This will be my husband and I first Alaska cruise, can anyone help me out and tell me a little about the cruise. I think it is the Carival Spirit. I would love to read a review and anyother details like the day trip etc.  We have not booked it yet but we will in a few weeks.  We are leaving in 4 days to on Carnival Western Caribbean cruise.

Thank you in advance.

We just returned from an Alaska cruise.  It was absolutely breathtaking!!! I can't even put it into words.  We had a wonderful time.  The excursions are really expensive.  Depending on what you want to do, I would suggest to start saving money for those now.  Please feel free to email me with any questions you have and I will answer everything that I can.  My 13 yr old daughter and I hope to go back in a few years and do some of the excursions that we didn't do this time.  In particular we would like to take a helicopter that lands on a glacier and then you go dog sledding.  It is about $600.00 per person though. I believe they are changing the itinerary next year though.  We flew to Vancouver and cruised to Whittier, Alaska and then flew home from there.

email: kstrieby@hotmail.com

I, too, am planning our first Alaskan cruise. Not sure if it will be 2010 or 2011.  My question is this....my daughter is 13 now and will be travelling with us.  From your daughter's perspective, what did she enjoy most about the cruise/ship/ports etc.  My daughter seems to think she won't have all that much fun.  We are planning on doing the helicopter glacier dogsledding thing if it is still offered when we travel.  Any other "must do's" for teens?

On the cruise we took we were in port 4 different days, this did not leave alot of time on the ship.  Our daughter loved the beautiful scenery and the different tours we took.  We took a couple boat tours for whale watching.  The Mendenhall glacier and whale watching tour was fantastic, but we saw several whales including killer whales, this does not happen all the time naturally.  Our 17 year old son was a little bored, but that is more his nature, he would rather be home hanging out with his friends.  Our daughter did go to the O2 club a few times(they let her move up and go with her brother) But, she mostly went to the shows with us in the evening. She just loves to be on the water and she took a ton of pics.  We had never been on a Spirit class ship before.  We really liked the size of this ship. Had been on the Splendor earlier in the summer and it was a bit crowded for us and we didn't really like the layout of the pool area.  The Spirit has 2 pool ( one is covered) both are heated.  If your daughter has any questions, please feel free to ask away.  I guess it all depend what she is into, it is alot slower place then a carribean cruise, not alot going on around the pools, naturally.  We went to alot of the games, which we normally don't see because we are always out by the pool...

Hello,

We are booked on the Spirit Aug 3 2010. I am having a hard time deciding on hotel and its location. I am more concerned about being close to the ship pier, and being able to get to the sea tac airport. We have one extra day in seattle each side of the cruise. What does anyone suggest, I was looking at the doubletree, but they dont have a continental breakfast.

thanks