JUST OFF - Sea Princess to Alaska Review

[mikjr]

Sea Princess Review

Alaska – Round Trip out of San Francisco

July 12 – 22

We just got back this morning and I thought I would jump on this review before I got busy with life… so here it goes.

 

If you read my “LIVE FROM” posts, you will recognize a few of the comments.

 

According to the Captain, there were approximately 2100 passengers on board. of that 2100, 1950 were from the United States!!! Also, there were 255 children on the ship. not sure what age category that 255 falls into. We usually travel during the school years and see a handful of children. So, I didn't know what to expect when I saw all those happy little faces! Most were very well mannered. They were starting to get a bit stir crazy the last two days!! glad it was only a 10 day, not 14 day cruise.

 

EMBARKATION:

 

Everything went very well. We drove up from Orange County Thursday morning and arrived in San Francisco around 10AM. The porters were already accepting bags, so we dropped them off, and I parked the car at ACE PARKING, 55 Francisco Street. $15.00 per day in a secured, covered lot!

 

We were on board the Sea Princess by 12:30PM. Everything went very quick and was well organized!

 

CABIN:

 

We booked this cruise late, and got an inside cabin. This was only the second inside cabin we’ve had… and it may be the last. Although I didn’t mind not having a balcony, or even a window… this room was so small, we could not access the bed from the sides… we had to crawl from the END of the bed to get into the bed!! I’m not sure why they configure the room in that manner, but it was a terrible set up. Also, the mattress was LUMPY… even with the egg crate. And don’t get me started on the pillows! Did I say PILLOWS?? Actually… I’m not sure what my head was laying on!

Our cabin steward Acqules, was great…

 

Having said that… we enjoyed just being on a cruise ship going somewhere!

 

FOOD:

 

Main Dining Room:

 

We had ANYTIME DINING. The first night was a mess… long lines and unhappy people. We had visited the Maître ‘d earlier in the day and requested a permanent table for TWO. The next morning, we had a card assigning us a table regular table for the cruise in the Anytime Dining Room. We were very pleased!

We had two great servers… Reynaldo and Billy!

 

I have read posts over the past few years talking about how the food on Princess has gone down in quality. We’ve been cruising for about the past 12 years, and although I noticed a few little things here and there, I find the food on Princess to be generally very good. YES, I am a simple guy with simple tastes. I don’t like lobster tails, so it was no big deal when the went from TWO tails to ONE. And, I don’t like Escargot, so I could care less that it’s not on the menu.

 

What I did enjoy was that the food tasted good and was well prepared. I loved that Fettuccini Alfredo and ordered it a couple of times. Make sure to ask for a chicken breast and extra sauce to go with it!! I also had the Beef Medallions one night… they were excellent. Also the fish was good, and I loved the meat loaf!! Very tasty!!

 

I did notice that the variety of fish was not as good as it used to be. Possibly a cut back in that area.

 

I found the desserts to be as good as ever. And don’t forget to order the SORBET… it was fantastic! I ordered a side of sorbet every night with my regular dessert

 

Horizon Court:

 

As always, the Horizon Court fills a purpose… mainly my stomach! Good food, nothing great, but good. I did eat at the Grill a few times and really enjoyed the hot dogs and burgers!

 

Corniche Pizza Restaurant:

 

We ate there one night and really enjoyed it. We split a pizza and each had a pasta dish. The Tiramisu is great! One of my main complaints was that you couldn’t order a SINGLE SLICE or even a pizza to go. You had to order a WHOLE pizza, and either eat it there or have it delivered to your room for a nominal charge. Given those parameters, I was not able to enjoy a slice of pizza with my wife, while she ate in the Horizon court. I prefer the ships with the Pizza bar outside by the grill. Much more convenient.

 

TWO things I really liked:

1) BBQ Sauce dispensed at the grill

2) Lemonade dispensed at the ice tea dispenser. I like “Arnold Palmer” Iced Tea!

 

Yes, I know these are small things, but as I mentioned, I’m a simple guy!!

 

ENTERTAINMENT:

 

Cruise Director – Neil Rose

Very competent, friendly and personable.

 

The Cruise Ship staff we very friendly and seemed to be very engaged with the passengers. There was always some kind of fun activities going on… Trivia, games, etc…

 

There was only one negative issue with the Cruise Staff. The Asst. CD (John) blew up at a room full of PAX during the tender operations in Juneau. A couple of passengers harassed one of the female cruise staff, and the Asst CD got on the microphone and literally yelled at everyone… that HE was not going to stand for that kind of treatment of his people! WAY over the top, and completely uncalled for. A simple reminder in a calm voice would have sufficed. If he wanted to yell, do it to the PAX that were the problem, and NOT everyone else.

 

Production Shows included:

Piano Man

Stardust

Moments To Remember

 

We’ve seen the Piano Man so many times, I can almost do the dance steps myself… so, we didn’t see that one. Both Stardust and Moments were very good

 

Other Princess Theater shows included:

 

Bernie Fields – Harmonica

Dan Horn – Ventriloquist

Mike Wilson – Impressionist

Gary Carson – Magician

 

We didn’t see all of the acts, but the ones we did see were good.

 

Other entertainment around the ship:

 

Larry Dunsmore: VERY Popular and entertaining!! He had crowds of people nightly in the Crooners Lounge

 

There were several other bands and entertainers on board. All good

 

MUTS MOVIES:

Hugo

Captain America

Iron Lady

The Help

Wrath of the Titans

Man on a Ledge

War Horse

The Artist

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Mission Impossible

Moneyball

 

We watched only ONE movie outside!! It was COLD!!

 

It would have been nice if they would have shown more movies INSIDE the ship at the Princess or Vista. We did watch two movies inside:

The Descendants

The Ides of March

 

EXCURSIONS/PORTS:

 

Itinerary:

Juneau

Glacier Bay

Haines

Ketchikan

Victoria

 

We cruised to Alaska about five years ago. There were two different points of interest this time: Haines and Glacier Bay.

 

Weather was GREAT at all ports… expecting RAIN… we got SUN! even the locals said we brought it with us. It was 65 to 70 for each port!!

 

For some reason, it seemed that all of our stays in the various ports were short! Not sure why. I don’t remember this issue last time we were there.

 

Juneau:

First off… we were late getting to Juneau by TWO HOURS. We were supposed to arrive at 1PM but didn’t arrive until after 3PM. Because we were the last ship in port, we had to anchor and tender in PAX. Some excursions were cancelled and a lot of PAX were disappointed. It was during the tender process when the Asst. CD issue occurred. We didn’t schedule any tours for Juneau. We did leave port at 9:30 PM, an hour later than scheduled.

 

Since we have visited Juneau before, we didn’t book tours. Basically, Juneau has become ONE BIG Jewelry Store!! Blocks and blocks of Tanzanite, Mexican opals, diamonds, etc… all featuring their very own “street barker”… begging you to come in the store and look around. I thought I was in Mexico for a second! There is still a lot of history to look at.

 

Glacier Bay:

Last trip we went to Tracy Arm Glacier. I had heard a lot about Glacier Bay, but truthfully, I enjoyed Tracy Arm more. For some reason, the ice was bluer, cleaner, and there was much larger pieces floating around the Tracy Arm bay. Now… that was five years ago, things might have changed there also. In any case, it was a beautiful area and well worth the view. Since we had an interior cabin, we grabbed a couple of lounge chairs on the Promenade Deck and had a front row view of everything!

 

Haines:

This was our first time to Haines… and probably our last. It was nice to visit, one time… but not much going on in a town of 3500! We booked the “Off the Beaten Path” excursion at $69 each. It was definitely OFF and not worth the $69. Maybe half that cost. Three stops included the movie set from the Disney movie, White Fang, the Hammer Museum, and a small art gallery out of town.

 

All of the shops at the movie set town of Dalton City were CLOSED! So you looked at a bunch of closed buildings.

 

Next the Hammer Museum. And… if you can believe it, the Hammer Museum was actually kind of interesting. BUT, we could have taken the shuttle and got in to the museum for a whopping $3.00!!

 

Finally, the driver took us to a “friend” of his that had a home outside town that featured local artists and OVER PRICED handcrafted items and art. WHY did we go there? It was one be sales job, and no one purchased anything! A simple waste of time… and money.

 

After our “off beat tour”, we walked in to town and went to the historical museum. Now, that was fairly interesting and worth the $10! We asked a couple of locals where to get good fish… and they directed us the “BIG AL’S”. so we thought we’d head right over for some of that great food. But when we got there, we discovered BIG AL’S was a small METAL CONTAINER converted into a fast food stand. Only one girl taking money and fixing food… and a very LONG line… she said something about 15 to 30 minutes before getting to everyone… we didn’t want to wait and just walked away. That’s what happens when you have a SoCal mentality in a SMALL town!! Oh Well…

 

Ketchikan:

Another port we had visited before. Also, another port filled with jewelry stores. One shop owner said the number of jewelry stores had TRIPLED in the past few years, mostly from out of town companies. The local owners weren’t happy about it. We spend the day walking around visit the town and kicking back.

 

Victoria:

We had been to Victoria last time, but never to Butchart Gardens. This was well worth the money. We bought the excursion with the High Tea. The gardens were beautiful. I took around 200 photos! And the tea and finger foods were outstanding. The server brought a THREE TIER tray filled with goodies over to my wife and I… and said… “these are for you TWO to share”. WOW!

 

OTHER ISSUES

 

I should mention that the Cruise Critic Roll Call members met the first sea day. The Cruise Director, Maitre 'd, and Hotel Manager ALL dropped by to say hello and answer questions. It was very nice of them to take the time!

 

New Smoking Policy:

I really noticed a difference in the amount of smoke smell around the ship. much less than usual. one problem is still the RazzaMatazz Disco. they allow smoking in one section, but because the place is so small, the whole room still smells like smoke. BUT, the smoke issue is much better and my compliments to all the smokers that adhered to the new rules

 

Disembarkation:

 

This was probably one of the easiest disembarking’s we’ve experienced. They collected the custom’s declaration the night before, and once our tags were called, we just walked off the ship without having to go through a “Custom’s” officer.

 

WELL… I think that covers the Good, the Bad, and the Not So Ugly!! We had a great trip, and wouldn’t hesitate going to Alaska again in the future.

 

I’d be happy to answer any and all questions…

[cellyml12]

LOVED your review, but I do have a question. How rough was the trip up & back? Was seasickness an issue? Thanks!

[mummyrose]

LOVED your review, but I do have a question. How rough was the trip up & back? Was seasickness an issue? Thanks!

 

Thanks for sharing all this......

 

So how did you avoid the any time dining line? Do they go through a different door?

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info ..

[treesah]

Thanks for sharing, Mike. We'll be cruising on the Sea Princess end of August. What was the highlight of the trip for you?

[I object 2]

Thanks for taking time to write the review, Mike. We're sailing on the Golden in September. Your review puts me in the mood to drag out the suitcases and get packing! :)

[mikjr]

LOVED your review, but I do have a question. How rough was the trip up & back? Was seasickness an issue? Thanks!

 

the ride north out of San Francisco was a bit rough for the first day or so, then settled down. it was much smoother coming south. we only took a few ginger tablets the first few days. I did see several passengers with patches

[mikjr]

Thanks for sharing all this......

 

So how did you avoid the any time dining line? Do they go through a different door?

 

we started out in the Rigoletto dining room, on deck 5. that was the main Any Time Dining Room. once we spoke with the Maitre D, he assigned us a table in the Traviata on deck 6. there were still long lines all cruise at dinner time for the Rigoletto.

[mikjr]

Thanks for sharing, Mike. We'll be cruising on the Sea Princess end of August. What was the highlight of the trip for you?

 

I think just being on the ship! It's always nice cruising somewhere. And Alaska has some beautiful landscape!

 

Although we enjoyed the beauty of Alaska, I enjoy the WARMER climates better and the ability to lay by the pool and use the jacuzzi. I think the next time, we'll make sure the ship we take has a covered pool area.

 

it was our first time on the Sea Princess, but I believe the layout is like the Dawn, which we had cruised on before.

[Belle]

We've had a balcony 1st time.

 

Then an inside on a b2b last year.

On the inside you have to split the beds apart.

Opens up the room. They put the nightstand. inbetween

the beds, not at end of the vanity.. Lots more room to walk.

 

This year did notice the ports were so short in time.

Last year they were all day. What changed? Still a Ten day.

 

On anytime never go the first night to mdr..a mess

Went to the Corniche.

 

After 1st night always got a table for two in mdr but

went after 7:30 usually.

 

Glad you had a good time.

[cellyml12]

the ride north out of San Francisco was a bit rough for the first day or so, then settled down. it was much smoother coming south. we only took a few ginger tablets the first few days. I did see several passengers with patches

 

Thanks for the info! :)

[mikjr]

Here's a Facebook link to photos from our cruise. I believe it should work for everyone:

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3846089345124.2144102.1064870784&type=3&l=86f337b0cf

[travellover3]

Great job to do all this work in such a short time! Pictures are beautiful. I'm on my way for the 2nd time next month...good or bad weather, doesn't matter!

[shepp]

This was our first time to Haines… and probably our last. It was nice to visit, one time… but not much going on in a town of 3500!

 

Haines is rarely visited, so it isn't tarted up and full of jewelry stores and places selling T-shirts....and we loved our stop there. We rented a car for the day and went eagle spotting, bear watching, and hiking. It's a beautiful area, and one of the high points of our last Alaska cruise.

[mikjr]

Haines is rarely visited, so it isn't tarted up and full of jewelry stores and places selling T-shirts....and we loved our stop there. We rented a car for the day and went eagle spotting, bear watching, and hiking. It's a beautiful area, and one of the high points of our last Alaska cruise.

 

Shepp... you sure have that right! Juneau and Ketchikan are polluted with jewelry stores! Did you happen to visit BIG ALS Fish trailer while in Haines? We tried, but the line was too long. heard it was the best.

 

I did find a great TSHIRT with a Bald Eagle and HAINES on the front! best part of the whole visit!

[dforeigner]

Thank you for taking time to write a review.

[vivavegas]

Nice review! Thank you for sharing your experiences with us!:)

[FL Mary]

Great report! I'm on the Sea Princess now and the weather has been sunny and warm at both Ketchikan and Juneau. Don't even need jackets and many are wearing shorts. Hope the good weather continues. Thanks for your report!

[mikjr]

Great report! I'm on the Sea Princess now and the weather has been sunny and warm at both Ketchikan and Juneau. Don't even need jackets and many are wearing shorts. Hope the good weather continues. Thanks for your report!

 

glad you have great weather. we were real fortunate. the week prior it had rained in almost every port

[JWJs]

Thanks for your Sea Princess Alaska cruise review and pictures. :)

[TracieABD]

Thanks for the great review!:)

[Oahucruiser]

We were on this cruise also and enjoyed it immensely. I agree with everything the OP posted. Food was great, Larry Dunsmore was excellent almost every night in Crooner's and he really packed them in with his piano playing, singing and funny comments. There was a 4th production show, British Invasion, which was fun and full of energy. Ship very clean, all personnel were friendly and helpful, it was too cold to watch any MUTS movies and only about 2 or 3 people were outside watching in the evenings. Slightly rough on the way up north but very smooth on the return. Only negative -- too many jewelry stores in the towns and too much promotion of them on board. Next year the Grand will be doing this same cruise out of SFO.

[caribill]

Only negative -- too many jewelry stores in the towns and too much promotion of them on board. Next year the Grand will be doing this same cruise out of SFO.

 

Rule for cruises to Alaska, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera: Do not attend the port lecture. It is not about sightseeing. It is strickly a sales push for "approved" stores.

 

Rule for cruises elsewhere in the world: Attend the port lecture. It will interesting and informative and really about the port and what you can see and do, both independently and with Princess excursions.

[mikjr]

Rule for cruises to Alaska, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera: Do not attend the port lecture. It is not about sightseeing. It is strickly a sales push for "approved" stores.

 

I found it interesting at one of the stores in town (I believe Juneau).... the store owner had a sign in the window that read:

 

"wonder why we're not on the cruise ship approved list? Because we refuse to give them a kick back"

 

I'm not sure if the ships get a "kick back", but it's obvious there are some ruffled feathers with some of the shop owners.

 

I spoke with a few of the smaller shops owners and they were upset that many of the jewelry stores were owned by large out of town companies, and they closed up shop and left town after summer. Some of the shops also posted signs that read: "LOCAL OWNED STORE"

[erewhon]

Thank you for your review.

Yes, the Butchart Gardens are well worth a visit.

 

The shops with the "Local Owned" signs are the shops we visited.