Becki Hansen  

Age: 51
Occupation: Cruise Counselor
Number of Cruises: 7
Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Lines
Ship: Carnival Spirit
Sailing Date: May 22nd, 2002
Itinerary: Alaska

We cruised the Inside Passage 3 yrs. ago on Holland America and enjoyed it so much that we wanted to go back and see more of Alaska. We chose Carnival Spirit because the dates preceded a travel trade show I wanted to attend in Vancouver. This was a northbound cruise so we flew into Seattle and took the bus to Vancouver as we saved a lot on airfare by doing this. The bus ride is about 3 ½ hr.

The ship is beautiful and does not have a lot of neon. I do, however, prefer a smaller ship for Alaska as they can get in closer to the ports and the glaciers. The food was very good. Although we were confirmed for early seating before the cruise they had us at late seating. We were able to change back to early by the second night. For breakfast and lunch we usually ate in the lido area which was buffet. Instead of a long buffet line there were many different areas which had a food item (such as fruit) so we had to go hunting for our food which we did not like. It was very crowded and frustrating to have to stand in 4 or 5 lines to get your meal. The pizza was quite good as was the corned beef sandwiches but each place had only one person serving which meant a wait.

I tried the spa special one day which was an aromatherapy wrap and massage. It was a great experience and I highly recommend Kelly if you use the spa services on this ship. She spent 2 ½ hrs with me and I did not feel rushed at all. Of course they always try to sell you $600 of their products but she was not high pressure.

We had a naturalist on board for the first half of the cruise who was very knowledgeable and pointed out landmarks and wildlife. One evening 2 Orcas killed a seal near the ship. We missed seeing this as we were in the dining room and did not know about it until later. We had a different naturalist for the second half of the cruise (Stephanie). She was very lacking in her knowledge and it was clear to everyone on board.

Our room steward was nothing exceptional. It took him 3 nights to put our beds together to make a king bed although we had requested that prior to the cruise and again the first night. Our dining room waiters were efficient but they had too many tables to serve. Perhaps we were spoiled by the pampering we receive from Holland America.

The activities on the ship offer a good variety of things to do, although in Alaska the scenery provides the entertainment so we did not go to a lot of classes etc.

We dined in the supper club one evening. Although we did not try the stone crabs which they are famous for, our steaks were extremely good as was the entire meal. They also had a singer and piano player called “Two’s Company” which was the best music on the ship. This is a great place for an intimate, romantic dinner. They now charge $25 person to dine here. They were never full any night on this cruise and were always looking for more people to make reservations here. Maybe this will take the price back down.

This was Carnival’s first Alaska cruise this season and hopefully, they now have some of the kinks worked out. Embarking the ship was very slow. Since we did not arrive at the ship until about 2pm I thought we would be able to walk on but we had to wait at least an hour. Being tired and hungry it seems like it would be a good idea to offer their waiting passengers something to drink and maybe even some appetizers. The disembarking seemed to go quickly. Since we had made our own arrangements in Seward we were to be the last off at 9:00. However, the cruise director started yelling over the sound system at 7:00. This was a very rude awakening as it came into our rooms. We could have heard her even if the sound had just been on in the public areas. People eating breakfast in the lido area were complaining of headaches due to the loudness of the cruise director. They really need to tone it down. This does not make for a positive last impression.

PORTS OF CALL

Ketchikan – This was one of the rare days it did not rain here. We walked to Creek Street and shopped there. Found some good syrup in different flavors to take home.

Juneau – Went to Medenhall Glacier and saw a mountain goat and a porcupine. Went shopping and after much looking for some gold quartz jewelry I found what I considered a good buy at Julie’s downtown. On our last visit here we had gone on a whale watching trip with Captain Larry from Orca Enterprises. Although that was the highlight of our last trip we opted not to do that this time and had something similar planned for Seward.

Skagway – We did our best shopping here. Found some books for the grandchildren and even got them signed by the author.

Sitka – We did not stop here on our previous visit. This is the only port we had to tender but every ship does. We walked through a national forest and saw some totem poles and then walked over to the raptor center. A very nice town with a lot of Russian influence but we had just a short time here. After waiting in line for an hour to get back on a tender to go back to the ship they finally decided to use larger boats to take us and it went much faster. As we saw in Russia last year, there were children on about every corner playing an instrument with a box for our donations.

College Fjord – I always find the glaciers to be so awesome. We did not get as close to them as we did when we were here before but they were still beautiful.

When we got off the ship in Seward we took our luggage to the train station as we were taking the 6pm train to Anchorage. This gave us a full day in Seward. We decided to take a Resurrection Bay boat tour for 5 hrs. After eating lunch at Fox Island it started to rain and the water was very rough. We did see a lot of marine birds and some stellar sea lions but no whales. The 4 hr. train ride was very enjoyable. We were late getting to Anchorage but at midnight it was still light.

After a couple of nights here we flew back to Vancouver. I highly recommend spending a day or two here before or after a cruise. This is a beautiful city. We took a 5 hr bus tour of the city and saw the highlights. I would have liked to spend more time at Granville Island. That is a neat place. We stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront hotel because it was close to the convention center where we attended a travel convention. It was pricey but very nice and had a great harbor view.

In conclusion, we enjoyed our cruise and found it to be a good value (although we prefer the more upscale Holland America.) The prices seem to be very good this year and therefore I would recommend upgrading to a balcony cabin as it allows one to see more of the scenery.

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