Eileen G

2 hours ago, KG2019 said:

So we are doing Northbound and I have read "what to expect" as far as Glacier Bay......a ranger comes aboard ship, etc...…..does something similar happen at College Fjord?  What do I expect that day?   Thanks!

There is no ranger but our naturalist did talk over the PA for most of the sail in. The beautiful views really start once you enter Prince Edward sound at about 4. It takes a while to get to College Fjord but it's incredibly beautiful as you sail in. The ship spent a while at the end looking at all the glaciers. We were there in May so the mountains were still covered in snow and we had a sunny day with a beautiful blue sky which I hear is unusual.

Enjoying Hubbard really depends on how close the ships gets to it. On our first visit our ship was very close and it was spectacular. Our second visit there was too much ice to get close so we just saw it from a distance and it was not near as impressive.

Our first trip to Alaska was on the Volendam 15 years ago and we loved it. I'm not sure if things have changed but we had a balcony and spent most of our outside viewing on one of the two rear decks with lounge chairs. Also back then the Volendam had laundry rooms so it was easy to wash a load of clothes. The newer HAL ships don't have laundry rooms. 

Each town has a walking tour you can gt at the visitors center. In Skagway they even have ranger led tours of some of the historical sights from the Klondike historical National Park. Each town has beautiful flowers and sights of the mountains.

whale park in Ketchikan

the Rock statue in Kechikan

gold rush cemetery in Skagway

Ried Falls in Skagway

Whale statue in Juneau

When we got off the Coral Princess last month the Princess shuttle from Whitter to Anchorage was $54. It will take you to the airport or convention center downtown. You just book it on board around day 3. We had a late flight so we took it to the airport and rented a car for the day. 

Coral Princess northbound May 15 with 5 days post cruise DYI.

We really love the Coral Princess and think she is the perfect ship to sail to Alaska.  With the buffet at the front of the ship and the two back decks with lounge chairs along with the usual viewing areas there are so many places to see outside. There is a beautiful covered pool area with great viewing if it’s too cold. The promenade deck goes all the way around and there are two front viewing decks on the Carib and Aloha decks. The card room and library also have great inside viewing places to sit.

We booked an obstructed ocean view cabin because we knew of all the great viewing areas but because the prices came down so low we were able to upgrade to a balcony at no charge. We also had ‘soda and more’ and free gratuities.

The entertainment was plentiful with so many Alaska related programs. You got a real feel of Alaska the moment you stepped on board with the crew dressed as lumberjacks. All of the regular cruise entertainment was there too with the three production shows, Marriage match show, voice of the ocean, and all the rest. There just isn’t enough time to see it all. Alaska was our main focus since this was our 49^th cruise so we spent a lot of time on deck or on our balcony watching the amazing scenery go by and looking for wild life.

The next day we stopped at the park and went to the 10:00 sled dog demonstration. We drove down the Denali Highway about 15 miles although there were too many clouds to see the mountains well. We also drove a few miles past Cantwell to see if we could see Denali but we couldn’t. We drove back to the park and out to mile 15 again. We were very lucky and got to see a brown bear along the Savage River. We ate dinner at the Princess Lodge again.

The next morning we checked out of the motel and headed back to the park. It was a beautiful day with few clouds so we drove back past Cantwell and got some nice pictures of Denali. The moose weren’t around the visitors center any more so we were able to hike to the new suspension bridge that the sled dogs helped build this past winter. We drove back to Fairbanks with a nice stop in Nanana. We had dinner at a great BBQ place in Fairbanks.

We spent the night at the Pioneer Park Best Western and had a king suite with a fireplace. We drove out Chenna Hot Springs road to the Angel Rocks trail head and hiked up to the rocks. We also stopped briefly at the hot springs. After we got back to Fairbanks we stopped at the visitors and cultural center. This had a wonderful amount of info and some great displays. We also saw a movie on the Northern Lights. We grabbed a Cesar chicken salad at Costco for dinner. We returned the car and caught our 9:30 flight to Orlando with a stop in Minneapolis. This flight worked out well. We saw Mama Mia here we go again on the flight. We arrived in Orlando at 11:00 AM Monday morning.

Next morning we stopped at Fred Myers to get peanut butter, jelly, bread, cookies and chips so we had something for lunch while we were in Denali. After a two hour drive we arrived in Healy where we were staying at the Aroura Denali Hotel. We were able to check in and eat a quick lunch then headed to the park. Stopped at the visitors center and watched the movie. We stopped at the dog kennels to check it out. The sled dog demo was only at 10 and 2 until June 1. Then we drove to mile 15 as far as you can go in a car.  Walked around a bit looking for wildlife. We did spot a brown bear near the Savage River and some dahl sheep. There were a lot of moose all around. Most of the trails around the visitors center were closed because of two mama moose.

Even though it was early in the season Glitter Gultch was still crowded. We ended up eating dinner at the Princess lodge and then walking around the grounds after. It is a beautiful property.

We were on a couple of weeks ago and only had problems once in a while. I think it has more to do with where the ship is in relation to the satellites. There were times the hole ship had no internet for a short time. If we couldn't get on we just tried again later. The problem comes in when someone needs to be on at a specific time or on a lot. You can not rely on it to be working when you need it. We have experienced similar problems in the Caribbean too. Peek times are always a problem no matter what ship you are on. 

Ships that sail from Vancouver and go between the mainland and Vancouver Island do so at night. By the time it's light in the morning they are out in Queen Charlotte Sound with land off in the distance. It's the return trip that can spend the day cruising through the Canadian inner passage. I think a lot depends on the tides as to how much of the day the ship will sail through. 

You can always do the Princess transfer into Anchorage and rent a car for the day. There are many great places to see near Anchorage. 

If you're walking around Juneau stop by this life sized statue of a humpback whale in a small park along the water at the bridge to Douglas Island.

We were returning from Douglas Island when we saw it. We had never seen any pictures of it and weren't aware of it being there. 

14 hours ago, masterdrago said:

While we were dining at Simon & Seaforts a cruise ship was leaving Knik Arm. I was told that only one cruise line could come in due to the shallow arm. Not sure which cruise line.

 

 

 

 

 

I believe that is the Queen Elizabeth. She was in Juneau with us and DH took a picture.

3 hours ago, worldtraveller99 said:

Loving your review! Please can you tell me where exactly you took the beautiful photo of the breaching whale statue in Juneau?

From the library you need to just walk along the water towards the bridge to Douglas Island. I believe there is a walkway to the park. It's a small park and the statue is life size. We saw it from the bridge when we were returning from Douglas Island and had to stop to take a picture.

3 hours ago, Dubdude007 said:

I found a Vancouver round trip on celebrity eclipse: Vanc, Inside Pssage, Icy point, Hubbard, Juneau, Ketchikan, Inside Passage, Vanc---thoughts?

This looks like a very nice cruise with lots of positives and only a few minor negatives. The price looks good too. The biggest negative is getting to Icy Strait at 3:30 but you will be sailing through whale infested waters with beautiful scenery so make sure you are outside enjoying it. A really great positive is the ship and sailing Celebrity. And as Ferry_Watcher says make sure you all have passports and no DUIs.

We did it five years ago when we had a rental  car and really enjoyed it. Some of the ruins had an Indiana Jones feel about them. We were probably there about an hour and a half.

Our ship didn’t get to the dock in Whittier until 6AM. We put down on the disembarkation paper that we were renting a car at the Anchorage airport. We were red 3 which was transfer with luggage to Anchorage car rental. We had to meet at the Explorers Lounge at 7:05. Getting off the ship was easy since there was no immigration to go through. The luggage is put on a truck and taken to the airport. There is no public transportation or taxis in Whittier so you must have a prearranged transfer. There are a couple of private companies that you can book for the transfer but they are not much cheaper than the Princess transfer which was $54.

Since the buses couldn’t get through the tunnel until 8 our driver gave a little tour of Whittier. We had a great driver who told us about the area and history while we drove to Anchorage. Driving through the tunnel was really cool and the weather was again sunny with blue skies. The drive along Turnagin Arm was beautiful. We even got to see a small bore tide and a moose with baby. We were dropped off at the airport and our luggage was in a secure room. We could leave it there until they closed at 7PM. Since we were just renting a car for the day we decided to just leave it there. Our flight to Fairbanks was at 8PM.

We have been to Anchorage several times so we just drove to the Flat Top Mt trail head for a view of the city and Denali. We could even see all the volcanos along Cook Inlet. We had lunch and went to Earthquake park. We also went to the library to use the internet for a while before having dinner and returning to the airport.

While making our return flights home it turned out that it was cheaper with better connections to fly home from Fairbanks. Since we were planning on going to Denali and a one car rental between Anchorage and Fairbanks was so steep we decided to just fly to Fairbanks and rent a car there. It’s only a two hour drive from Fairbanks to Denali compared to a 5 hour drive from Anchorage.

We returned our car and picked up our luggage at the airport. Our flight was an hour late so we didn’t arrive in Fairbanks until 10PM. We were staying at a Best Western right near the airport so we didn’t have far to go.

Have you considered going out of Vancouver it's not that far?

One way cruises are the best option IF you have time to explore the interior of Alaska. Round trips are perfectly fine and can be much easier. You will have to fly in the day before but all the embarkation ports are great to visit. Of those three the Golden is the only one that gives you an extra 'port' with Hubbard and Glacier Bay. The Golden leaves from Whitter which can be a challenge to get to from Anchorage. If you don't have any extra time to spend around Anchorage then I really think a round trip from Vancouver that has three ports and Glacier Bay would be the best option for you. You could fly into Vancouver the day before and enjoy the afternoon and evening there before boarding the ship the next morning. It would be pretty simple to make it home the day you get off the ship.

I just finished the northbound cruise and you can read my review here:

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I remember visiting College Fjord many years ago and was not impressed at all in comparison to Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier.  The OP's photos surely are nothing like what I remember.  Maybe next year a cruise that includes College Fjord?

I think all that white snow could make a difference too. 

Our last day was mostly a sea day ending in College Fjord. Our naturalist had another talk at 1 and there was the pub lunch in the Bayou Café. In the late afternoon we entered Prince William Sound and were surrounded by mountains. It was another beautiful day with snow caped mountains and blue sky. We chose this cruise because we had never been to College Fjord and we were not disappointed. We both thought it was more beautiful than Glacier Bay. The mountains are a bit more dramatic. The ship doesn’t get very close to any of the glaciers so you don’t see any calving. You are just surrounded by incredible beauty.

Our sixth day was Glacier Bay. We were an hour late picking up the rangers so all the programs had to be shifted back an hour. It was a beautiful sunny day and the mountains were spectacular. We arrived at Margerie Glacier at around 11AM with the port side having about fifteen minutes facing the glacier. We did not get as close as on previous cruises but there were a lot of seals on the icebergs and I had never seen them there before. When the ship turned we ran down to the promenade deck on the starboard side where we stayed for another fifteen minutes. Finally the ship faced the glacier to the rear so we ran to the back of the ship. We stayed here another fifteen minutes. The glacier wasn’t very active and we saw only a few good calvings. We sailed to Lumplugh Glacier where we spent a little more time watching the glacier.

Most of the day we spent on our balcony with binoculars looking for wildlife. There was a small island covered in sea lions and a lot of otters floating about. We didn’t any whales but a few people said they did. We dropped the rangers off on the way out. As we left Glacier bay and entered the Gulf of Alaska we had a good view of Mt Fairweather. It is some 18,000+ feet tall and seeing it at sea level is impressive. This is the second formal night but we were too busy looking at the scenery to go to the dining room. The buffet area is at the front of the ship and is surrounded by windows. This is one of the reasons we like to sail the Coral. Tonight was the second production shoe ‘Encore’ and the Marriage Match Gameshow.

12 minutes ago, milolii said:

Thank you for the report.  I also saw the menus you posted on the Princess thread,  

I had a few questions regarding embarkation.  What time did you drop your luggage?  And you went the the Pan pacific Hotel to start embarkation?   Were you staying at the hotel? Or at another hotel?  We are at the Hilton Hampton Inn. 

There is a race the day of our trip so we may even walk.  

Thanks again.  

We dropped our luggage at 12 and there was very little traffic. There were only two ships Coral and Volendam so about 2000 on Coral and 1400 on Volendam. We stayed in North Vancouver. If you walk just go to the door man at the Pan Pacific main door and he will direct you how to get to the luggage drop off. When you drop off your luggage you will be directed to check in. If you take a cab they will know where to go.