Sea Princess Review 6/22 - 7/2

[cruise615]

Since I lurked on these boards for months prior to my cruise, I felt it was only right that I left a review of my time on the Sea Princess.

 

Overall we had a fantastic time and a great experience. I would not hesitate to take this route or ship again. The ship was clean and well maintained, it never felt crowded. Here is an overview:

 

Embarkation:

-We live 2 hours away from SF, we arrived and parked at 11:30am and were in the dining room after dropping off our luggage, visting the purser's desk and looking around by 12:15pm. It was a breeze. The only issue we had was we had three Princess employees (including the purser's desk) tell us there was no MDR open for lunch. We went anyway and only a few tables were seated, the head waiter told us that they were full, we laughed thinking he was joking, he told us to go to the Horizon, we wanted to avoid the buffet area so we told him we would wait for an opening. We were seated immediately and had a lovely lunch. I really don't understand why Princess tries to hide the MDR on embarkation day. If you don't want to use it, don't put it in the patter and emails. The sail away under the Golden Gate was breathtaking.

 

The crew was wonderful, the dining staff, bartenders, people sweeping up the deck were all really nice. The only area we had issues was the Purser's desk, not very helpful and it took them 6 days to fix a billing issue that we were billed in error. They said they would follow up each time we asked and never did. They were not very friendly or helpful, we thought it was funny that the least area focused on giving a good customer experience was Customer Service!

 

Cabin:

We had a balcony cabin with our friend's next door. It had tons of storage space and was plenty big enough for us. The bathroom was fine and we had no issues with space. We had our door between our balconies opened and we called our space "super balcony". We spent quite a bit of time enjoying the balcony and I can't imagine cruising Alaska without one. Our room steward was very helpful and seemed to be working all the time. We requested an egg crate and got it right away. My DH has a bad back and chronic pain and he thought the bed was very comfortable.

 

Dining:

We had traditional dining at 5:30pm and loved our wait staff (Theresa and Dom). They met every need before we even asked, they were fun and made dining a great experience. The food was very good and we never had a bad meal. We did try the pizza restaurant and it was good, the service was very slow but the food was good.

 

The lines for Anytime Dining were very long and we could tell people were very frustrated. I would suggest traditional, it was great never having to wait in line and getting to know our wait staff.

 

The bars were fun and we spent a lot of time in the Wheelhouse bar playing cards and listening to a great band, Prime Tyme. They were really good and their lead singer had a great voice. We also really like Crooner's, the servers do a little dance when they shake up your martini, Kelley and Choy were fun. Explorer's lounge had great coffee service and I especially liked their hot drinks, Irish Coffee's and Molten Glacier (hot coco, creme de coco, bailey's, chocolate sauce and marshmellow - yumm!).

 

Ports:

Victoria: A beautiful day, in this beautiful city. We wandered around and had lunch at the Irish Times pub downtown, it was wonderful. Great food and great service. We walked over to the Empress hotel and it was lovely, but way too expensive for lunch. The weather was perfect for a long walk.

 

Ketchikan - we got off the ship and took Sourdough cabs for a cruise around the area. We went to Rainbow falls and looked for bears (didn't see any). It was nice to learn about the area from a local and to venture off the main drag. We also did the Duck Tour, didn't really like it, the boat felt like it was made in someone's garage and it felt very unstable in the water. We did however see whales about 30 feet away jumping out of the water that were absolutely amazing and a real treat. We saw lots of eagles and the ride around town was fun. I have done several other Duck tours and this just wasn't as good.

 

Juneau - Absolutely loved the Glacier, it was amazing. We saw a bear run right by us and a porcupine as well. We took the Nugget trail to the waterfall, it was a nice 20 minute walk each way and well worth it. I can't stress enough how beautiful this was. We had lunch at the Red Dog that was really fun. My husband did the Salmon fishing and caught a 38lb King Salmon! He was in heaven, we had it sent home ($112!!!) and cooked up last weekend. We have tons of Salmon left in our freezer.

 

Skagway - We did the train both ways, it was a beautiful ride and we loved it. Fun people on the train and tons of great pictures. Not much else in Skagway, lunch at the Red Onion was good.

 

Tracy Arm - Stunning! We got up at 4:45am to be ready and it was worth it. We didn't get all the way in, but got behind Sawyer Island. We heard the Disney ship got all the way the day before.

 

Norovirus:

After we got on the ship from Victoria the announcement was made we had Norovirus on board. Immediately, the crew began doing all the serving in the buffet and in the MDR, no rolls or butter on the table. We saw cleaning of the public areas, we were vigilant about washing our hands and didn't get anything. One morning our friends heard a guy telling his family in the dining room how he had been sick all night, unless people stay in their cabin it will continue to spread. We never went off high alert the remaining time so not sure how many people got sick. We did wipe down our cabin with Lysol wipes throughout our time on board just to be safe!

 

Entertainment:

Like any cruise, you can do as much or as little as you want. The patter was full of activity. We did the ceramics, bingo and trivia. All were fun and we enjoyed what was offered. We went to two shows and they were like a high school production, but what you would expect from a cruise ship.

 

The library was well stocked and we enjoyed reading on our balcony and I ran out of books I brought, so checked two out with no issues from the library.

 

If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them. Thanks for all the great information that helped me get ready for our cruise!!

[Keith1010]

Thanks for taking the time to write and post this review.

 

Keith

[Brian2204]

Thanks for the report...will be boarding the Sea on 8/11/12.

 

What dining room was open for lunch on embarkation day??

[srpilo]

Never sailed the on Sea, but have enjoyed the Sun and Dawn, and I agree with you that they're a great class and size of Princess ship for Alaska

 

 

 

Very nice review review, thanks for sharing it

Srpilo

[sfo2008]

Thanks for the report...will be boarding the Sea on 8/11/12.

 

What dining room was open for lunch on embarkation day??

 

Traviata/MDR.

[sfo2008]

I was on this cruise as well, didn't get a review in so I'll just comment on the below.

 

Since I lurked on these boards for months prior to my cruise, I felt it was only right that I left a review of my time on the Sea Princess.

 

Overall we had a fantastic time and a great experience. I would not hesitate to take this route or ship again. The ship was clean and well maintained, it never felt crowded. Here is an overview:

 

Ditto, I will say compared to the rooms and balconies on the newer Grand-class ships these rooms felt a touch smaller and the balconies felt more enclosed.

 

 

Embarkation:

-We live 2 hours away from SF, we arrived and parked at 11:30am and were in the dining room after dropping off our luggage, visting the purser's desk and looking around by 12:15pm. It was a breeze. The only issue we had was we had three Princess employees (including the purser's desk) tell us there was no MDR open for lunch. We went anyway and only a few tables were seated, the head waiter told us that they were full, we laughed thinking he was joking, he told us to go to the Horizon, we wanted to avoid the buffet area so we told him we would wait for an opening. We were seated immediately and had a lovely lunch. I really don't understand why Princess tries to hide the MDR on embarkation day. If you don't want to use it, don't put it in the patter and emails. The sail away under the Golden Gate was breathtaking.

 

Agreed. Though we decided on the Lido buffet since we did not want to sit. We parked at the 55 Francisco street garage (also local) they had a great system where you called for reservations and prepaid everything went smoothly.

 

 

The crew was wonderful, the dining staff, bartenders, people sweeping up the deck were all really nice. The only area we had issues was the Purser's desk, not very helpful and it took them 6 days to fix a billing issue that we were billed in error. They said they would follow up each time we asked and never did. They were not very friendly or helpful, we thought it was funny that the least area focused on giving a good customer experience was Customer Service!

 

 

No problems anywhere for us. Though we didn't have any billing issues.

 

Cabin:

We had a balcony cabin with our friend's next door. It had tons of storage space and was plenty big enough for us. The bathroom was fine and we had no issues with space. We had our door between our balconies opened and we called our space "super balcony". We spent quite a bit of time enjoying the balcony and I can't imagine cruising Alaska without one. Our room steward was very helpful and seemed to be working all the time. We requested an egg crate and got it right away. My DH has a bad back and chronic pain and he thought the bed was very comfortable.

 

 

We did the same with our friends... Hey are you those folks we cruised with? I don't remember calling it a super balcony and we live closer and did Lido...

 

 

 

Dining:

We had traditional dining at 5:30pm and loved our wait staff (Theresa and Dom). They met every need before we even asked, they were fun and made dining a great experience. The food was very good and we never had a bad meal. We did try the pizza restaurant and it was good, the service was very slow but the food was good.

 

 

Ditto, definitely different couple, we had Rodrigo and Ivy @ 530 all great. We didn't do the Pizza at all. I did try afternoon tea one day and was a bit disappointed, but I'm a bit picky about my sandwiches, though I've done afternoon tea before on Carnival with slightly more success.

 

 

 

The lines for Anytime Dining were very long and we could tell people were very frustrated. I would suggest traditional, it was great never having to wait in line and getting to know our wait staff.

 

 

Ditto, we heard this from a lot of people with AT dining. I am planning to change my next Carnival cruise AWAY from AT. I want to be able to walk in and sit down for dinner on a cruise vacation.

 

 

 

The bars were fun and we spent a lot of time in the Wheelhouse bar playing cards and listening to a great band, Prime Tyme. They were really good and their lead singer had a great voice. We also really like Crooner's, the servers do a little dance when they shake up your martini, Kelley and Choy were fun. Explorer's lounge had great coffee service and I especially liked their hot drinks, Irish Coffee's and Molten Glacier (hot coco, creme de coco, bailey's, chocolate sauce and marshmellow - yumm!).

 

 

We were playing games elsewhere and had lots of fun.

 

 

Ports:

Victoria: A beautiful day, in this beautiful city. We wandered around and had lunch at the Irish Times pub downtown, it was wonderful. Great food and great service. We walked over to the Empress hotel and it was lovely, but way too expensive for lunch. The weather was perfect for a long walk.

 

 

We took a pedi-cab ride, it was pricey like $60/person/hour but a lot of fun. Then did a lot of shopping. We ended up picking up great table linens at the Irish linens store. Also walked back to the ship.

 

 

 

Ketchikan - we got off the ship and took Sourdough cabs for a cruise around the area. We went to Rainbow falls and looked for bears (didn't see any). It was nice to learn about the area from a local and to venture off the main drag. We also did the Duck Tour, didn't really like it, the boat felt like it was made in someone's garage and it felt very unstable in the water. We did however see whales about 30 feet away jumping out of the water that were absolutely amazing and a real treat. We saw lots of eagles and the ride around town was fun. I have done several other Duck tours and this just wasn't as good.

 

Kayaking and Misty Fjords river trip for our group. The kayaking was great, 2 per boat and suitable for all ages. Misty produced great photos.

 

 

Juneau - Absolutely loved the Glacier, it was amazing. We saw a bear run right by us and a porcupine as well. We took the Nugget trail to the waterfall, it was a nice 20 minute walk each way and well worth it. I can't stress enough how beautiful this was. We had lunch at the Red Dog that was really fun. My husband did the Salmon fishing and caught a 38lb King Salmon! He was in heaven, we had it sent home ($112!!!) and cooked up last weekend. We have tons of Salmon left in our freezer.

 

 

We did the sea planes and got great views, make sure to book an afternoon time in case there is AM fog.

 

 

 

Skagway - We did the train both ways, it was a beautiful ride and we loved it. Fun people on the train and tons of great pictures. Not much else in Skagway, lunch at the Red Onion was good.

 

 

We went rafting here and saw like 30 bald eagles.

 

Not sure your thoughts on this, but people who took the train did mention the return was a bit boring because it was the same as the way up and that it got hot in their train car due to window locations.

 

 

 

Tracy Arm - Stunning! We got up at 4:45am to be ready and it was worth it. We didn't get all the way in, but got behind Sawyer Island. We heard the Disney ship got all the way the day before.

 

 

We got closer than any previous Princess cruise and got great shots too. Worth getting up early. We also pre-ordered room service this AM, the regular kind and it was perfect.

 

 

 

Norovirus:

After we got on the ship from Victoria the announcement was made we had Norovirus on board. Immediately, the crew began doing all the serving in the buffet and in the MDR, no rolls or butter on the table. We saw cleaning of the public areas, we were vigilant about washing our hands and didn't get anything. One morning our friends heard a guy telling his family in the dining room how he had been sick all night, unless people stay in their cabin it will continue to spread. We never went off high alert the remaining time so not sure how many people got sick. We did wipe down our cabin with Lysol wipes throughout our time on board just to be safe!

 

 

Yep, about 16-25 people were sick per our server and one person we met whose son was sick and another person we met whose mom was sick.

 

They took it seriously and kept it under control.

 

 

 

Entertainment:

Like any cruise, you can do as much or as little as you want. The patter was full of activity. We did the ceramics, bingo and trivia. All were fun and we enjoyed what was offered. We went to two shows and they were like a high school production, but what you would expect from a cruise ship.

 

 

We were disappointed with the productions and the entertainment. First off with an open pool deck, MUTS was not very attractive at night vs. a warm weather destination. Second, unlike a Grand-class ship were there typically were two show + MUTS per night, there was only one.

 

As noted, the production shows had a bit too much high school production value to them. It didn't help in our group's opinion that the two leads just seemed to have no chemistry with each other and their voices were not well paired. The female lead had a deeper voice than the male and so for the two of them a number of the pieces could have been switched to play to their singing strengths. We thought the Assistant Cruise Director and one of the weaker comedians had more chemistry with each other and were better singers. FWIW, on previous princess cruises we've thought the production shows were better, but it was a larger ship with a bigger and stronger cast.

 

The comedians were disappointing overall. One in particular, Billy Vader used a number of homophobic jokes. That aside, he was just dated.

 

The best entertainment was some of the stuff the Cruise Director's staff put on (liar's club, etc) or when like the trombonist in the band played one night. Also, the magician/comedian was quite good.

 

 

 

The library was well stocked and we enjoyed reading on our balcony and I ran out of books I brought, so checked two out with no issues from the library.

 

 

Kindle user here. Aside, was noticing that I would say a solid majority of cruisers are using reading devices or iPads or other tablets now.

 

 

 

If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them. Thanks for all the great information that helped me get ready for our cruise!!

 

Same!

[FL Mary]

Thanks for the great review! I'm on the Sea Princess July 22 and can't wait.

[NickAndysMom]

We also leave on July 22. After some concern over the norovirus outbreak, I'm now starting to get excited again thanks to these great reviews!

[sfo2008]

We also leave on July 22. After some concern over the norovirus outbreak, I'm now starting to get excited again thanks to these great reviews!

 

You really will be fine. Wash your hands thoroughly (20 sec) AND use the provided hand sanitizers as well and you'll be in great shape.

[NickAndysMom]

Duplicate post. . .

[Dame Delilah]

Appreciated your review. This will be our 13th Princess cruise (scary!). We have done this Alaskan cruise 3 times and love it every time. Nice to hear that that the SF embarkation went well. Again, thanks for the valuable info!