Carnival Legend 8/25-9/1 Alaska Review!

Hello! My two sisters and I just returned from a 7 day Seattle round-trip to Alaska! Decided to post a review as prior reviews had helped me plan my trip and helped to build excitement so I'm returning the favor! I shoot photography as a hobby so expect a little image heaviness on this thread.

Alaska, what can I say! It was absolutely beautiful! Our trip was full of rain as 5 of the 7 days rained but that definitely did not stop us from enjoying our trip! We are from Minnesota, so the cold did not bother us as much as it did others. Although, we did see some people walking around in shorts and sandals, it's not winter cold but it ain't that warm either!

Our itinerary.

Tracy Arm, Skagway (rented a car), Juneau (Harv & Marv), Ketchikan (Rainforest Wildlife, Sanctuary, Eagles & Totems), Victoria (Double Decker Bus)

We had an early flight into Seattle, day of embarkation. If you are flying into Seattle, get a window seat!! As you near Seattle, look out your window and be ready to be amazed!

Even as I'm posting these now, they still take my breath away! I'd say a beautiful introduction to Alaska!

We landed at around 8AM. Decided that we would rent a car and drive to the outer parts of Seattle before boarding the Legend. We picked our car up at the airport from Sixt. Asked the car rental woman where would be a good place for breakfast; she replied iHop. Although I like iHop, I definitely wanted to try something local so we found a restaurant with the help of google. The name escapes my memory now but best freshly squeezed orange juice I've ever had!!

Once done with breakfast we headed to the Museum of Flight. Which was an odd choice for us as none of us are into aviation. Actually, the truth is that I really wanted to check out Air Force One and since my sisters did not help plan this trip at all, I decided to drag them along! lol

The outside of the museum is impressive already!

A replicate of the Wright Brother's plane.

And what I was waiting for!

AIR FORCE ONE!! Majority of the planes at this museum were replicates but not this one! At one time in history President John F Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon had all stepped foot onto this very plane! You can actually walk onto the plane but everything is pretty much glassed up. For some reason, I seem to have not taken any photos of the inside.

We spent a good two hours at the museum then headed to Bruce & Brandon Lee's grave at Lake View Cemetery.

Good thing I read a bit of tripadvisor about their gravestones before we headed there. It would have been near impossible to find without knowing it was located behind a white heart gravestone. So if you ever want to visit, half way up the hill, right behind the white heart.

After, we headed to Kerry Park which supposedly has one of the best views of Seattle's skyline. Kerry Park is in the middle of a neighborhood so we heard parking is hard to find as there is only street parking. Lucky for us as there was plenty of parking!

I tried but pictures really can't do this view justice! You can almost see Mt Rainier in the photo as the sky was not clear enough.

By now it was almost 2pm and we were starving so we decided to find food to eat. Opted for Sushi Land! Good sushi for cheap, $1-$3.50 a plate!

We finished eating and headed downtown to drop off our rental. Btw, can I just say, Seattle is so hilly. We always hear about how Seattle rains a lot but no one ever mentions how hilly it is. We had rented a mini-cooper, and not trying to hate but that car could barely make it up those hills.

Time to head to the boat NOW! I know we were playing with time but we knew as long as we got to the dock before 330 we were fine. We got there at 310 and can I just say, easiest boarding I have ever done in my life! No lines anywhere! We were on the ship faster than it had taken to take the taxi to the dock.

We reserved a balcony, room 8236 right by the elevator, under the Lido (buffet floor).

Walked around for a bit, did the muster drill. Then we decided to watch the sunset before we headed out for dinner.

After the sun set, we headed to Truffles for dinner. For you food lovers, I'm sorry but I'm pretty sure this was the only night I took photos of my dinner. We always ate really late so I always forgot to bring my camera.

I got the Gazapacho Andalouse for my starter.

The plate came out with just the diced tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs. The waiter looked at me and said "This is your starter. You look disappointed?" I was! I looked at him, then at my sisters as our eyes went O.O ..what was this? He left and came back, "I'm just kidding" as he poured the tomato sauce! We had a good laugh!

Got myself a pasta chicken dish.

And dessert. Sorry I'm bad with keeping names.

Fed and full we decided to head back to our room.

Towel animals every night! But I think this is the only one I took too.

I'll keep posting as I go through my photos! Took over 2000+ photos so it's hard to cut my choices down.

Beautiful pictures. May I ask what camera you used. Cant wait for the rest of your review. We are booked for May 2016.

Beautiful pictures. May I ask what camera you used. Cant wait for the rest of your review. We are booked for May 2016.

Thank you! I actually switched cameras to downsize for this trip, went from a DSLR to a Sony A5100!! Don't regret it one bit!

You guys will have fun!! Wish I could book for next summer again!

Very nice and I will look forward to your additional photos.

Keith

Very nice and I will look forward to your additional photos.

 

Keith

Thank you Keith!! Hope you are enjoying the review!

Day 2. Day At Sea.

Well..not much to say about day at sea. We all know how these days work!

I felt like our Alaskan trip truly started as we waited in line to grab breakfast and our naturalist, Nancy, started announcing wildlife sightings. Within 10 minutes, she had announced four different sightings of humpback whales & dall porpoise. We even got out of line and stood at the window holding our empty trays.

Day 3. Tracy Arm

We had attended a seminar with our naturalist about Tracy Arm. She had said, once you wake up, look outside, you'll be in Tracy Arm! I was soooo excited and took that literally. I found myself waking up to darkness at all odd hours of the morning, 1am, 2am, 230, 3am until finally I just had to force my eyes shut.

Woke up at 7AM to this!

And it was breathtaking!!

Wildlife seekers!

Do you see it?!? We saw many whales from the cruise ship! But they were pretty far so all you see is when they blow air or dive. But that didn't stop our excitement!!

First glacier of the trip!

The size of the glacier is hard to show but look at the size of the trees on the island in front of it!

At 1130 we got off the cruise ship and went on the Tracy Arm excursion.

Goodbye Legend!

So many beautiful waterfalls everywhere!

As we were cruising the captain told us he spotted a humpback whale ahead. We waited and waited and waited but didn't see it resurface. Just when we were about to leave, it resurfaced! They had actually booked two of these smaller boats and I will just say, I am so glad I got into the first boat!! This whale was soooo close to us! It was amazing!

Unfortunately, this whale would be the only wildlife sighting we saw the rest of the day.

I'm enjoying this - can't wait for more! We're going next June.

So much beauty all around!!

I know I already said it previously, but again, look at the size of the trees!! The size of this fjord is indescribable!

North Sawyer Glacier.

MASSIVE!!

We waited for a good time to see if we'd see some ice calving. No luck :(

I'm enjoying this - can't wait for more! We're going next June.

Thank you!! It's good to know people are reading my review!! Makes me want to post more!! Lucky you!! It's gonna be amazing!

Leaving the north glacier with the second excursion boat following.

BTW I was going to mention the water color. The water in the fjord is a beautiful turquoise!! I kept awing at it because I've never seen anything like it before! But the north glacier's water turns an ugly brown and there were sooooo many flies.

South Glacier.

This one had much more ice bergs than the north glacier so we weren't able to get as close. We waited and waited for ice calving at this glacier too but no such luck :/

Remember to look around you and not to just the glacier. Because to your right..

This view actually intrigued me more than the glacier in front of me!

Turned around to reboard the Legend, which was right behind us.

I'm just going to mention size again! haha! That boat is not tiny by any means!

Goodbye Tracy Arm!

You can't tell from my photos but it rained pretty much our entire time in the fjord. It was cold!! It was the only time I actually took out my winter hat and mittens on this trip. But my sister and I toughed it out! We and a couple who got engaged on this excursion (yes he got down on his knees while we were cruising!!) were the only ones to stay outside for the entire time.

We waited for the second boat to return then headed out of the fjord. As we were leaving the Norwegian Sun entered. As we crossed paths, the passengers from both boats started yelling "HELLLLOOOOO" to each other! I sat on my balcony laughing and smiling, not realizing why I found it so heartwarming. Then I realized, up until now we had been all alone and the sight of people not on our boat made me feel so not alone.

nice start!

Loving your review and pictures. We are booked for next July. We've already booked the Tracy Arm excursion.

Great review so far...

Loving your review! We cruised Alaska this past June and had a great time! Can't wait to hear your Harv & Marv's review, we didn't have such good luck.

Great review and photos. Can't wait for more.

Thanks for all the compliments guys!! Almost done going through Skagway!!

Loving your review! We cruised Alaska this past June and had a great time! Can't wait to hear your Harv & Marv's review, we didn't have such good luck.

Ah that's a bummer. I was so afraid we weren't going to have luck with H&M because the weather was so bad; we actually waited for a good 20minutes to see if the trip would be canceled or not. But luck was on our side!! Hopefully you have better luck next time because they are definitely a sight to see!

Skagway.

I woke up to one of the most beautiful mornings ever!

It was just absolutely beautiful and so peaceful. And the silence was surreal! I tried waking my sisters up to look at the scene but they were too lazy. They were pretty jealous after I showed them my photos later in the day! Their loss!

I went out to the balcony and waited for the sun to rise but realized I might have been on the wrong side. So I left my room and went up deck. Saw the Norwegian arriving.

I never did see the sun rise :( Skagway was much too cloudy not only in the morning but the entire day, as you will see from my photos.

Because we were going to be in Skagway from 7AM-9PM, we reserved a car and decided to travel the Klondike Highway at our own pace. We walked to AVIS, which was a good 10-15 minute walk and picked up our car. I have to say, I have never paid so much for a one day car rental before. $174. Insane! But it was still cheaper than riding the train up. I had downloaded Murray's guide but to be honest, didn't use it very much. It's very hard to read while you are trying to enjoy the scenery.

We hit the road at around 9. First stop we made was here!

Where I live, we have over 10,000 lakes but no mountains. I don't think I will ever tire of mountains!

The highway is nice, very easy drive and especially very scenic.

Just to the left of this photo there is a huge sign that reads "Welcome to Alaska". This was probably the spot with the most tourist. There were many buses here but other than that, we had pretty much the other stops to ourselves.

We passed into Canada, it was a breeze. Very fast and easy for us, no waiting whatsoever.

We stopped at this beautiful lake with tons of "Inuit" rock stacking that tourists had stacked. They are EVERYWHERE!! This was probably one of my favorite places on this drive! Does anyone know what lake this is?

I was too busy taking photos of us here that I didn't really get any of the lake by itself. But the color is just absolutely stunning! All the lakes here had this beautiful color to them. MN has 10,000+ lakes, yet not one of them is blessed with this color :/

We made it to the Yukon suspension bridge. I discovered something about myself that day. I am deathly afraid of these bridges. I've seen many suspension bridges but never had the urge to walk across them until this one. I almost had a meltdown. I walked across it very very slowly while hugging the railings. As people passed me, many gave me encouragements "You're okay. Almost there!" Very nice of them! This will be the last suspension bridge I walk across. Mark my word! FYI, if you have Murray's guide remember to show them because you get a discount!

I was so afraid of dying but I still somehow found myself stopping at mid point to snap 3 photos! Yes I counted them, I only took 3 then kept walking!

When I woke up it was cloudy. And for the rest of the day, it was pretty much cloudy as you can see from this photo. Looking at other people's photos I finally realized how foggy it was as mountains that are missing in my photos are apparent in others.

Stopped at a boat launch area. I love the contrast of green vs a snow covered mountain!

We'd been driving for a while and the mountains had all been pretty colorless until now, all the mountains suddenly had color! It was absolutely breathtaking! BTW, I mentioned the cloudiness earlier. Behind the middle mountain in this photo, the mountain range continues. Thank you clouds :mad:

I call this my Jurassic Park photo!! I can totally image dinosaurs roaming here!

My kids and I just decided to take this cruise to surprise my husband for his 50th b-day. I am loving the review, and your pictures are amazing. I can't wait to see more.:D

I LOVE this photo! I actually took this as the car was moving! Well done to myself! Wish we would have stopped to actually take this in.

We stopped at Carcross Desert, world's smallest desert. I found it underwhelming. By now the wind had really started picking up and it was getting harder to actually leave the warm car. We decided to drive past Carcross Crossing and head straight to Emerald Lake, just so we could get it over with.

We finally made it to Emerald Lake, our turning point. Actually almost missed the lake as it sits down lower than the road. I remember saying "Uhhh I think that's the lake" as we passed it! Did a u-turn. Unfortunately, due to the clouds we didn't get any beautiful reflection off the lake but it was beautiful non the less.

After staying at Emerald Lake for a bit we headed to Carcross Crossing. We had planned to eat there but I guess we got too excited about their puppies! So we bought tickets to go to see the farm animals, sled dogs & puppies before eating. With that ticket we were able to visit their Wildlife Museum also. It was small but I found it interesting!

Then we headed out to see the sled dogs.

And finally the puppies! Unfortunately, we were more excited to see them then them us. They didn't even notice we were there! lol!

I wanted to take this one home sooo bad!! Unlike his(?) litter mates, he just sat by us and followed us around. As we left, he had the same idea, he tried following us out the door :(

Afterwards we headed to the restaurant and....they had just closed. I believe it was 2ish by then so if you go there with plans to eat, they do close early. We went to the deli to find food but unfortunately there was nothing to our liking. So we just drove back to eat on the ship. Border to the US was just as quick and easy! We got back to Ketchikan by 3ish.

My only complaint about Ketchikan is that we were there way too long. It's a very very small town. I wish we would've done this 14hr stay in Juneau, not Ketchikan.

My kids and I just decided to take this cruise to surprise my husband for his 50th b-day. I am loving the review, and your pictures are amazing. I can't wait to see more.:D

Thank you!! And what a birthday surprise!! Lucky him!! You guys will love it there!!