good, so we could check our emails on AT&T and Sprint systems. Once you get into Canada, the cell service will cost you a premium. Food 1. Main dining room - 2nd deck aft - food good usually - don't be afraid to order something else if you don't like something that you ordered, wine is reasonably priced - service was very good. The food is all loaded on the ship in Vancouver for two one-week cruises, so don’t expect fresh, wild salmon. We asked the Maitre De for some fresh, wild salmon one night and we saw it being delivered to the ship in Ketchikan and everyone at our table had it that night, it was so much better than the “Atlantic Salmon” (farm raised) that the ship carries. If you can, take the late seating (early seating is 6:00 pm, late seating is 8:15) -, many shore excursions return to the ship after 6:00 pm and you'll want time to get cleaned up for dinner. If you miss your appointed time for dinner, you can always queue up for "anytime" seating in the main dining room or eat dinner at the buffets on deck 9. 2. La Playa Grill - 9th deck mid ship - food is usually good, there are about 8 stations with different kinds of food. It looks crowded at breakfast and lunch but the short lines you'll wait thru are way faster than eating in the main Dining room. The made to order oblates were great, much better than in the main dining room. Many choices of food, the pizza is good, the salad bar will produce a far better salad than you can order off the menu. The Asian counter is good. The hamburger and hotdog counters were busy, so the food must have been good. They had a featured country food that changed each day. Italian was the best. You can take your food to the outside deck right outside the restaurant and get a great view and fresh air with less noise. 3. We never tried the Nuveau Supper Club ($15 per person extra), their menu looked considerably upgraded from the main dining room. Ports: Nearby shopping is available in all ports as are lively bars and good restaurants in case you want some fresh wild salmon or halibut. You can find tours on the dock in some ports at slightly lower prices than the ship offers, particularly Ketchikan. The ship offers a better variety of tours than you can find on the dock, plus the ship will wait if one of their own tours is late, they won't wait if you are on your own, you'll have to catch a plane to the next port, the ship will not wait for you. Many people pre-booked tours with private tour companies, which we did twice and it worked out very well, they know when you need to be back to the ship. On the two occasions when we booked excursions on the ship, I did it on the morning of the excursion, no problem. Several people recommended shoretrips.com for independent tours. Sitka - great place for a boat ride, the ship sells many boat tours which are a good value. We saw 6 Humpback Whales bubble-net feeding, a highlight of the trip. Sea Otters are out there as are Bald Eagles, Puffins and Sea Lions. You have to take tenders into Sitka as there is no dock. The folks with Carnival excursions got priority for leaving the ship, we were on our own trip so we left the ship after lunch. The boat tour we took was with Esther G’s Taxi Service; there were only 4 passengers on this trip, which was wonderful. Didn’t see many people at the tender dock selling tours, so buy them from Carnival. Juneau - so many choices - We took a 10 hour boat ride south of the Juneau to Tracy Arm, a beautiful fiord full of icebergs and wildlife, an independent tour on Adventure Bound Tours, which left at 8:00am - we got off the Spirit at 7:40, so it was a close call - there were about 25 people on this tour, about half from the Spirit We saw humpbacks breaching on the way out. The glacier at the halfway point was huge and calving a lot, a sight and sound you must see There were many Harbor Seals resting on the icebergs. We saw hundreds of waterfalls. Tracy Arm is truly a beautiful fiord with dramatic scenery. Take some reading material, as the 2 hours out and back to and from Tracy Arm can get routine. Everyone on the ship had good things to say about their Carnival arranged tours. Skagway - No boat rides were offered here so we wound up taking the White Pass Yukon Route historic Railroad trip, a 3-hour roundtrip, which was quite interesting. We saw our only bear of the trip from the train. Ketchikan - This is a good port for Float Plane trips. We wound up taking the 90 minute Duck City and Harbor tour, which was fun. There is good shopping in Ketchikan. Days at Sea (2): Thursday is a day at sea. At 6am you get glacier views in the College Fiords, very impressive. The rest of the day is in the Gulf of Alaska and you really can’t see anything. The naturalist keeps an eye out for wildlife and makes an announcement when something is spotted. Tuesday is also a day at sea, through the inside passage. The land is close and you see water falls and islands and everyone is on the lookout for wildlife. I found both of these days were good casino and shopping and workout days. The ship had a covered pool and Jacuzzi, so bring your swimsuit. Clothes: Jeans and tennis shoes and various layers of casual tops were fine for daytime activities. I wore a sport coat with a shirt and tie on the two formal nights (Thursday and Monday) which was quite appropriate. I wore the sport coat and an open colored shirt and dress pants on the other nights. There were a few tuxes in evidence. If you have room, bring a really warm jacket so you can sit outside on the deck of a boat moving at 20 knots. A knit hat was necessary also, baseball hats tended to fly off and give you nothing for your ears. I used a scarf and knit gloves several times as well. The scenery is so spectacular that its worth absorbing some cold weather. Disembarkation in Vancouver: The ship gives you plenty of options for handling your luggage when you leave the ship. We selected the “Self Assist” program. At 7:45 am on the final day, we were able to take our own luggage to the ship’s exit ramp and leave the ship. We walked directly to Canadian Immigration, which was quick and easy. We then caught a cab and went straight to the airport ($35 with tip), we were at the airport by 8:30, it took another hour at the airport with all the check in, customs and security stops, so we made our 11:00 am flight easily. Conclusion: We have been on many cruises and this one had the best scenery and wildlife, far better than the South American Cape Horn (2 week) trip. We lucked out with good weather. One week earlier and the weather wasn’t so good. Everyone talks about dressing in layers, which is so true, wear jeans and sweatshirts and jackets and walking shoes. Don’t forget a hat and gloves, if you plan on going out on boat rides. Be prepared for rain with raincoat and rain pants. When it rains, it often rains sideways with high winds, so umbrellas are often useless. The ship was well organized and well run and the crew was great. The cruise director Chris was funny and he even sings in the disco sometimes. The food was good and there was plenty to do on the ship. We’ll definitely cruise on Carnival again. Questions? Email: kentennis@cox.net