Just back from the June 1st sailing on the Grand Princess to Alaska

First of all the total trip was AWESOME!! I’m not going to dwell on the negative. Life is not perfect so why look for the negatives.

The embarkation in Seattle was quick and very well organized. We arrived at the Pier 91 at about 11am and were on the ship by 11:45am. We are Platinum and used the Priority boarding; there wasn’t anyone in line when we got there so it was quick. We went right up to our cabin B637 to drop off our carry-on and met our cabin steward Christian; I think he is the best room steward we’ve ever had. We headed down to the De Vinci dining room for lunch. We try to not go to the horizon Court because it’s too crowded . The sail away parties for ships leaving from Pier 91 have been toned down by the city because the music echoes off the water and it can be heard for miles by the people who live up on the bluff above Pier 91. The cruise out to the Straits of Juan De Fuca was peaceful, sunny and warm.

First full sea day – don’t let anyone BS you, you can’t see land on the full sea days. The seas were pretty rough this day, lots of people were sick. There were a lot of activities on the ship, if you get bored it’s your fault. The MDR was open for breakfast and lunch. The crown grill was open for an English style lunch. The weather was cool, 50 deg. windy and cloudy. At 2 pm we met with our Cruise critic roll call in the One5 Club. There were 15 of us there. Enjoy meeting everyone and hearing about everyone’s plans for their cruise.

Ketchikan – the weather was cool, 55 deg. partly cloudy. We berthed at berth 4, this the furthest berth from the tourist part of Ketchikan. We took a tour out to Herring cove and Saxman village with a private company at dockside. We did the tourist walk after we got back. It didn’t rain until we started to leave port.

Tracey Arm – as we started to go up Tracey Arm we encountered heavy fog, I thought that it was going to be wash out. After we got up into the Arm a bit the fog cleared and it was bright sunny day 60 deg., warm, no wind. LOTS! of ice up in Tracey Arm. We booked the “Glacier explorer excursion” off the ship and there was talk of the ship canceling the excursion because of the ice. When we got up to Sawyer Island there was the Alan Marine tour boat St. Philip waiting for 130 us, loaded us up and away we went working our way up to the Sawyer Glacier. This is one of the most awesome excursions we’ve taken in Alaska. We got up to about a ¼ of mile from glacier. The boat captain stayed in position for at least an hour. We were about ready to leave when a huge section calved off the face of the Glacier. On the way out of Tracey Arm we spotted 2 bears at the shore line and stopped by a beautiful waterfall. This tour ends in Juneau and on the way in we spotted a whale. The excursion boat pulled up to the ship docked at Juneau where we got on as we got off. What a great day.

Juneau – we berthed at the AJ Dock, this is furthest pier from town. There’s bus available to take you into town. We were a little late getting back from Tracey Arm so most everyone had already gotten off the ship. Walked around town, went to the State Capitol building for a tour and did some shopping in town. When we left Juneau we sat out on the balcony until well past 11pm, beautiful sunset.

Skagway - the weather was cool, 50 deg. windy, partly cloudy. We walked into town did the tourist walkabout, hit a few shops and did some hiking. Again when we left Skagway we sat on the balcony and watched the scenery and sunset.

Full sea day after leaving Skagway – lots of activities on the ship.

Victoria – we didn’t arrive at Victoria until 7pm. It was cold and windy; you could see your breath. We decided to stay on board and play trivia.

Disembarkation – was a breeze. We were scheduled to disembark at 8:45. We were off the boat, had our bags and through customs and immigration at 8:50 am. We parked our car at the Smith cove parking lot and the shuttle was waiting for us when got down to their pickup point.

The Grand Princess is in very good condition. The staff is excellent; the ship entertainment was good as was the food. This is our 8th trip to Alaska and our 6th with Princess. We are ready to go again.

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.

Can you tell me who the Naturalist is on board? And what you thought of him/her?

This may seem really trivial, but can you remember which night is Italian night in the dining room? It's my favorite. :o

Thanks for the review!

Thanks for the review! We are on the Grand in just over a week. Hoping the weather is nice and the seas are calm. :)

Can you tell me who the Naturalist is on board? And what you thought of him/her?

 

This may seem really trivial, but can you remember which night is Italian night in the dining room? It's my favorite. :o

Mark Harris was the naturalist. He seemed very knowledgeable, better than the ones we had in the past. He give couple of talks on Whales, Bears, Salmon and was on the ships PA system when we were up in Tracey Arm.

I was talking to a naturalist on one of our tours and I asked her if they had a Razor clams http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_razor_clam or Geoduck Clams in Alaska and she looked at me like I was crazy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoduck she had never heard of them. I was raised in the Pacific Northwest and yes they have them up there.

I believe Thursday night was Italian night. I don’t really like Italian so a few nights I ate of the”Always Available” side of the menu.

Thanks for the review! We are on the Grand in just over a week. Hoping the weather is nice and the seas are calm. :)

If you are going to Tracey Arm, try to get on the "Glacier Explorer" excursion that leaves from the ship when it's up in Tracey Arm. You won't be disappointed. Some of the people I talked to later said they were disappointed that the ship couldn't get any closer to Sawyer Glacier because of the ice. I believe the "Glacier Explorer" excursion was sold out a week or so before the ship left Seattle.

Thanks for the report.

Two questions.

How was the lunch menu on embarkation day in the dining room? It has been posted that on some ships it has really been cut back with no burger available and no real choice of dessert.

If you went to the Platinum/Elite/Suite lounge in the evening, do you remember the price of the drink special of the day there?

Thanks for the report!

Nice review. I'm looking forward to doing Alaska again...nature at it's finest.

Thanks for the review.

Thanks for the report.

 

Two questions.

 

How was the lunch menu on embarkation day in the dining room? It has been posted that on some ships it has really been cut back with no burger available and no real choice of dessert.

 

If you went to the Platinum/Elite/Suite lounge in the evening, do you remember the price of the drink special of the day there?

On embarkation day in the De Vinci dining room I had a Bacon Cheese Burger with fries and my DW had a Cheese Burger with fries. For desert I had a Apple Tart with a bowl of Vanilla Ice Cream. My DW had the Apple Tart, no Ice Cream. The Burgers in the MDR are excellent.

We were too busy to get up to the One5 club for the afternoon drink of the day specials. Our friends went up a couple of times and they said the drinks were $5.

Just off the same cruise and I have to agree with the original poster, the trip was pretty awesome. Great ports, beautiful scenery. And a great ship - anyone who finds issues with Grand Princess is nit-picky. The staff was wonderful - service uneven in anytime dining, some good some not so - and except for a couple of bad choices on my part, the food was very good. Had dinner in Crown Grill and Sabatini and both were excellent. Perfect weather except for some fog on the way back from Skagway (and the fog horn from the ship). All around an excellent vacation.

Thank you so much for posting this review :) I really enjoyed reading it :) I will be going on the Grand to Alaska in July :) Did you go to any of the shows? I would love to hear about the entertainment on the Grand. Thanks in advance :)

Thanks for the review.:)

How do you book the excursion off the ship into the smaller boat excursion? I didn't see any option for that and just thought princess didn't offer it. Thank you.

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How do you book the excursion off the ship into the smaller boat excursion? I didn't see any option for that and just thought princess didn't offer it. Thank you.

 

 

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if I remember correctly it is listed in your Juneau excursions.

Mike:)

If you are going to Tracey Arm, try to get on the "Glacier Explorer" excursion that leaves from the ship when it's up in Tracey Arm. You won't be disappointed. Some of the people I talked to later said they were disappointed that the ship couldn't get any closer to Sawyer Glacier because of the ice. I believe the "Glacier Explorer" excursion was sold out a week or so before the ship left Seattle.

Thanks for the idea but we have been to Tracey Arm twice and were able to get up next to the glacier both times so we have seen it. We are also cruising on a budget and won't be doing any fancy excursions. It was thoughtful of you to recommend it though. :)

My cruise 9/7 is snot showing the excursion in Tracy Ford …not listed under Juneau either . I called Princess but they were no help.

My cruise 9/7 is snot showing the excursion in Tracy Ford …not listed under Juneau either . I called Princess but they were no help.

I found it under the Tracy Arm day. It is $229 pp. Only excursion listed for that "port". It is still avail for our cruise next week surprisingly enough.

Thank you so much for your review. We are on the Grand in just a little over 6 weeks! Can't wait!

Your review just made me a little more excited! Thanks!:)

My cruise 9/7 is snot showing the excursion in Tracy Ford …not listed under Juneau either . I called Princess but they were no help.

We are on the 9/7 cruise also, I finally found it on the princess web site.

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We leave on the Grand July 27th. I can hardly wait. Thanks for your review. Looks like we made a good choice. We booked the Tracy Arm excursion as soon as we booked the cruise. Hopefully we'll have no problem getting in close to the glacier.

I found it under the Tracy Arm day. It is $229 pp. Only excursion listed for that "port". It is still avail for our cruise next week surprisingly enough.

At $229 pp, I do not find it surprising it is not sold out.

One would have to read a thread like this to realize how awesome it could be.

We are on the 9/7 cruise also, I finally found it on the princess web site.

 

 

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Where on the website. I haven't been able to find it! We are on the same cruise with you! Have you joined the roll call. It is a very sleepy one for this cruise. No one talking at all and only about 10 people so far?

Let me see if I can find it again.

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