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Thanks a million for posting this! I would have never noticed it otherwise. Just booked our tickets and am excited to see all of those spots on the ship!

We have sailed the Miracle and Spirit more than any other ships. The Spirit class is our favorite for sure. There has never been a Soul Play when we sailed on them. Do you make reservations for it as soon as you board? Is there a cost for each session and limit for participants? I am curious to know more about that and the kinds of things you make. We are booked for her in July and can’t wait. Thank you for your great review!

Here is a photo of that cabin from cruisedeckplans.

215 to Alaska! 🐋🧊🐻🦭🍣🦀🛳️

Can you tell if this is a MH65 Dolphin? Some people onboard said the range of a helicopter is only 250 miles.

I don’t know if this helps you, but here is a photo of a pool on the Pride I took last year.

We had one on our cruise to Hawaii this January on the Miracle. Our ship had to backtrack for many hours to get close enough to the California coast so the Coast Guard helicopter could meet us. I never knew about the limited range of a helicopter. The pilot did an outstanding job of getting close to the ship and then backing away repeatedly-the seas were very rough with lots of wind. It must have been so scary for the patient and his wife, and he ended up getting the heart surgery that he needed and recovered. We lost a whole day in Hawaii because of the backtracking to the coast, but were so glad the gentleman got the help he needed. It was a fascinating process to watch!

On our last cruise our room steward said he had 35 rooms and he had a part time assistant for a few hours in the morning.

I liked the Funderstruck Nacho Burger, but not sure if you can get it any more. The borracho beans, crispy corn tortilla strips, fried jalapenos, and pico de gallo were great! 🍔 🍟

Spirit Class-Vista View-Deck 4! Can’t beat the space, 2 rooms, magnificent view, and ample overhang for shade! 🛳️

The Spirit class ships-Miracle, Spirit, Pride, and Legend-have them.We have used the deck 4 aft ones, but I think they have them on decks 1, 5, 6, and 7 as well.

We have only sailed on NCL and Carnival. Hands down Carnival wins for pleasant, engaging, customer service friendly employees. I never even met the room steward on our last NCL cruise. We had to flag somebody down to get ice in our room. Our room stewards-and other employees-on Carnival have always been visible, friendly, helpful, and doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. I love the Groove for St. Jude on each cruise! I think it is such an honorable charity and it is fun to support it. The comedy clubs on Carnival are our favorite. We prefer the adult shows and have met many great friendly people while waiting for the shows to begin. I find the passengers on Carnival are more approachable. We were on the NCL Encore this year. There wasn’t anything fun about having to reserve a seat in advance for the shows. They way they handled large crowds waiting to debark for excursions was the very opposite of fun.

So happy for you! Hawaii is definitely one of those places were certain excursions are a must do! 🌋

Thanks for posting this! I checked twice this morning and there were still only 24 excursions for the week-now there are 79! I am so glad it was just a glitch!😀

I have read that is the best place for photo ops too! Thanks for the tips. I am originally from Colorado so can handle small amounts of cooler weather! 😀

Seasonal help can definitely be lined by now. I had a friend that used to work summers in Juneau. Since there were 60+ excursions available a few weeks ago that could be booked, operators had help lined up. I am concerned with the number of ships in port each day that are all accessing excursion operators. Skagway will have the Ruby Princess, NCL Jewel, NCL Sun, and Carnival Spirit at the same time. Juneau will have the Silver Muse, Safari Endeavor, SS Wilderness Legacy, NCL Sun, Carnival Spirit, Grand Princess, and Carnival Luminosa that day. Ketchikan will have the Celebrity Summit, Celebrity Edge, Carnival Spirit, Oceania Regatta, Ruby Princess, and the Crystal Celebrity that day. There is an extent to how many atv’s can be rented, or seats in jeep tours available, seats on a train, duck tours, canoe adventures, whale watching, bike tours… I am wondering( worried) if the sudden drop in number of tours available is that many tours have sold out already, because of having so many large ships at once in the port. I hope that is not the case, and that it will be a boom year for all excursion operators with many offerings for all. This will be our 7th cruise to Alaska and we have booked all sorts of excursions in advance, last minute, and private tours too. Think of Skagway with 3,782 from the Ruby Princess, 2,376 passengers on the Jewel, NCL Sun can have 1,976+, and Carnival Spirit with 2,124 passengers. I am wondering if people going now or booked for next year are seeing a big drop in availability. Maybe the 60% drop in offerings was a computer glitch and we will have more availability soon. I am thinking that anyone seeing an excursion they like better book as soon as possible.

Did the train excursion still run?

With 5 cruises booked, you are a good judge of glitches! I had a payment problem on the website a couple of weeks ago. I was putting $300 on the cruise, the webpage showed I was paying $300 on the $2800 balance. When I clicked on apply the payment, it had paid the whole thing off! I got it straightened out, but was wondering what else wasnt working on the website. Thanks for the quick reply and am hoping many more excursions will be added soon.

There is a cocktail called a Pink Flamingo🍷

I am booked on the Carnival Spirit to go to Alaska in July 2024. On July 14th of 2023 there were 59 excursions available. Shortly after that there were 64 excursions. I know there will be more added-like the Tracy Arm Fjord excursion…, but today when I checked there were only 24 excursions available. I have checked the port schedules for our cruise and there will be many big ships in each port each day. I dont know if this is a website glitch, or an indication of the extreme competition there will be for tour operators. Is anybody else going to Alaska next year noticing the same decrease in excursion availability?

If you cant get to your room mailbox to get your sign and sail card, I believe they can scan your boarding pass as well.

We used this service pre covid on Carnival and it worked flawlessly. When we sailed to Alaska in August of 2022, the Carnival people said they didnt have Port Valet anymore. If this is a port service, wouldnt it be offered to any and every cruise ship at that port?

That is good to know. I don’t know a thing about Royal Caribbean but want to check them out.

I guess traveling from one side of Florida to the other makes it a supersized side2side!😃 Thanks for the tip. Traveling across a state from port to port is real thinking outside of the box!

Thanks for the examples! This year is too soon, as we have 2 trips planned this fall. Next year is chunked up with 3 cruises booked. I am going to shoot for fall of 2025, because I found a B2B that would add up to 29 days. Your European trip sounds great! My first thought is that all of that time in Europe between the cruises sounds expensive. Having never been there though, but I figure hotels, gas, and transportation is high. What a unique way to avoid flying across all because of a whale tail!😃