2024 to Alaska! Last cruise was 2008. Questions....

[Coloradomedic]

Hello and thanks in advance! My wife and I last cruised in 2008 and we've just booked an Alaskan cruise in 2024. I'm sure that a ton has changed in the last decade and a half. I'll take any and all advice for what to expect! It's our 20th anniversary, so we did book a vista suite on the back of the ship. Let me start with a few questions, and then I welcome any tips and advise from the pros!

 

1. We have researched and scouted our room out very thoroughly, and reserved it 20 months in advance. Is there any way to make sure that the ship doesn't try to change our room? I've read a couple of horror stories on here about that.

2. Common sense tells me that if I get on the ship as early as I can, it's almost like having an extra cruise day. I see that we can do online check-in 16 days before the cruise. What time do they start allowing check-in? (I'll be online at 12:00:01 to get the earliest possible one)

3. I'd love to surprise my wife with a unique and personalized door decoration. Any recommended sights for that?

 

Thank you all so much!

 

[nwcruiselover]

1.  Your cabin is unlikely to be changed by Carnival unless they switch ships on you.  It does happen, but not often. If they changed to another ship, they would give you what they consider a comparable cabin. 

2.  Online check-in starts at 12:00:01 AM Eastern time.  Since you’re in Colorado, be on-line and ready at 10:00 PM your time.  Then skip the first several pages of check-in and go directly to the page where you can select your arrival time.  Once you have done that, go back and fill in the earlier pages.

[SDPadreFan]

Ship, itinerary, approx dates of cruise (for weather info) and whether you have done an Alaskan cruise before would all help us, help you. Range of activity level would also be helpful.

[Coloradomedic]

11 minutes ago, SDPadreFan said:

Ship, itinerary, approx dates of cruise (for weather info) and whether you have done an Alaskan cruise before would all help us, help you. Range of activity level would also be helpful.

Sorry about that. The cruise is on the Carnival Spirit in September 2024 out of Seattle, 14 days. First Alaskan cruise. Itinerary is as follows:

 

Day 1- Leave Seattle

Day 2- at Sea

Day 3- Tracy Arm Fjord

Day 4- Skagway

Day 5- Juneau

Day 6- Icy Strait Point

Day 7- Hubbard Glacier

Day 8- Seward

Day 9- Valdez

Day 10- at Sea

Day 11- Sitka

Day 12- Ketchikan 

Day 13- at Sea

Day 14- Victoria

Day 15- Seattle

 

We are both healthy, and can do any excursion. Thanks!

 

 

[kona_wahine]

I’ve been watching this itinerary, it’s basically the same in late April that year. Sure keep thinking about booking…. We were on the spirit in July for an 8 day, had a wonderful time. Also went in May on NCL. It was SO pretty all snowy. But loved seeing the animals in July. It’s hard to decide which would be better. 🙃

[Coloradomedic]

22 minutes ago, kona_wahine said:

I’ve been watching this itinerary, it’s basically the same in late April that year. Sure keep thinking about booking…. We were on the spirit in July for an 8 day, had a wonderful time. Also went in May on NCL. It was SO pretty all snowy. But loved seeing the animals in July. It’s hard to decide which would be better. 🙃

We booked September for 3 reasons:

1. I'm more of a cold weather guy.

2. It's closer to our actual anniversary.

3. Most kids will be back in school, so I thought it might be a bit less crowded. 

[txcruiser1234]

We're booked on the late April 2024 14-day Miracle to Alaska and so excited for this itinerary - will be following along.

 

Prior to the pandemic, we hadn't cruised since Jan 2016. We've had an absolutely fantastic time on each cruise since the restart - cruising, to us, seems more fun now than before (and we had fun before).

 

Anyway, we did a 10-day Miracle to Alaska last June from SF. Our two top highlights were an on-our-own hike on the West Glacier Trail outside of Juneau to the front of Mendenhall Glacier and the small boat excursion thru Carnival to Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm Fjord.

 

View from West Glacier Trail:

 

View of Sawyer Glacier from the small boat excursion:

 

BTW - the Miracle is our favorite of the ships we've been on to date... mainly for it's size (not too big or small) and it's ability to handle the crowd (little time wasted in lines).

[mexicobob]

We discovered that getting on the ship as late as possible worked for us. No line to get checked in. Go straight to your cabin which will be ready.  Have a good lunch on shore that will better than anything you will get on the ship and avoid the stressful chaos of the crowded Lido buffet.

 

Unsolicited advice.....book any small boat excursion to any glaciers that you go to.

Book any air (helicopter, airplane) excursion you can. All will be very expensive and need to be booked ASAP.   

 

[Anyislandwilldo]

3. I'd love to surprise my wife with a unique and personalized door decoration. Any recommended sights for that?

 

Go to customcruisewear.com  Angela will work with you to create an awesome door banner to your liking.  The banners are made with durable material.  If you decide to go this route, there is a special section for notes when ordering.  Put in the notes that you would like to modify a certain design and have Angela contact via email before it goes to print.  She is really great to work with.

 

She also creates custom t-shirts

[Coloradomedic]

7 hours ago, Anyislandwilldo said:

3. I'd love to surprise my wife with a unique and personalized door decoration. Any recommended sights for that?

 

Go to customcruisewear.com  Angela will work with you to create an awesome door banner to your liking.  The banners are made with durable material.  If you decide to go this route, there is a special section for notes when ordering.  Put in the notes that you would like to modify a certain design and have Angela contact via email before it goes to print.  She is really great to work with.

 

She also creates custom t-shirts

Thanks for the tip. I actually found another vendor on Etsy that had a design that I loved, so I ordered it 20 months early. I might have cruise fever already. 😀

[dbrucern]

On 1/29/2023 at 2:40 PM, Coloradomedic said:

Sorry about that. The cruise is on the Carnival Spirit in September 2024 out of Seattle, 14 days. First Alaskan cruise. Itinerary is as follows:

 

Day 1- Leave Seattle

Day 2- at Sea

Day 3- Tracy Arm Fjord

Day 4- Skagway

Day 5- Juneau

Day 6- Icy Strait Point

Day 7- Hubbard Glacier

Day 8- Seward

Day 9- Valdez

Day 10- at Sea

Day 11- Sitka

Day 12- Ketchikan 

Day 13- at Sea

Day 14- Victoria

Day 15- Seattle

 

We are both healthy, and can do any excursion. Thanks!

 

 

We are on this cruise as well and it will be our 4th Alaskan cruise.

[CRG7]

We did a Princess Alaska cruise last year for our delayed honeymoon. We booked an aft balcony and used a cruise site travel agent who marked our cabin as no upgrades. Our ship ended up changing and the room category we booked didn't exist on the bigger ship so we had to pay additional to get our aft balcony back but did end up with a larger balcony. The aft cabin was a great choice.

[Coloradomedic]

2 hours ago, CRG7 said:

We did a Princess Alaska cruise last year for our delayed honeymoon. We booked an aft balcony and used a cruise site travel agent who marked our cabin as no upgrades. Our ship ended up changing and the room category we booked didn't exist on the bigger ship so we had to pay additional to get our aft balcony back but did end up with a larger balcony. The aft cabin was a great choice.

Interesting. I booked our room through our Carnival cruise planner. We used her on the other two cruises in 05 and 08. I asked if we had to worry about Carnival changing our room and she said that as long as the ship doesn't change we don't. She said that her email was a written guarantee of that. We're super excited about our room. 

 

I'm one of those OCD type planners that leaves no stone unturned when planning a vacation of any kind. I've found 2 videos of our exact room on YouTube and asked questions to the folks who posted them. 

[Coloradomedic]

4 hours ago, dbrucern said:

We are on this cruise as well and it will be our 4th Alaskan cruise.

Get ready for an amazing cruise!