I enjoyed cruising out of Seattle. There is a lot to do there pre-cruise. In two days I didn’t get everything I wanted to do done. That was with a boundary I set for myself between the stadiums and the Space Needle. I can expand that and come up with even more to do on a future trip.

I liked having the link train. A $3 ride from the airport was great. I think staying near Westlake station was smart. I’m not a fan of the uphill walk from the waterfront. I have heard there are elevators that have been down due to COVID. I personally didn’t see any. The uphill walk could be minimized by backtracking through Pike Place Market then walking back since the streets seemed to be more level in that area.

The port was great. The line was long but it moved fast. The mobile printer for boarding passes was nice. Once I got through the line, I walked right on the ship. It was the  earliest embarkation I’ve had since the restart.

Debarkation was also quick and easy. They don’t have the facial recognition yet but the manual process didn’t seem to cause much of a delay. There were no problems with the Carnival airport transfer other than a lack of signage indicating where the transfer bus is located. And I didn’t appreciate the driver’s handling of my luggage.

Splendor is a good ship. It basically feels just like a Conquest class ship with the comedy club of a Dream class ship.   It is most similar to a Conquest class ship but they have changed that worthless bar across from the deck 4 aft dining room into a nice Red Frog Pub. I don’t like that it’s mostly just a karaoke bar. They have nice TVs in there that just tell you about mask wearing and whatnot. Let’s put some sports on those TVs.

Another difference is the location of the Serenity area. It’s in the aft pool area which is great because it has a pool. They moved pizza away from there minimizing the number of kids in that area. Not a fan of the bar. It’s a two sided bar that shares bartenders with the non-Serenity side and they really stay on the non-Serenity side. It’s hard to get a bartender on the Serenity side when they’re busy.

The roof over lido deck is great for Alaska. Splendor should always do cruises in areas that have poor weather for this reason.  

My room was great. Quiet, comfortable. I slept better on this cruise than any other I’ve been on. I was not fan of the steward pushing morning service. This one pushed harder than any of the others and even cleaned my room in the morning a few times.

MDR food was mostly good. I can’t think of any major problems. This is the first ship that mostly seated me by windows and without people next to me which was great. The hostess never knew my name like the one on Glory did after the first day. It’s not a big deal to me but it just magnifies how good the one on Glory was knowing my name after the first day.

The steakhouse was great. The steak I had the first night was maybe the most perfectly cooked one I’ve had on Carnival.

I only had Guy’s burgers once. It was bad. The fries were wrong. The bottom bun was soggy and they didn’t have the full compliment of toppings. They did add more toppings as the cruise went on. The fries didn’t change. I didn’t get another burger.  

Masala Tiger was an nice change to try something different.

The comedians were good. The first two probably didn’t get a fair shake because I was distracted the first night with my luggage situation. PJ Walsh is probably the funniest I’ve seen so far this year. Kyle Grooms does a great Barack Obama voice/impression. 

I thought Andy did a fine job as CD. I did like the bonus comedy show he provided. I didn’t like the scheduling of it because he hurt one of the comedians with it. Pushing it back 15 minutes would solve that.   I feel like there was less comedy overall because it seems like the other ships I’ve been on since the restart have had some form of comedy in the main lounge. Either late night showcases several nights, a full slate of comedy when the dancers are off, or all of the above. I want to say they had two PG shows in the main lounge one day at 4:30 and 5:30 but no adult shows other than Andy’s show.

The alchemists were both good. I personally think FJ is the better of the two.

I enjoyed all of the ports. I’m glad I booked the Glacier Explorer. I got a great look at a whale and got to see the only bear I saw on the entire cruise right there on that excursion.

Ketchikan has things you can do right off of the ship. You could make a day of it without an excursion. I did enjoy my excursion and it’s a pretty low priced one for Alaska.

I do recommend the Red Dog Saloon and Tracy’s crabs in Juneau. I’m glad I did Mendenhall glacier at my own pace. That’s an inexpensive day with $50 glacier bus.

Icy Strait point is the one I was worried about and it was maybe my favorite. Guaranteed eagle sightings. Guaranteed whale sightings. Bars with good local beers and good food right there by the ship. Definitely try that halibut pizza if you go. Free wifi. The zip line is right there. The tram that takes you to the top of the mountain for $50 is right there. Want to go to town? $5 round trip. They had the free tribal show I missed. There’s a lot to do right there in the port area at ISP.

I would go back to Alaska. I don’t know that I’d pay top dollar for it. But it did leave me wanting more. There’s more I want to do in Seattle. I want to see more bears in Alaska. I want to go to Skagway. I could see another trip coming. Maybe even next year. I haven’t found anything for next summer yet. I may add Alaska to my search.

COVID-19

Two days after arriving home I had a Big Mac for lunch. It smelled and tasted nasty. I threw it away. That evening I started to get a headache. For dinner I had some chicken wings with ranch. The ranch smelled and tasted the same as the Big Mac. I decided to burn one of my free government COVID tests which would expire by the end of the month anyway. In case you don’t know how to read one of these. The control line is supposed to be there. The T line only shows up if you’re positive. The darker the line is, the more present the virus is. My headache got worse as the night went on.

The next day my headache was better. I had a minor cough. My head didn’t feel quite right for a couple days. On night four my cough got pretty bad. I suspect it may have been due to the fact that I talked on the phone for a long period of time that day. I was fine the next morning. I did decide to go out for a drive-thru COVID test on day 4 so I would have an official test in case I needed a document of recovery for my travel in August. I did a full PCR at CVS on a Sunday afternoon and had the results on Monday evening.

On day 9 I took another government home COVID test and passed.

My COVID experience was about as good as can be expected. I only had the headache one day. I only had the bad cough one night. I had a couple days of my head just not feeling quite right and about a week of a minor cough. My food tasting/smelling bad was limited to sauces (salad dressing, ketchup, etc) and jalapenos. I don’t know if my symptoms were so minor because I was double vaccinated and boosted or not. But it doesn’t hurt. Next time we’re going to New York City. Then Bermuda on Carnival Magic.

 

• Alaska
• Seattle
• Splendor