Island Princess Review - Cruisetour Fairbanks to Vancouver July 12th

[rbnk]

First I would like to thank everyone who gave advice and ideas on this site. It helped us tremendously!!

 

This was our first cruise as well as our first time to Alaska. Let me start out by saying that I was completely awestruck and overwhelmed but the majesty that I saw on this whole trip.

 

We flew into Fairbanks via Seattle the night on July 12th and arrived in Fairbanks at 1:30am on the 13th. We were missing a piece of luggage and I would like to thank Belinda from Princess for all of her help. We couldn't get a room at the Princess Lodge for that night so we stayed next door at Pikes Lodge. It never was completely dark that night and every time I woke up I looked outside because it was amazing. We went to the Princess Lodge at 11:00 and our room was ready - yeah!! We spent the day walking the grounds and enjoying the beautiful weather. We had a tee-time at The North Star Golf Course - the most northern golf course in the USA. We took an AirLink shuttle to get there and had a very informative driver that explained all about life in Fairbanks through the year. We teed off at 8:30pm and it never got dark!! We teed off on our last hole at midnight! We had a great time.

 

Thursday July 14th - Sternwheeler Riverboat Cruise, Lunch at Riverboat Landing and the Gold Mine Tour. The Sternwheeler cruise was fun and very informative. I love learning as much as I can wherever I am and this was all very interesting. Lunch was a beef stew, and I was able to get a very nice salad since I don't like beef, my DH and our friends really liked the stew. We weren't sure that we were going to like the gold mine but we were pleasantly surprised. The guys could have taken it or left it, but the girls really liked it - of course we had to have our gold put into a necklace. We also made a stop at the Alaskan Pipeline (which was unexpected)

We had dinner at "The Pump House" and it was really good.

 

Friday July 15th - Train to Princess Denali Lodge. We had a great time on the train - the people in our car were a lot of fun and we were only one car away from the back platform so it was easy to go back and forth for pictures.

Once we got to Denali the guys did the Denali Fly-Fishing for Arctic Grayling and both were able to land Grayling. They girls went to the Music of Denali Dinner Theatre and we enjoyed the food, the company and the show.

 

Saturday July 16th - Tundra Wilderness Tour - We had a great guide Scott Johnson and the weather was rainy, foggy and snowy, but we made the best of it and we were able to see Caribou, Dall Sheep, Mom and 2 blonde bear cubs, Pica, Mag Pies, 2 Golden Eagles, a young bull moose and a cow moose. The box lunch was a roll with reindeer sausage, cheese, mustard, chips, an orange and a Denali seed mix - it was all very good. From here we went to our Denali Glacier Landing by Helicopter. We traveled through Denali National Park to Denali State Park and landed on Yanert Icefield next to flowing water that dropped into a mulan (a big hole in the glacier). We were also very fortunate to be able to see Mt. Deborah. We were on the 4:30pm flight and were lucky that the weather had lifted as we ended up being the first flight of the day. I have to say that I was completely overwhelmed and amazed after these two excursions.

 

Sunday July 17th - Coach to McKinley Princess Lodge

Here the guys did Alaska Sportfishing - again fish were caught and released. The girls went on the Byers Lake Nature Walk - there were only two other people on the hike with us and it was very enjoyable. It rained a little bit but not enough to dampen our spirits - we were on vacation in Alaska and a little rain wasn't going to bother us.

 

Monday July 18th - Coach to Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge- we had a lunch break in Anchorage so we ate at the Brewhouse and walked around Anchorage. Once we arrived in Kenai we didn't have anything planned for this afternoon but it was a beautiful day so they let us move our Kenai River Scenic float trip from tomorrow to today. I was awesome! We saw a lot of eagles, young eagles, ducks, a beaver and salmon.

 

Tuesday July 19th - The guys did the Kenai Upper River Fishing 1/2 day tour no fish today but they saw bears. Unfortunately they missed the sockeye run by two days - the fish were in the lower river making their way up. The girls did the Kenai Nature Hike to the Russian River Falls. It was a beautiful hike and we were rewarded with seeing salmon jumping at the falls.

 

Wednesday July 20th - Today we left for the ship. We took a coach to Whittier. We boarded the ship and then got off again to walk around Whittier. They told us that last summer Whittier had 5 days of sunshine and we were there on a beautiful day.

 

Thursday July 21st - Yakutat Bay - Hubbard Glacier - this was amazing. We saw seals and birds.

 

Friday July 22nd - Cruising to Glacier Bay - we ordered the Glacier Bay room service brunch and it was wonderful. Bagel, lox, cream cheese, crab leg, quiche, salad, roasted tomato with cheese, a plate full of pastries, and a half of a melon with berries inside and a side of whipped cream as well as OJ and a small bottle of champagne!! The weather was cool but sunny and we stayed on the aft deck on deck 10 all day. I even got to see two puffins!!

 

When we were at Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay we spent the day at the bow (front) of the ship. On the Island Princess if you go to the FRONT of the ship on decks 10 and 11 you will find a nondescript door. Open the door (go ahead - it's ok), then go through the wooden door and you will be on a deck that not a lot of people know about or choose not to go to. We spent the whole day there, both days and we never had to worry about a front row seat!! We could have stayed in our room, but we wanted to see everything and that is really the way to do it. On the Glacier Bay day we went to lunch when the captain started turning the ship and at the pool deck they were having their "Taste of Alaska" buffet. We enjoyed the buffet and we were still able to see Marjorie Glacier and it calved twice while we were eating!!

 

 

Saturday July 23rd - Skagway - we took a boat to Haines for Chilkoot Lake Freshwater Fishing. Our friends caught a pink salmon and Dolly Varden and my DH and I caught Dolly Varden. We really wanted to catch Sockeye and we could see them but they weren't biting. At the end of the trip I asked our guide, Marcus, if he could get the pontoon boat closer to the fish so that I could take a picture. He said sure and as we were getting ready to move I saw two small bear running along the edge of the lake. Marcus decided to follow them. It turned out to be a momma bear and 3 one year olds. They went right to where we were going to go to take pictures of the fish. This was way better, I got pictures of Bear eating and fighting over fish!

 

Sunday July 24th - Juneau - Whale Watch & Glacier Bay Photo Safari - Oh my gosh - what a day. It was raining but that didn't matter - David, our guide, said it would be good for the whales and for the blue color in the glacier - boy was he right. We saw 6 humpbacks bubble net feeding every three minutes for about a half hour. He said that they last time they were out they say this feeding but only about every 15 minutes - it was the most wonderful thing I have ever seen - I love whales and this was amazing!!

Then we moved along and say seals, three more adult whales and two babies. Then we took a small bus to Mendenhall Glacier and he warned us about coming across bear on our hike to the glacier. No sooner did he say something that we rounded a corner and here was a black bear on the other side of a small creek with a wooden bridge. He was looking for salmon. It rained all the way to the glacier, but the gloominess made for wonderful color in the glacier.

 

Monday July 25th - Ketchikan - Alaskan Chef's Table at the Fish House - We had 6 courses of the most amazing food from Alaska! They even gave us a cookbook with the recipes of what we ate and more in it. I would do this again in a minute! Then we walked around Ketchikan and Creek Street for another wonderful day.

 

 

Tuesday July 26th - Day at Sea - This day seemed to fly by - we went to the Ships Chefs Cooking Show and got to walk through one of the galleys.

 

Wednesday July 27th - Vancouver - This was the end of our cruisetour but we extended our trip - we took the City Sights, Capillano Canyon Walk and then they took us to our hotel. We stayed in Vancouver until the night of the 28th. We saw Stanley Park and Grandville Island. Thursday night we took the Amtrack Cascades train to Seattle. Friday and Saturday we had a great time at the Public Market, the Space Needle and walking through Seattle until we left for home at 11:15pm Saturday night.

 

This was definitely a trip of a life time. I would like to thank Princess for an amazing trip. I would also like to say that everyone we met was as nice as could be and went out of their way to make sure that we were having a good time. I can't stop looking at my pictures to relive this wonderful experience.

 

If you have any questions - please feel free to ask - I appreciate all of the help on this site and would be happy to repay in kind.

 

Here are some answers to questions I had on the Alaska site

 

We were on the Island Princess and loved it. I don't have anything to compare it too as this was our first cruise, but I never felt like there were a lot of people on the ship and everyone was very nice and helpful. We were in cabin D230 category BE. We were close to a set of elevators, but mostly took the stairs wherever we wanted to go. We were closer to the front of the boat than the back. There was a laundry room on our deck at the back of the ship that we did take advantage of. The cabin size was just fine for us. We loved having a balcony and I don't think I would want to do an Alaskan Cruise without one! We left the drapes open, and as I am not a great sleeper, I enjoyed seeing new scenery every time I woke up.

 

I am not sure if either of the pools were adult only as we didn't go in any of them. It didn't seem like there were many kids on the ship, but with so much to see from our balcony or the decks we were more happy looking at the scenery or going to the naturalist talks.

 

As for the shows on the ship - the only "show" we went to was the Chef's show on the last day of our cruise, which was an "at sea" day. Any other day we were too tired to go to any of the shows - lol!!! We did go to the talks by our naturalist - and really enjoyed these.

 

We booked the Alaskan Chef's Table through Princess - I am not sure if you can book it yourself or not. The name of the restaurant is the Alaska Fish House. Usually we like to go and do something when we are somewhere new, but we were extremely happy with this choice and we had time to explore Ketchikan both before and after the lunch. Here is what was included (we thought we were going to get a little bit of food for each course, since there are six courses, but boy were we wrong - glad we only had a light breakfast that morning!!) 1st Course was a Salmon Sampler Trio with Smoked Salmon gravlax on a toast point with a red onion marmalade, a Fish Cake with homemade tartar sauce, and smoked salmon with dijon and capers sauce. All three of these were delicious - the best fish cake I have ever had! 2nd Course was a Miso Black Cod (which is really Sablefish) - very light and delicious. 3rd Course - King Crab from the Deadliest Catch and Dungeness crab from local waters - YUMMO!! 4th Course - Bouillabaisse with saffron, whitefish etc. The depth of flavor was excellent! 5th Course - A generous piece of White King Salmon (which is rare as 1 out of every 11 Kings are White) and a generous serving of Halibut Olympia - so good I made this at home within the firs week back. 6th Course was a Rhubarb and Blueberry Bread Pudding with whipped cream, candied ginger and caramel on top - This is one of the best desserts I have ever had!! And they give you a recipe book with all of the recipes plus more inside. I have made three of the recipes already It was $129 per person - but we felt it was well worth it!!

 

We liked the Denali and Mt. McKinley Lodges. The rooms were not anything special but I have to say that we were only in our rooms to sleep! The beds were all comfortable and there was a hairdryer in every room. Denali had a mini city surrounding the individual room buildings and a large two story lodge. There was also "Glitter Gultch" across the street from the Denali lodge. There were little shops, a 24 hour Subway and other small restaurants. We used the Subway to buy subs for the guys to take when they went fishing and for breakfast before our Tundra Wilderness Tour as we had to be ready by 6:30am and we didn't want to get up to have enough time to eat in one of the restaurants. The King Salmon restaurant on the Denali grounds was very good and we did eat across the street at the top of the mountain at The Grande Denali Lodge Alpenglow restaurant - it was a little bit pricey- but the food was good and the view is awesome! Mt. McKinley also had individual buildings with rooms in them and we took advantage of the grounds around both lodges. If we weren't on an excursion we were walking the areas around the lodge.

 

For those of you that are cruising to Alaska - Enjoy!! You will LOVE it!!!

 

Please feel free to ask anymore questions and if you would like to email me please feel free - I would answer my email faster - rdaihl@mi.rr.com

[dcruisers]

Great review! Thanks for all the great info! I enjoyed reliving you wonderful trip and can't wait for ours!! We leave Friday for our cruisetour on the Island Princess and are so looking forward to it. We will be in cabin E226..almost the same vicinity on the ship as you were but a different deck. I think it will be a great location and close to the "secret" doors (a couple of floors below) to view the glaciers.

Did you have a lot of rain during your trip? As I check the weather to help me pack, I am sad to see all the days are calling for rain. I only hope this means a chance of rain and not that the entire trip will be a wash out. Did you need rain pants?

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to write such a thorough review. I plan on doing a review when I get back. I think it is so helpful to future cruisers!

[speedyjane]

Thanks for the great review, and I'm glad you had a wonderful time. We leave on Sunday for our cruisetour, but on the Coral. What was the temperature like on the ship? Cool? Did you wear long sleeve tops on the ship.

Thanks.

[srpilo]

Wow Midnight Golf... Very Cool !!

 

 

 

Great Review

Srpilo

[Phyljim]

Excellent well written review. Your enjoyment of your trip comes through in how you wrote the review. Thank you so much for taking the time to write it.

[texasgirl29]

We were also on the Island during this cruise, although our landcruise itinerary was a bit different. Enjoyed reading your take on things.

 

(My review with tons and tons of photos is at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1461935 )

 

 

JoAnn

[sunsetbeachgal]

Wow...what a trip! You must be exhausted!! Thanks for a very interesting review :)

[rbnk]

We had a lot of days that called for rain also, and usually it was just a chance of rain or it rained for part of the day. We did have rain in Denali, very cloudy at Mt. McKinley (we didn't get to see the mountain:(). We also had rain all day in Juneau and it was cloudy in Ketchikan, but only rained on our way into port. I did wear my rain pants on the Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali and all day in Juneau. But I have to say that the rain didn't affect the great time we had - in fact our tour guide in Juneau said that the rain was good for whale watching and for Mendenhall Glacier as it brings out the blue in the glacier better!! We had very nice days on the ship for Hubbard Glacier and Glacier but I did wear my rain coat as a windbreaker since we spent most of our time at the front of the ship!

 

On the ship I did not feel the need to wear long sleeves (except on Glacier days!). I took a cardigan sweater with me to the anytime dining room because I usually wore short sleeves to dinner and I never put it on.

 

To those of you cruising soon - Have a great time!!! :)

[rbnk]

I have gotten some email questions about rain gear and mosquitoes. I wore my rain coat and pants three times - at Denali (where it rained and snowed), on one of our nature walks when it was raining and in Juneau while we were whale watching and at Mendenhall Glacier - it was raining and I also wore my rain coat on both Glacier days on the ship, it was sunny both days but the coat was great at blocking the wind. I wore a long sleeve shirt and a zip up hoodie under the coat and I was very warm. I also wore waterproof hiking boots (they came just below my ankle) from newbalance - they were awesome!!!

As for mosquitoes, we used bug spray on one of our nature walks and my DH used spray while fly fishing. The spray did the trick and neither of us got any bites.:)