Our Alaskan Adventure 08/21/18-08/28/18

[diasmiles]

The Cruise:

Visiting Alaska has been on my bucket list for years. Last year, I decided to gift my parents this cruise. I told them this gift would cover their birthdays and Christmas! They gladly accepted. Since booking over a year in advance I decided to surprise them with an Ocean Suite. So, in May 2017, I booked a 7-day Alaskan cruise for August 2018 on the Carnival Legend. The itinerary for this cruise was as follows:

 

Tuesday 08/21/18: Seattle, WA

Wednesday 08/22/18: Fun Day at Sea

Thursday 08/23/18: Cruise Tracy Arm Fjord

Friday 08/24/18: Skagway, AK

Saturday 08/25/18: Juneau, AK

Sunday 08/26/18: Ketchikan, AK

Monday 08/27/18: Victoria, BC

Tuesday 08/28/18: Seattle, WA

 

Who We Are:

I am a 40-year-old female from Southern California. My dad (66) and my mom (65). Shortly after booking this cruise my aunt (62) and my uncle (62) decided they wanted to join us for their first cruise ever. They booked an Extended Balcony.

 

This Review:

This is my first review and it will cover our pre-cruise experience and the cruise. I will include some pictures but did not take as many pictures of the ship as I thought I would. This review is based solely on my experience with my family and may vary from other people’s opinions.

 

Pre-Cruise:

We flew into Seattle late Friday 08/17/18 from Burbank. We flew Southwest and all had TSA pre-check so going through security was easy and we were ready to board in no time. We had a layover in Oakland for a little under an hour and arrived in Seattle at 11:45pm. We took an Uber from the airport to our hotel. We stayed at the Hyatt Place Seattle/Downtown. Overall, we liked the hotel. It was in a central location and everyone was very nice. One thing though, double check your bill as I was charged for a movie that we didn’t order, and my credit card was billed twice for my hotel stay.

Saturday 08/18/18:

We woke up early on Saturday and had breakfast at the hotel since it was included. I was impressed with what was offered for breakfast and there was something that accommodated everyone’s taste. They offer a couple different juices, milk, tea and coffee. There was bacon, eggs (scrambled and hard boiled), french toast, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, cereal and bread. There is plenty of seating and the lines never seemed to be crazy long.

After breakfast we decided to walk to the Space Needle since it was about a 10-15 minute walk from the hotel.

Edited August 29, 2018 by diasmiles

[diasmiles]

Saturday 08/18/18 (cont’d):

We arrived at the Space Needle and although it took some convincing my family decided to go up to the observation deck. We were able to get tickets to go up immediately and the wait in line was about 30 minutes. The view was beautiful, and we had fun taking pictures although my mom and aunt were terrified. We also got on the glass floor and although that made my stomach turn a little I loved it! Definitely worth it. I stayed up there as long as possible because I was never going to convince my family to come back for the night view.

Our view from the observation deck

After our visit to the Space Needle we walked over to the Chihuly Museum and were in amazement at the beauty of this museum. This is definitely a place that cannot be missed.

Edited August 29, 2018 by diasmiles

[diasmiles]

 

 

 

 

[MzShae]

Following

[erewhon]

Looking forward to the remainder of your review.

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[diasmiles]

After spending a while at the Chihuly museum we took the Metro and ended up downtown. While walking around we came across a small coffee shop called Cherry St. coffeehouse and it was delicious. I had the chai tea latte and I wish I had gone back for another. From there we walked over to Pioneer Square and it was disappointing to see so much closed. There was a soccer game going on and the Marlins were playing the Dodgers, so I expected more. Once we realized this was a total flop we took an Uber to the waterfront for lunch and to make reservations for our Harbor cruise.

We decided on having lunch at Elliot's and although it was packed our wait was about 30 minutes.

My aunt and uncle ordered the Fish and Chips and the Alaskan crab legs and they loved both dishes. My dad and I had the Fish and chips and also thought they were delicious. My mom had a chicken sandwich (she doesn't eat any seafood). The service was great! They even have a fancy way to wash your hands after eating crab.

The waitress brought over tea with lemon in a bowl for my aunt and uncle to rinse their hands. Once they did that she brought over crackers for them to scrub their hands with and had them rinse their hands in the tea with lemon. They then dried their hands with a warm cloth...so fancy!

After lunch, I made reservations for our Argosy Harbor tour for Sunday morning. We walked around the waterfront for a while and then we decided to take an Uber back to our hotel. The snoring in our Uber from my dad told me he was done...hahaha.

Once we were back in our room some people decided to nap and the rest of us went to the pool. The water was freezing! I couldn't do it, I decided to just hang out by the pool.

When we returned from the pool my dad and uncle decided to take advantage that I was there with nothing to do and had me research some things for them online that had nothing to do with this trip, because why would it. I ordered some pizza for all of us and refused to bring it up to the room. I told them it was in the lobby of they wanted some...lol. We all enjoyed it...great recommendation from the hotel staff.

[diasmiles]

Sunday 08/19/18:

We were all awake and ready early enough to have breakfast and get to our Harbor cruise in time. Breakfast was similar to Saturday’s but there were either pancakes or waffles instead of french toast. Everyone was excited about our day and we were finally going to make it out to Pike Place Market today.

We made it to our Harbor cruise with plenty of time and it was a nice way to learn about Seattle and see the sights from the water.

The Harbor cruise lasted about an hour and from there I had to get on the Great Wheel. Nobody wanted to go on with me, so I did this on my own. I paid $16.11 for my ticket and I got my own enclosed glass gondola. It goes around three times for the admission fee and you get a nice view. I enjoyed it but after the second time around I was ready to get off.

[diasmiles]

I will continue my review tomorrow. Please remember this is my first time doing this but I will try to finish as quickly as possible. Thanks :D

[cmecruise1962]

I am so excited to read your review! I'm doing this itinerary next year, albeit on NCL, and I had already planned the Space Needle and the Chihuly Museum, but the restaurant you went to looks amazing and I'm going to look into the harbor cruise as well. Thank you for doing this! :)

[diasmiles]

I am so excited to read your review! I'm doing this itinerary next year, albeit on NCL, and I had already planned the Space Needle and the Chihuly Museum, but the restaurant you went to looks amazing and I'm going to look into the harbor cruise as well. Thank you for doing this! :)

 

Thanks! You should look into getting the City Pass. It includes your admission to the Space Needle, the Chihuly Museum, MoPop, the aquarium and the harbor cruise fro $89.

[kristinp36]

Good start.....I am thinking of another Alaska cruise so I am following along!

[diasmiles]

Ok guys, I am back to pick up where I left off. Once I got off the Great Wheel we walked to Pike Place Market. When we first got there, I wasn’t sure if we were in the right place because we went through the back way. We ended up on an elevator and when the doors opened we were in the market. There were LOTS of people, but I never felt like I couldn’t walk through the market. We made it to the seafood stands in time to see them do the famous fish throw. It was very cool.

At this point we lost my dad and uncle. They see seafood and they forget who they are with. My mom, aunt and I decided to explore on our own and we would just check in with my dad from time to time. Pike Place Market has the most amazing flowers! We found an apple cider stand and decided to get some and it was delicious. At this point we saw where the first Starbucks was and to be honest I was not about to stand in line for an hour and a half to buy coffee that I can buy at any Starbucks. We did stand in line at Piroshky Piroshky and bought a few things for lunch. At this point my dad and uncle called us to try to find a meeting point. We decided where to meet and sat down to share the goodies we bought at Piroshky Piroshky.

[diasmiles]

We decided we wanted to still try some clam chowder and I wanted to try some ginger beer. We started to walk, and my mom tripped and took a pretty bad fall. Although she said it didn’t hurt we decided to cut our trip to Pike Place Market short. Before going back to the hotel my mom insisted in going to Starbucks Reserve, so my dad could see it. So, we got an Uber to Starbucks Reserve and were there for about an hour or so. This place is huge, and it is pretty interesting to see them roast coffee. I was able to get some ice for my mom’s foot and she sat for the time we were there. We took an Uber back to the hotel to let my mom rest.

[diasmiles]

After getting my mom settled my dad and uncle pull out some crabs they bought at Pike Place Market and we pounced on them like we were starving. They were sooooo good. My mom gets up and realizes she can’t put any weight on her foot and can’t walk. So, my aunt and I decide to take her to the ER. We somehow get her to the lobby and let her rest a little while I get an Uber. Once it is time to get her outside the pain is worse and she can barely walk. My aunt and I are helping her while a lady at the front desk is watching us. So, we get her outside into the Uber and off we go. We initially go where Kaiser sent us but they were closed and so we ended up at an ER to get her checked out. Thankfully, nothing is broken. She has a sprained foot and gets a boot and crutches. We get back to the hotel and the struggle is real because now my mom is trying to walk with crutches and it’s just not working. The same lady is at the front desk watching us again. When a young girl comes out from the back, sees us and runs over to offer us a wheelchair. Yes, please! Then I realize this other woman watched us struggle with my mom on our way out and again on our way in and not once offered up a wheelchair they had. Then she decides to ask if we are ok and make sure my mom didn’t fall on their property. What the?

[diasmiles]

Monday 08/20/18:

Monday was a very quiet day. Since we wanted my mom to rest we all hung out in the hotel. Later in the day we took my mom down to the lobby and a short walk. The smoke in Seattle was pretty strong because of all the fires in Washington and British Columbia that it was a good day to stay in. We all prepared our bags and took a quick ride to Whole Foods to buy some wine for the cruise.

Tuesday 08/21/18:

Today is our cruise day and my dad’s 66th birthday!!!! We get ready and go down for breakfast. They had the normal fare out for breakfast in addition to biscuits and gravy. After breakfast we go back up to our room and got ready to check out. We had decided we were going to take an Uber to the cruise port. Do you think we packed enough? ;p

[diasmiles]

We had 2 cabins and both cabins had Faster to the Fun. We arrived in port around 10:30 and there were plenty of porters. Once our bags were turned in to a porter we went inside the building. There was no line for Faster to the Fun and were checked in pretty quickly. The person checking me and my parents in had a bit of a hard time adding a gift card I had but once the issue was resolved we were good to go.

We waited for about 20-30 minutes before we were able to board. We boarded on deck 2 but did not board at the lobby bar with the atrium and glass elevators. So boarding was pretty unimpressive but we were on our cruise! We were on deck 6 room 6203 and my aunt and uncle were on deck 7 room 7209. Since we had Faster to the Fun we went straight to our rooms to drop off our bags and went up to the Lido deck. At this point my mom had left behind her crutches and was limping around with her boot.

[diasmiles]

We explored the ship a little while waiting for our muster drill

Follies Theater:

 

Casino (we had to walk through the casino to get from one end of the ship to the other on deck 2):

[diasmiles]

Red Frog Pub:

 

Enchanted Forest:

 

Lido Pool:

 

View of Seattle from ship:

[diasmiles]

I went into the Steakhouse to confirm our reservations for dinner and took a quick picture on my way out.

 

We went back to our room to enjoy our balcony while we waited for the muster drill. Some of our bags had already been delivered but we decided to wait to unpack until everything had been received.

The muster drill is still held outside on the Legend but since my mom could not stand for the whole time we went to the Piano Bar during the drill. It was actually over a lot faster than I expected. We watched the sail away from our balcony while enjoying some wine.

[erewhon]

Thanks for continuing your review.

Sorry to read about your mother. Hope she has now recovered.

[diasmiles]

Thanks for continuing your review.

Sorry to read about your mother. Hope she has now recovered.

 

Thank you, she is doing better. She definitely did not let her injury slow her down.

[diasmiles]

I had made reservations for all of us to celebrate my dad's birthday at the Steakhouse. Service was impeccable and the food was delicious. My uncle couldn't believe the meal was only $35/person...lol. This steakhouse still has the old menu which I was happy to see. My dad talked wine with the waiter and placed an order for a bottle at 50% off. We all received the same amuse-bouche from the chef.

I had the tuna tartare for my appetizer

I also ordered the spinach salad and the lamb chops. Really, you can't go wrong with anything you order from their menu.

 

[diasmiles]

We saw a beautiful view of the sunset during dinner that at one point I ran out to take a quick picture.

 

Now it was time for dessert and I ordered the fruit cup while others ordered cheesecake.

 

 

During dessert the waiters came out with another dessert with a candle and sang Happy Birthday to my dad. He loved it!

[diasmiles]

After dinner my mom, aunt and I walked around for a bit and then ended up in the piano bar until we were ready for bed. My dad and uncle ended up in the casino but we were all ready for bed pretty early.

Wednesday 08/22/18:

 

Today was our only official sea day. I had read that the ship is rocky on the second day and that was no joke. The ship was really rocking most of the day. My aunt took some medication to help her because she was feeling a bit dizzy but the rest of us seemed ok.

We went to Sea day Brunch and I had huevos rancheros and bacon mac and cheese. My aunt had the funnest french toast with Honey Nut Cheerios. I had never seen them up close. She ordered something else but I can't remember what it was. My parents ordered huevos rancheros also.

After brunch, we went to check out the Fun shops and explore the ship. There was trivia going on that I played and the team I was in won one of the trivia games :cool:

Later in the day there was Bingo in the theatre. My dad and I love playing Bingo so we went and lost...lol. After Bingo, there was a sushi demonstration at Bonsai sushi and since I got a seat in the very back it was hard to see anything. So I took a few pictures after the demonstration.