At the risk of incurring everyone’s wrath here, I am going to give an honest opinion on the Alaskan cruise we just got back from. Please do not misunderstand - I am not a miserable person, or a person who went looking to have a bad time, nor am I being overly picky or sensitive. I loved my vacation, and would go back in a second given the chance, but a lot of what I’m about to write will offend some die-hard cruisers. Please understand that all of this is constructive criticism and that again, overall, we had a wonderful time!
This was my third Carnival cruise. In the past I have cruised Eastern and Western Carribean. The Alaska cruise was just different. I wondered if it might not be. First of all, the average age of the cruiser was more of my grandparents generation. We are mid forties and extremely active people. We did expect the demographics to be skewed to an older age group, but we just really didn’t expect that drastic a difference. I can only assume that it was because of the age demographic, that the disco and most entertainment lounges were nearly deserted every evening. We tried at various times, but the crowd never materialized. We even sat and waited for more than an hour in the disco one evening, and at no point was there more than the two of us and a small handful of others who rotated in & out. The games offered on board were also geared to the crowd. On Carnival’s part, that was good marketing and planning. On our part, we were not impressed. Also, and I have to give this a mention, the Piano Player in the Atrium Bar was just awful. He ad-libbed lines to the point that we couldn’t stand to be there when he was. As soon as he started playing, we got up and left. Now I don’t want to presume this is the reason, but the atrium lounge was often full when he was not playing, however, when he was, it generally emptied out. Also, it seemed that the shows were not as spirited as the Carribean cruise shows were.
Our waitress in the dining room, Martina, was a gem. We did not get the dinner time that we requested (early), but that worked out great in the long run. Our cabin steward, for some reason, did not like us. Our bed rarely was turned down, and the last two days of the cruise we didn’t even get our Capers or any of the other advisories delivered to our room. That didn’t bother us in the slightest though - we found Capers all about, and the missing advertising papers just didn’t clutter up the room! Anyone thinking of the Alaskan cruise, spring for a Balcony. We were ever so glad that we upgraded to one. We spotted whales, dolphins, otters and seals from our balcony, not to mention the incredible majesty of the land and the sea. The naturalist on board was great! It was so nice to know where we were, and when they had spotted wildlife. We learned a lot about the glaciers and the land that we otherwise would not have known.
Embarkation was a breeze, debarkation was also great - but the Carnival arranged transfer to Seattle was horrible. They didn’t order enough busses, and in the long run we (along with others) were put into cabs after waiting hours for busses, and taxied to nearby hotels to meet up with busses that had an empty seat here & there. We ended up, instead of on a straight through coach, which was what I had thought I’d booked, being on a bus that stopped about half a dozen places before it got to the Seattle airport. What should have been a morning jaunt turned into an all-day ordeal and took away one of our days for exploring Seattle (we’d booked three days in Seattle after the cruise).
All in all though, we had a great time. We miss chocolate melting cake already! If you do choose Alaska as a destination though, be aware of the demographics and don’t expect "the fun ship" that you are used to. Don’t let that deter you though. The ports of call are all beautiful and the scenery on this trip is so worth giving up "the fun ship" for.