This is our first trip with Cruise West, so if you're curious about them read on. If you already know, or don't care, skip this entry.
Cruise West's fare includes tips, taxes, fees, land portions (including a ride to and from the airport on arrival and departure), 1 shore tour per port, coffee, tea, juices, and soft drinks. We paid a total fare for the both of us of $6,398. We did get a quote to include airfare, but it was more than double what we could book on our own, so we declined. We will be returning to Southwest Airlines for the first time, I think, since we left El Paso!
We are booked on Spirit of '98. We are booked in the lowest level cabin. We are in Category A, cabin 104. This will be our first cruise without a balcony! Gasp! Here is our thinking on that decision... It is a very small ship. There are no balcony cabins. The higher level cabins on the ship have outdoor entry. But, this also means that people walking or standing around on the outside decks can see in your cabin. The price difference to get an outside cabin for 7 days was $1600pp. We just didn't think on a ship this small that it was worth that to us to be able to open the door to get to outside air, not to mention having to keep the curtains closed for privacy. So, we'll see. I'm sure that we are going to be uncomfortable in this tiny windowed cabin, but it is only for 7 days and there was no size difference! Ours is 10'6"x9'6" and the outside door upgrade on a higher deck is exactly the same size! So, time will tell if we made the right decision, but we couldn't cough up the price difference for an outside door, especially since if it rains all week, we would be very unhappy to have to go outside in the rain to get to dinner or breakfast! So, we'll see.
How small is the Spirit of '98 you ask? It accommodates a maximum of 96 guests. It is 192 feet long and has a cruising speed of 13 knots. It is registered in the USA. It has satellite phone, email and Internet capability. There is an elevator from the Main Deck (where the Dining Room and our cabin is!) to the Upper Deck (which is one deck below the Sun Deck).
Here is some trivia for you. The Kevin Costner movie Wyatt Earp was filmed onboard Spirit of '98. I couldn't find a build date for the little ship but Cruise West says it was "designed to emulate an early 20th century coastal steamer complete with carved wooden cabinetry, plush floral upholstery, a Grand Salon, plus a full bar with old-world charm." Last bit of trivia regarding our cruise is that we will transit 8 locks/dams.
