5 Nights Western Caribbean from Mobile, AL Cruise

Spirit to Alaska (out of Seattle)

Embarkation – flawless, best and easiest of all ports so far. We bought Faster to the Fun but literally had workers blocking us from getting to our room to drop off luggage. No one seemed to be familiar with faster to the fun and kept saying our room would be ready at 1:30. Ended up going to guest services and was told to just ignore the workers and drop off luggage, which we ended up doing. It just made me feel rude to have to do that. It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but we kept our luggage because we have F2TF and knew we could drop it off. The ship itself was HOT! Anyone worrying about what to wear on ship, it is hot. I wore athletic pants and a T-shirt, just brought a hoody if going outside. The lido deck was covered, and it was hot too. We also got a little bored on the ship. There was only so much trivia they offered before they were repeating it. A completely different vibe than a Caribbean cruise, which we knew going in, but definitely bring something to keep you occupied when at sea. There was a duo called Blue Velvet that was amazing. If you get a chance to see them, you should. They played at both the Lobby Bar and Alchemy Bar. The buffet area – it was always hard to find somewhere to sit. So many people were sitting at tables, playing cards or just watching wildlife. I understand it, but it was frustrating when you just want to sit somewhere to eat and move on with your day. Dining – we, for the first time, had your time dining and I was not a fan. It seemed much more rushed than it usually was, my chardonnay was delivered hot – so much so that I was having to pull ice from my water to put in it. The food was hit or miss, which I think is pretty standard. We also had the steak house on Day 1, and Chef’s Table one night. Both of those were excellent as always. I wore everything from a sundress, pants and dressy top to athletic pants and T-shirt and was never “out of place”. Traci Arm Fjord – we were rerouted to Endicott Arm Fjord due to so much ice at Traci Arm Fjord. We bought the excursion and got on the smaller boat. We saw two whales completely breach, though it may have been the same whale breaching twice. That was awesome. I wore thick tights, long sleeved shirt, fleece, jacket, gloves and hat and I was still a little cold. If I did it again, I would put another pair of pants over my tights. Skagway – we rented a car through Klondike Electric Bicycles and drove up the Klondike Highway to Emerald Lake. HIGHLY recommend! It took us about 7 hours to drive there and back, and we stopped a lot. We walked across the Yukon Suspension Bridge, stopped and ate in Carcross, stopped at Emerald Lake. We also got pictures at the Welcome to Alaska and the Yukon sign. We had an electric mustang, and it had plenty of charge to get us there and back, with about 50 miles to spare. They also have an app that you can download that will tell you the places you should stop for pictures and if you don’t want to download the app, they have a notebook that you can use. It cost us $332.75 for the day. Much cheaper than the train and we were able to stop when we wanted. Again, I highly recommend! We also went to Skagway Brewing Co and had their fish and chips which were outstanding. I wore pants, long sleeved shirt and a fleece and I was comfortable all day. Juneau – we had booked a helicopter tour through Alaska Shore Excursions that would take us to dogsled on a glacier, then an additional glacier stops. It was cancelled due to fog. From what I could tell, all tours from that week had been cancelled because of the weather (we were there on May 24). They refunded the money in less than 24 hours so I can’t complain too much. We ended up buying a Whale watching tour from one of the vendors at the port, Juneau Tours for $252.00 for two. If you opt to do that, you can bargain with them for a lower price. He started out at $300.00 – just FYI. The tour was great, we saw several whales, seals, and even got to see an eagle flying down and catching a fish. The company did a great job, and I would highly recommend them as well. I wore the same thing as Traci Arm Fjord (except I added pants over my tights) and I was comfortable. Cold while the boat was moving, but comfortable when we were stopped. Ketchikan – we just walked around and shopped. Everyone said this was the cheaper port, but I could not see any difference in this and any of the other ports we went to. It was raining so I wore pants, long sleeved shirt, and a jacket. I was comfortable outside, but hot inside. Victoria – we took the shuttle downtown. Got pictures of the Parliament Building all lit up. The shops there were expensive, even more so than Alaska. We went into a bar and had a beer, then went back to the ship. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I wore pants and long-sleeved shirt and was comfortable. Debarkation – again, flawless. Since we had faster to the fun, we had group 4 – which I thought was pretty low. They started off with self-debarkation, and they were using letters, A, B, C, etc. When they got to the numbers, they called 1 – 16 all at once. We left our cabin at 8:15 and was in a rental car we picked up at the airport by 9:10. We did not use the Port Valet as we went to Olympic National Park for the rest of the week after the cruise. I heard a horror story of someone that used Port Valet, and their luggage tag was torn off and no one knew where their luggage was. So, if you use them, make sure you have a very secure luggage tag. That’s about it. Overall, it was a great cruise, and I would love to do it again.

Won it from my job. Christmas present

I really enjoyed it. Had a great time. Really liked the excursions. Had tons of cocktails. Enjoyed the comedy club, the casino and trivia games. Was not impressed with the jewelry presentations I’m not a huge jewelry fan. Would have like to done the painting but always booked. My husband loves the casino and it would be closed at weird times and it always seems to be at the times we wanted to go there. Also when we did not know about the 80s night theme and were unprepared. My husband was not impressed with the main dining, so we stuck with the buffet. I would have liked to try the main dining on the elegant night but we were unprepared because my husband brought shorts and jeans. We had an inner cabin and were surprised about how roomy it is. I get motion sick often and with Alaska late sun days it was very comfortable.

Carnival Spirit - Western Caribbean

This was our 5th Carnival cruise but the first on a Spirit Class ship. This is the smallest of the ships we have been on and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The over-the-top décor is the best we have seen on any of the ships. The 9-story atrium with the stain glass at the top was beautiful. All the guest areas were clean and in good shape. The staff was very friendly. Embarkation went smoothly. Many people ignored their assigned check-in time and arrived early but were forced to wait until the passengers with the correct time were processed. Our luggage was waiting at our room when the rooms were available at 1:30 as scheduled. Disembarkation was poorly organized. You were assigned a time and were told to wait on deck 2 until called. There were no announcements. I asked Guest Services which deck were we leaving from and were told deck 3. So all of the senior passengers with their luggage had long waits at the elevators to go up to deck 3 to depart after waiting on deck 2 as instructed. The layout of the Spirit class ships is different from other Carnival ships. All the activities take place on decks 2 and 3 with the exception of the comedy club on deck 1. The rest of the decks are all rooms until you get to decks 9 and 10 with the Lido restaurant, pool, spa and fitness center. There are 3 banks of elevators, forward, center and aft. Since this ship is smaller it is very easy to find your way around. This smaller ship is less stable than the larger Carnival ships and the sea was a bit rough the first two days resulting in noticeable movement on board. Minature golf outside on deck 10 was closed all cruise due to high winds. What we liked most about this cruise is that it never seemed crowded anywhere on the ship, even though it was at capacity. The venues are large enough to accommodate everyone comfortably. The Versailles lounge was a large venue that was used for the comedy club. It is much larger than other Carnival ship venues that have twice as many passengers. The 3-deck main Pharoah Theater had ample seating for all shows so you did not need to show up 30 minutes early to find a seat. There were multiple music venues to accommodate everyone. The food in the Lido restaurant was basically the same as any other cruise ship; usually average to above average. There were servers going to the tables offering coffee refills and juice. The breakfast/brunch in the main restaurant was excellent as was the service. Guy’s Burger Joint on the Lido deck provided good burgers with a good variety of toppings. The Blue Iguana Cantina on the Lido deck had good tacos and burritos with a good selection of toppings as well. Dinner in the main restaurant was hit and miss. Items such as the escargot, cold cucumber/avocado soup, grilled chicken breast, chicken cordon bleu, jerk pork chop, melting chocolate cake and crème brulee were excellent. The short ribs were cooked well but had little taste; cheese cake tasted store bought; pepper steak was tough; strip steak was tough; caesar salad had almost no dressing on it; french onion soup was lacking in onion flavor; broccoli was under cooked; and the baked alaska was basically a slice of neopolitan ice cream with a thin layer of cake. We chose “your time dining” so we could eat when we wished. As a result we sat in different areas of the restaurant each night. The service varied from excellent to below average. It was clear the wait staff catered more to those passengers assigned to the same table every night. Carnival is now relying almost completely on their app when you are on the ship. First, Carnival assumes that every passenger is carrying a cell phone to access the app. The problem is that the app stopped working several times during the cruise. They also do a very poor job of explaining to passengers that you need to use the app and how to use the app. ALL restaurant reservations are done on the app. The first night many people did not know this and when they showed up at the restaurant to check-in they were told to sign-in on the app and wait for confirmation. The last night the app quit working which caused a lot of confusion at the restaurant. You are also expected to look at the food and drink menu on the app to order your dinner. I am not a fan of the app so we requested a paper menu every night and they did provide one. One complaint I mention in every review is the dress code for the restaurants. Carnival needs to either eliminate their published dress code requirements or enforce them. Either is fine by me. T-shirts, shorts, and flip flops were common every night including elegant dress night and nothing was ever done to address this. The entertainment on the ship was lacking. The shows in the main theater were very good but below the quality level seen on larger ships. The Ocean Strings Trio played violin music which was pretty good but not the right vibe for a cruise. V&Kenna were a duo that were not good. The Sea Star Band in the Red Frog Pub was the best entertainment on the cruise. They played a variety of hit music that was excellent. The Deal or No Deal and Love & Marriage shows were great as usual. Three of the four comedians on the cruise were pretty funny. We had a balcony room on deck 5 forward which was a great location, close to all the activities. The room was clean and seemed smaller than other balcony rooms we have been in. The a/c did not cool down the room enough at night. The was one outlet on the desk top in the middle of the room and there were a couple of USB outlets on the stands next to the beds. The tv did not respond well to the remote; most likely needed new batteries. After returning from a shore excursion there was no hot water in the bathroom making showers very difficult. The problem was fixed in a couple of hours. The balcony needs some work with the paint peeling and sea salt crusted on several areas. Our room steward Clauvet was very friendly and provided great service. In addition to our room, the outside areas of the ship need some TLC and I believe the ship is scheduled for dry dock soon for upgrades. Some of the windows in the common areas needed cleaning. One of the aft elevator buttons did not light up when pressed.