Alaskan cruise on Carnival Spirit?

Question

ok my family is going on a cruise this summer, we want to go to alaska. we are going on the carnival cruiseship since we can get a good discount on it. i was wondering what the best voyage to do. we are leaving from vancuver canada. so i think we can do the northbound trip, or the glacier bay. i was wondering if anyone new wich was better and best for your money. next question, does the carnival Spirit have a swimming pool, even though it will be cold out side. if any one has been on this cruise or knows someone who went on this cruise what was your experince like. we are traveling with teenagers from 14-16. 1 male 1 female. are the teen activites exciting, what type of things do they do. do the counslers treat them like babys or what?? ( i have read that on a review) how is the cusine, and how much is the beverage card. what are some good stops to make when you are at places to get off at the boat? on your trip will you see any wildlife while out on the boat. thanks for your time

Answer 1

You really need to visit...

http://www.cruisecritic.com

http://boards.cruisecritic.com

On the boards, look for Carnival Cruise line and go there and ask your questions. People there can give you great details and answer any and every question you could ever dream of.

Some answers I do have offhand tho....

a. I've heard glacier bay is absolutely amazing. I did the Hubbard Glacier this past summer and my friends family did Glacier Bay. Glacier bay is a lot of smaller glaciers with really scenic mountain views on a small channel. Hubbard is a massive glacier with mountain views. The thing about Hubbard is that it's hard to get close unless you're lucky and there isn't big icebergs in the water. Glacier Bay is probably your best bet

b. If you do a northbound, don't forget to factor in flights home. They can be super expensive.

c. Yes there should be a pool outside (I don't know if they have a covered one though like RCI does.) You could go swimming while in Vancouver but it will eventually probably be too chilly to go swimming

d. The beverage card is way overpriced. You're better off to either take your own pop in your suitcase, buy them individually, share one beverage card between you,  or just make do with the drinks you get free. It works out to something outrageous like drinking 5 or 6 pops a day to get your money's worth from the card.

e. Wildlife: yes there are times you can see wildlife from the boat but you have to look and wait for it (eg. whales). You're likely to see more wildlife if you cruise glacier bay too.

f. Good stops are Skagway (train excursion!), Juneau (make sure to get to Mendenhall glacier here, it's stunning) Icy Straight Point, Sitka (raptor centre, cathedral, and sitka national park - you can walk the whole town but not sure if the ships are going here next year or not). I would avoid Ketchikan...it's like a regular city.

Really tho - check out that site. It's soo helpful! I don't know what I would have done without it last year.

Answer 2

I liked the North. However I did not travel, with children You say, you are getting a good discount, then,  you  ask which is best for your money, are you getting two for one discounts on your cabins?? I hope to hear back.

Answer 3

u should take the alaskan cruise because i did it last year. and it was amazingly fun. we had a two week long family reunion on the ship. my cousins go from age 4 all the way to age 24. and there are 17 of em. like 8 teenagers. they loved it.