Back From Alaska Star Princess Sept 7-14

Everyone has been so helpful on this forum. Thanks for all the tips we have received. Here are our thoughts from the Star Princess- Alaska Roundtrip Seattle – Sept 7-14. Juneau, Skagway, Tracey Arm, Ketchikan, Victoria. We are a retired couple from FL. First trip to Alaska, 7th cruise. We flew in 2 nights before which we were glad we did as there were lightening storms on either end of the trip which causes significant delays and resulted in us arriving 1AM in the morning. We stayed at the Marriott Waterfront-it is a very nice place to stay because you can walk to Pike Place mkt and the waterfront which makes for a nice pre or post cruise visit. You can get a shuttle from the hotel to the pier for $7 a person.
BOARDING. Apparently, NO ONE pays attention to the staggered boarding request printed on the cruise documentation. If you are not elite or preferred or whatever and want to get on board in time to eat in the dining room, you need to be on line by 10:45. It took us an hour and a half from arrival at the pier at 11AM until we got to our room at 12:30. We then went directly to the dining room, which as many have described is relatively empty. We heard from others that the buffet was a zoo. Arriving on board and having a meal in the dining room was a very pleasant way to start the cruise. We had dinner at Sabatini’s the first night and avoided any first confusion or lines in the dining room Re: coffee cards. I had 2 relatively ancient cards, one partially used. They punched out the old one and then exchanged the other unpunched old card for a new one. Wine, we brought two bottles of wine in a carryon. The security people told us to go to the table. They wrote down our names and cabin and that we had two bottles.
SHIP: The beginning of this cruise is in the Pacific Ocean until you head inland to Juneau. Someone did mention on a prior forum note, to be advised of this. I will say the same. If you are prone to motion sickness, the first whole day as it progresses got rockier and rockier – so I missed the first formal night, as did many others as I was told subsequently. After that, we had relatively calm seas overall in the inside passage.FOO. Overall the food was good . The horizon court food did not seem to be that good. I never had a meal there as buffet service did not seem appetizing. I had a cupcake that was like a rock, probably overbaked. I thought it looked like hot and a lot. Although DH did eat one lunch there when we were in port, I grabbed a quick sandwich at the IC. The pizza seemed a bit dry, the softserve ice cream had a sweet grainy taste. We stuck to the dining room for all our meals and enjoyed the service and the food. I had my ice cream fix there every day. The meat tended to be not as good (chewy or tough) as the seafood. We learned to focus more on the seafood as that was very good and interestingly prepared. The pasta dishes were quite good and I enjoyed the variety. The meat cuts seemed to be on the tough side even in Sabatini’s. We had anytime dining, but had reservations with others for dinner for most of the week that worked out quite well. We had all possible meals in the dining room . The dining room service for all meals did make you feel very pampered. Our room steward, Ian was also very good. We had a mini suite on dolphin deck. We had no issues with an open deck as we had great weather for Alaska. We have been on 6 prior cruises with various cruise lines, and I really liked the mini suite. It is spacious and you can comfortably spend time in there. That is my new cabin benchmark, I won’t sail with anything less than an equivalent to the Princess minisuite. The shows tended to be crowded, especially the comedian when it was difficult to get a seat. I don’t like having to get someplace 30 mins early for a 30 min show – doesn’t make sense. As a result, we did not attend the shows, so I cannot comment on them. I did sing with the pop choir. Which was a hoot . Clara did a great job on that. Our naturalist Mike, was excellent and we enjoyed his talks. We also had the winner of the Iditarod speak and that was good as well. I enjoyed the Star Princess. I liked the size and the facilities. It never really felt crowded except at the shows and the mob scenes around the piazza. So we simply avoided the crowds. The covered pool was closed for maintenance. We did see quite a few folks enjoying the hot tubs when we went thru Tracey Arm. The wine selection on board is fine if you like a nice table wine.
JOURNEY. The visit to Alaska is quite an experience and everyone should take the opportunity to do it at least once. Our itinerary was picked by friends and we just joined them. We had perfect weather. There was some overcast times but no rain in every spot. I know people have said the Glacier Bay is a must, but given that this was a one trip experience with no land tour, no Glacier Bay and “just” Tracey Arm, we were not in the least disappointed. It is an amazing visit. With regard to ship excursions, we managed to find the smaller group ones. We can’t stand the motor coach tours – not because of the tours, but it takes FOREVER every time you try to load and unload a bus. We did a small whale watch and mendenhall glacier tour. There are two smaller ones- one is the photo one and then the other one is called the Eco tour. There were only 20 of us on a small shuttle and the small boat. . We saw orcas and humpbacks and other wildlife and were able to get quite close. In the Mendenhall glacier portion, we did not go to the visitor center, but parked out further (portapotty location) and did a nice narrated hike through the forest then to the views.
In Skagway, we did the horseback riding in the morning. There were only 18 of us and on the trail we split into two groups of 9. Anyone can ride. My husband is not experienced and he enjoyed it. I am a little experienced and I enjoyed the ride through the forest and then out into Dyea plain with the mountain surrounding you. In the afternoon, we hired a private tour (Dyea Dave) to take us to the summit and back. Everyone we talked to all seemed to enjoy their excursions. Of course, Tracey Arm – got to be there to experience it. We got right up to the glacier (only the 2nd time all summer). That made the trip for us.Stunning. Ketchikan – the stop was way too short. We didn’t want to run out off the ship just to catch a tour, so we walked around the town. You do need to do more than that there. And then, Victoria- honestly, that was a waste. It was a forced stop because of the law…and we were there from about 7PM to 11PM. We didn’t bother getting off because it was not enough time and it was the last night. The folks who did get off said it was useless because it was too dark to see anything. That was a big disappointment. Don’t know why they couldn’t get there earlier in the day so we could have seen the beautiful city.
Getting off the Ship. The usual – hurry up and get out of your cabin and wait. We were scheduled for the last off the ship. We managed to have a nice breakfast and went back to our room until IAN our steward nicely said to please evacuate the room. 
MISC. Clothing. Bring layers. I brought a sweater, a very light ll bean fleece, a hooded sweatshirt, a slightly heavier fleece, a thin waterproof/hooded northface jacket, a headband to keep my ears warm and a hat. I was able to mix and match as needed. I brought a small backpack to keep the stuff in when we went off the ship. We brought a small quality camera for photos. For shoes I brought heavy black leather cross trainers (for extensive walking and water protection) and a pair of leather walking shoes when I wanted to look more fancy. Inside the ship, as it was Sept, most folks hung out in typical Sept clothes – jeans, t shirts, light sweaters, long sleeves. For dinner most everyone upped their attire a bit to clothes they would wear to a typical restaurant. It was actually nice to get out of the hiking clothes and wear something a tad dressier (read that as my fancy black or dark denim jeans and nice top/sweater and DH in his black jeans a long sleeve shirt.) Formal night was mixed – from the formal to everything else. I didn’t really pay attention to what everyone was wearing as I wasn’t taking a survey…it just seemed very pleasant and had that festive feel. DH wore a dark sport jacket, not tie – I wore sparkly dress. Neither took up much space in luggage. We didn’t over pack. Amazing. We did laundry one morning (thanks to DH) and we sent out some of our clothes to be cleaned. Their cleaning prices are a bargain, I should have sent everything out. If you can get a balcony, do so. It is nice to actually hang out there, see the scenery and pop back in to warm up.

Overall: GREAT Trip. Loved the ship. Enjoyed seeing Alaska. Enjoyed the folks we met on board (except for one Mrs. Sourpuss – who complained about everything – yes I mean everything, the service was unacceptable, blah blah blah including that the sun was out in Tracey Arm and she wouldn’t be able to see the blue in the glaciers.) Alaska is an absolute MUST SEE! Princess was a nice way to do that. :)
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Thanks for the review. We also enjoyed our Alaskan cruise through Tracy Arm last year... even though we didn't get anywhere near the glaciers.

Also a couple of minor things I wanted to mention in addition to my review.
1. Our preordered gifts and onboard gifts were not in the cabin when we arrived. We had to ask 2x. No biggie, but just make sure they check for you. Also we had to ask for robes, which came the next day . Also, no biggie.
2. We ordered the Internet minutes ahead of time. Went to use them. Finally found out we had to go the Internet spot and have the guy there apply the gift. Again no biggie, except if you are already in your PJs .
3. Coffee...believe it or not, we did not hear 1 complaint about the coffee. We had coffee in the dining room. Please note: I had my daily latte so I personally couldn't comment. In fact, several people said the coffee was excellent. Their words! YMMV.
4. Many people were unaware of the veteran obc benefit, including one person in our group. His TA booked a lot of folks for this cruise. And I am really surprised they weren't told. We used a different TA.
5. Mini suite arrival champagne. That is a myth. Hahaha. We were all on Dolphin deck...not one steward made the offer.why do they bother putting it forward as a perk? A really nice touch would be to have a split of wine or champagne in the room but, hey,that costs $s.
Overall, as I said a really nice cruise. Will be happy to answer any questions for those heading off to Alaska next year.
Bon voyage, y'all.

Don't feel bad about missing the champagne. Let's just say they don't pour the good stuff....

Thanks for the review. I've read a couple of people's reports mentioning how close they got to Sawyer Glacier recently, would love to see some photos!

[SIZE=3]Thanks for the review. :)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]We will be going back for our 3rd Alaska cruise, and it will be on the Star.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Pat[/SIZE]

Thank you for taking the time to write and to share your review.

Keith

[quote name='Avalon35']Also a couple of minor things I wanted to mention in addition to my review.
Also we had to ask for robes, which came the next day . Also, no biggie.[/QUOTE]

FYI: Robes are not usually available on the first day because they are being washed.

Thanks for taking time to write a review.

Nice review, someday........!
Ken

Thanks all. Hi A1A. I have returned yo my usual haunt on the beach off A1A.

I really enjoyed the stop at Victoria. Its an easy stroll down to the waterfront, with beautiful views, horse-drawn carriages, live music, unique shops, street vendors and street performers, etc. We spent a few excellent hours there, then a nice stroll back to the ship. You missed out.

Loliola, I agree we missed out on Victoria. We really had hoped to have am afternoon in Victoria as there was quite a bit we wanted to see. Too bad they couldn't work the itinerary better. Getting off the ship in the dark on the night before disembarking and having to have your luggage out would not be conducive to enjoying the port for us. I think if we did not have to disembark the next AM we might have given a late evening port a try. We did make this comment on the survey.