All in all we loved this Alaskan cruise and have vowed to go again, the scenery is unmatched particularly the Glacier Bay part the cruise. We were blessed with great weather, we did have some cooler temps and some drizzle but we came prepared in layers so not a problem for us.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
we are Platinum so it was fine, we had only a mild wait time but arrive on the ship long before aour schedule boarding of 12-1 PM we went immediately to our room and then to lunc.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Hubby and I never go to main dining room, we do not care for the whole waiter entertainment and service concept. We always go to the Lido area for meais, We find the food selection to be the same as the offerings in the more formal areas, plus we can adjust our own portions depending on likes and dislikes without having to "order two meals" Only option not available in Lido would be the lobster.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
as frequent Carnival travelers we tend to find some of the activities "old" at this point, however this time there were several additions that gave us variety. Because it was a Journey's cruise, there were a few "Crew Connetion" talks that were interesting. Also Carnival had two speakers on board, Steve who gave the Academy of Fun -which was 5 different topics that were all informative, interesting an amusing . Also we had Dirk, a "naturalist" gave several presentations on Alaska and the wildlife. He was so knowledgeable and gave lots of great info, in addition to some fantastic photos that he share. Carnival needs to take note and note it well that they should not schedule speakers of this quality at time that conflict for all or part of the presentations. Totally unnecessary to do so considering the length of the cruise day.
They also seem to do the same thing when the schedule dinner production shows and comedians.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
They also seem to do the same thing when the schedule dinner production shows and comedians as stated above. As for the production shows, the performers were extremely talented and did a great job however we had seen the same shows many times on other ships.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
As always, smiling, courteous, and kind.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
same as every other on Carnival, we pick aft, port, balcony so it is convenient, quiet and was kept immaculately clean.
Ship tip
We love the Spirit class ships, my only tip would be -exercise a degree of patience when debarking the ship. As many times as Carnival has debarked passengers, they have yet to get it right.
We booked a wildlife, eagles and totems through the ships is gave us plenty of eagles to see but the rest of trip was lackluster, although the operators, were friendly and curteous, boat was warm.
We did not book and excursion in Hoonah but leisurely walked around and found plenty in the port area to see, The history of Hoonah is interesting and the facilities around the docking area are great. We were blessed with pleasant weather that day.
A little bit rainy to start the day. We rode the White Pass Railroad to the summit, this was 2nd time for us but we enjoyed the breathtaking views again. Being that it was a Sunday many shops were closed for shoping
great little city, which we toured before our excursion which was billed as an otter and wildlife viewing trip. We did indeed see otters and a few eagles but the best part were the humpbacks that put on quite the show for us including the young calf that breached every few minutes for almost 1/2 hours. Loved this part of the ship
We have been to Vancouver so we knew we would love it we went off on our own in beautiful sunshine.
This is truly one of my most favorite places to visit. The problem here was that our arrival was put off from 8 AM until 11 Am. We did arrive at 11 however the ship was not cleared until after 12PM Some guest had booked non Carnival excursions and lost money due to the late arrival. No sympathy from Carnival
Once again I have to say Carnival does a terrible job at getting passengers off the ship in an organized fashion. I believe that they have too many "priority" categories. There are the Diamonds, the Platinums, The early flights, and in this case the "people who are "faster to the fun" Personally I do not feel that Carnival should allow people to "buy" privileges.
Carnival had deignated waiting areas for each categories, which sound like it was going to add some order to the process, however no staff was inside any of these waiting areas to direct traffic as people arrived. The end result was the last to arrive just stood where ever they wanted so in effect they became first.
In our case we had an early flight (4 hours after the scheduled docking time) this was the only flight that day to get home. I had booked a car for 45 minutes post docking which is usually more that enough time. I had also prepaid for this. As it turned out while the ship dock on time, it took more than 95 minutes to be cleared, with little ore than "sorry for delay folks". We ended up losing our ride so once we were off the ship we had to scramble to find another way to the airport. Once the ship was cleared it was another 1/2 hour ot exit the ship and terminal building, the aggravation of this whole process was enough to make me never want to deal with Carnival again. I think they really need to take a lesson from other cruise lines to get this right. They also really need to address the early flight folks as their number one priority and then all the other categories can come next in order. Proof of flight times can easily be provided by guests.
Glad you were prepared. The glaciers are the world's biggest refrigerators. When cruising up close, the layers come in handy. And agree, Alaska cruises are worth repeating.
Been on 18 cruises and we still think the best was the Alaska cruise we said when we got off the ship have to do it again so have booked for next April ... would highly recommend it ...
We too were on the same cruise and I'm sure going to book for next year! We didn't do any excursions, just walked around and enjoyed the beauty. It was awesome to say the least.
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