U.S. - Pacific, Northwest Cruise Reviews

This was a repo cruise, so not the ordinary voyage and probably a much different vibe than other routes. Even the crew seemed to enjoy the break from the usual roundtrip. It got us from Canada to LA in an interesting and relaxing way. It was our first cruise, so we had no expectations. We would do a few minor things differently but overall it was fun and we would do it again.

I had a good first cruise experience. I found it comfortable, as I was traveling by myself. I booked the cruise for the wildlife viewing and First Nations art and was not disappointed. The ship could not make it to Juneau because of propulsion issues and substituted in Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia. Internet worked well enough to stream Youtube. Specialty coffees were good. Chocolates at bedtime were a nice touch.

We loved our beginning of summer cruise on the Splendor. It was a big new ship that still had that fabulous new ship smell. Normally the Splendor would have been doing Mexican Riviera cruises but the itinerary was changed from Mexico to Pacific Coastal with ports in Canada. The price was great and we had already done the Mexican Riviera on the Pride so we eagerly jumped on the opportunity. My mom also joined us on the cruise so we had 2 balcony cabins. It was foggy both ways through San Francisco preventing us from seeing city views or the Golden Gate but we did get to hear the ship horn sounding often as it does in the fog. We took binoculars to use on our balcony and spent a lot of time enjoy it. The water up north was so calm and smooth. I've been on many cruises and have never seen the ocean water so calm and smooth as it was. We loved our ports. In Austria we did a ship bus tour that took us to the maritime museum and we learned a lot about why cruise ships don't sail up north after October. It's not so much about the ice and cold winter weather as it is the change in currents that cause ships to wreck. Our family is fans of the movie Goonies and we got to see where the movie was filmed which we enjoyed as we have seen the movie so many times we can quote lines from the movie. Victoria was another great port. We got taxis into town from the port and went to tour Miniature World which was not offered by the ship. Then we did a trolly tour we purchased from the cruise line. Following the trolly tour we did a private horse drawn carriage tour we book privately. After the carriage tour we rented a car and drove to the Butchart Gardens where we stayed for several hours as I fell in love with the gardens and couldn't stop taking pictures and enjoying the flowers and views. We ate a rather expensive lunch there and didn't find the food impressive for the price. After returning our rental car we saw an iMax movie before returning to the ship late at night. We rented a car in Vancouver and drove to the Capilano Suspension Bridge in the nearby mountains. It was amazing and I think it was a better option than any of the tours offered by the ship plus we saved money. We also visited Science World which also was not an option offered by the ship. Vancouver was big city compared to how it felt in Victoria. We were in Vancouver late and enjoyed mini golf on the ship with the city lights. Carnival should offer more cruises from Long Beach to Canada.