So it has officially been a few weeks since we went on our family cruise to Alaska with Carnival  and I am going to tell you how sorry I am for this late post.  If you follow me you know we announced that we are having Baby #2 and during this cruise, before and after I have been taking a break from the blog and posting because my tiredness and sickness took over.  Needless to say I am feeling 80% now a days and ready to take on the blog once again…thanks for bearing with me.

WHICH ALASKA CRUISE DID WE TAKE?

We went on the Carnival Spirit cruise out of Seattle, WA.  HERE you can find the entire itinerary of where we went, how long we were in each city.

HOW LONG WAS THE CRUISE?

It was a 7 day cruise from Tuesday- Tuesday. You spend about 4 days on land while the others on spend on the water getting to the new locations or evening a glacier tour.

WHAT TO TAKE?

• Motion sickness options – If your pregnant I would suggest talking to your doctor about getting something to help. I wish I would have done so before hand because I would have used it immediately. 🙂

• Personal water bottle

•Binoculars

•Packing Cubes

• Backpack

•Camera

•Snacks- Important if you have a child as it gives them a chance to have things that they normally enjoy from home.

• Poo-pouri- Since there is only one shared bathroom I highly suggest this as things can get “smelly”

•Earplugs

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WHAT CLOTHES SHOULD I BRING?

•Waterproof and wind proof jacket

• Thermals in both top and bottoms. This will be helpful especially if you do more adventurous excursions

• Sweaters

•Rainboots/Hunter Boots

• Cardigans for layering

•Jeans/Leggings-fleece lined leggings would be great and extremely comfortable

• Dressy outfit for dinner

•Pair of heels

• Athletics Shoes

• Hat/Beanies

• Gloves

• Sunglasses

• Scarves

•Bathing Suit- They have hot tubs that are great to relax in if you want some time to relax and take a break from the cold weather.

HOW WAS THE FOOD?

A cruise ship has a lot of options of food for your to choose from.  Most are in a buffet style and each day there is a different variety of cuisines, flavors and styles.  If you decide to not do buffet there are restaurants you can eat at for an additional price that I personally feel has better quality and healthier options to choose from.

HOW ARE THE ROOMS?

For a family of 3 it was pretty spacious and comfortable.  The 3 of us shared a bed, that is what we normally do when we are traveling, but there is a bed that can be pulled down from the ceiling in your room over the couch if you would like more room.  For luggage we placed them all underneath the beds which gave us the extra space needed for putting our items down, placing out clothes in the closets and so forth.

WHAT KID FRIENDLY THINGS ARE THERE TO DO?

The kids camp called “Camp Ocean” on the cruise is amazing.  It is open pretty much all hours of the day even until the wee hours of the night.  Those came at an additional price, but if you would like to gamble, go to the club or have a late night dinner if it is awesome.  Every time we would drop off Sofia she was so happy and ran to the hall to get there, and when we picked her up she was usually sad because she didn’t want to leave.  As a parent that is an extremely good sign and makes you confident in the individuals that they choose to take care of the children on the ship.

Another thing is the amazing items they had on the daily iternaries for the children.  The first day was filled with “The Cat and the Hat” and having a party for the Dr. Suess new book which had tons of character special guests and went on until the rest of the week with games, a character breakfast, a Dr. Suess parade and a book reading at the theatre.

Go to the bar during day time and there are tons of little games your kiddo can play with and so can you.

WHAT CITIES DID YOU VISIT/ EXCURSIONS?

Icy Strait Point

This was our first port of the trip and it was so pretty.  We had a full day of enjoying the mountains and the little town.  We did a bus tour visiting the city of Hoonah and I did not stop taking pictures the whole time.  My favorite part of that trip was playing on the pebble beach, skipping rocks and throwing them in the water with Diego and Sofia.  It reminded me so much of going to Positano with the two of them 2 years ago and Sofia stayed playing with the pebbles on the beach the whole time.

 

Skagway

Our second port stop was at this super cute and fun town.  Honestly it gave me all the Disney Main Street vibes when we were walking around.  On this trip we walked down into town and grabbed breakfast, took in all the sites of the city, enjoyed a park stop at Mollie Wash for Sofia and then made our way back to the ship because we had a White Pass & Yukon Route train ride.  The views were seriously so stunning, but for myself with a horrible fear of heights and then adding pregnancy nauseous I had to lay down for a section of the trip when we were so high up and on the edge of the mountain.  Sofia slept the whole time until 20 mixtures before we had to get off. lol. Once done we headed to the local brewery where Diego got his beer, I had a smoothie and Sofia made some more friends.

Glacier Bay

This day was spent at sea the whole day viewing Glacier Bay.  We were playing basketball on the top deck during this time and we heard a big bang and we looked over at the glacier and a huge chunk came down.  It was so cool to see but also pretty scary. ;). Since we didn’t have anywhere to go I booked my self a Pre-Natal Massage and it was so nice.  I then met us Diego and Sofia and we headed to the theatre to watch a 70s performance with their talented singers.

Ketchikan

This was our third spot technically and it was both Diego and I’s favorite!!!! This town was amazing and we were honestly very disappointed that they didn’t give us more time to explore and see the town.  In comparison to the other two stops we have a good 8+ hours to enjoy and see the sites while here we only had from 7am to 1pm; we didn’t get out until around 830am so it definitely minimized our time and had to be back on the ship by 1230pm.

Off the ship we walked around and found this amazing street called “Creek Street” which as famous for being the “red light district” from 1903 to 1954.  The entire row of houses was nothing but brothers where married and unmarried men would come out for some fun.  It would be 50 cents for a drink, 50 cents for a show shine and and $3 for whatever you wanted. Dolly was the lady who ran everything and there is a funny sign on the side of her house that states “Where both men & salmon came upstream to spawn.”  Ketchikcan is actually the Salmon capital of the world so if you love eating them then this is a fun place to come and see everything for your self.

Afterwards we took a duck tour which was fun to get around the city, but it could have been a good 30 mins shorter as they had us sitting on the water for a while.  For such a short time in the city I would recommend just walking around and enjoying it then doing any tours longer than 1.5 to 2 hours.

Once on board we relaxed and then later got ready for another Fancy dinner night and then made our way to the rock concert that started at night.

Victoria B.C

The morning started with a amazing Dr. Suess breakfast with all things Green Eggs and Ham for the kiddos.  The food fit perfectly with the theme, the menu looked just like the book, the team members sang and made it so much fun and then the characters came out to take pictures and perform.

We didn’t port until 730pm so the day was already gone from us; this was another example of wishing we had more time on land then the ship.  Once off the ship we took a taxi and made our way into the heart of Victoria.  Not a lot of stores where open and a few restaurants, so we walked around a little until we ended at the Fairmont Express to grab drinks (lemonade for me) and all things strawberries since the cruise ship has no berries.

FOR EXCURSIONS DID YOU BOOK ON THE CRUISE OR ON LAND?

We booked everything on our Carnival cruise.  You can also book beforehand but it is so much easier to do it with Carnival since they know all the activities that are happening and can get your going and in the right direction instantly.  Plus for the majority of cities we visited they are not large so you won’t have people waiting outside trying to get you to do excursions as much as you would in the Caribbean I would say.

Thank you Carnival for this amazing opportunity and trip to travel to Alaska with my family. #carnivalpartner