July 12th Carnival Legend Alaska trip report

[kctwinmommy]

Great review.

 

Scary your husband got sick. My husband reacts the same way with conch ...fritters, chowder, etc. Itt must be a seafood allergy of some sort. Be careful going forward...he may have developed a seafood allergy.

 

Yeah, my dad has shellfish allergies, so I know what that's like. My husband ate things the rest of the trip, seafood included, no problems. He's eaten sushi many times before, but I know you need to be careful when preparing it.

[kctwinmommy]

Day 5 – Juneau – Mendenhall Glacier helicopter ride (listed in the excursion guide as Helicopter Flightseeing & Glacier Walkabout – apparently they may not always go to Mendenhall)

 

 

So, I don’t like to fly, but we decided to do a helicopter ride here. I figured you only live once, right!? LOL! I am sooo… glad that I did the excursion, it was amazing!! We were met at the ship by the tour company, Northstar Trekking, and loaded into a van to drive over to the airport. They also asked us our height and weight, which they relayed to the guys at the helicopter pad. Once there, they had each individual person’s gear with a bag labeled and set out. We all received a pair of snow/wind pants to put over our regular pants and a windproof jacket. We also changed out our shoes for big, heavy snow/hiking boots. They also gave us a fanny pack with a bottle of water, granola bar, protective gloves, and Kleenex.

After we were all geared up, we met outside to hear the safety briefing before heading over to the choppers. They divided us up into 2 groups, keeping in mind everyone is placed to keep a balanced weight. We had 5 people on our flight, plus a guide and a pilot. So, 4 adults in the back and 3 of us in the front, I was lucky enough to sit in the front along with our son!!

 

 

 

Once we took off we spent I think about 30-40 minutes flying around above the glaciers and it was just breathtaking! There were clouds across the area down in Juneau, but once we got up there, it was more than I could have imagined. After flying around, we finally landed on Mendenhall Glacier where we received our crampons, which were already set for our shoe size, as well as our walking stick. We got to walk around for a while with the guides, pointing out different features. The guides showed us how to drink water from the glacier, and even had my son got down on his hands and feet to lean in. But then showed us the easy way – dump the bottled water out and fill it up! We had just a wonderful time, a definite once in a lifetime experience. Our guides were Andy & Isaac, with Nick being our pilot.

 

 

After we got back down, the shuttle van picked us up to take us back. We just asked him to drop us off a little more in town, which was really only like a 10-minute walk back to the ship. We then went to the Twisted Fish restaurant for a late lunch, as recommended by the guys at the helicopter place. Great burger! I don’t eat seafood. My husband had some though and it was really good. We walked around a bit, bought some souvenirs, and stopped by the U.S.S. Juneau memorial (the ship that sunk with the Sullivan brothers on it). I wish we’d had a little more time to explore the city, but we still had a great day!

 

 

Flying over some of the peaks!

 

 

 

More of the mountains up high

 

 

So apparently, you can't always see these mountain peaks because they're pretty far away and usually cloud covered.

 

 

 

Part of the glacier

 

 

The skies were just the perfect color of blue!!

 

 

My son getting a drink of glacier water, we did it the easier way!

[kctwinmommy]

The 3 of us on the glacier

 

My son just loved it!

 

Mendenhall glacier

Back on solid ground

 

U.S.S. Juneau memorial

 

Sunset after leaving Juneau

[kctwinmommy]

Let me see if this works, trying to share some videos. But it looks like this link will take you to my Flickr page where you can view it.

 

MVI_4259 by Cindy, on Flickr

Edited August 1, 2016 by kctwinmommy

[kctwinmommy]

And another one...

 

MVI_4237 by Cindy, on Flickr

Edited August 1, 2016 by kctwinmommy

[dotshub]

Thanks for the great review-we sail on Aug 16th. Still trying to decide on warm clothes. we are from fla and the weather here is close to 100 everyday. never been to Alaska. we love the Legend-sailed her around the British Isles 2 years ago and it was great. Those pictures make waiting to sail really hard. They are beautiful. again thanks for sharing your trip with us. Dot

[trippingpara]

Thank you for the great review! We just booked our first cruise to Alaska. Now I just have to wait until 2018 :eek:

[kctwinmommy]

So yeah... I forgot to do Day 5! LOL! I got all excited thinking I was done with it, then realized I forgot Ketchikan! I'll have to do that Friday. :D But here's Victoria and debarkation day.

 

 

 

Day 6 – Victoria, BC

 

 

We spent most of the day just hanging around, reading, our son was in the Circle C club. We grabbed an early dinner on the Lido deck before heading down to the deck around 7:30. It was about 7:45 when they started letting people get off the ship. We didn’t have anything specific planned when we got off the ship, so we stopped at the tourist information booth they have set up on the pier there. We talked to the pedi-cab people, but they really wanted to book a full tour, which was going to be about $270 for the 3 of us, and more than we wanted to spend/do. Instead we took a cab for like $15 to the castle in town. Now, I knew it was closed already, which was disappointing, but I was hoping the building and grounds we be worth it. It really wasn’t. I wouldn’t have wasted our time going over there had I know more of what it was like.

 

 

 

From there, we walked down the street to the downtown area, about a 15 or 20-minute walk, stopping at a McDonald’s along the way for my son who was hungry. We walked to the water front from there, they had a festival going on along there. It was different carnival type acts (fire jugglers, another juggler, and something else). It wasn’t that big, basically in a parking lot spread out. But the area down there is nice to walk along, it’s by their harbor there, beautiful sunset views. And of course, the Legislature Building is down there, which they light up at night. There is a waterfront path that is supposed to go along the harbor, and the Fisherman’s Wharf was supposed to be nice, but the waterfront path was blocked by construction. We just ended up taking the shortest route back to the ship, getting there around 10:00 p.m.

 

 

The castle in Victoria

 

 

Restaurant in downtown Victoria

 

 

The harbor front

 

 

The Legislature building

 

 

The Legend docked in Victoria

 

 

 

Day 7 – Debarkation

Super easy and no problems. We had our town car reserved for 10:00 a.m., and went up around 7:45 to grab some breakfast on the Lido deck. We weren’t in any hurry. However, around 8:30 we ended up getting off. We called the car service and they were able to have a car pick us up like 5 minutes later. We used Already There Towncar Service, they were great!

[kctwinmommy]

OK, got that Day 5 part done! I knew I was missing something when I did the report. But we really didn't do much in Ketchikan, so there isn't a lot to say about it.

 

Day 5 – Ketchikan

After all our big and exciting excursions, we decided to not really plan anything for this stop. There wasn’t anything that really caught our attention either. We had been told that Ketchikan was a neat little town for walking anyway. We heading off the ship in the morning and walked into town. We stopped at the Fire Station in town, talked with one of the guys for a bit, they had a cute little museum there too. Then we headed to Creek St. to see the buildings on the water there. We considered doing the salmon fishing, I believe it would have been about $90-100 for my husband and our son. But we decided against it, not wanted to spend that much time doing an activity that day.

 

 

 

We basically walked around the town, stopping in the little shops. We did pay the $2 to take the funicular up the side of the mountain, 130 feet, up to the Cape Fox Lodge there. We then took the little path the goes on the side of the lodge to get back to Creek St. We did stop along the way and took a detour to see the salmon swimming upstream near the bridge at Park Ave. Back in town, we just took in a few shops and stopped at the Police Department, where I bought one of my few souvenirs, a Ketchikan P.D. t-shirt. We headed back to the ship since we had to be back onboard at 12:30 that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view from the lodge at the top

[kctwinmommy]

Totem pole at the lodge

 

The stream where the salmon are swimming up

 

Eagle carved statue

 

 

[Seattlejo]

So, the Castle was actually the smaller of the 2 that are in Victoria. That's Craigdarroch, a "bonanza castle" built with money from the early industrial days of Victoria. Its got some great history but is kinda Meh on the outside.

 

The other castle is Hatley 9http://hatleycastle.com/

It's actually a movie star! Having been in the X-men movies, Smallville, MacGyver (the original series) and Poltergeist.

 

Great review though! We leave on the 23rd to do this trip and we're wondering what we're going to do with our time in Victoria.

[Beachiekeen]

Great review! You've given me so many ideas for our trip next year.

[kctwinmommy]

So, the Castle was actually the smaller of the 2 that are in Victoria. That's Craigdarroch, a "bonanza castle" built with money from the early industrial days of Victoria. Its got some great history but is kinda Meh on the outside.

 

Yeah we kind of knew what it was, but I just hoped it would be a little more impressive in person. ;) It wasn't a big deal, but we would have skipped going out there. It's too bad they can't be open in the evening when the cruise ship comes there every week.

[TheCalicoCat]

My son loved the mola mola photo! (He thought it was a shark!)

[kctwinmommy]

My son loved the mola mola photo! (He thought it was a shark!)

 

It sure looks like one!

[Melozone]

Loved your review! We went a few years ago on Princess and loved it. We have one booked for next May on Princess again but I'm going to cancel and book this ship. It's about $4,000 less. That's the price of a Caribbean cruise. We are taking our granddaughters. They will be 15 and almost 17 when we go. They are seasoned travelers. They go on all our trips....spoiled girls :)

 

I do want to book the small boat tour. That looked great!

[kctwinmommy]

Loved your review! We went a few years ago on Princess and loved it. We have one booked for next May on Princess again but I'm going to cancel and book this ship. It's about $4,000 less. That's the price of a Caribbean cruise. We are taking our granddaughters. They will be 15 and almost 17 when we go. They are seasoned travelers. They go on all our trips....spoiled girls :)

 

I do want to book the small boat tour. That looked great!

 

Good for you! I know my parents cruise on Princess and I get that there are differences and sometimes it's worth it. I don't feel the need to spend that much more money for Princess though. Maybe later on in life, but for now, we're fine with Carnival. And especially here, it's more about the scenery and all the amazing things you can do. As I said, the Legend isn't anything spectacular, although some people do certainly list it among their favorites. I look at it as a way to get me where I want to go.

 

And lucky granddaughters! I think traveling is one of the best things kids can do. We take our son, who's 13, out of school still to travel in the late fall. He's a mostly straight A student and we have to go when my husband gets his time off work. So the past 2 years we've been to Key West for a week, and then a Caribbean cruise. We're doing that again this November. :D Besides, once he gets to h.s., he's going private and that will be expensive, we won't be able to afford to take him out for a week! LOL!

[Melozone]

Good for you! I know my parents cruise on Princess and I get that there are differences and sometimes it's worth it. I don't feel the need to spend that much more money for Princess though. Maybe later on in life, but for now, we're fine with Carnival. And especially here, it's more about the scenery and all the amazing things you can do. As I said, the Legend isn't anything spectacular, although some people do certainly list it among their favorites. I look at it as a way to get me where I want to go.

 

And lucky granddaughters! I think traveling is one of the best things kids can do. We take our son, who's 13, out of school still to travel in the late fall. He's a mostly straight A student and we have to go when my husband gets his time off work. So the past 2 years we've been to Key West for a week, and then a Caribbean cruise. We're doing that again this November. :D Besides, once he gets to h.s., he's going private and that will be expensive, we won't be able to afford to take him out for a week! LOL!

 

The reason we went with Princess on our first Alaska cruise is because our TA said Princess owns Alaska. And for this one, I booked because I have future cruise credit. But with the huge difference in price I can lose that $200.

 

Our girls started school two weeks ago and then they get out the third week of May. It helps to get a jump start on vacations. Normally a little less money. We have taken them to Europe twice. A few weeks makes a difference in price. When you do big trips saving a couple hundred here and there helps!

 

The cruise we are booking on the Legend goes to Glacier Bay. I hope it has the small boat tour there.

[kctwinmommy]

The reason we went with Princess on our first Alaska cruise is because our TA said Princess owns Alaska. And for this one, I booked because I have future cruise credit. But with the huge difference in price I can lose that $200.

 

Our girls started school two weeks ago and then they get out the third week of May. It helps to get a jump start on vacations. Normally a little less money. We have taken them to Europe twice. A few weeks makes a difference in price. When you do big trips saving a couple hundred here and there helps!

 

The cruise we are booking on the Legend goes to Glacier Bay. I hope it has the small boat tour there.

 

Yeah, it is definitely a cheaper way to see things, and the sights are still the same. I didn't realize the Legend had different itineraries. We enjoyed ours, it was really amazing, but we have no intention of going again. We're now looking at Europe in the next few years. We were also hoping to go to the Galapagos in about 3 years, but we may have to rethink that one. It'd be about $20,000 for the 3 of us!! :eek: :eek: While we "could" afford it if we saved properly, we could also go to Europe at least twice with that, and some other things.

 

Unfortunately, we don't get out of school here until late June. It was June 21st this year. Although we don't start until after Labor Day. So we pull him out in November, right before Thanksgiving. So we're not traveling over the holiday, we get home before it. But it's not too busy with lots of kids either.

[Melozone]

Yeah, it is definitely a cheaper way to see things, and the sights are still the same. I didn't realize the Legend had different itineraries. We enjoyed ours, it was really amazing, but we have no intention of going again. We're now looking at Europe in the next few years. We were also hoping to go to the Galapagos in about 3 years, but we may have to rethink that one. It'd be about $20,000 for the 3 of us!! :eek: :eek: While we "could" afford it if we saved properly, we could also go to Europe at least twice with that, and some other things.

 

Unfortunately, we don't get out of school here until late June. It was June 21st this year. Although we don't start until after Labor Day. So we pull him out in November, right before Thanksgiving. So we're not traveling over the holiday, we get home before it. But it's not too busy with lots of kids either.

 

I think the girls would love the Galapagos. For the four of us the first trip to Europe we spent about $20,000. Last summer we did three weeks and it was $30,000. It was a girl's trip with my daughter and two girls. We spent a lot of time in Italy before and after our cruise. It is so expensive there. Food is high. I love Italy more than any other place I've been.

[BeachClubDee]

Thank you for the excellent, detailed report. Your pictures are incredible!!!

 

 

The mola mola picture was very cool and what a great picture of the bear on shore.

 

We go on the Legend (Glacier Bay itinerary) in about a year. It was great to read the reviews of the excursions you did.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to share your experiences.

[kctwinmommy]

Thank you for the excellent, detailed report. Your pictures are incredible!!!

 

 

The mola mola picture was very cool and what a great picture of the bear on shore.

 

We go on the Legend (Glacier Bay itinerary) in about a year. It was great to read the reviews of the excursions you did.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to share your experiences.

 

Thank you, and you're welcome! I haven't done any detailed reviews before, but it seems like for Alaska, people want information and details more than like the Caribbean. For us, the Alaska cruise was more of an adventure. When we do the Caribbean, I just need the pool, a lounge chair, and stops at beaches. ;)

[Fastfredcruise]

I could not find this on the list of excursions. I am sailing August 2017. Do you remember the pricing, and how to register for this.

[Hsmama]

Nice trip report,thanks! What was your departing port? was it seattle r/t?

[kctwinmommy]

Nice trip report,thanks! What was your departing port? was it seattle r/t?

 

Yes, Seattle R/T.