nf5894

Review continued -

 Ports - As this trip was last minute and was more about relaxing and stress relief than anything else - we didn't book any excursions. We'd been to all of the places before so were quite happy to just have a look around the ports ourselves. Ketchikan is a nice small town with lots of shops close to the pier. We heard good things about the "Bering Sea crab boat' trip, so may do that if we go again. Also heard that the lumberjack show was quite entertaining. After leaving Ketchikan we did spot some whales and other marine life. Just after midnight the captain also announced that the Northern Lights were visible on the starboard side.

In Juneau we just had a walk along the waterfront. We've done a whale watching trip there before and that was fun. We saw a seal and bald eagles and visited a few stores. Skagway is probably our favorite of the Alaskan ports and we have done the trip up to the Yukon before so again just had a look around the town for a short time. 

Glacier Bay was what we were really excited about as we'd never been there before. Unfortunately for us, the weather was cloudy and drizzly when we were there. It was probably the worst weather day of the entire cruise but it didn't spoil the enjoyment. We got to see sealions, mountain goats, lots of birds, seals, sea otters and a whale. Getting so close to the Margerie Glacier was awesome. When we first got there a huge chunk of the ice fell off into the water. It was before any of us had our cameras ready which was disappointing but the noise it made was fantastic. We did see more calving although it was smaller pieces and were able to catch them on camera. It would have been nice to get some great scenery pictures with a nice blue sky in the background but it was still a great day.

Ship Crew / Staff - Captian Tuvo was amazing. This was only my 8th cruise so I'm not an expert but I've never seen a captain who engages with the passengers as much as he did. We saw him around the ship every day and he was always smiling and stopping to talk to passengers. I'm sure anyone who has sailed with him would say his personality is infectious and his signature announcements were fun! Cruise Director Fernando was also great. He was very friendly and entertaining and had a really good group of staff, especially Nat and Ramon. Our room steward was great and all bar and wait staff were extremely polite and professional. I only needed to visit the front desk once and there was no line and my issue was handled quickly and efficiently. The photographers too were extremely friendly and not pushy at all. The staff at the kids club were also very good. Overall, we thought all of the staff were excellent.

Will continue when I have more time.

1 hour ago, KLTDRT said:

What did your boys like best about the cruise?   Do you recommend an excursion that they liked? I am taking my 12 year old son on an Alaskan cruise in June.

 

They both like just being onboard ships. Also the kids clubs are great and they spend time in there. There is one for 8-12 year olds and another for 13-17. Lots of video games, game tables and organized activities. Plus on this trip they both liked the 'Puppies in the Piazza' where some young husky puppies were brought onboard. Excursion wise, we didn't do any this time but we heard there was a good trip to do in Ketchikan where you could take a trip on a Bering Sea Crab boat. We heard good reports about that although we didn't do it ourselves. In Juneau they enjoyed the whale watching when we did it a few years ago. Plus the train to the Yukon from Skagway is good for kids. 

This review could get quite long, so I'll break it down into sections and post when I can!

We were not planning on doing an Alaska cruise this year at all. We had been looking at 'maybe' doing a 7 day Mexican cruise around this time, but saw the prices for this voyage and couldn't turn it down. We have been to Alaska before, and visited all of the ports but the weather then was really bad, plus this cruise did Glacier Bay which we hadn't been to before. This was our 2nd Princess cruise - 2 adults and 2 boys (13 & 10) one introvert and one extrovert (if you do watch the video you'll work out which one is which). Most of the cruises I've done have been on Cunard but after doing our first with Princess last year we decided we really liked it.

Embarkation & Sailing away -  We live in the Vegas area so are about 4 hours away from San Pedro. We drove approx 3 hours on the Friday night and stayed in a hotel, then did the last hour on Saturday morning. We'd received an email from Princess a few days before to say that boarding would not begin until 2pm, so were in no rush to get to the ship. My oldest wanted to see the Queen Mary, so we went to Long Beach first so he could have a look at the ship and get some photos. We arrived in San Pedro at approx 11am, and with the Royal and the Star in port, the parking lot was reasonably busy. As we were still pretty early, we parked up over by the USS Iowa and decided to tour that ship. It was a fun tour that we all enjoyed and it took about 2 hours. After that we 'tried' to find a parking space closer to the terminal. Notice the term 'tried'. On our previous Princess cruise there were 2 ships in port at San Pedro and we easily found a parking space. This time, not so easy! I presume it was because of the size of the Royal. After half an hour or so of driving around searching for a space along with lots of other cars, we had to park back over by the Iowa. This made for about a 10 minute walk across the parking lot with our cases. When we actually dropped off our cases and got inside, it didn't take too long to get through - maybe 20 minutes or so. Then we were given a number and asked to go to a waiting area before we could board. It was probably about another 45 minutes until we were called and we eventually got to our cabin just before 3pm. The Muster drill was due to start at 3.15 so we went straight to that. It was late starting and by the time it was finished our sailing time of 4pm had already passed. The Royal left port first and by the time we left it was probably about 5.30pm.

Cabin - We had an inside cabin on deck 12 Aloha. We were only a few steps away from the rear of the ship and the aft pool, so the location was really good for us. Plus only 1 deck up to the buffet. Was a little worried about 4 of us being in a small inside cabin but we only really used it for sleeping so it turned out to be fine! The room was spacious enough with good closet space. Beds were comfortable and didn't hear any noise at all from other passengers or from the deck above.

Food - We usually only use the buffet on cruises and on this ship the buffet was good. There was the occasional line at peak times but even then it was quite short. Never really had any problems finding a table either - which we did on the Emerald last year. Food choices were good and we were happy with the quality. We used the Amalfi dining room 3 times on this trip and again the food was very good. We didn't try any of the speciality dining but did use the International Cafe and the poolside burger and pizza places which were all great.

I will get to the Entertainment, ports, staff etc in later posts but I'm out of time for now. Here's a link to our youtube video and if anyone has any questions about the Star, Alaska or Princess in general, please ask.

Thanks

My 13 yr old son has put together this photo/video on Youtube from our Alaska trip on April 27th. If anyone was on this cruise, has cruised to Alaska with Princess or  may be cruising to Alaska in the future, then you may find this interesting. He takes all of the photos and video himself and this is the 2nd video he has done - the first was from our Hawaii cruise last year. I am in the process of putting a video together as well and will post a review of the trip too. I tend to focus more on scenery and activities while he does more pictures and footage of the ship.

Please take a look, thanks.

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

can you provide a youtube link? something in my settings is not allowing the video to pop up - only blank space

When I type in the Youtube link, it automatically puts up the video on here like it did in the original post! So below is the actual web address but I added a space in between com and /

www.youtube.com /watch?v=Ef9-8IZ3KOA

Hopefully that works for you 😃

Hi,

My young son has recently put together a youtube video of our cruise to Hawaii in December aboard the Emerald. It features lots of photos and short video clips around the ship and on the islands. He took all the photos and made the video all by himself. While it's not perfect, I think he did a good job (but I may be a little biased). It may be of interest to anyone who's done that cruise or anyone thinking of doing it. It's his first attempt at doing a vacation video and hopefully he'll get a lot of views of his work, and it will encourage him to keep making more. Personally I'd prefer to have him doing something constructive like this rather than playing video games. Anyway, if you think you may be interested, please take a look. Thanks 😉

5 hours ago, OCruisers said:

Do any of you have a Stanley Bear?

Kids won a Stanley Bear on a recent Hawaii cruise.

4 hours ago, Kenosha Cruiser said:

Croptop, we had Lisa Ball on past cruises as a cruise director and really liked her. I see she has been promoted to Entertainment Director, is the cruise director Kaylee Ball related to Lisa Ball.? Glad your feeling better, now go and enjoy your island stops!

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

 

Yup we met Lisa Ball on the Emerald in December and she was really good. The Cruise Director is Kaylee Lloyd, no relation!

9 minutes ago, bestdogever said:

Thanks everyone for your comments, and nf5894 for posting your super video - looks like your family had a great time. This cruise is very tempting. I believe we would be on the Star if we take it the end of this year. We are going on a 12-night Alaska journey in a few months and that will give us an idea about how we like a large number of sea days. I am hesitant to wait until after we return to book a Hawaii trip for fear the cabin location we want won’t be available or the price will go up. All that said, we are looking forward to  hearing everything our fellow cruisers want to share.

Our cruise departed on Dec 4th 2018. We didn't book it until late September and there were still lots of cabins available then. We're looking at doing the same cruise again this year which leaves on the same date - this year it is on the Star, which does have fewer cabins so maybe we'll have to book earlier!

Have fun on your Alaska cruise 

3 hours ago, bestdogever said:

If you have taken the 15-day Princess cruise to Hawaii we would love to hear your thoughts about the itinerary, ship, activities, etc. Thanks.

We did it in early December last year. Enjoyed it a lot. Lots to do on the ship plus saw a lot of the things we wanted to see in Hawaii. Definitely will do the same trip again. Check out the video if you like 

2 hours ago, armymom101 said:

Great Video. We are also from Las Vegas and are Sailing on February 2.  Thank you for sharing your experience with us 

Thanks. Hope you have a great trip!

2 hours ago, elycelynne said:

Thanks for the review and video.  I'm doing this cruise on January 18th and am booked on the Land of Frozen Fire tour and the Maui whale watching tour in the morning.  How did you spend the rest of your day in Maui?  The Princess excursions all leave before the return from whale watching.

After the whale watching trip we took the free shuttle to Hilo Hatties and had a look around a few other stores too. Got back on board probably around mid afternoon. We did notice there was a small beach not too far away that we could have gone to but the kids were tired so we just went back to the ship.

8 hours ago, cheezenip said:

We will be on the Grand the 1st week of Jan. traveling to Mexico. Do you recall is they rotated the salad dressings with different selections at the buffet or were they always the standard fare (ranch, french, italian).

 

Also, do you recall the movies offered on your cruise?

 

I don't think they rotated salad dressings, pretty sure it was the same everyday but I'm not 100% on that.

There did seem to be quite a few movies on offer but we were so busy we didn't have much time for them. I do remember that they showed Cars 3 and the new Mission Impossible movie though. If I think of any others they showed, I'll let you know.

8 minutes ago, Bengant said:

Thanks for such a quick reply.  Will give the wi-fi a miss then.  😉

No problem. Hey I'm only commenting about the internet from what I heard on our cruise. It could have just been a problem at that time and they may have got it fixed! If I was you I'd try and find out some info from people on the same cruise now and even the ones before you in January and see if they had the same problem.

Also I just noticed you're from Birmingham UK. I live in the Vegas area now but grew up just outside of Birmingham so know what the weathers like there in January! You'll get much nicer weather on the ship than you would at home 😉 

2 minutes ago, Bengant said:

Thanks for the info.

 

We are doing this trip in late January and have a few of questions if you don't mind?

 

- Did you by-chance use the wifi and if so how good is it in the open ocean?  

 

- Did you feel you had enough time each of the islands visited?  

 

- Was it warm while travelling to and from Hawaii?

 

Thanks

I didn't use the internet but spoke to several people who did and they all said it was awful! One guy had bought a $200 package and said it was so bad he got a refund!

We did 1 excursion on each island and it was ok. Such interesting places though that if we'd have stopped on each island for 3 days it still probably wouldn't have been enough. Just means we'll have to do it again next year 😉

First 2/3 days out of LA it was a little cooler but not terrible, maybe low 60's average daytime temp, but after that it was probably mid 70's average. Then the last couple of days before we got back it dropped down again to probably mid 60's. I would imagine the weather would be quite similar in late January but obviously you never know for sure! Overall we thought it was nice as we've only ever done cold weather cruises before.

3 hours ago, peanutter said:

Thank you so much for posting!  I love the video. 

 

We are doing this cruise in February and I would like to ask a few questions:

 

1-What was it about the "Land of Frozen Fire" tour in Hawaii that you didn't like?  We were thinking of booking that one.

 

2-Which whale watching tour did you book in Maui?  I'm seeing two listed - one is titled "Whale Watching" and the other is "Deluxe Whale Watching."  There is also one that is on a Zodiac, but I'm not thinking that is what you were on.  Speaking of whales, were you able to see many/any from the ship?  I understand the waters are filled with them around Maui during the winter and they are easily spotted but not sure how prevalent they really are.

 

Thanks in advance for any info you can share.

Land of Frozen Fire tour was good, don't get me wrong. It was probably my mistake in taking the wording wrong as I'd never been to Hawaii before and didn't really know what to expect. I just got the impression from the wording that they would take you to the best location on the island at the time of your trip, so you could view current lava flows. We saw old lava flows which was cool and apparrantly there were no active flows at the time we were there anyway! The driver did say though that even if there were any current flows then that tour wouldn't take you there. Also it said the tour took you up to 7000ft to a point in between the 2 main volcanoes that had year round snow on their peaks! There was no snow when we were there - perhaps the wording should be the potential for year round snow. Pretty minor things and like I say, probably my fault for misunderstanding the wording. The tour did take us to some gardens, the waterfall, some lava flows, the 7000ft stop in between the volcanoes and to the macadamia nut factory. Also the driver took us to see the black sand beach which wasn't supposed to be on that trip. 

Ours was just the standard whale watching, definitely not on a zodiac. We saw a few whales on our trip and got some good shots but we didn't see any from the ship. Where the ship was stopped was quite a distance from the channel where the whale expert said the whales tend to be. Although in Februrary there should be many more whales there, than there were for us so you may get lucky and see them from the ship. We did see a pod of dolphins from our balcony but that was on the 2nd day out from LA.

Hope you have a good trip

1 hour ago, EightFurryPaws said:

Thanks for your review.  A few questions:

 

Is there any changing room at Waikiki Beach after swimming?  or need to stay in

wet bathing suit for the rest of the day?

 

Great pictures on the whale watching tour which we have planned.  What time did

you go out?  We are sticking with a Princess excursion on this one.  I noticed it is offered

early morning, late morning and afternoon.  I choose the late morning due to the tendering issue, then would still have time after to walk around the town.

 

We have the same cabin on the Emerald which we did last year to the South Pacific, 

and we are anxious to go.

 

Thank you for the information.

 

 

 

I don't remember seeing any proper changing rooms but there were outside showers and a restroom nearby the rental kiosk at the end of the beach where we were. If we did that again we wouldn't do the VIP trip though as it wasn't anything special. The write-up made it sound like it was a private part of the beach, but it wasn't! Apparantly all the VIP part meant was we got a lounger and umbrella! Trip cost us $400 and we could have got a taxi there and back, and hired the same lounger and umbrella for probably less than a hundred! 

Our whale watching trip was supposed to be 9.45am and when we got the tickets it stated that the whale watching boat would pick us up directly from the ship. That didn't happen, we were just taken to shore on a normal tender and transferred to the whale watching boat. The trip was running late and it was probably about 10.30 that we started. When it finished the boat dropped us off back at the dock - which was good as we wanted to have a look around the shops in town. We thought that the boat would take us directly back to ship (as stated on the tickets) and we'd have to wait in line for a tender to go ashore again! So it worked out quite well!

1 minute ago, JF - retired RRT said:

We've had rain almost every day this month.

Lots of other beaches. Next time rent a car and hit a couple. Look up Lydgate Park...your boys will love it.

Will do, thanks.

1 hour ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Very nice review and pictures.

Glad you liked Kauai...we 💝 it

Kauai was great. I believe it was Lawai Beach where we went for the snorkelling. It was the only island that we saw any rain, not that it matters much when you're under the water anyway. Definitely looking forward to going back there!

We were on the Dec 4th - Dec 19th Hawaii cruise out of LA. First timers on Princess and first time in Hawaii too.

Coming from the Vegas area, we drove 3 hours on the night before the cruise and stopped in a hotel. Drove the last hour or so, the next morning and parked at the port. It was pretty easy to find and parking was no problem. Did have people on board tell us about a hotel in San Pedro where you can stay for 1 night and leave your car for the duration of your cruise and get shuttles to and from the port. Will probably look into that next time as parking at the port for the cruise was just under $300. We arrived at the port at approx 1pm and after the kids had a look at the USS Iowa we parked and began the check-in process. It was pretty straight forward and quick, we were inside our cabin within about 30-40 mins.

We had a balcony cabin on Deck 12, starboard and close to the aft elevators. Cabin steward was great, room was always clean and didn't hear any noise from above or below, or from the elevators. Cabin was a little small for us, 2 adults and 2 kids, but for 15 days it was ok. Any longer and I think we'd need something bigger.

We all enjoyed the ship. Entertainment staff were great - Kaylee the cruise director, Ruby, Mark, Laura, Kimberly, Romeo etc. They were all approacable and very friendly. We did a lot of the trivia contests and gameshows so got to meet a lot of the staff. Our kids are 13 and 10 and although there wasn't a huge number of kids on board, there were enough for Princess to run the kids programs. Our boys went to the kids club sometimes and other times came with us to the various gameshows and contests around the ship. My youngest volunteers for everything while the older one is happy watching. He got picked for some gameshows and even went up to sing Karaoke in Club Fusion! He'd never even mentioned that before so it was a surprise when he asked to do it, but he did pretty well! There was also an escape room that we did which was quite good. Plus we saw 2 comedians, a magician and a ventriloquist who were good too. There was always something to do - wife did hulu dancing lessons and lei making and if there was any down time in between events then I just went to the gym. 

Overall we thought the food was good, nothing spectacular but it was fine. We prefer the buffet to the MDR but we did try it once. It was ok, service was good but food was no better than the buffet. The only problem with the buffet was that it was usually hard to find a table. We liked the burger place by the pool too and the kids liked the ice cream bar.

As it was our first time in Hawaii we did all Princess excursions. Next time we'll probably try some things on our own! In Oahu we did the VIP Waikiki Beach break (very expensive for what it was).  In Kauai, the beach snorkel (Very good). In Maui,  Whale watching (good) and in Hawaii we did the 'Land of Frozen fire tour' (ok but not quite what we were expecting). We didn't do any excursions in Ensenada, just went into town on the shuttle.

Disembarking was very straightforward too, no problems at all and took maybe half an hour.  Overall we all had a good experience and would choose Princess again - plus would do the 15 day Hawaii r/t again, although would probably do our own excursions next time.

If anyone has an Hawaiian Cruise coming soon and has any questions about the ship, Hawaii or wants more details about the excursions we did - please ask. Also check out our youtube video if you'd like to see some pictures.

Tried getting information from 2 of them via email but just kept getting generic emails from them, not answering any of my questions! Finally got a 3rd one to actually answer my questions but she said she couldn't get anywhere near the price offered from TA or match the OBC. So I booked with TA.

I was going to take a chance and wait for the new Princess sale - but last Saturday I was browsing through some TA websites and found a deal that was a full $1000 cheaper for us than on the official website, so I jumped on it striaght away! And after checking the new sale prices this week, the new 'sale' price had actually gone up slightly! So, always shop around and when you're comfortable with a price - book it ;)

Dont wait! Princess cruises sell out consistently. Hawaii is very popular

You may find one day when you log in that the cruise may show sold out.

I have learned over the years that you should book asap especially if there is a current sale. I have found the sold out cruise when I have waited more times than I care to count.

The cruise is capacity controlled so if you need a quad cabin they are few and far between and sellout quickly too. So even if they show quads available when you actually try and book one you may be out of luck.

Ok, thank you

The Sun Drenched Deal promo also does have a non-refundable deposit.

So, with a non-refundable deposit, if before final payment, you can still switch to a different promotion without penalty.

I booked under this promo and recently switched over to the 3 for Free promo for a bit more money but way better perks. They had no problem with it since I wasn't in the penalty phase even though I had a non-refundable deposit. I still have a non-refundable deposit but I came out a few hundred ahead by doing so.

Also need to mention that sometimes cabins go on sale right after final payment for 'new bookings' only if there is a LOT of availability. Early December brings a lot of deals ... late December, not so much, though.

 

Just of note, that crossing can be rough for the first couple of days out and the last couple of days back. I only mention that because you mentioned you've only been on a couple of cruises before and you may be happy to know what to expect. We were on that sailing with a couple of sisters in which it was their first cruise, one of which was terribly sea sick the first day out. I asked why they chose a 14 night sailing for their first cruise, not to mention one with a particularly rough start and end and with 2 5 day stretches at sea. They looked at me quizzically and asked me how I knew it was going to be rough. I said, because it is almost always rough for those first couple of days. I learned that from CruiseCritic many moons ago. We were lucky to have booked a midship room on deck 8 and barely noticed the movement while in our cabin. Anyway, the point being, if you get sea sick at all, I would recommend a cabin that is on a lower deck and midship.

Thanks for the info ;) it is early December we're looking at and there seems to still be a lot of rooms available - so still undecided as whether to book now or wait for a better deal! And as for the rough seas, I think we'll be ok. We were on a transatlantic crossing out of New York the day before Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012 and that was quite an adventure! Kids had seabands and they were ok and we were fine too. There were lots of people who backed out of that crossing at the last minute, plus lots of other on board getting really sick.

Just be aware that on the new promotion that there is a 10 percent non refundable deposit.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thanks, I thought the current sale was a 10% non-refundable deposit too. I will check again.