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August 28th Trip Report Alaska Carnival Legend 8 Day Cruise with Friends


Matlily
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Its Long! I don't know how to post pictures.

 

We choose this cruise with 19 friends, as our bucket list Alaskan cruise that it took in Glacier bay and a full day in Victoria and at most ports. Our ports were Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Victoria and a full day sailing around Glacier bay, plus 2 sea days, we departed on Tuesday and arrived back Wednesday the following week.

 

We arrived Seattle from Houston, Texas and used Citypass, our group arrived at various times on mostly the Saturday and Sunday before the Cruise on Tuesday. We arrived Saturday, we walked down to pikes Market and had a bite to eat, Booked our Harbor Cruise included in Citypass for Monday and walked around we brought the Citypass online and this came in very handy. Sunday we went to the Woodlake Zoo and really enjoyed it saw a lot of animals and the zoo is set out really nicely and a lot of up close and personal experiences we enjoyed this attraction the best of all in Seattle. We also did the harbor cruise, Space Needle and Aquarium. We are a country and western dancers and our group of friends are too, we love to dance two step, waltz, polka etc and where from Texas, so we checked out the Little Red Hen and they had a great country band playing Sunday evening and we all went and danced up a storm. We stayed at the Hyatt Olive 8 which was really nice and we had the awaken package that included breakfast (very good) in their restaurant we booked with points so sorry I don't know the cost. its was walking distance to most things, if I had to do again I would stay closer to the water. We used Lyft or Uber to get everywhere its cheap and simple way to go, if you share you get them even cheaper.

 

Me (53) and my hubby also 53 have cruised the Caribbean before but not Alaska. I turned Platinum this cruise so that was a nice advantage and not having to purchase faster to the fun. We were actually the 2nd and 3rd people to board this cruise behind one lady in a wheelchair.

 

We had booked this cruise 2 years ago! and it was long awaited we were so excited. Alaska was beautiful.

 

We had a Balcony Midship cabin on the 6th floor, cabin 6251 and we loved the location very handy for everything the cabin was a little in need of a spruce up and deep clean and the beds were pretty uncomfortable we usually love the beds! We Loved Alaska but out of 12 cruises we would not do this again, we would do the land options, the people onboard are mostly elderly and have a bad attitude, they were surly and rude, being old should not give you that attitude, we are a friendly bunch but we felt that there wasn't many friendly people on the ship and they keep it 100 degrees onboard.

 

Our cabin had a few mishaps the cabin was boiling hot when we got onboard they sent a maintenance man and put in a brand new thermostat, plus we also got a fan (had no feet on this box fan so we set up on stool :-), The day of Glacier Bay our cabin door would no longer open, they sent an officer down to look (I don't think they believed us and then he sent for the maintenance guy who had to remove the handle and rejig it, were on friendly terms with him now ;-), then a few days later our toilet flushed brown for a few hours, made a call but they said it was rust in the lines and that to keep flushing! Gag LOL. Our bed came apart the leg from the base it was the last thing that went wrong! We don't complain about stuff like that but I thought they might have sent us a sorry note! LOL

Our room steward was good Tri was his name and we tip pretty good we had service twice a day and asked for extra towels and ice that was it really.

 

We loved all the ports and had a great time,

 

Juneau (2pm-11pm)

 

We were disappointed, as I had booked the Seaplane 5 Glacier viewing and Taku lodge salmon bake excursion as my husbands Christmas present as we both had never been on a seaplane before and we met in the Lounge onboard to depart, we departed to the pier were they told us it was cancelled! just like that!! We waited 45 mins in that lounge and no one said a word about it. So standing on the pier with our day semi ruined we were so looking forward to that adventure, I grabbed the Carnival rep and managed to get us on the Mendenhall Glacier and wild life adventure $400! refund of $600+ from the Seaplane one. This one was good we saw humpback whales and Orca whales sealions far away but I guess as close as a two story boat can get, no food, only for purchase, and got to Mendenhall with only 55 minutes left to see it so too late to walk to the falls and it was raining and 7pm by now! we came back to the ship around 8:15pm a quick trip to a gift shop at port after and ate pizza starving, we made the most of it but would have been nice to have a little more notice on the cancellation.

 

Skagway (8am-7pm)

 

We did the train white pass up and back in the morning and it was pretty and we enjoyed it. In the afternoon we went Ocean Rafting this was fun, didn't see a lot of wild life but we had fun and the scenery was breathtaking.

 

Glacier Bay was awesome! The coldest day only day I wore thermal long johns and shirt, I was so worried about what to wear on this trip but most of the time, jeans sneakers, tshirt and rain jacket, only needed the fleece for glacier bay and whale boat trip, most of the time it was hot!

 

Ketchikan (10am-10pm)

 

We did the lumberjack show which we just purchased when we got there $39.99 and then my friend had booked a taxi tour, I went out with the girls that morning as my husband did the the fishing trip with another friend. we had a lot of fun and its a very pictureque town and the beautiful Creek Street, went to a totem pole place, waterfalls etc. we saw a lot of salmon trying to get upstream and seals trying to eat them, and bald eagles etc.

 

Victoria (10am-10pm)

 

Went to Butchart Gardens they were beautiful, expensive about $70 for two to get in, Cab fare was $55 dollars Canadian try to take small bills, the Canadians will not break them and its $1.20 Canadian to a US dollar, they sucked at breaking them or giving US change back. No one would change a $100 bill US they wanted to give us Canadian dollars back. live and learn, after the gardens we had lunch over looking the marina and went got a couple of fridge magnets and Christmas ornament we might have brought more if they gave us the dollars back. went back to ship.

 

Can't tell you a lot about entertainment we went to the casino we brought mexican train dominos with us and played that with our group, its very different from the fun with Caribbean cruise, our group did frequent the red frog pub and some one ships on sticks for air guitar etc. We enjoyed it but wouldn't do it again, we got to see Alaska and that's why we were on it.

 

Food was good and we did steakhouse one night and Chefs Table another night. Staff were excellent as usual.

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We were also on this trip. We are both 65 ( the old people Matlily refered to?). First Alaska cruise.

 

Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle was on the first sea day. We did get an invitation, also saw it in the fun times. Good time, 25+ people, no ships officers, but an attentive wait staff. In a bar on deck 2 or 3.

 

Juneau - we had a ships tour titled "Alaska Salmon Bake, Mendenhall Glacier & Hatchery". It ran in reverse order. Hatchery was ok, it was more fun watching the sea lion go into the fish ladder for his dinner then touring the hatchery itself. The guide did not point out the window in the ladder, and I found this the most interesting point to watch and take pictures.

 

Mendenhall Glacier was fantastic, even though we were a long ways away from the glacier itself. I really enjoyed the visitors center exibites, DW got a little bored. Salmon Bake was good, good food, a nice short hike to a waterfall. It began to rain and everyone wanted to leave at once. A short jam waiting for buses, but nothing terrible. We did miss early dining this night, but had warned our wait staff that we would not be there.

 

Skagway - we did the "Best of Skagway-Rail Summit, Trail Camp, Salmon

Bake" tour, again through the ship. It was fun, no complaints. See further details under the Alaska Ports page, a post asking what to do in Skagway for the day.

 

Ketchikan - Totem Bight & City Tour - much more totem poles (which I wanted) and not much city tour to satisfy DW. This tour left a few hours after we arrived. We walked to the forest service visitors center in town (Great spot for learning about the area and history), did a little shopping, then back to the port for this tour. Then to the totem bight area and back. Afterwards we had time to visit Creek Street and do a little shopping. I really enjoyed watching the salmon trying to get past a sea lion in the creek.

 

Victoria - we really didn't know what to expect, and had nothing scheduled. We ended up getting off the ship and seeing a sign "No tour scheduled? Come talk to us". We ended up taking a rickshaw tour with these people for $85 each, saw some gardens, local homes, historical sites and government buildings downtown. A little downtown shopping and return to the pier. I think I over tipped because I got confused on US versus Canadian dollars, but it was a good trip.

 

Hope this helps you plan your trip.

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  • 1 month later...

"we would not do this again, we would do the land options, the people onboard are mostly elderly and have a bad attitude, they were surly and rude, being old should not give you that attitude, we are a friendly bunch but we felt that there wasn't many friendly people on the ship and they keep it 100 degrees onboard."

 

So sorry you feel that way. We have been 4 times and NEVER experienced what you did nor the demographics. 3 Times on Princess (July and September) and once on Celebrity in August.

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1 hour ago, nini said:

"we would not do this again, we would do the land options, the people onboard are mostly elderly and have a bad attitude, they were surly and rude, being old should not give you that attitude, we are a friendly bunch but we felt that there wasn't many friendly people on the ship and they keep it 100 degrees onboard."

 

So sorry you feel that way. We have been 4 times and NEVER experienced what you did nor the demographics. 3 Times on Princess (July and September) and once on Celebrity in August.

This was my 10th Cruise I think, we loved the trip don't get me wrong, but we tried to be friendly, getting in an elevator was like hard work people wouldn't move back if they were only two people in it etc, just made the onboard time not as wonderful as normal.  We were a group of 19 and we all experienced this, we are ages 48-63 but we like to have fun and our outgoing, I tried even to joke with some that we would be sure to let them out when there floor came!  my friend got excused of jumping lines by another elder, she had not moved from standing waiting to get off ship like everyone else she was standing next to her husband. 

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This was my 10th Cruise I think, we loved the trip don't get me wrong, but we tried to be friendly, getting in an elevator was like hard work people wouldn't move back if they were only two people in it etc, just made the onboard time not as wonderful as normal.  We were a group of 19 and we all experienced this, we are ages 48-63 but we like to have fun and are outgoing, I tried even to joke with some that we would be sure to let them out when their floor came!  my friend got excused of jumping lines by another elder, she had not moved from standing waiting to get off ship like everyone else she was standing next to her husband. 

Edited by Matlily
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