Alaska 9/1/15 (w/Glacier Bay) - Carnival Legend Review from a First Time Cruiser

Hi everyone! I recently returned from my first cruise and I had an amazing time. When I was researching which cruise to take sailing to Alaska I really valued the information I found on this site. I found that the reviews were so helpful so I wanted to go ahead and write a detailed review here of my experience.

Like the title says, I was a first time cruiser. I have no other cruise experiences to compare the Carnival Line too and this is my first ever review so if the pictures aren't popping up properly or you have any questions about stuff I'm not covering then please let me know and I'll do my best!

First of all a little about me. I'm 29 from Pittsburgh and I was sailing with my 26 year old sister. (We met so many amazing people on board from this forum so if any of you are reading this we loved getting to know you!) My sister and I decided we wanted to do a girl's trip before we are both married and just have another fun adventure together. I researched a lot of the itineraries offered for Alaska and, in the end, Carnival had the best rates. I will also note that the Carnival itinerary we had this week was nearly identical to the Princess cruise leaving that week. The same ports, Glacier Bay, and the hours were basically the same. So that was a big factor in why we choose to go with Carnival. Also, we are both in our late 20s now and we knew that sailing in September and to Alaska that it may be a bit of an older crowd. Looking at the activities provided on Carnival we knew there would still be plenty of fun geared towards our interests and we were definitely right. Although, I will note that the demographics of the ship was varied. There were young and old alike, and I must say probably the friendliest people I've ever met. Cruisers are so friendly!

In this review I'll share a lot of pictures, info about the excursions we choose, what we liked and didn't like, and my opinion after having FTTF (appears to be a hot topic on here). I also have all of the Fun Times from the cruise. If anyone knows how best to upload those scans let me know and I'm happy to share them.

Ok, so now that I've given a little background as to who we are and why we ended up deciding on Carnival I'll start this review :)

August 31, 2015- We flew in a day early. I think that is probably the best plan. I'd be too worried that something would happen and we would miss the ship. We had a long flight, but ended up in 1st class so we couldn't complain! When we got to SeaTac we got our luggage and then we actually used the STILA town car service. They have a stand next to the taxis. It is basically the same standard price if your hotel is in downtown seattle ($50 before tip). We figured that the town cars were right there, clean, and it was a set price so that is what we went with and had no problems. We were dropped off at our hotel around 11:30am and luckily our hotel let us check in early without problems.

We stayed at The Maxwell. It was a great hotel. I have to say the pillows and comforter I wish I could have at home, amazing. We booked the hotel way in advance. From the time we booked the hotel to the weeks leading up to our trip the price went up. Seattle is a pretty pricey city so I would recommend booking your hotel ahead of time. Now, price is all relative, but the downtown hotels were mostly going between $150-250 a night. In Pittsburgh that is considered pricey. The hotels near the airport are much cheaper, but keep in mind a taxi ride from the airport to downtown runs you about $40-50, so really it all depends on what you'd want to do while in Seattle. With the 2 of us splitting the room we opted for The Maxwell because we found it affordable, in a good location, and good reviews on trip advisor. The hotel staff was friendly and we had absolutely no issues with the hotel. It was about a 10-15 minute walk from the Space Needle, a very easy walk. It was longer from Pike's Place, but the hotel does offer a free shuttle to the main attractions, but they do ask you notify them ahead of time and recommended about 30 minutes notice. We actually didn't use the shuttle for any of the city sights, but it was nice knowing it could be available.

The Maxwell hotel did offer a shuttle to the Pier 91 cruise terminal. For 2 people and all of our bags the cost was $14. They had a sign up sheet when you checked in and had 3 times available. We opted for the 11am shuttle service.

For anyone else flying from far away you may also not want to travel with your bottle of wine. I know I didn't want to risk anything breaking in my bag on the way to vacation. Seattle has a lot of quick places to pick up a bottle and, unlike in Pittsburgh, you can actually just go to the Walgreens. A few blocks from the Space Needle we passed a Walgreens and etch grabbed a bottle. So for any other alcohol drinkers that is an option.

We had a great time in Seattle, but I know a lot of you probably would prefer to just get right to the cruise review so I'm going to go ahead and get to that. If anyone has any particularly questions about our experience in Seattle, just let me know!

Ok, I'm going to test out posting some pictures:

Day 1 - 9/1/15 - Leaving Seattle

Ok, so as I said when talking about the hotel, we opted to take a shuttle provided by the hotel at 11am. It was a quick, maybe 10 minute or so drive, and then we just walked into the terminal, needed to show our passports, and dropped off our bags to be checked. We did have Faster to the Fun (FTTF) Passes so after dropping our bags off we were able to get in that line to check in. Really though, there was very little of a line at all for anyone. We walked right up to a desk, showed our boarding passes, had our pictures taken, and we were good to go. At that point people were already starting to board so we were able to just walk on the ship. We didn't have to wait in any particular area, I guess because of the FTTF. However, a worker did tell us to sit in this section and we looked around and asked the people next to us and they informed us that no FTTF had been called and when we walked up to the guy letting people on he just let us right through.

Now, as we didn't really know what to expect we were probably more lost than most. The actual process was super simple, but I was under the understanding that if we had FTTF we could go straight to our rooms. Well, we were stopped and told we couldn't go until 1:30. When I showed the FTTF sticker I was told that the only "perk" was early boarding and that we couldn't enter the room early. Ok, so I talked to other people later and was told that no they were able to go to their rooms, but oh well. It didn't ruin anything for us, we just said ok then and headed to the Lido to get lunch.

I do have to say that the Lido was insane already. I grabbed a table and sent my sister to get her lunch and then we switched places. I mean, we sort of expected that because everyone was going to go there so it was packed, but it was a little crazy. We were just so excited to finally be on vacation that I got us both a drink from a waiter walking by and vacation started!

After we were done with lunch we did go to our room (Cabin 7300- Aft Facing Balcony), checked it out, and our bags were not there. This was probably about 1-1:30ish. We decided to explore the ship before the Muster Drill. We wandered around, ended up being coaxed into the RedFrog Pub, yeah the bartender really twisted our arms lol. He was hilarious, unfortunately I can't remember his name at the moment. He had a great personality though so we stayed for a drink and chatted with the other people there. We then wandered some more before heading back to our room. Our luggage was there so we quickly unpacked and then headed to our muster station a little before 3:30. The drill was a little delayed, but we seemed to set sail at about 4ish.

We went to our cabin for the sail away. We decided to share a bottle of champagne and toast to our trip. Our balcony was Aft facing and it provided some amazing views for the whole trip.

We had some bad weather leaving Seattle and the trip was a bit rocky. It was funny because I had been told that the ship was like a big city so you wouldn't feel too much movement, well we felt a lot. We thought maybe it was normal, haha. We were informed the next morning that it is not typically normal, but we survived. Neither of us got sick. We had each chewed a bonnie tablet when we boarded as a precaution because of a tip from a friend, but after that first day neither of us took any more.

I didn't really take pictures of our food, but we did eat in the dining room every night, except for the day we were in Juneau because we got back too late. We did the Your Time Dining and always got a table for 2. We only had to wait in a line when we got to the dining room when it opened. Any other time we basically walked right in with no problem. I enjoyed the food and service and I don't have any complaints about the food. I found there was always something I could try and I did like my meals every night, except the lasagna was probably my least favorite. Food is so individual though, we all have different tastes.

The first night on board we went to the comedy shows and had a great time and checked out the piano bar. We had a great time and a few drinks :)

Day 2 - 9/2/15 - Day at Sea

We both had an amazing night sleep, despite all the rocking. We were basically lulled to sleep. We got up at probably 9ish and went to the sea day brunch. I thought it was good. I got the scrambled eggs and hash browns and my sister got the steak and eggs, she said they were really good.

After breakfast we attended some of the activities like the shopping information session. If I went again I'd probably skip this one, personally. I felt like if you are going there to buy expensive jewelry then maybe this is something you should go see. For me, I wanted some normal souvenirs and cute stuff for my nieces. The jewelry stores recommended by the ship I found to be way overpriced. I've boughten a decent amount of jewelry in my time and didn't feel like the stores that we were being directed to were anything truly Alaska, but again this is my personal opinion. We didn't spend a ton of time in them because I wasn't looking for a diamond bracelet. My sister and I did each buy some jewelry in Juneau and love the pieces we got and felt less pressured and that we got to pick from a great selection without having to break the bank for our littler personal souvenirs to ourselves.

The naturalist talk with Michelle was good to go to, I thought. She gave some tips for what to expect, what sort of wildlife we may see, where to look, info about the glaciers, and info about the Northern Lights forecast - we were actually lucky to see the Northern Lights and I'll share some pics of that later.

Having never been on a cruise before, I didn't really know what to expect from a sea day, but I have to say that we had so much fun on the ship before we even got to our first port. We went the casino, to comedy shows, had great food, and enjoyed the amazing views from our balcony. Some of those views included some early whale sightings!

This night was the first formal night also. My sister and I just both wore dresses that we would have worn attending a friend's wedding. There was a wide variety of attire. Some people went all out with tuxes and then we saw some people in nice jeans so it really was the full spectrum. It was nice getting dressed up though.

That night we saw the Motown production and it was decent. Not like seeing broadway, but they did a good job. It was an hour of entertainment and the performers were talented. Some of it was a little too corny for my taste, but the songs chosen were good.

After the show we did go back to see the comedy shows that night. All in all we saw all 3 productions offered and all 4 comedians so I think we took advantage of a lot of what the cruise had to offer and we had a great time!

It was also nice because the weather got better and the water much calmer. We were able to enjoy some blue sky and a great sunset that sea day also.

Day 3 - 9/3/15 - Juneau

We were scheduled to arrive in Juneau at about 1:30 and were on time. As you got closer to Juneau the scenery was great so I would recommend getting up and enjoying some of the views.

In Juneau we decided to try the Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari and Whale Watching tour. We decided we wanted to book our excursions through carnival because we liked the security in doing so vs. going through a vendor. Now that I've experienced a cruise that could change, but I was happy with all of our excursions. We also choose this excursion because it hit the 2 things we really wanted to do in Juneau: visit Mendenhall Glacier and see some whales.

I should also note that the excursion was limited to 14 people so it was awesome being part of such a small group. No one had to fight for space to see the whales or anything like that.

This excursion met off the ship at the port. I think the ship actually docked at 1 and we were to meet our group at 1:30. We did walk around a little bit and then went to our designated spot. They had people holding signs everywhere so it wasn't hard to find your group.

Our tour first went on a short hike through the rainforest to the glacier. The hike was probably a little over a mile and calling it a hike really is a stretch. There were some uphill bits, but nothing strenuous. However, if you had mobility problems you could have an issue. Again though, with our small group, it was very manageable so the guide really managed the time well with stops discussing what we were seeing and so forth if anyone needed a little break. The walk through the rainforest was beautiful. At the end of the trail there was an opening with a perfect, panoramic view of the glacier.

We did walk down to the little beach in front of the glacier and it provided a great view.

As you can see, we had a GORGEOUS day in Juneau! It was in the high 60s, I was wearing only a t-shirt and jeans. The sky had very few clouds and everyone was telling us how lucky we were. The forecast was for rain the rest of the week, but we fortunately had clear, beautiful skies for the entire day!

I really was in awe of the glacier, it was the first one we saw. Sorry for all the similar pics of it! Being in Alaska you are reminded of how small you are with all the wonder around you.

The negative about this tour was that we really didn't spend a ton of time at the glacier. Other tours that spent more time at the glacier were able to go closer to it, but with the time allowed and us wanting to have plenty of time to whale watch it is a balancing act. I guess I'll just have to go back someday!

So after some time at the glacier we got back in our little bus, were given a snack and some water, and headed out to meet our boat. David was our guide and he is a professional photographer living in Juneau and he was great. During the drive he gave tips on how to take better pictures and what settings cameras should be on for the best odds of getting great whale shots. He actually went around to each person and looked at their camera or phone and set it to the best setting for the conditions.

When we got to our boat it was great because it was all enclosed during the ride out, but once we got closer to whales the windows would come down so you could either shoot out where you were sitting or go out to the bow and get some shots. It was also great because during the ride you were cold form the wind, but you didn't have to shoot through glass either.

We were lucky to see a lot of whales, but no bubble net feeding. I was hoping for that, but we were so extremely lucky seeing all the whales we did see. The surrounding scenery was breathtaking also.

Also, David was great for giving you a heads up for when the tail of the whale was about to appear. They have a distinct pattern so he would give a warning so you could be all set with your camera and I was happy to leave with a few different whale tale pictures.

Whale watching cont'd

After an amazing day of whale watching and enjoying the scenery we headed back to Juneau. We got back around 6:30. We decided to get tickets and go up the St. Roberts Tramway. It was an interesting little ride up and we were able to enjoy some great views, but sadly the eagle, Lady Baltimore, is not visible after 6:30 so we just missed her. With the sun going to fade and us wanting to explore a little more of Juneau and do some shopping we didn't spend too much time up there. If you are more interested in seeing the eagle and you are getting back late you may want to skip this and save your money. In the end it all depends on what you are looking for on your vacation.

All in all Juneau was a cute little city. I know we barely got a glimpse of it, but we had an absolutely amazing day. In summary - I would recommend this excursion, but you don't get a ton of time at the Glacier and only get to the beach in front of it, as pictured. However, the whale watching on a boat for 14 was amazing and David, the guide, really helped ensure that everyone got some great pictures.

Beautiful pictures of such an idyllic location. My husband and I hope to go in the next few years. I really enjoy your perspective as a new cruiser! Our first cruise is coming up in a few months and the seasoned vets' reviews, while entertaining and informative, can feel overwhelming for a newbie.

What a great review so far! I'd have been really annoyed about not getting to my room right away. Ugh. You have the patience of a saint.

Thanks, it was definitely annoying. I was confused because I was sure that with FTTF the perk was going to your room early, but more than one worker told me no. I was just happy to be on the ship and starting a much needed vacation so we just said ok and headed to the Lido for lunch. While there we did run into the women we shared our shuttle with going to the pier and they also had FTTF and had dropped their stuff off at the room so we were like ok we are just going to go back. I think being that neither of us had been on a cruise ship before we weren't 100% sure what to expect. In the end, it all was fine and didn't ruin anything for us, but I probably wouldn't worry about FTTF again unless I had a tender because I didn't find it worth it overall, maybe because of the miscommunication we experienced.

Beautiful pictures of such an idyllic location. My husband and I hope to go in the next few years. I really enjoy your perspective as a new cruiser! Our first cruise is coming up in a few months and the seasoned vets' reviews, while entertaining and informative, can feel overwhelming for a newbie.

I hope you have an amazing first cruise! I know I looked to so many reviews before this cruise and so I really wanted to pay it forward. If you have any specific questions I'll try my best to answer based on what we experienced. As I'm writing this up I'm trying to think of everything that happened because it is overwhelming when you are trying to figure things out, but we had such an amazing time. Everyone told us we would be hooked on cruising and they may be right!

I hope you have an amazing first cruise! I know I looked to so many reviews before this cruise and so I really wanted to pay it forward. If you have any specific questions I'll try my best to answer based on what we experienced. As I'm writing this up I'm trying to think of everything that happened because it is overwhelming when you are trying to figure things out, but we had such an amazing time. Everyone told us we would be hooked on cruising and they may be right!

Thank you so much! I see what they mean as the planning alone is getting me hooked!

Probably the most memorable and personally meaningful parts of our trip happened by pure luck - we saw the Northern Lights!

As we were leaving Juneau the all-aboard time was 9:30pm. We got on right around then and went to the Lido for dinner. This was the only night that we did not have dinner in the dining room. We actually were not fans of the Lido. We didn't like how when it was busy there you couldn't really eat together. It seemed like someone had to grab a table, the other got food, came back, you went and got your food, and by the time you were back the other person was done eating. We much preferred dinner in the dining room where we could relax, have good conversations, drink some wine... you get the idea. Speaking of wine, we did buy the "Cruise the Vineyards" package. It gives you 5 bottles of wine at a discount. You just gave a voucher to the waiter when you were seated. It was good for us because we did have a bottle of wine most nights at the dining room.

Ok, so back to my story. The next morning we knew we were going to have to be up very early for our day in Skagway, so we decided to head back to the room after eating. It was about 10pm and we were hoping that because it was such a clear day in Juneau that we would have a chance for Northern Lights. The night before we tried to stay up to see them, but eventually gave up. The naturalist told us that if the conditions were right, which they seemed to be, we would have the best chances of seeing the Northern Lights between midnight and 4am. So my sister decided that maybe we should nap and set our alarms for 11:45 and head out to look for them again. So as she went to bed I started organizing things for the next morning.

Well, leaving Juneau the Aft of the ship is facing North for a period of time. While we still had our balcony facing North I decided to check occasionally. At about 10:30pm I looked outside and there they were! I shouted my sister's name and she about fell out of bed. The 2 of us enjoyed the amazing night sky from our balcony for about 20-25 minutes. It was gorgeous and not like anything I had ever seen. It was odd though because we looked around and nobody else seemed to be out. We decided to head up to the Lido to the Serenity deck area to see if the view was even better. We got up there and literally it was like the 2 of us and 4 other people. I think most people were thinking, like we were, that midnight and later we would have the opportunity to see them. Well, they surprised us early!

Now, I didn't have a tripod and the ships light was interfering with my camera. I am not a pro photographer, by any means, and I've never really shot at night so I wasn't even able to capture how really amazing they were in person, but I do have some pictures to give you a little idea.

Another passenger who was up on deck, she was so amazing! She was very good at photography and helped me with my camera settings. I set it to a 6 second shutter speed and tried to hold the camera as still as possible. The white squiggly lines are blurred stars because of the movement of my arms and the ship.

So here are what I was able to manage to capture:

I wish I knew better how to have taken the pictures while I had been on my balcony earlier, but I'm so thankful to the kindness of the other passenger in helping me at least get these shots. I stayed up probably until almost 1:30 seeing if I would get another glimpse, but didn't see them again and decided to get some rest before our adventure in Skagway and the Yukon the next day.

Really enjoying your review so I think I will follow along! Thanks in advance for doing it. :)

Really enjoying your review so I think I will follow along! Thanks in advance for doing it. :)

Thanks! I'll update more tonight after work :)

HI all!

Jota62 ~ wow what an amazing first cruise you had!:D So jealous you got to see the Northern Lights, what a thrill that must have been!

Loving your review & waiting for more adventures!

BTW I've bought FTTF each cruise & always got to go to my cabin upon arrival. Somebody steered you wrong.:(

~ Jo ~ :)

Thank you so much for this review! I cannot wait to cruise Alaska (haven't booked yet).

Also, I LOVE the Maxwell Hotel. When we visit Seattle, we stay there. It's within walking distance of so many sights as well as great restaurants.

HI all!

 

Jota62 ~ wow what an amazing first cruise you had!:D So jealous you got to see the Northern Lights, what a thrill that must have been!

Loving your review & waiting for more adventures!

 

BTW I've bought FTTF each cruise & always got to go to my cabin upon arrival. Somebody steered you wrong.:(

 

~ Jo ~ :)

Thanks so much! We definitely were lucky with a great first cruise :)

Also, yeah I'm not sure how that miscommunication happened. I was told that by the lady who checked us in and then when actually on the ship we tried to go to our room and were stopped by 2 seperate people who told us with FTTF that we couldn't go through. Oh well, now we know. You would think with the program there would have been a universal understanding of what is included. As first time cruisers, and having seen how quickly policies seem to change, we didn't know if something was different. We were fine going to the lido though, just probably wouldn't jump at buying it again.

Our first and so far only trip to Alaska would have been made perfect+ if we had seen the northern lights! Lucky you!!

Now we're thinking again...

Awesome job on the review and your pictures are great.

Now you have me thinking about going back.

We have been to Alaska once on a 12 night land sea cruise. ( Princess ). You definitely picked a winner for your first cruise. We never got to see the Northern Lights though. We are planning on going back in 2017. We loved the whole experience. Everyone should go at least once. :)

Enjoyed your review. Makes me think we should try an Alaskan cruise! Beautiful pictures

Enjoying your review! Looking forward to reading the rest.