MistyRo76

I’m not evening opening your link cause I’m pretty sure I already watched that video and still have PTSD from the shaky camera work! LOL! but thank you!

Between us going with Carnival over Princess and forgoing a balcony, we saved about $2500! That’s a lot of excursion money! So I totally get that part of the decision! $349pp is a steal! That’s awesome! Glad you got to take advantage of that!

Thanks to you both! I’ll be buying some discounted Carnival gift cards today and booking this ASAP! All of those pictures are amazing!

Looking for feedback from other Carnival Alaska cruisers who've done the Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer excursion. I had initially thought when I booked the cruise that everyone would just stay on the ship for the Tracy Arm Fjord portion of the cruise and see the sights from the cruiseship. But then I saw this excursion listed! It sounds amazing...especially the wildlife sightings! If you've taken this excursion, I would love to hear how your experience was! We will have our 10-year-old with us. Is this going to keep her interest as well? Thank you!

I've been researching for our first Alaska cruise as well. I looked closely at both ships and we ultimately decided to go with the Spirit. We love all the things that the Spirit has that the Luminosa doesn't (Guys, Blue Iguana, Red Frog Pub and more). We're also traveling with our kiddo, so that was a factor as well. As far as cabin choice - we haven't booked anything but a balcony in over 12 years. But we know that we are going to be spending a lot more this cruise on excursions than we normally would. It was $1500 more to book a balcony for three of us than it was to book an interior. I don't like the location of the actual Oceanview cabins (deck 1/2). So we ended up going with the Interior w/ Picture Window (Obstructed View) cabin on Deck 4. We were able to get one that sits between the lifeboats to give us a bit more of a view. Location is great for us! And that cost savings couldn't be beat!

HAHA...Bengay, Aspercreme and compression wraps! That really paints a picture! But I feel ya on that one! We've talked about Alaska for a while and decided to just do it! The in-laws may join us and my FIL is pushing 85 (though he's still more active than most half his age!) so time is of the essence! But then it's right back to the Caribbean for me!

Primary school spring break is definitely later than college spring break. This year my daughter's spring break is the week of April 15th! I would look at booking late April or into May to have lower pricing and less kids around. Also, weather in the Caribbean that time of year is just ideal to me!

We just booked our first Alaska cruise for next August and we couldn't be more excited! It'll be me, my DH and our 10-year-old daughter. There may be other family and friends join us on this one too! I am a seasoned Carnival cruiser - but all of my cruises (except for 1 Mexican Riveria cruise from Long Beach) have been Bahamas/Caribbean cruises. Alaska is out of my wheelhouse! What can we expect on the ship to be the same as a regular Carnival cruise and what can we expect to be different? Is evening attire, especially on elegant night, similar to what you'd see on a Caribbean Carnival cruise? Are there any different onboard activities, parties, foods, demonstrations, etc.? Or will the overall vibe still feel like the Caribbean just without the Caribbean weather! Of course, the main attraction is Alaska itself - but just curious how the ship will feel comparatively.

I’ve had issues connecting. Last cruise my internet plan wouldn’t connect until day 2. Some we’ve cruised with went to guest services when they had an issue. GS tweaked their settings and then it worked. Not sure what specific settings they changed.

On our Sunshine cruise last fall, I was able to grab one of the last two cabanas for HMC and did it right before prices went up. We shared the cabana and cost with our friends so $250 for each couple was a no brainer. We loved having the cabana! It was so nice to have a spot to get out of the sun and the snacks we had and the water floats. Such a great day! But definitely we won’t do it again at $700 even if sharing the cost!

John Heald usually posts the monthly movies on his FB page. I think they are mostly the same fleet wide.

I’m guessing because the one couple are past cruisers and each have booking offers with better pricing compared to the couple that’s never cruised before.

I have never tried Your Time Dining. More often than not, we have a larger group cruising. My last cruise was the smallest group we’ve had in probably 10 years and that was 6 people. We are usually cruising with 10-20 people. So it just doesn’t make sense for us to try to do Your Time Dining as we enjoy eating together to catch up on our days. And trying to seat that many with YTD could be a long wait. And honestly, the late dining time works well for us as we also like to enjoy as much of our day as possible whether on the ship or in port. So I totally don’t mind eating at 8:15 on a cruise! That timing would never work for me at home though! My sis did YTD once when she was with a group of 6-8 people. She did not love it. She didn’t like having to coordinate a time to eat with everyone.

Gosh…I don’t even know how long I’ve been with my PVP. Probably going on 17-18 years. When I first started cruising I worked for an airline and we booked thru a specific travel agency that provided travel discounts to industry employees. But then we had an issue with a price match situation that the agency wouldn’t honor and I found out that Carnival also offered travel industry rates if you book directly with them and would match price drops so that’s when I started booking with carnival and not too long after found my PVP. I haven’t been at that job for almost 15 years. And man…I do miss those travel industry rates! They were the best!!! Not to mention the free flights! Though I don’t think I could handle the stress of flying standby anymore…especially to a cruise! But we did it all the time back in the day!

Thanks for another entertaining and informative trip review! I always get giddy when I see a Willdra review gracing page one of the Carnival Cruise Critic page! It’s always a good day! Quick Question - have you and W ever done Alaska on Carnival? I just booked our first Alaska cruise on the Spirit for next August and would love to read your take on it if it’s happened! If it has, can you post a link to that review? Alaska is very out of my wheelhouse so I feel like a cruise newbie! Thanks and can’t wait to read about your next adventure!

What if it’s already a warm wine - like a merlot? Something that wouldn’t be served chilled…then can I hold the bowl? 🤣🤣

We’re used to having a balcony but right now they are $1400-1500 more than the 4k cabins. But I’d definitely jump on that upgrade off for that much! I’ll have to keep my eye out!

We have the cabins right next door - 4131. Also in between the boats! Can’t wait!

If you can't find an espresso martini, i highly recommend trying the Tiramisu Martini! It's sooooo good!

I did see that it is scheduled for a dry dock early next year and I am also very curious about what may be done during that time! I'm wondering if they will do cabin updates - USBs, new decor?? I would be great if they added some additional dining options. We sailed on the Sunshine last fall, and we loved that areas of the Lido Marketplace were sectioned off to be used as Cucina del Capitano and JiJi Asian Kitchen. We did the free lunch at Cucina several times during the cruise and had dinner once at JiJi...it was by far our favorite meal of our whole trip!

Jeff - Having just booked our first Alaska cruise on the Spirit, I have been searching for Spirit and/or Alaska reviews. Today, I headed straight to your signature knowing that I would most likely find a review of the Spirit and as always you and Patti did not disappoint! The Carnival website is woefully lacking in pictures of this ship and there are a lot of outdated pics on the cruise ship deck plans site (for example all of the photos on that site of the Warehouse Arcade are actually of when that space was the library or chapel). So, thank you for always keeping us so well informed and entertained! Now if I could just get you guys to add Alaska to your cruise list before summer of 2025, that would be great! 😆😀

Thanks for all the info, everyone! I hadn't heard about the rebranding of the Seuss breakfast to a Birthday Celebration! My daughter enjoyed the regular breakfast on our cruise last fall (and so did dad and I)....so I'll keep an eye out for bookings to open up! We are still 500+ days out from our cruise!

That’s exactly why we got that cabin for my sis!

It’s just funny cause you’re the second person to do the same thing! Happened on a different thread when I mentioned I was looking into the category 4k cabins. They thought I meant an interior for $4k. Lol

Great! Thank you for your feedback. That makes us feel better! I'm excited for this cabin. It's a great value for sure. That $1500 we are saving by NOT booking a balcony on this trip will go a long way toward some fun excursions!