Carnival Miracle to Alaska 9/10/13 Review – Glacier Bay Itinerary

Well, I’m been back from my cruise for almost a month & finally coming off of my “vacation high”. During the course of my review, I’ll do my best to divulge as many details as possible. I’m sure there are plenty of CC members anxiously awaiting their Alaska cruise for next year and fixating on every detail (as I did).

Background:

This was my 11th cruise (10th Carnival so this was my “Platinum” cruise!). All of our past cruises have been to the Caribbean. This was our first time to Alaska. I bought this cruise for my DH to celebrate his 40th birthday. I selected this itinerary because it was the only Carnival Alaska cruise during the week of his birthday. It was an added bonus that it happened to be one of the 2 cruises per season (first & last) that Carnival cruises Glacier Bay! I couldn’t be more pleased that it worked out this way, because Glacier Bay was the highlight of the trip!

This was also our first trip to the West Coast (we’re from Pittsburgh). My DH isn’t wild about flying so we knew while planning that we probably wouldn’t be making the trip back to Seattle or Alaska anytime soon. Because of that, we wanted to make the most of our experience so we found ourselves splurging on several aspects, specifically excursions. However, I did try to find deals to save some money when I could during our pre-cruise stay in Seattle. I’ll be noting any deals throughout my review as well.

Precruise – 3 Days in Seattle

During my researching, I had a difficult time finding much about pre-cruise stays in Seattle, so I’ll be giving lots of details in hopes of helping someone else who plans on doing a similar pre-cruise stay. Our cruise was Tuesday-Tuesday, so I thought it was best to make the most of the weekend before in Seattle and decided on spending Sat/Sun/Mon nights in Seattle, then boarding the Carnival Miracle on Tuesday. IMO, 3 days in Seattle was the perfect amount of time. I pretty much planned a jam-packed itinerary for us during that time in order to get the most out of our experience. It was literally like we had a full vacation, before our vacation.

Seattle – Day 1

We left Pittsburgh early Saturday morning. We had a stop in Chicago. No plane change so the flight was long, but very smooth. Our flight arrived in Seattle at 11:25am on a Saturday. We did not have transportation arranged in advance. We thought it would be relatively easy to find a taxi or another form of transportation to our downtown hotel. We asked someone who worked at the airport after we collected our bags from baggage claim. They advised us that the “Downtown Airporter” was a shared van ride & where to go. I believe it was $36 for the both of us. It was very easy to find within the airport and was cheaper than if we got a taxi for ourselves. It was a relatively short drive from the airport to downtown. We dropped off another couple at their hotel, and we were downtown at our hotel before we knew it. There were 4 couples (including us) in the shared van.

I booked our hotel through Hotwire since I wasn’t set on any specific place to stay. I selected the options of 4-star in the downtown area & was given the Westin downtown. With all the taxes & fees, the 3 nights totaled around $575 which was substantially cheaper than anywhere I was finding on my own while researching. Overall we were very happy with the Westin (located at 1900 Fifth Avenue). Our room was completely adequate. It was really convenient to everything we had intended on doing downtown. We were only a short walk to the market. On a side note, it didn’t take us long to become acquainted with the map of the city and found everything to be much closer than we had anticipated. The downtown area is very walkable. We found ourselves totally acclimated with the area before the end of our stay in Seatte.

We arrived at the hotel around the 1:00 timeframe. When we exited our shared van, we were greeted by hotel porters that asked if we’d like them to take our luggage. We declined after having a bad experience in the past with our luggage disappearing for a period of time. We took our bags into the check-in area. We knew that check-in wasn’t until 3 so I didn’t necessarily expect our room to be ready. I had inquired in advance and was told that they’d be able to hold our luggage for us in the event that our room was not ready upon arrival. Luckily, when we arrived our room was ready. Initially they asked if we wanted to upgrade (since we booked a standard room through Hotwire that was prepaid). I said no thanks, but the girl at the front desk said she’d give us the best room available in our category. I think we were on the 11th floor and had a decent city view from our room. One side of the room was all windows. It’s also worth noting that the Westin has 2 towers/buildings and we were in the first building. They had a lobby bar & also a restaurant named Relish that was a sort of gourmet burger joint. They also had small coffee area there as well serving Starbucks and other breakfast type foods.. At each of these places, you were able to charge your room for drinks and/or food which was nice.

Before heading to our room, we inquired with the girl at the front desk about how far away the Tap House Grill was from the Westin (which is where I had initially planned on going to lunch). She told us that recently she had complaints from the hotel guests as well as experiencing it herself that service wasn’t very good. Instead, she offered up the suggestion of a place called Yard House. She showed us on the map where it was and we found it very easily. We dropped off our bags at the room, freshened up, and were on our way to lunch. It was only a few blocks away. The place was nice, reminded me of an upscale sportsbar with lots of TVs and different kinds of beers. The menu was extensive. Our food was very good. It was so good, that we even thought about going back there throughout the course of our stay in Seattle, but didn’t make it.

During the planning stages, my DH had said that the only thing he wanted to do in Seattle was a “Grunge Tour” (like 90s music – grunge). I had searched online several times and came up empty handed. When he mentioned it again (after me not planning such a tour) several days before we were ready to leave, I searched again and stumbled upon a “Rock & Roll Tour” online called Stalking Seattle. The tour was $45 per person. After booking online, I sent an email request to be picked up at the Westin & the owner responded almost immediately that she would. So, after lunch, we headed back to the hotel for this tour. We waited outside the Westin and she picked us up right on time at 3:20 (the tour was scheduled from 3:30-6:30). It was only our tour guide Charity, us & another couple from Ireland. My DH in all his glory sat in the front seat of the van. Although I wasn’t fully aware of the significance of some of the things we saw or who my DH & Charity were talking about, I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and getting a tour of seeing all over the city. My DH loved every minute of it. During the tour, we saw: Jimi Hendrix’s grave, Kurt Cobain’s house, many areas where the 90s movie “Singles” was filmed. We heard lots of stories about the 90s music scene from an insider. The best part of the tour is that Charity caters what you see or don’t see to the interests of those on the tour. I would highly recommend her tour to others.

After our tour, Charity offered to drop us off anywhere in the downtown area that we wanted. I had booked a “Market Ghost Tour with Expresso” through a deal on the Amazon Local – Seattle site. I only paid $9 per person for the tour. The tour was scheduled from 7-8:15. We were supposed to check in at 1499 Post Alley before the tour. Being that this was our first day in Seattle we were not familiar with where this was. We had asked several people and were unable to find it. Eventually, we found it moments before 7:00. We checked in. By the description, I thought we were supposed to have an Expresso included in the tour, but it wasn’t offered to us. I suppose I could have pressed someone, but at that point, I was just happy to find the meeting place.

There was a sizeable group that had signed up for the tour. The tour lasted for 45 minutes to an hour of basically walking around a few blocks while the guide told some haunted stories of Seattle’s past. I would say the tour was worth the $9 per person I paid for it, but I would have a hard time paying more than that (especially without the drink that was supposed to be included). I wouldn’t give this a rave review by any means, but if this fits your interests it wasn’t bad. Afterwards, we were pretty tired from the tours and traveling so we decided to grab something to eat at Relish located inside the Westin. The food was good.

P.S. In the months before the cruise, I had signed up for any/all the Seattle deal websites I could find (Amazon Local: Seattle, Groupon Seattle, GoldStar).

Seattle – Day 2

I had booked the Mt. Rainier Day Trip through GoldStar website. I had literally waited MONTHS for GoldStar to release the dates I would be in town. I knew in planning I wanted to visit the Mt. Rainier National Park one day during our trip. Some companies offered tours that were $200 per person for almost the same tour (at least based on their descriptions). This tour was operated by Tours of Seattle. The tour is originally $100 per person (when booked through them), but was only $50 through the GoldStar website per person. For what we got, this was a great deal! By calling a few days in advance, Tours of Seattle was able to arrange pickup at the Westin for us (scheduled between 7:40-7:55 pickup) rather than the EMP doors like mentioned on GoldStar’s website. The tour was scheduled to last between 8-10 hours. It ended up being 12 hours! Probably the longest tour we’ve EVER taken!

While the tour was a little long, it was a great day spent enjoying all that Mt. Rainier had to offer. We were in awe of the views of the mountain & other sights within the national park. There were several stops once inside the national park where we got out of the van (I think there was about 15 of us on the tour) and be able to take pictures, etc. During those stops, we saw had great views of the mountain. Once we arrived at the visitor center at the top, we had time on our own to eat & walk around. We chose to get something to eat from the snack shop inside the lodge. Our guide told us to meet up with him at a designated spot at a set time. Then he led us on a nature walk on the trail to get a closer view of the mountain. If anyone has any questions about the specifics of this tour, let me know.

Once we were finally dropped off at our hotel (approximately 7:30-8pm). We quickly changed clothes and went out to get something to eat. We went to Serious Pie (pizza place on 316 Virginia) that was only a few blocks away from our hotel. This was recommended to me on the message boards so I had noted the location on my Seattle map. Upon arrival, there would have been a wait to be seated, so we ordered 2 pizzas in & waited until they were ready. Once they were, we took them back to our room to eat. They were delicious! We got 2 different kinds although I can’t recall the names offhand. The size of the pizza isn’t huge. It’s a good thing we ordered 2, because there were no leftovers when we were done.

Loving your review!

Seattle – Day 3

Once we got up, we headed to Pike’s place market to explore. I had read that most of the vendors open at 10am. We got there around 9:30 & most of them were still setting up so we walked along the waterfront area first. Once inside the market, we had some mini donut bites at “The Daily Dozen”. We had the variety pack & the cinnamon sugar was the best! There was also a place selling bagel sandwiches a few spots away (I can’t remember the name. I think it was something like Seattle Bagel Company or something of the like). My DH & I got a jalapeno/cheddar bagel sandwich with sausage & cheese. It was so amazing we went back the next morning & got another one!

We walked around the market enjoying the fish flying, flowers, stores, etc until it was time to make our way back to the hotel for our tour of the day. I had booked the afternoon Boeing Factory tour directly with Tours of Seattle. The cost of the tour was $65. We were scheduled for pickup outside the Westin between 12:30-12:45. The tour was 4 hours and scheduled to take place between 1 and 5. A van picked us up during the scheduled window. There were only 6 of us on the tour which was nice (another couple & 2 men). There was a relatively short drive to the location (20-30 minutes if my memory serves me correctly?) When we first arrived we were given about 30 minutes to explore the future of flight aviation center which was more than adequate time. At our scheduled time we were told to go to the auditorium area where they split the large group into two. They shuttled us over to the Boeing Factory. From there we got to see the inside of several areas of the plant, ask questions & hear all about the production process, etc. The whole tour was very interesting. The only downfall is that you were not allowed to take any pictures during the tour. You’re not allowed any cell phones, purses, etc with you during the tour. We were told that was because before they implemented this procedure, someone dropped a cell phone from the viewing area down onto one of the planes and cause something like $3 million worth of damage – hence the rules. After the tour, we had a bit more time to explore the gift shop before being shuttled back to our hotel downtown. I would recommend this tour to anyone visiting Seattle.

After the tour, we were dropped back at our hotel, changed clothes, and were on our way. We went to Pacific Place (600 Pine Street – level 4) for dinner & a movie. After a very busy few days of touring we were looking forward to a more relaxed “date night”. Based on another cc recommendation & our love of Mexican food, we went to Mexico Cantina y Cocina for dinner. We arrived during happy hour so we had a few drinks & dinner. The food was very good! It almost seemed too good for being inside a mall food court. The atmosphere of the restaurant was very nice though. A more upscale Mexican restaurant (at least compared to what we’re used to around home). We then saw “The Conjuring” at the AMC theater. Great movie. We were familiar with Lorraine Warren from Paranomal State on TV and had been wanted to see the movie (I checked the movie times online before arriving in Seattle the week prior to).

Loving your review!

Thank you! I was beginning to think no one was reading! lol

You'll LOVE Alaska! I see you're on the Miracle next May!

Once I get through all my ramblings, let me know if you have any specific questions I hadn't covered.

Having lived in Seattle for 25 years I'm enjoying reading about the changes there since I moved to southern California 11 years ago.

I'm looking forward to your review of the Miracle as we sail her in February to Mexico. A big thank you for your review! :)

Great start Heather. Love the detail you provide!!

_____

Karen

Thanks for your review. I can't wait to read the rest. I am in the planning stages of an Alaska cruise next summer, and while we won't be sailing on Carnival or sailing out of Seattle, I'm interested in what you did at each port and how the weather was that late in the season.

Thanks for your review. I can't wait to read the rest. I am in the planning stages of an Alaska cruise next summer, and while we won't be sailing on Carnival or sailing out of Seattle, I'm interested in what you did at each port and how the weather was that late in the season.

Hi Carolyn. I was on the same cruise with Heather. We did B2B with the 9/3 sailing. We left for Seattle on 8/30 and returned home from Vancouver on 9/20. We had fantastic weather (partly sunny and 60s/70s) all but 1 day over this 3 week period. The locals in Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan all commented on how unusual the weather was for September. We packed 'prepared' for variable weather. Everyone said September weather can be very changeable!!! Here is a link to my review (much more abbreviated than Heather's) http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1920403with a few pictures. We did different excursions than Heather.

Heather - Sorry for the hijack!!

Thanks for the review, can't wait for the rest. We will be on this itinerary May 2014. Our first Alaska cruise and 1st time in Seattle also.

Seattle – Day 4 & Embarkation

Back to Pike Place market to get another one of those bagel sandwiches was first on our agenda! We had asked them what time they opened the prior day. I believe they said 8am – so we went as soon as we got up & moving! I got the same one as the day before while the DH tried something different. Just as good as the day before! We also got an order of the cinnamon sugar donuts from the daily dozen. After we ate & walked around the market a bit, we headed back to the hotel to grab our luggage. We checked out of the hotel. The only charge to my credit card (since the hotel was prepaid through Hotwire) was our food in Relish and bar tab. It was a relief since I had not used Hotwire in the past, I wasn’t sure if there would be extra taxes, resort fees, etc outside of what I had paid Hotwire. Hotwire gets 2 thumbs up for giving me the hotel at the deeply discounted rate. We had a great stay there. In conclusion regarding our stay in Seattle, we had a fantastic 3 full days! My DH asked jokingly at the end of day 3 if there was any way I could have squeezed anything else into our 3 days? I told him I couldn’t! I like to preplan as many of the details as possible before cruising. I even had various options of possible things to do, places to eat, etc. Some of which we never made it to. There are only so many hours in a day!

Onto the port…It was easy to get one of the taxis lined up outside our hotel. The ride was cheap! Under $20. I think it was $12-15, but we just told him to keep the change as his tip. We arrived at the terminal around 10:15ish? It literally only took us 10 minutes or less to get to the port. As our taxi pulled up to the curb we were immediately greeted by a porter. He was happy to take our luggage for us. Typically, we carry on our small suitcase/carryons, but this time we checked in all 4 suitcases with the porters. Upon entering the terminal we were immediately greeted and directed to the VIP line. I feel like I’ve been waiting for YEARS for this day…then again, I have! There was NO ONE in front of us at the security line so we were through in literally seconds. Then to the VIP desk to get our sail n sign cards. Seemless! They gave us a priority boarding card and were ushered to a seating area to wait until the boarding started. We sat there for 20-30 minutes before the ship was cleared by customs and they started boarding. When the time came, we were literally among the first handful of people to board the ship! This was literally the EASIEST & FASTEST checkin we’ve EVER experienced! It wasn’t even just because we went to the VIP line, There was literally no one there at the time we had arrived to the port. I would recommend to others doing precruise stays in Seattle, arriving at the port between 10-10:30. Once onboard we headed directly to our room. Our room was ready upon arrival which was REALLY nice! Our suitcases didn’t arrive until later on that day.

Total Side Note:

I few weeks before the trip, I decided a needed some new luggage. Sort of like an impulse buy. Best part is that my old luggage was pretty much packed when the new stuff arrived. I bought the 21.5 & 28” Croc Embossed Uprights & carryon bag in Tangerine color. The color is very eye catching. Literally the entire trip people would complement me and/or comment on the color. There was never any confusion about which suitcases were mine on the conveyor belt at the airport. The pieces held up on their first vacation/trip. And I’m really looking forward to using them again. Figured this was worth mentioning in case anyone else is in the market for new luggage.

can't wait till you get to the alaskan part. WE are seriously considering going to alaska for our 15th anniversary.

Weather in Seattle & Alaska Cruise:

Overall, the weather was much better than I had anticipated based on everyone's remarks about September weather on the message boards. I understand this can vary, but Carnival's last Alaska cruise of the season had great weather (or so I thought). There literally wasn't one drop of rain the entire trip – not in Seattle for the 3 days nor while onboard the ship (at least that we experienced). The only times on the trip I was cold was Glacier Bay day. On that day I had my fleeced lined waterproof jacket, scarf, jeans. It was very windy that day which made it feel colder. The only other time I was cold was while on the glacier landing/hike in Juneau. The rest of the trip, jeans (or active pants) with thermal top and light jacket was plenty warm enough. Everyone in port kept saying we lucked up with the weather each day. I’ll comment more later about what I packed, didn’t wear, etc. I stocked up on Alaska wear for months before we set sail. Returning with at least half of it unworn!

Stateroom – Cabin 7300 Aft-Extended Balcony –

When I initially booked, I had booked the interior with French door cabin. Once I looped my DH in that I had booked the Alaska cruise for his birthday, he encouraged me to upgrade to the aft-extended balcony. We had these rooms in the past and always enjoyed the view and wake off the back of the ship. Since it was a special occasion and we figured we wouldn’t be doing Alaska again anytime soon we changed our room. Prior to the cruise, all posts I read online said that having a balcony for Alaska was a must have! After our sailing I would have to disagree. In Glacier Bay, we found ourselves on the top decks more than anywhere else, primarily because the views were so much better. You were constantly moving from one area to the next while traveling through Glacier Bay since the scenery on both sides of the ship was constantly changing. We did spend time sitting on our balcony at points throughout the week, but it didn’t seem to be for any extended period of time. In hindsight, I don’t think the room was worth twice ($1600 more) what we could have spent for our initial room reservation. Knowing what I know now, I would have rather taken that money and used it to pay for my excursions. Don’t get me wrong, having a balcony was nice. But it wasn’t a “have to have” if you’re on a budget.

 

Heather - Sorry for the hijack!!

No problem! It was a great cruise!

Ok, back to the cruise. We boarded, dropped off our stuff in the room. I had heard that now that I was Platinum, our room should be ready, but was still skeptical it would happen like that. It did! It was ready! Great perk! Nothing worse than dragging around your carryon/tote back for several hours before being able to drop it off at the room! I suppose you could say that my DH & I have a cruise tradition of on day 1: We explore every nook & cranny of the ship on all floors. We do so while drinking…and continue drinking for the duration of the day and into the night. At the end of said drinking, we hit up the buffet to for dinner. That’s pretty much all/exactly what we did on this cruise as well. Throughout the course of the day we stopped at our room several times to check on the luggage. Eventually it arrived. As I mentioned above, day 1 is always alittle hazy so I can’t give you an approximate time that it arrived.

The next day was a sea day which was relatively uneventful. It’s probably worth mentioning that since it was the last Alaska cruise of the season, all the Alaska items in the ship’s gift shop was an extra 70-75% off (I can’t remember which one). When we boarded the ship, I had noticed the signs inside the shop but they weren’t open while in port. I wish I had gotten up earlier to go to the gift shop that day, because a lot of things were already picked over by the time I got there. I was there in the early afternoon (after we slept in, had breakfast, got ready for the day, etc). Don’t worry, I managed to still find things to buy! Lol. I ended up with a black fleece zip up that said Alaska on the side, a black chenille sweater that said Alaska, and a reversible sweatshirt gray/black that said Alaska on both sides. The best part was that my extra percentage off came off of some other sale price (and not the original). As a long time shopper, I know what they should have charged me, but it ended up being much less! I got all 3 items for only $24! Almost unbelievable! I was so proud of myself, I went over to the non-sale gift shop and bought more stuff! J Also, the gift shop was VERY busy this day, no doubt a result of the steals of deals (as I like to call them). I also walked to the photo shop and bought myself an Alaska scrapbook. I wasn’t taking a chance on those being sold out by the end of the week. No price break on those though.

Note to scrapbookers: I’ve never been on a cruise before that literally every port had a section in all the tourist shops that had a small scrapbooking area! Now, most of the places had very similar (if not the same) items. But, I was very pleased to see such things. I ended up with lots of Alaska sticker and scrapbooking packs from all ports during the course of the cruise! I just started working on my layouts and organizing my pictures this past week.

My DH was extremely hung over from the day before so he spent much of the day recuperating in our stateroom. I took one for the team and went to the CC cocktail party that afternoon solo. I met several nice people there. I’m pretty sure I got my monies worth in drinks (even drinking my DH’s portion). That evening we had dinner from the buffet again, primarily because we didn’t feel like dressing up and going to dinner. Many times dinner in the MDR end up being a process. Next up, Juneau…

Juneau

We booked the Helicopter Flightseeing & Glacier Walkabout through Carnival ($389.99 per person). I had never been on a helicopter before and it seemed as though Alaska would be a great place to experience it. So, during the researching phase my DH & I agreed we wanted to do a helicopter tour that would ideally include the glacier landing. It was between this tour and a cheaper option that only included a short landing (15 minutes) while the more expensive option included an hour “hike”. We decided to do the more expensive tour figuring it would hopefully be worth the additional money. It was!

OK, so we arrived in the port of Juneau around 2pm. Our tour departed around 2:30 so we immediately debarked the ship and then waiting in the area at the pier until it was our time to leave. Once we gave the girl our tickets for the tour and she checked us off the list. She immediately asked our weight (how embarrassing). At least they didn’t make you get on the scale for verification! Apparently depending on each guests weight, they arrange you accordingly into the helicopters. Once everyone assembled, they took us in a van to the location of the helicopter pad. It was a relatively short distance, maybe 10-15 minute drive. Upon arriving, they had a bag with each person’s name on it. I assume the size of each item they gave you was dependent upon your weight given upon check in? Inside the bag was a red/orange jacket for each person (they said you must wear theirs for safety reasons), a pair of wind pants (to go over the pants you wore), boots, gloves, hip/fanny pack (not sure the technical name) – which included a granola bar and bottle of while for when you were on the excursion. Once everyone was suited up, they took the group outside to go over some ground rules for when the helicopters arrived. They spilt us into 2 groups. Our helicopter was myself, DH and another couple. And the rest of the group went into the other helicopter.

The sights from the helicopter were AMAZING! You were literally flying right over the glaciers. You got to see forests, bodies of water, etc. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any wildlife from above. Our pilot said sometimes you can see bear, elk, etc from up above. I was alittle nervous about being anxious in the helicopter (having never been on one before) & I was totally fine. I didn’t feel any different than if I were on an airplane in terms of sensations, etc. Being in the air was very exciting. No anxiety at all. Anyways, so both of the helicopters land on the helicopter one shortly after the next. Then, both helicopters left the glacier.

Our 2 guides immediately started putting the crampons on each person. Your boots sat right on them of them, and they tied you in, gave you your walking pole (not sure the technical name) and you were off. Prior to putting them on, it was very slippy. Once everyone was suited up in their crampons, they guides walked us around to various areas of the glaciers showing us different things and answering any questions we had. We even got to drink glacier water straight from the glacier! After an hour of walking around and exploring (I don’t think I would call it a “hike” specifically because there wasn’t much physical fitness involved other than walking), they took off our crampons off our boots and the helicopters came back to get us. Then, there was a short flight back to the heli pad, removed our gear, then shuttled back to the port.

This tour was operated by North Star Trekking. This was one of the highlights of our trip and totally worth the high price tag. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience (walking on a glacier). Never did I think I would have done such a thing! Check that off my bucket list! J

After the tour, we walked around the town for a bit going into a few shops. I love crab legs and wanted to go to Tracy’s Crab Shack. So, we tracked down the place. Both my DH & I got their combo special (one king crab leg, crab bisque & mini crab cakes) and an Alaskan beer. Our total was right around $85! It was very good though! Just as it was started to get dark we made our way back to the ship. We were in port until 11pm that night.

SOOO enjoying your review... Alaska is on my dream list :)

Do the safes use number pad or magnetic card? Thanks

Enjoying your review. We did the May trip to Glacier Bay in 2012, really would like to go again and try September.

Great review. We want to do Alaskian cruise one day. Any photos to share?

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Forums mobile app

Weather in Seattle & Alaska Cruise:

Overall, the weather was much better than I had anticipated based on everyone's remarks about September weather on the message boards. I understand this can vary, but Carnival's last Alaska cruise of the season had great weather (or so I thought). There literally wasn't one drop of rain the entire trip – not in Seattle for the 3 days nor while onboard the ship (at least that we experienced). The only times on the trip I was cold was Glacier Bay day. On that day I had my fleeced lined waterproof jacket, scarf, jeans. It was very windy that day which made it feel colder. The only other time I was cold was while on the glacier landing/hike in Juneau. The rest of the trip, jeans (or active pants) with thermal top and light jacket was plenty warm enough. Everyone in port kept saying we lucked up with the weather each day. I’ll comment more later about what I packed, didn’t wear, etc. I stocked up on Alaska wear for months before we set sail. Returning with at least half of it unworn!

 

Stateroom – Cabin 7300 Aft-Extended Balcony –

When I initially booked, I had booked the interior with French door cabin. Once I looped my DH in that I had booked the Alaska cruise for his birthday, he encouraged me to upgrade to the aft-extended balcony. We had these rooms in the past and always enjoyed the view and wake off the back of the ship. Since it was a special occasion and we figured we wouldn’t be doing Alaska again anytime soon we changed our room. Prior to the cruise, all posts I read online said that having a balcony for Alaska was a must have! After our sailing I would have to disagree. In Glacier Bay, we found ourselves on the top decks more than anywhere else, primarily because the views were so much better. You were constantly moving from one area to the next while traveling through Glacier Bay since the scenery on both sides of the ship was constantly changing. We did spend time sitting on our balcony at points throughout the week, but it didn’t seem to be for any extended period of time. In hindsight, I don’t think the room was worth twice ($1600 more) what we could have spent for our initial room reservation. Knowing what I know now, I would have rather taken that money and used it to pay for my excursions. Don’t get me wrong, having a balcony was nice. But it wasn’t a “have to have” if you’re on a budget.

We were in 7301 there were 4 and cost 820 each . On the same cruise

Enjoying your review. I just booked helicopter flightseeing and glacier walkabout for our Alaska cruise in July based on your review. I couldn't decide which helicopter tour to do. You helped me decide. Thanks!

We were on this cruise also and absolutely loved it! We were right above you on deck 8. I would have to agree with you about the extra money for the aft balcony. We really enjoyed having it, but you really see so much more on the open decks. Thanks so much for doing this review, it's like reliving our cruise.