Trip Report - 3 Wonderful weeks in Alaska on Star Princess and Nieuw Amsterdam

Below is the link to ALL our pictures from our 3 weeks in Alaska. Thanks again for taking a peak at our adventures.

 

https://alaska2017princessandhal.shutterfly.com/

Thanks for the trip report - looking forward to ALL of the pics :)

I'm

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Thanks for the trip report - looking forward to ALL of the pics :)

Thanks, Coral. It took a while but I finally got it done. Forgot to say "thanks" for your post about my DH's retirement --- I thought the day would never come. I first met him when he was working in Alaska so it was fitting that we celebrated his retirement there. :)

We recently returned from three consecutive cruises to Alaska: Two on the Star Princess (northbound and southbound routes) and one on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam (Vancouver-Vancouver route.) We decided last year that we would make our 2017 Alaska cruises all about the glaciers; mission accomplished.

 

About Us: My husband is 71 and I am 66. Counting the above cruises, we have enjoyed 21 beautiful cruises to Alaska. We are not loyal to any one cruise line; itinerary and port times are priorities for us. Our Alaska sailing history includes the following cruise lines: Princess (4), Royal Caribbean (8), Celebrity (8) and Holland America (1). We have had balcony cabins and inside cabins during our sailings to Alaska; this time we had inside cabins for all three cruises.

 

 

For now, I have incorporated a few relevant pictures throughout the narrative. Keep checking back as I hope to attach a link below my “signature” that will provide a more in-depth look at our beautiful memories.

 

Flights: We flew Alaska Airlines from Sacramento to Seattle to Vancouver without incident. Our goal was to arrive in Vancouver with a nice time cushion so we could do a little sightseeing and have some relaxation time; mission accomplished.

 

 

Vancouver Airport: Upon arrival in Vancouver we departed our plane and followed the clearly marked signage to Immigration. At Immigration, we followed the verbal instruction by one of the representatives and we took our place in line for processing. Although the lines looked very long, the whole process was quick and painless. After Immigration, we made our way down to the baggage claim area to retrieve our luggage. One nice thing about the Vancouver Airport is the availability of “free” luggage carts to use while retrieving/hauling your bags. We estimated we waited in the Immigration line about 20 minutes and 15 minutes at baggage claim.

 

Transportation to the Hotel: With all our luggage on our cart, we followed the signage directing us to the ground transportation area. Just outside the door, there was a taxi line that moved very quickly. Taxi to the Marriott Pinnacle was $35 plus tip. We were very thankful that the ride from the airport to the hotel was a fixed rate as construction caused extensive traffic delays. We estimated that our ride to the hotel took 45min-1 hour.

 

Hotel: During our past visits we have stayed at the following hotels: Pan Pacific, Hyatt Regency, Fairmont Waterfront and Marriott Pinnacle; all are wonderful hotels. For this visit, we used Marriott points so we opted to stay at the Marriott Pinnacle for both our pre-and post-cruise stays. We had a wonderful room with a view of the water so we could see the cruise ships come and go.

 

I will try to post more tomorrow.

Thanks for your post, we leave Vancouver on the NIeuw Amsterdam on September 16, we then pick up the Princess Star on the 24th from Vancouver to Hawaii. We are first time with HAL and welcome any advice you may have.

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Thanks for your post, we leave Vancouver on the NIeuw Amsterdam on September 16, we then pick up the Princess Star on the 24th from Vancouver to Hawaii. We are first time with HAL and welcome any advice you may have.

 

 

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What type of advice are you looking for?

Great review and beautiful photos. I do Alaska every year and visit Tracy Arm every chance I get with Adventure Bound. IMHO nothing beats getting close to the Glaciers in Tracy Arm, I think they are by far the bluest and most active for calving.

College Fjord used to be a big favorite also but last several trips we have gotten no where near close and its sad to see how much some of the glaciers have retreated

Overall I still love Alaska :)

Great review and beautiful photos. I do Alaska every year and visit Tracy Arm every chance I get with Adventure Bound. IMHO nothing beats getting close to the Glaciers in Tracy Arm, I think they are by far the bluest and most active for calving.

 

College Fjord used to be a big favorite also but last several trips we have gotten no where near close and its sad to see how much some of the glaciers have retreated

 

Overall I still love Alaska :)

Doug, thanks for the kind remarks. Tracy Arm is truly beautiful; I love being surrounded by all the blue ice. We were so excited that we had the opportunity to take the small boat tour to Tracy Arm.

We still love Alaska as well. We have our 2018 visit all planned out and currently discussing plans for 2019. When we started planning our 2017 trip we decided we would make it all about the glaciers -- we have seen a lot of changes in the glaciers over the years and we decided it was time to take in as many glaciers as we could while we had the opportunity.

Before the 2017 cruise, we had visited College Fjord only once and that was many years ago on Princess. After our trip this year, I don't think College Fjord will be a priority for us.

Unless you go often its sometimes hard to note the changes. I wish everything was back to what it was like on my first visit back in 1995. Early 2000's is when I really noticed the changes in the ports begin to take place with all the small Mom & Pop stores being replaced by the large chains/ jewelry stores. Glaciers have been getting smaller all the time.

It also seems to me that as the years go on the ships don't get anywhere near as close as on my first trips, then it was common to get within about 1/4 mile. Now in many spots its 9-10 miles. I always laugh at the comment that every cruise seems to be 'the closest we've gotten this year" lol

Unless you go often its sometimes hard to note the changes. I wish everything was back to what it was like on my first visit back in 1995. Early 2000's is when I really noticed the changes in the ports begin to take place with all the small Mom & Pop stores being replaced by the large chains/ jewelry stores. Glaciers have been getting smaller all the time.

 

It also seems to me that as the years go on the ships don't get anywhere near as close as on my first trips, then it was common to get within about 1/4 mile. Now in many spots its 9-10 miles. I always laugh at the comment that every cruise seems to be 'the closest we've gotten this year" lol

Our first cruise to Alaska was 2005.

"I always laugh at the comment that every cruise seems to be 'the closest we've gotten this year"Heck, on some of my B2B cruises I hear this is closer than the week before --- NOT as I was on that cruise so I think I should know.