Carnival Alaska Cruise (round trip from Seattle)

After about a month back from Alaska cruise, only now i have time to capture down our first ever crusing experience.  If you asked me if i want to cruise again, the answer is a definite YES! YES! YES!  (Of course, depending on the destination as well.  ;P ).  Simply because i found that cruising is a most relax, hassle-free option especially travel with little ones.

Hubby & I have been thinking 'bout a family vacation to New York, Hawaii, Florida or crusing and i'm glad that we finally choosen a cruise to Alaska.  It's definitely a right choice that not only we have fun exploring a breathtaking place (well, what an experience to visit the last frontier..), but also time to relax and re-charge battery.  It's a good break  and a good escape for me from daily housework.  ;P

Now, back to our experience with Carnival on our cruise to Alaska from Seattle:

Booking Process
Am not sure if all Carnival customer agent upkeep the same service level, but John (the agent that worked with us) had rendered us a very good customer service, so much so that it given us a very good impression on Carnival during the booking process and we were already looking forward to cruise imagine the same standard of service that we would received on the ship.  John has been very helpful and informative which was indeed very crusial to us - the first time cruiser.

Embarkation
The boarding time stated was from noon-2pm and we were a bit puzzled as the ship will depart only at 4pm.  We plan to arrive Seattle earlier to take lunch prior to check-in as we're not sure when will meals be served on the ship.  However , we arrived Seattle only at about 1pm.  We headed straight to the pier, then only to find out that there's no stalls or shops.  Fortunately, Carnival started to serve food immediately we board the ship instead of waited till 4pm.

The check in process was fast and smooth which took less than an hour.  There were porters to help on luggge transfer with minimum cost, since we only have 3 luggage, we self carried all.  There were Carnival personnel at the pier to guide the guests on the entire check-in process.    

The Ship
As first-time cruiser, i can only said it is great (since there's none for us to compare with).  :P 

It is clean and well maintaine.  Don't think that i've visited all section of the ship, and i didn't manage to use all of the facilities as well.  However, as far as the area that we stepped on, it was well-kept and satisfactory.

The Stateroom
We wish to get a balcony stateroom but non was available when we placed our booking as we booked at quite last minutes.  Hence, we settled with an obstructed view balcony stateroom instead. 

The stateroom with obstructed view balcony

Our room was at deck 5 and on mid ship.  The only negative side was that the lifeboat that obstruct our view was higher as compared to others.  Nevetherless, we were still able to enjoy the magnificient view especially during the TracyArm Fjord cruising on Day 3.  The room size was ok except the entrance door and the walkway were a bit narrow. 

The Entrance Door

BTW, only body wash and shampoo were provided, hence pls remember to bring along your own toiletry. 

All in all, i would recommend to get a balcony stateroom if crusing Alaska and you would be able to enjoy the nice view on Day 3 TracyArm crusing in the comfort of your stateroom with 24hrs room service.

The Staff
The staff were friendly.  Our stateroom steward, Jonathan is a very nice and polite person who made up our room daily for our comfort stay.  Our dining room staff team were from Asian (Thailand & Indonesia) who were with us 7 days for a great dining experience.

The Food
You will be fed with variety of food and free flow of water, lemonade, coffee and tea daily.  We didn't buy the soft drink card since the 24 hour water and lemonade supply were good for us.  There was orange juice during the breakfast time too.

I'm glad to find out there's Asian food available at the daily buffet counter which solve my concern on food for the girls.  The 24 hrs pizza were so so only but we love the ice-cream (yogurt ice-cream too! Less guilt for my girls to have ice-cream.  ;P). 

Read the review that the steakhouse offered good menu with some additional cost, since i don't take steak, we didn't try that.  The food served at the restaurant were good and tasty enough for us already.  ;) 

I personally love the desserts...so much different yummy cakes.  I think i developed a sweet-tooth after back home, almost at the end of each meal, i started to miss and look for the dessert.  ;P

We were given late dining option as all the other options were not available.  It worked fine for us since we woke up pretty late and we need to prepare the girls as well.  We normally took our breakast & lunch quite late and we didn't feel hungry that early for dinner.  The cons was we need to catch a later show which started only at 10pm and the girls were tired then.  On Day 7 port of calls at Victoria, we have less time at Victoria since we opted to take the fine dining dinner before we left the ship to Victoria downtown.   

The Entertainment
I found that the shows were just ok, not something that you would keep on talking 'bout.  Some shows, we just watch half way since the girls were tired and bored.  One thing we found that the sounds system was too loud which might not be a good idea to bring along little kids.  My 5yrs old kept complaining too noisy.  ;O

The Camp Carnival
Since i have kids along and my 5yrs old spent quite a lot of time in the Camp Carnival, i thought i would like to write something 'bout the Camp. 

My 5yrs old love to go there, i suppose it was fun then.  My 2yrs old was too attached to me and refused to go after first tried and cried looking for me.  There's different activities scheduled for each day and for different age group.  Parents will be given a cellphone for ease of contact if kids were sent there.  I sent my 5yrs old there only to join some fun activities. 

The only drawback to me is that the camp house is at the forward of the ship, not sure if the kids will feel seasick esp when the ship met with big wave, probably most kids won't feel it and that's why the Camp house was plan there?

A section of the Camp house

The Itinerary/Schedule
Everyday, there'll be a schedule left in our stateroom for tomorrow's itinerary/activities which i found it useful.  We can have a glance ahead on the plan for next day.  Some useful information were included like time change, the highlight for next day etc which was a plus.

The Shore Excursion
While you may spent less by planning your own shore excursion activity or get local tours etc, our experience told us that it's worth to spend a little extra to join the Carnival shore excursion for hassle-free vacation especially we were with kids.  We do not have to worry 'bout to catch up with time, find our own ways etc.   

• Skayway: we purchased shore excursion (Scenic Yukon Drive) online with Carnival prior to our cruise and that was best.  We were told by our tourguide that this excursion enjoyed the same scenic view as the much more expensive steam train or historic train route.
• Juneau: we bought the local shuttle ticket to Mendenhall Glacier from net prior to our cruise which save us a little but we ended up wasting more time waited for the shuttle which was not ontime.  We then have not much time spent in town and have to rush through which we regretted.  
• Ketchikan: with the experience at Juneau, we decided to purchase the Ketchikan shore excursion (Ketchikan Highlights Express) with Carnival at last minutes on the ship.  I think we made it right this time as we have shortest stop time at Ketchikan among all of the ports of call.  We wish not to waste anytime so that we can also cover some shopping and visit at town especially the Creek Street.   
• Victoria: Since we visited Canada before and had been to Butchart Garden, Parliament Building, Empress Hotel etc, we didn't purchase any shore excursion for this port of call.  Just took a taxi for a free & easy walk at downtown.  There were shuttle available at port of call where one can purchase the ticket to go to downtown as well.  But we felt it was much convenient to take taxi and the cost didn't different much if you have 4-5 pax in a car.  

(P/S: For more information on our shore excursion experience, pls refer to the respective destination link below).  

Debarkation
The debarkation process was smooth and easy.  Carnival provided a service that we can choose to leave our luggage outside of our stateroom a night before debarkation day and they will help to transfer our luggage to the port, we then can collect them at the port with the reference slip provided.  We opted that option and it was convenience for us.  On debarkation day, they announced the sequence by calling the numbers and we were at our breakfast table when our number were call.  Just walk to the debarkation deck and proceed to the port.  That ended our fun cruise.

Good bye, Carnival Spirit!  Thanks for the fun cruise and sweet memories.  We will miss you.  :)

Related Post:

• Day 1: Set Sail from Seattle, WA
• Day 2: Fun Day At Sea
• Day 3: Cruise Tracy Arm Fjord
• Day 4: Skayway, AK
• Day 5: Juneau, AK
• Day 6: Ketchikan, AK
• Day 7: Victoria BC, Canada
• Day 8: Back to Seattle, WA

'Six-taste' Sweet Dessert Soup （六味糖水）

Nowadays, cooking made easy.  When come to Chinese herb soup, i always buy the pre-measured packaged ingredients as i do not really know how much to get for each ingredients.  I have brought few packages with me to State knowing that it's hard to find here and if we can find, it's much more expensive.
 

'six-taste' soup ingredients (六味汤料）

I recently learnt that this 'Six-taste' (六味) ingredients that i always cook as a savory soup can be prepared in sweet dessert soup as well.  I first tasted this sweet dessert soup was in my mother-in-law's place and i called it 'egg dessert soup'.  I asked my hubby recently bout that egg soup as i want to try prepare it, i was told that it's '六味糖水' (direct translate as 'six-taste' sweet dessert soup).

Ingredients:

• 2500ml water
• 1 package of 'six-taste' (六味) soup ingredients (wash & drain well)
• 1-2 rock sugars
• eggs (i put 4 eggs, 1 each for my family members)

Steps:

1. Boil the eggs in a pot of boiling water till cook, peeled off the shells and put aside
2. Bring the water to boil in another pot
3. Add the 'six-taste' (六味) soup ingredients and continue boiling for 15-20mins
4. Reduce the heat to medium low, add eggs and simmer for 1.5 hrs.  Cover the lid during the simmer process, stirring occasionally
5. Add in sugar, stir and cook till the sugar dissolved
6. Ladle into bowls and serve hot/warm. 

TomYam Mixed Vegetables

My girls will have porridge mostly for lunch and rice for dinner.  I would therefore able to prepare some dishes that my girls can't take during lunch.  This TomYam mixed vegetables is one of which. 

I added just a bit of TomYam paste, so as the taste of vegetables will not be taken all over by TomYam taste and it's not really very spicy, just right for us who crave for a little spice sometime.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp chopped garlic
• Prawn, peeled & devined
• 2 stalks of Celery, cut into pieces
• A handful of baby spinach
• 1/4 of a  red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2 TBSP of TomYam paste
• 1 tsp of soy source
• Salt & sugar (optional)
• 1 TBSP Cooking oil

Steps:

1. Place a wok/stir-fry pan over high heat, add the oil, swirling to coat the sides
2. Add the garlic, cook and stirring until fragrant
3. Add the prawn and cook through
4. Add the celery, baby spinach, red bell peeper and continue stir fry, add some water if necessary 
5. Add the TomYam paste, soy source, a pitch of salt & sugar, cook and stir to mix well
6. Transfer to a serving plate and serve 

Yum Yum!

Happy Father's Day

After explained to my 5yrs old what is father's day and why there is father's day, we worked on this little card for daddy on last Friday, using the recycle materials and almost everything we can find at home.



Drawings & deco by my 5yrs old 
When asked what she draw, she said daddy drive her to school everyday


It's almost impossible to ask a 5yrs old to keep a secret especially my girl who is always excited and can't hold a thing with her.  Whenever she has something in mind, she always can't wait to tell.  I have to explained to her not to let her daddy knows 'bout our little artwork till father's day on Sunday in order to make it a surprise for daddy.  And to make it quiet like a thing, i cross my last finger with her little last finger for a 'promise' deal.

As expected, when daddy was home from work on that Friday, she kept on whispered to me that she wanted to show  daddy her drawing on the card and i have to remind her 'bout our deal by showing her my last finger.  This continue till Sunday morning and in fact was the first thing she asked when she saw me.  I guess she has been waiting impatiently, but i'm glad she made it and hold this little secret till then.


"Happy Father's Day!"....Girls with their little gift to daddy



Opening the gift from girls



The girls waited patiently for daddy to open his present


The present was prepared with the recycle materials we have at home as well.


An Egg?  Mhmm...guess what is inside?



We made a mini puzzle/sorting game for daddy with words in heart-shape papers drew, cut & coloured by my 5yrs old and put inside his present.  She wrote the simple words while i worked on those longer one.  Daddy suppose to arrange the message in the right order and glue it on the card (inside) that we prepared for him. 

 

Girls 'examine' daddy's 'homework' this time.... :P

Getting close, still not in the right order yet..... ;)

 

Another little surprise inside the egg

   

Wanted to make a cake for daddy, unfortunately my mixer were not able to be used temporarily.  :( 

Saw this quote somewhere and like it: 'Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Dad'.  To our beloved Dads, Happy Father's Day!

Sesame Street Live Musical Show

Sesame Street Live tour Musical show "Elmo Makes Music" were brought to Memorial Coliseum Portland indoor arena in early May.  All the familiar Sesame Street furry and feathered friends like Elmo, Abby, Big Bird, Ernie, Bert and many more were taking to the stage to share on creative ways to make music with the recurring theme that everything, and everyone, can makes beautiful music.


 




We joined the May 6th, 1pm show so that the girls stomach were filled prior to enjoying the show.  Even with that, the girls were still pampered by the daddy with popcorn etc and the daddy said: "After all, it's an outing for the girls".  Mhmm...

We were lucky to be seated on the 2nd row, seat 24-27 of the main floor section to enjoy an up close view.  

The Stage

In this 1hr 45mins live show, we were entertained by nearly two dozen songs featured by Elmo and the gang who surprised their new music teacher with instruments they invented....feet and hands, pots and spoons, trash can lids, cookies jars etc

During the show, some characters venture off stage and the girls got the extra personal treat for a "Hi-5" with Bert.  Thereafter, my 2 years old kept on asking for a "Hi-5" whenever she saw characters off stage or she spot Bert on stage.  LOL
 

My 2yrs old shake along with the music

The show ended with colourful paper shred sprinkled from top.
 

Watched the girls had fun catching the paper shred,  everything seems fun to them.  How i wish could be kid again, no worry and be happy seems to be so easy.  ;P 

We had a good afternoon spent with the girls enjoying the live show and music that Elmo & friends made.  :)

Lotus Root Black Bean Soup (莲藕黑豆汤）

Instead of my usual lotus root soup recipe with pork meat and red dates, i learnt a different way of cooking this soup lately - added with black beans and ginger.  This new discovery gave our taste bud a little surprise.  ;)

Ingredients:

• 2L water
• 1-2 lotus root (skin removed & cut into slices)
• Pork ribs or pork meat
• A handful of black beans (washed & soaked for 10-15mins)
• 1-2 slices of ginger
• 6 red dates

Step:

1. Bring 2L of water to boil in a pot, add the pork ribs/meat, lotus root and black beans
2. Cook on medium heat for 20mins 
3. Add the ginger and red dates and simmer under medium-low heat for 1.5 hours
4. Serve warm 

Note:

• A pitch of salt to be added as desired

Savory Lemon Cucumber Chicken

In my last post, i shared on preparing the pork lettuce cups using the leftover pork meat.  This time, i stir-fry the leftover chicken meat with cucumber, add in some lemon juice for a savory lemon cucumber chicken dish.

Ingredients:

• Cooked chicken meat (leftover from soup etc), minced
• Cucumber (depending on the size of the leftover, for this, i use 1/2 of a cucumber), thinly sliced
• Tomato (depending on the size of the dish, for this, i use 1/2 of a tomato), cut into cubes
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 1/2  to 1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
• Salt & sugar (to taste)
• Cooking oil

Steps:

1. Place a wok/stir-fry pan over high heat, add the oil, swirling to coat the sides
2. Add the garlic, cook and stirring until fragrant
3. Add the chicken meat, cucumber and tomato, continue stir-fry
4. Add the soy source, lemon juice, pitch of salt & sugar, stir to mix well
5. Transfer to a serving plate and serve

Pork Lettuce Cups

I always use pork ribs to cook soup back in my home country, but in here, i use pork/chicken meat mostly and sometime, I'll faced with empty soup pot but leftover meat.  I learnt a good way to settle with the leftover meat from hubby's sharing recently.  He told me that his mum will normally fried it on the next day to make a dish instead of throw it away.  I've therefore follow the step and made this pork lettuce cups.

Ingredients:

• Cooked pork meat (leftover from soup etc), minced
• Cooked lotus root (leftover from lotus root soup), break into small pieces
• Tomato (depending on the size of the leftover, for this, i use 1/4 of a tomato), cut into cubes
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 1 TBSP soy source
• Salt & sugar (to taste)
• Cooking oil
• Some small lettuce cups

Steps:

1. Place a wok/stir-fry pan over high heat, add the oil, swirling to coat the sides
2. Add the garlic, cook and stirring until fragrant
3. Add the pork meat, lotus root and tomato, continue stir- fry
4. Add the soy source, pitch of salt & sugar, stir to mix well
5. Transfer to a serving plate

To serve, take a spoonful of pork mixture and put in a lettuce cup, folds the lettuce around the filling and eat.  Or, just simply serve it as a dish to go with rice.  Enjoy!

Bon Voyage Cake

I called this Bon Voyage cake as this is the last cake that i made before i went for family vacation - cruising to Alaska, which is in fact our first cruising experience.  So hey, Bon Voyage!

It is a basic yellow cake layered with strawberry jam.  Strawberry jam again?  Oh ya, simply because this is my favorite home made jam and my fridge always have a jar of it.  Whenever it finished, i will make again as this jam come in handy with the bread that i made weekly.   ;)

For the first time, i used the lemon cream cheese frosting for a cake.  I used this frosting for cupcake before, but not on a cake.  I always wonder if cream cheese frosting will go well on a cake.  Well, it tasted good, especially when you're already bored with buttercream frosting like me.  However, it is not easy to frost a cake with cream cheese frosting as the frosting tends to be a bit runny as compared to buttercream (am not sure if this is only for my case..).  I have to do it real quick and put it in the fridge immediately to let the frosting settle down.  It was indeed a challenge for me...particularly a not pro home baker.

Ingredients:

For the cake

• 2 cups cake flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup (113g) butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, separated
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

For the frosting

• 4 ounces cream cheese (softened)
• 1/2 cup butter (softened)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Steps:

1. Spray 2 8" round cake pans with non-stick vegetables and set aside
2. Preheat oven to 375F/190C
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl 
4. Sift together once more
5. Cream butter with sugar, beating until light and fluffy
6. Add the egg yolks and beat together
7. Beat in the sifted dry ingredients, alternating with the milk and vanilla
8. In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff, fold into the batter
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 25mins or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
10. Let it cook for about 10mins before removing it from the pan.  Allow to cool completely on a wire rack prior to frosting.

Meantime, prepare for the frosting:

1. Beat the cream cheese and butter in a mixer bowl until smooth
2. Add in the sugar and lemon juice, beat until fluffy

Note:

• If the frosting is too runny/thin, add more powdered sugar

Cake Recipe Source: Everyday cake by D.Rattray

        

The Crab Pot, Seattle

If you're in Seattle and you like seafood, you should not miss this awesome place at Alaskan Way that offer delicious seafood and cool eating experience.

I have my most satisfactory seafood eating experience in Crab Pot Restaurant.  We were lucky that there's not much people when we visited at about 5-6pm and we were seated near the window, a pretty nice spot. 

We ordered their signature SeaFeast for two (well, you need to order for a minimum of two pax) and the waiter brought a big pot filled with the seafood, pour it out on a paper-covered table, crab, clams, prawns, mussels, corn and potatoes were all in front of us.  We were given a hammer and feasted away. 

We enjoyed the food very much, fresh and tasty, and of course the way how the food was presented and how you eat it, just felt like eating at home!  A unique dining experience for us.

They offered a pretty good kids menu too.  We ordered the cod & chips for the girls and felt that it was pretty worth it for a $5 kids meal, considering having it at the waterfront restaurant with the ambiance that it offers.

The sourdough bread that the waiter served us while we waited for our food was delicious too.  We ended the meal with a dessert for the girls...and that is non-other than their all time favorite ice-cream!  

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal there and if we were to be in Seattle again, surely we will be back to the Crab Pot.  ;)