RockAHula Baby

I have a question about Princess cruises. I am new here and this will be my first cruise. I have always wanted to go to Alaska and thinking about a Princess land and cruise at the end of August to Alaska. But I hate to do it if there are few other single travelers on board. I wanted to get feedback from others on this site that uses Princess.

 

Thank you so much.

 

I did a 13 night cruise tour last year in September on my own. I was supposed to go with someone who wound up not being able to go. It was a great vacation. I was apprehensive about being alone, even though I love to read and in general enjoy alone time; but it seemed like it might be uncomfortable being by myself on a trip that is usually filled with couples. It was not an issue. I met people on the train that I spent time with at the lodges. Often we would be on the same excursions on the land tour. I had plenty of invites for meals on the land tour with the people I had met. I also joined the roll call for the cruise and met people at the onboard meet & greet the first day. I always had someone to eat dinner with on the cruise and some of the roll call people were on same tours I was on. There were couples and singles in the roll call.

I did have an empty seat next to me often during the land tour, which wasn't bad at all (on the motor coaches from one lodge to next, on train, on excursions, etc) Gave me room to spread out and also, some of the people I met would ask if they could put some of their extra gear on the seat, so it was helpful to them. It was nice doing what I wanted on my own schedule. The only down side was in Anchorage. I went to Anchorage 2 days before cruise tour began and had booked a couple of tours that I really was excited about (bear viewing and jet ski) It was early Sept and we were the only ones that had booked the excursions. When I notified them that there would just be one person, both of them cancelled, they would not do the tour with just one person. It was disappointing but they had to give me my money back at least since it was their decision to cancel.

I think you will have a great time; don't worry about being on your own!

Hello!

 

Can someone please tell me if there is a Thermal Suite on the Crown? If there is, I have a couple of follow up questions.... What exactly is in the thermal suite? And does anyone know if the facilities are wheelchair accessible?

 

Also... does anyone know if there is a lift or wheelchair access for any of the pools or hot tubs?

 

Thanks in advance :)

 

Hello. There is a Thermal Suite on the Crown. It is on the Lido Deck, below the Lotus Spa on the Sun Deck (towards front of ship)

I have used the Thermal Suite on the Coral. From the ship diagram, it appears that the thermal suite on Crown is larger.

I am not sure if it is wheelchair accessible. Maybe? Once you are inside, I think there might be room, if the wheelchair fit through the doorway and if the doorway did not have one of those raised metal lip thingies (excuse my very professional jargon) :)

The one on the Coral had 4 heated stone loungers, which doesn't sound comfortable, but really were. It also had a dry sauna and several steam rooms, each with a different type fragrance to it and purpose. I was fighting a cold and they really did clear my sinuses. I think there also may be a shower, but I don't remember for sure. I enjoyed it and used it daily during the cruise, although I could only stand the heat of the steam for 5 minutes or so at a time. I would wear a swimsuit with robe over it and then hang the robe up on the available hooks while in the steam rooms or sauna.

I don't know about wheelchair access to pools.

I found a link about Princess here:http://www.princess.com/news/backgrounders_and_fact_sheets/factsheet/Princess-Access-Makes-Cruise-Vacations-Accessible-For-Passengers-With-Disabilities.html#.V3MTQ4-cGUk

 

Which mentions that they have accessibility to many of their public areas including spa area. Maybe calling Princess would be the best way to find out?

We need a little help from those of you who have experience this trip. How long from Denali to Copper river and how are the roads? Question 2 is how is the Catamaran sail from Valdez to Whittier. What was your experience like at Copper River Lodge? Thanks for the help.

 

Was on the Off the Beaten Path tour in Sept 2015. I loved the Copper River Lodge. The view is spectacular, especially with fall colors. Everyone at Lodge was very nice. Did not do any excursions there but spent day hiking the various trails around the lodge as well as taking their shuttle ($5) to the Natl Park and doing a little walking on the trails around visitor center. There is also a shuttle in late afternoon to take you to see the pipeline, and they have shuttle service to the town of Copper Center. You can shuttle over there for lunch if wanted. It is much smaller than the lodge at Denali and only has 1 restaurant, plus food is served in the bar. That is not a large space though. There is a restaurant in Copper Center that owns a limo and they will come to the lodge to pick you up in the limo. However, don't take that to mean this is a fine dining experience. I heard the highlight of their menu is the Reuben sandwich. Good food, but not fancy, and not what you would expect from being taken there in a limo. The town of Copper River is very small. The lodge does a nightly ceremony to honor veterans which is very nice. Room was fine also. The gift shop is pretty small compared to the other lodges. This lodge has one of the most beautiful views anywhere and if you like walking or hiking, you can spend a day doing that.

I had no issues with the ride from Denali to Copper River. Yes, it's an all day bus ride, but as the other poster noted, you do stop quite frequently. The lunch stop is at MacLaren's and it is really out in the middle of no-where. Very limited menu but super nice people. It was basically a choice of a sandwich or a soup/bread bar, plus home made pie and home made ice cream. Still very tasty! The scenery along the Denali Highway is spectacular. The road is gravel/dirt for a lot of it, but the bus was still comfortable enough. Not sure when you are going, but the combination of fresh snow on the mountains and fall colors made it hard to beat. I loved the drive. Had more of a sense of being out in the interior of Alaska than at Denali or Talkeetna.

There was plenty of room on the bus for carry on and also space below the bus if you had a carryon that wouldn't fit in the overhead. Saw moose and caribou on the drive.

The drive down to Valdez was also very pretty. Stopped at a glacier (Worthington? I think that was it) and a couple of beautiful waterfalls to stretch legs and take pictures. Once in Valdez, the bus driver was super nice; he drove us on a circuit around the town pointing out the various lunch options; so you could see all the restaurant choices, then back around again to drop you off for your lunch at the one of your choice, and then picked you back up an hour later. I also had time to make a quick drug store stop before lunch.

Unfortunately for us, that was an inclement day. During lunch time in Valdez it was misty and that turned into a full fledged rain by the time we got on the ferry. So the ferry experience was not great. Certainly no one's fault, but it was raining so hard that nobody wanted to be up on deck, could not see any wildlife or scenery. we were all crammed into the covered cabin part and with so many people in there, the windows were completely fogged up, even though they say the windows don't fog- with that many people in a small area, all dressed in jackets - they fog up. The poor crew kept going around the outside decks in the downpour squeegeeing the windows but it didn't help. Four hours and didn't see anything but my table mates. But again, can't help the weather and certainly can't blame Princess or the ferry people for that.

The embark in Whittier was pretty quick. The rain followed us, so nobody wanted to spend anytime looking around Whittier, just trying to stay dry while we waited to board. Even though they had a covered walkway, it was so windy rain was blowing in. I think the motorcoach down from Copper River arrives ahead of the trains coming down from Denali, so that lent itself to a quicker embarkation. The first night and first day on cruise continued with the storm; it was very high seas and windy. The Lido deck was drenched with water sloshing out of the pool because the seas were so rough and the outside decks were closed as they felt it was too rough for people to walk on them and the pools also closed. Even so, I had no problem with sea sickness and wasn't feeling a lot of motion, but it sure was a storm. Was on the Coral and it handled the seas very well. I didn't see or hear of anyone complaining of sea-sickness despite the weather.

I'm sure you will enjoy your trip!! It was a fantastic experience and vacation, can't wait to go to Alaska again. Oh wait , 63 days and I AM going to Alaska again! With Princess!

We are taking a land/sea Alaskan cruise in July on the Coral Princess, and I believe we will not board the ship until 8 at night. How do we book a specialty restaurant? We would like to try one of the restaurants and I am worried that we will not get a reservation if we have to wait to make our request upon boarding. Also, does anyone know when the formal nights would be on a 7 night cruise? Our first 2 days and last day are at sea. Thanks?

 

On the southbound Whittier to Vancouver on Coral last year, the formal nights were the first sea day and the Juneau port day.

#1 Has anyone done the Midnight Sun Dinner and Float excursion in Fairbanks? We have it booked but cant find reviews on it.

 

 

#2 Has anyone done the Covered Wagon/Back Country Dining excursion in Denali?

 

 

#3 Has anyone done the Black Bear ATV (the 6 person one) in McKinley? If so, who drives this? We don't want to drive! And is this fun/worthwhile?

 

 

#4 We have 2 hour horseback riding booked on the morning we will then take the coach to Talkneeta and then the train to Whittier. Will this be too much on that day? We have the Wilderness Jet Boat Adventure booked at McKinley on the previous day, and could horseback ride in the morning before that instead. Would you recommend doing that instead?

 

#5 on our last day of the land portion we are at McKinley Princess lodge. It is scheduled for us to leave via coach at 1:30pm to Talkeetna (1.25 hours) then train to Whittier ( 5 hours). My math then puts us in Whittier at 8:00pm. Supposely our ship, the Star Princess is leaving at 8:30pm. How crazy is this? I don't see where we have a choice, but not sure how it works getting off train and onto ship and then muster drill and dinner that first night? If it helps we have Anytime Dining....so I guess can eat in that dining room until 10pm correct?

 

Sorry for so many questions in my first post!

Re: Dinner on the first night. I was on the Coral last year out of Whittier. When we were boarding the ship (which didn't take long at all) we were handed a slip of paper with dining time. For the first night only they were doing two seatings for dinner, even if you were on anytime dining. FWIW, our coach got to the ship about 5:00 pm and still we received the later seating (8:45 if I remember right?) We just ate in the buffet that night though. Also there is a "late arriving passengers" muster drill that is held after the regular one, so I'm guessing that must be for the people on the train to Whittier. We also jam packed excursions into every day- usually two each day both on land tour and cruise and loved it. Used the first two sea days to recharge. We were in Alaska for 15 days and had 4 days of rain. Had no excursions cancelled although at Talkeetna, most flight seeing excursions were cancelled due to weather. Enjoy your trip!

Really enjoying your "Live from Crown Princess" ! Thanks for doing this.

I'm on the Feb 1st Crown sailing so interested to hear how everything is going and wondering if it will still be Code Red then. Hope you are having a great time

I don't care for it. It's fine to have it as an option, but I don't like the idea of it being mandatory. I've already encountered the AK cruise tour land excursions having to be paid within 24 hours of booking and I don't like that at all. Especially as I am 9 months away from the cruise - having to pay them in advance that far out - why should Princess have the use of my money for 9 months in advance? I've also changed my mind on the land excursions a couple of times, resulting in charges and reversals and new charges. That could all be avoided if they would wait
Last year I was on a Princess Alaska cruise tour and they didn't even seem to know what they were doing with the charges. The documents in the Cruise Personalizer (Cruise tour answer book, etc) said that the land excursions had to be paid - I think it said at 5 days before the tour - something like that. At 21 days before the first day of tour I was charged for all excursions. I called Princess and was told this was their policy. I told them that it was not documented in the cruise personalizer and was told that I couldn't rely on the info in there !!! Why have the cruise answer book, the cruise tour answer book and the FAQ's if they're not accurate?
I also don't like how the excursion prices increase as you get closer to sail date. I've always been loyal to taking Princess excursions but am definitely considering booking independently now. I realize I would still pay them in advance but would probably save a good bit of money.

Thank you! I was thinking of an informal meeting, not something formally set up by Princess. We don't have enough interest for a formal meet & greet but there are some that would like to informally meet on the first morning. Was wondering if there were any public rooms not in use. Thanks!

Hello- anyone out there who did the Coral Alaska southbound (Whittier-Vancouver) in 2015? Since the ship leaves relatively late - 8:30 pm- thinking of doing a meet & greet the next morning. Did anyone do this and what venue did you use? Not sure which public rooms are used for other activities around 10:00 am on the first day at sea.

Is the muster at 8:00 pm the first evening?

Sailing in 3 weeks - leaving for AK in 2 - can't wait! Thanks!