My family of four sailed on the Carnival Spirit on May 31, 2011 for seven nights. First of all, the vacation is a very good value. I paid $3,500 for a balcony view (Obstructed - Cabin 5191) for my family. Their was a life boat that came up to my shins. The price included taxes AND the insurance. Truthfully, I don't know how Carnival does it. Seven nights on a ship with food for that price is unbelievable. I ate very well in my seven nights, in fact, I was never hungry. When my stomach made the tiniest amount of room...I filled it. Now getting on the ship was going smoothly until the last person I had to deal with. She was new and the more experienced employees in Seattle were not helping her. She took forever to finally figure out what she was doing and let us go to the next step. When we finally got on board a waiter came by with a couple of drinks of the day and asked if we would like some. Me, being a first timer, didn't get it until we took the drinks and he asked for our cabin key. Well, I figured it out then that I was being dinged for the drink of the day. Don't get me wrong I am not some cheap guy, I just didn't get it AND I prefer Scotch. But, truth be told, the drink was good. Ended up spending about $700 on drinks and whatever other junk my wife bought for her and the kids on board. And that wasn't bad. I think the drinks I was drinking were only around $6. The first day at sea was a little shaky. The boat was moving a little and I saw a few semi green people. I had taken the less drowsy dramamine and given some to my kids. I also put sea bands on me and the kids. None of felt bad at all. Whatever we did worked. The next five days were smooth as can be. We did not do any of the shore excursions except go to Mendenhall Glacier. That was a pretty good experience. The positive thing about the Alaskan Cruise is the ship pulls right up to the town/port you are visiting. You literally walk off the ship and into downtown. The only time this isn't the case is Victoria BC. The ship stops and you can take transportation downtown. We didn't do that, but we walked to some little Fisherman's Wharf type thing and back. The ship was only there a few hours. We sent our kids to Camp Carnival only twice for a couple hours each time. They were not too crazy about it. One thing I found was there was always a lot of room on the ship. Me and my family would go out around 8:00pm and would have entire decks to ourselves. On the flip side of this was the 9th deck where the food was being served - there were always people sitting looking out the windows, but NOT eating. So, sometimes you would get a plate of food with your family and not be able to find a place to sit. That would be the only negative thing I would say about the entire cruise and that is not the fault of Carnival. They would frequently ask guest (using the PA) to view Alaska from other areas if they weren't eating - but, people will be people and they still sit there. And I realize some people say the food isn't this and that...BUT, you cannot expect Ruth Chris when they are feeding thousands of people at the same time. The food is exactly what I expected. The Empire Dining room food was decent quality but served very elegantly. Bawa, out server, was superb. He made my kids feel special every night. The pools were heated and my kids went swimming 3 or 4 times. For some reason the pools weren't heated the last day when we were on our way to Canada. My kids jumped in and weren't happy. I don't know why they did that...because the last day is at sea and the kids get a little nuts. Overall, a great trip. Probably won't cruise again for a while because I did Alaska and have NO desire to go to nasty little third world islands. I've been to those places already and don't want to go back.I'd post pics if this forum let you. I would like first time Alaska cruisers to see how few people were on open decks. And NO it wasn't that cold. I was in a Polo most of the time. Sometimes in long sleeves, but never cold.