Shore notes from Carnival Spirit Southbound

[24Alaska]

We returned this week from the Southbound Carnival Spirit. The cruise was great and we spent 5 days before the cruise in Anchorage and Denali. Of course the highlight of the trip was Alaska and not the ship. Having the naturalist was very nice. They should just copy the Denali Tundra Wilderness Tours and have a high-powered video camera to show what the naturalist is talking about. They play it on the TV already.

Denali was great, although I could have done with a one-way train ride. And as to the train, the "Private Dome Cars" are the only way to go. About the same price as coach, not the double of the Gold Star (which we did one way). And the cars, view, food, service and commentary was much better on the private cars. We were on the Gray Line (Holland America) McKinley Express cars. Everyone faced forward and with slightly lower seat back, they had a much better view. The Tundra Wilderness Tour was great. We took the afternoon tour vs. the too early in the morning tours, and saw tons of wildlife.



For a first timer to Denali, I would highly recommend the train and the TWT! The commentary on both were great! On future trips I'd go for a car and the park shuttle. If you want to take the train, I would recommend starting in Fairbanks so you don't have to do a round trip.



Found 3 great restaurants in Anchorage; Simon and Seafort's, Glacier Brew House and Humpy's.



Cruising College Fjord was fantastic, just too early in the morning :(



In Sitka, walking through the National Park to the Raptor Center was great.



In Juneau, we took the shuttle bus to Mendenhall Glacier in the morning and then did whale watching with Harv and Marv in the afternoon. That was spectacular. Just a six person boat with great commentary and willing to do whatever people wanted. We followed a pod of at least 12 whales for most of an hour as they did "bubble feeding" every 10 minutes or so. I never even knew what bubble feeding was. Amazing.



In Skagway, we took the Chilkoot White Pass Summit Rail & Bus Excursion. Went up around 8:30 am on van with only 10 people and good commentary from Sean. Then caught the train back from Fraser around 11:30am, late enough for the fog to clear. The 10 of us had our won train car, so everyone had multiple great seats! We then had plenty of time to walk around town before our early departure.



In Ketchikan, it was a beautiful and unusual day with no rain! But I couldn't get my wife to do the flight seeing to Misty Fjord :( We had a great walk through town and up to the eagle center and fish hatchery. Then walked back through Creek Street and along the port to an eagle viewing area where we actually passed Island Wings Flight seeing. After watching lots of planes take off and land during the day, she was willing to give it a try. Unfortunately no one was around and it was getting late.



All and all a great trip.

[OhioJeff]

Thanx for sharing! I plan to do a few of the same excursions.