Prior to this trip I had never been on an ocean cruise before, preferring to see the world via land tours. But my brother Joe had taken more than two dozen cruises with his late wife and simply raved about them. We chose Carnival Cruise Lines because Joe had elite status with them and we were able to get a pretty good deal on a seven-day Alaska cruise. Another thing that brought the price down was the time of the year; the season for cruising Alaska is between late April and September, with the busiest time being the summer months when the weather is nicer and kids are out of school. For different reasons, Joe and I could only do this trip during the month of May. Our cruise departed on May 5th, almost at the very start of the season. The weather was much colder and the ship was not full. Our vessel for this adventure was the Carnival Cruise Spirit which had just arrived in Seattle a few weeks earlier from the Caribbean. The first three days aboard the Spirit was spent sailing to Skagway, Alaska, where we made the first of several stops over the next four days before returning back to Seattle. The following photographs were taken onboard our ship, including the beautiful scenery as we traveled up the Endicott Arm Fjord, a stunning 30 mile-long waterway known for its steep cliffs, floating icebergs and the impressive Dawes Clacier that lies at the end of it.