Wind May 7-14 from a newbie

[thawan]

First I would like to thank all the people who post here and give such wonderful advice and answer even the silliest of questions. I found cruse/critics last May and because of all the information I found here, when I saw an ad in the local paper for a cruise I knew it was a good deal. I told DH it had to be an inside bottom deck.. All he wanted was our own bed and bathroom. LOL So we booked, I knew about free style dining but not the Wind.

 

Embarkation: DS dropped us off at Canada Place about noon, from then till we got on the ship was 30-40 minutes. Between customs and the NCL counters they had chairs to sit on and water, orange juice and some pastries. Which we thought was a nice touch. There are Alaska coupon books between drop off area and the security scanning line up.

 

The Ship: Is very clean with new carpets and chairs. Always kept very clean. The ship does have a unusual design. To go from one end (deck 12) to the other without doing a lot of stairs or going through the stardust lounge or the four seasons, you have to go to deck 7 (promenade) or lower.

 

Cabin: mid deck 6 inside (we got an upgrade) is very small but cozy. With 2 closets, lots of hangers and shelves. The safe has a combination. There are 2 – 110 plugs and 2 – 220 plugs. The bathroom has 3 small shelves and a shower curtain, so an over the door organizer and clothes pegs for the shower curtain were handy. We were very pleasantly surprised we received 2 bottles of wine, one from our TA and one from NCL. Sure made us feel special.

 

Sail away was 60 to 90 minutes late. Something to do with water pressure. Leaving Vancouver harbor we did a S maneuver with a circle on the end of it. We were never told why, but may have had something to do with a sailboat in the way (they have the right of way) Or maybe a compass check. Either way it was done very smoothly, the only way to tell was to look at the wake. No ‘tilt’ at all.

 

Food: Over all good – chicken always available in dining rooms. We had one lunch in Four Seasons and 3 wonderful dinners in the Terraces. Our favorite place to eat was the Sports Bar & Grill, basic smorgasborg. You had to time it well or there were long lines. Breakfast always had ‘made to order’ waffles, omelets and toast.. Be careful if your part way through your meal and decide to get something, make sure someone guards your plate or it will be gone when you get back. LOL They were very fast at clearing dirty plates. For breakfast and lunch there is overflow eating in La Trattoria one deck down, which was quiet and had a great view. My only complaint about food was that the Four Seasons and Terraces had the same menu each day. Which probably made it easier for the galley, but less variety for pax.

 

Ketchican, Also cloudy and rainy, So we just walked around the town. Very good for shopping.

Juneau: We were about 90 minutes late arriving, I think due to engine problems, but not sure. Very cloudy and rained off and on. But very good for shopping. We were about one hour late leaving. I think 2 pax were late. They called them 3 or 4 times.

 

Skagway: Arrived on time to a beautiful sunny day. We took the Y&WP Rail trip. It was grand. We were there on Thursday and it had snowed about 1 ½ feet at the Summit on Tuesday. At the Summit they reconnect the engines to the front. So my advice would be to try and sit in the middle of the train. If you’re right behind the engines you smell a lot of diesel. But it was still a wonderful way to spend 3 hours. (I wanted to do a combo of train and bus, but DH says that’s what we’ll do next time) They sell a few souvenirs on the train – one is a hat that you can only get if you ride the train.

 

Skagway has a shuttle from the dock to town $1.25pp well worth it LOL

 

Itinery change: After Juneau (Wed) we sailed back to Tracy Arm inwards to Sawyer Glacier. Scenery was breathtaking. We spent the time on aft deck 8, more sheltered but very very cold. We didn’t make it all the way because the icebergs were way too big. We had dinner in the Terrace rest having a wonderful dinner, watching the view.

 

Maps of the ship are available at the reception desk. --- hand sanitizers were all over the place. --- Photo gallery had a special for the embarkation picture $20, you got a two sided photo frame one side with a picture of the Wind and 2 5x7 and assorted smaller ones with two different backgrounds. –We didn’t do any shows.

 

Over all it was wonderful. DH was afraid he’d feel confined, but was not a problem. He’s talking about when we take our next cruise. Whooo hooo

[snorklinbarb]

thawan,

Thanks for sharing your 1st cruise experience with us. Our first "big" ship cruise was on the Wind in the W. Caribbean pre-freestyle. We were so amazed with everything we thought it was just about perfect.

 

Wait till you try some of the new ships!

 

But you will be forever addicted.:D

[Cruiseclarke]

Thanks for the report Thawan. We'll be on the Wind in Alaska soon :)