Shoreline Photos

click on this photo of the Aruba shoreline to enlarge it

When I created the sunset photo album on Facebook, I had a request to share shoreline photos, as not everyone has had the opportunity to view our beautiful planet from that vantage point. 

The photo at the top of this post is the Aruba shoreline, and you can find more shoreline photos on our Facebook page. I have started two shoreline albums: Shoreline views from Lake Michigan & within the state of Michigan, and Shorelines-Landscape views from the water. The second album contains photos of Alaska, inland US lakes, and the Caribbean.

Since I live in Michigan, I tend to have more shoreline photos from our lakes than other areas, so I made a separate album for those. I may break the second photo album into segments, also, if it gets too large as I add more photos. For now, I have the two albums ~ Enjoy, and please continue to share your requests!

Carnival Spirit -- 7-night Alaska cruise, May 2011

glacier at the end of Tracy Arm Fjord

I have shared a few photos in this blog post, and there are many more in the Alaska Facebook album.

Check-in

We experienced a couple of "firsts" this cruise. This was our first cruise as VIPs, and this was our first cruise out of Seattle.

We arrived by taxi around noon. On all of our previous cruises, there have always been porters to take our bags right at the curb when we arrive. This was not the case this time. We were slightly confused as we headed toward the building with our bags in tow because we did not see any luggage ahead either. After entering the building and finding a Carnival representative (who was wearing a cruise line competitor jacket!), we learned we needed to wait in a baggage drop line to leave our bags before going to check-in. I do not know if this is the way luggage is always handled in Seattle, or if this is something new Carnival is trying. We have another cruise planned this winter, so we shall see what happens when we arrive at Port Everglades. Even though there was not a VIP line to drop bags, this did not take long. 

After dropping our bags, we headed to the security check point, where again there was no VIP line. After we went through security, we found the VIP check-in line, and the check-in process went quickly. We were given a Zone 1 card and proceeded to the waiting area. I observed guests boarding, so I asked a Carnival representative if Zone 1 had been called yet. It had, so we boarded immediately.

Overall, the check-in process was very confusing. Usually, when we arrive at a port, a Carnival representative greets us (after dropping our bags at the curb), and directs us to the appropriate area. This time, we had to find a representative to ask about where to drop our luggage, and we had to find someone to ask about boarding. We would not have known what to look and listen for if this had been our first cruise. Since there was no VIP line until after security, I think it would have taken much longer to get on board, if we had arrived after noon. We were on board just under an hour after we had arrived.

Carnival Spirit premium balcony cabin 8237, category 9B

We had originally booked cabin 5243, which is the same room type we ended up with except it has an obstructed view. The lifeboats are at floor level in cabin 5243, which also makes the balcony not quite as deep. We upgraded our room type and also ended up with an on board credit because we had booked the Early Saver rate. I will talk more about booking the Early Saver rate at the end of this review.