This was our 2nd trip on the Carnival Spirit, and our third and likely last trip with Carnival. We'd had a good experience on the Spirit in Hawaii in 2004, a bad one on the Jubilee in the Caribbean during Christmas 2003/2004 and now a bad one on the Spirit.

This will be a review (rant?) about the shipboard experience. The ports of call we visited were good, even if we were late getting to them, and thus we won't focus on them.

Noteworthy items include: ? The Carnival charge for a transfer from Anchorage to Whittier, where the ship docks- take the Alaska Railroad instead, but pre-book; ? Marginal cabin cleanliness; ? The benefits of having a naturalist on board; ? Late arrivals in three out of four ports; ? Exceptional efforts in Sitka by Joseph the maitre d' and the entire staff of the Empire Dining Room to ensure that guests were fed, despite delays reboarding; ? Long waits to reboard the ship because of backlogs at the single x-ray machine in use - with security guards who kept telling guests to keep the line moving, when there was nowhere to go; ? Aggressive photographers who blocked gangway exits upon port arrivals (and their costumed performers who were literally grabbing people to be photographed) - sanctioned by Carnival management, according to the photoshop manager; ? Peculiarities in billing to the sign and sail account - a strange addition to our bill was carried out the last night of the cruise, after we went to bed - and the hostile reaction from the pursers when questions were asked about it; it almost seemed like a last minute charge was applied to EVERYONE'S bill; and, ? Erroneous information provided by the ship's crew regarding shopping and the travelogue video Read more