silvercrikhix

Enjoying a new review from you! :D

Well, I hope I'm a do-gooder - isn't it a good thing to be a do-gooder? But nope, sorry, no anti-smoking agenda here. Although I don't smoke, if you want to smoke that's your business and I respect your right to do so. To be honest, the smoking on cruise didn't bother me. Our balcony neighbors were out on their balcony just as much as we were, they were generally smoking all the time, but I didn't really find it bothersome, and that's why I didn't mention it in the main part of my review.

 

The irony of this incident, however, was that it occurred while we were floating through an ice field, and in the stillness of the water you could hear the ice popping as they were melting and releasing air gasses that had been trapped in the ice for centuries. Our national park ranger narrator explaining the sounds we were hearing, and then he encouraged us to take a deep breath and breath in the fresh glacial air. I tried to do it, but the freshness was lost on me as all I could really smell was cigarette smoke.

 

So yeah, maybe I didn't fill an entire lung full of smoke - but you get the metaphor. This didn't ruin my day or anything, but when I made my mental lists of highlights and lowlights, this was the latter.

 

As for the second part of that, flicking cigarette butts into the ocean, nope I didn't go tell on them or report them or even yell at them. I simply was disappointed. Does the fact that I didn't report them make me responsible? Ah, think what you may, but I had other priorities than to play litter police.

 

Also, before I forget, and take this for what its worth since I'm not a smoker and therefore it's hard for me to be completely objective, but the ship and cruise seemed to be fairly smoker friendly. I saw people smoking on their balconies, around the sun pool, in the Club Cool bar, in the Casino, and on the upper decks. None of their smoking ever really bothered me, and I can't say that I ever felt like you could smell smoke in other areas of the ship.

Thank you for your clarification, I appreciate your honesty and frankness! :D

I almost added a bit about you having better things to do than alert security about the incorrigible act of your neighbors.

But, sincerely, I do wish you would of taken a moment to pick up the phone. IMHO, they should have been put off the ship!

Not only did they litter a precious natural glacial area, but they endangered the ship and all the passengers because the cig butts could have blown back on the ship and started a fire!:mad:

Their selfish act (and also other rude passengers who do the same) endangered the other passengers who responsibly smoke and could give Carnival and the anti-smoking brigade reasons to even further the restrictions on smoking :mad:

I'm glad to hear your planning on doing it again with your children and including some excursions next round!

Thanks again for your review and great pictures!

Thank you for sharing your cruise review.

The pictures are awesome.

It was great to relive our June/July experience cruising Alaska!

Your wife is a lucky lady to have such a kind and caring DH!

One thing is bothersome, however.

A) I find it hard to believe that you "FILLED a lung" with second hand smoke from a neighboring balcony while on a aft wrap balcony!

We have had 2 of these cabins and it seems highly unlikely.

B) If those same neighbors threw cigarette butts into Glacier Bay you should have, WITHOUT ANY DOUBT reported that ASAP!

DID YOU?

It is a CRIME against nature, the ship and other passengers!

These 2 points make me wonder if you are just a do-gooder trying to force your anti-smoking agenda.

Very nice review, OP! Thank you for the time and consideration in posting!

The Rainbow Adventure Tours to Porcupine Gold Mine sounds fun! My husband loves watching that show. I've e-mailed them for more info.

It is so fabulous! Hope you do it and enjoy. It's quite the opportunity!

In Skagway, the best tour is what we did in July!

We used Rainbow Adventure Tours. You take the scenic fast ferry from Skagway to Haines. The fun, personable and knowledgable guide Holly Jo meets you and takes you in a large passenger van on a drive to The Big Nugget Gold Mine at Porcupine Creek. Our group of 4 only shared the van with another couple and their 10 yr old son. We all made him feel special by having him ride shotgun and being the wildlife lookout. He had a blast! This is the real deal! This is a real working gold mine, as see on Alaska Gold Rush on Discovery TV. Along with seeing the teen, grandson, Parker Schnabel at work with his crew, we panned for gold with dirt from the mine.

We each found our seeded bit and Holly Jo had little cases to put them in with stickers Gpa Schnabel had made years ago to close them up. Learning the techniques and finding our piece was so much fun! This was a very fun, educational, scenic and informative tour. Lunch is included, too. We also caught a glimpse of Dakota Fred at work at his mine down the road. You take the ferry back to Skagway when through. We choose to hire Fly Drake (also seen on Discovery TV on Alaska Wing Men) to fly us back to Skagway via a breathtaking glacier flight tour.

We can't recommend this enough! This tour is only in it's 2nd year and although they do want to grow it some, they do not advertise it as they don't want it to get too big. It is a very unique opportunity. It was Grandpa John Schnabel's dream for a couple of decades to offer tours to their gold mine claim many years ago and to be able to participate in making this brilliant mans dream a reality was such an honor. Grandpa is not doing so well and just moved from home to an assisted living place in Haines. His grandson, Parker is doing a fantastic job of carrying on his dream and legacy and we wish him the greatest of luck!

Excellent Pictures! Thank you so much for sharing!

Very nice review, Lambie

Take a bow!

 

I love the blue tints in the snow drifts in this pic, and the faraway looking bridge.

Nice shot!

Soooo enjoying this review!

Wow, Lambknuckles!

Your photos are making my stomach do flip flops in anticipation of our cruise on the Spirit in 1 month and 2 days! :p

It is hard to believe the raw beauty of nature in Alaska is real and we will be seeing it soon!

Soooo excited! Thanks for reving us up! :D

We have been anticipating new Alaska reviews!

Thank you so much for sharing your cruise with us!

Your pictures are fabulous!

Keep it coming. So excited to see how your adventure goes!

Paul, absolutely fantastic camera work on this review!

I love the fisheye photography of the ship, you can see so much in one shot, just fab!

Your boys are certainly growing, it is fun to see the earlier pics of your family interspersed with the new ones. Reading your reviews and watching your boys grow over the years has been so interesting! Thank you for sharing your adventures with all of us. The time and effort it takes from you to share is genuinely appreciated.

Woo-Hoo, a Spirit Alaska review!

Great start.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Your kids are soooo cute!

There are many of us who have been waiting for the first review of 2012!

Looking forward to more, keep it coming!

I have heard good things about Seattle's Best Car Service and have booked with them for June also. I believe the reviews were on Trip Advisor and on CC.

Thank you so very much for all of the time and consideration you are putting into your Spirit to Hawaii review! Your photo's are fantastic. I am looking forward to the rest of it very much! :D

You've captured some great photo's so far, Paul.

Looking forward to more.

Thank you for sharing!

Loving your review! Keep it coming..........

Thank you so much for all of the time and consideration you put into your review! It certainly has gotten me interested in taking a cruise like this. It just seems soooo complicated, but you made it seem not quite as daunting as I thought it would be! Hmmmmmmm...........if you get that blog up and running, maybe you'd be kind enough to post your itinerary with all the info and contacts stuff for this cruise........I think I'll cheat and copy your paper....LOL

You have some very lovely photos that you and Paul are sure to enjoy for the rest of your lives together! You do make a very cute couple! Congratulations on your wedding!

I am loving this review, so far! What a fantastic Honeymoon! Awesome! :D

I just sent an email to the MBayona email address above for a cruise 104 days out.

I'll let you all know the outcome. Thanks for the direct email link!

Happy Sailing and Good Luck...................................

I had a response today in about 3 hours! Wow! We are not whales, either, moderate I'd say. Michael's email said we were each receiving a nice 3 digit casino cash and to go to the cashier cage and get it! Nice! :D. They must be working on some faster response times!

I e-mailed Michael at the Carnival Players club last night about our cruise in May. I already received a reply from him today that we will have casino cash. I was impressed by the quick response.

 

I also printed out the e-mail just in case the casino doesn't have the information.

 

Last cruise we had casino cash, but we also got strawberries twice, a photo coupon, wine at dinner one night, free drinks in the casino and a plate of sweets one other night.(all those things were not mentioned when I contacted the CPC last time). I think the casino host sent all that. I'll be happy with just the casino cash, but those strawberies are pretty darn good, too.

Maybe we'll be as lucky as you were too with the nice lil extras :rolleyes:

I just sent an email to the MBayona email address above for a cruise 104 days out.

I'll let you all know the outcome. Thanks for the direct email link!

Happy Sailing and Good Luck...................................

The "noid" character is strange AND creepy!

The towel elephant is dirty all over. I want my towels clean! What is that yellow and gray on the towel? Gross!

DH is sitting near me playing Angry Birds and I showed him the Freeloading Freddy pic (Great Nickname by the way) and he agrees, too. Way creepy, he says!

AGAIN, HEY CARNIVAL HOW ABOUT A CONTEST TO GET A COOL MASCOT FOR CARNIVAL ONCE AND FOR ALL! :D

Umm, errr, Yes! I think Funship Freddy is creepy and hideous! JMHO though. I think they could do much better for a mascot!!

I'd design a much better mascot for them for half the price they undoubtedly paid someone to design him!

Hey, Carnival......how about having a design our new mascot contest with the grand prize being an all expenses paid cruise in a suite on the ship/itinerary of winners choice!!! :D PLEASE???

Thank you for your reply, Assateague Island Princes, I appreciate your help!

Does anyone have any experience, information or comments about these mini electric cars available for rent from Rain Barrel in Ketchikan? A party in our cruise group is interested in renting one of these. I am wondering how much they cost and if there Is any difficulty in finding places to park them while in shops, etc.... Thank you for any information you can share!