Trip Review July/August 2012-Island Princess

[Seminolevet]

First, I would like to send a HUGE thank you to everyone on these forums for their assistance in planning this 17 day trip. We decided to book this trip in February/March of this year, which I'd quickly found was late in Alaska planning. This trip wouldn't have been nearly as fun without all of your input and suggestions. THANK YOU!!!

 

This cruise was part of a 17 day DIY adventure, that was preceded by 7 days on land. For a link to the land portion, please visit: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g28923-i349-k5703120-Trip_Review_July_August_2012-Alaska.html

 

 

Cruise Review:

 

July 25th: After returning our rental car to the airport, we took a taxi to the railroad station to catch the Glacier Discovery train to Whittier. The nice part of this part is there was a Princess luggage drop at the station, allowing us to drop our bags to meet us at our cabin later that evening. We were able to use this service, even though we hadn’t booked a cruise tour with them, which was very nice. The train ride itself took a route adjacent to the drive we had done along the Seward Hwy the first day, so the scenery was very similar. It was a perfectly clear day, mild temperatures and sunny. So rare for Whittier!! When we came through the tunnel, we got to see our cruise ship for the first time, which was pretty cool. She was the only one at the dock, and against the crystal clear water and sunny skies, it was a beautiful sight! We wanted to take advantage of our time in Whittier since the ship didn’t leave until 8:30pm, so we’d booked a Prince William Sound Cruise through Major Marine (Northern Lights coupon). Being a rare sunny day, we were treated to some magnificent scenery, and some beautiful glaciers. None were quite as active as the Kenai glaciers were, but they were still awesome!

 

We boarded the Island Princess around 6pm, ready to start the next chapter of our adventure!!

 

Embarkation was amazingly smooth…we were the only people boarding at the time we did! I’m pretty sure it’s because we took that Prince William Sound cruise beforehand, and we boarded before the late train from Anchorage arrived. Whatever the reason, it was a very smooth process. First impression of the ship was very positive, as the atrium is very pretty without feeling too over the top. Our stateroom was ready when we arrived, with all our luggage waiting for us in our room. The room itself (A604) was very spacious in our opinion, with a lot of storage and plenty of room for my husband and I to be comfortable and not feel confined. We chose a port side balcony for optimum scenery, and were rewarded many times over on the cruise. 90% of the scenery and wildlife sightings were on our side, and the rest of the time we saw everything from the Deck 11 forward deck.

 

Since we’d been traveling for 7 days already, we took this opportunity to do a couple loads of laundry. The laundry room was just down the hall from our room, and was very easy to use. We’d brought Purex 3 in 1 sheets which worked very well.

After laundry, unpacking and exploring the ship, we opted to dine in Horizon Court. Food was just okay, typical buffet fare.

 

That evening we went to the Welcome Aboard show, which was featuring comedian Kevin Hughes. He was hilarious!! I highly recommend his show. We were rolling with laughter the entire time (especially when he poked fun at our college football rivals)

 

July 26th: Hubbard Glacier: This morning was the Cruise Critic meet and greet at Crooners Bar, which had a good turnout (Thanks Julie for organizing it all!) It was very nice meeting the crew who I’d been chatting with the months prior. So many good stories from the various land tours that everyone took.

 

After the Meet and Greet, we grabbed a quick bite to eat, then attended an Art Auction, mainly for the free champagne. Nothing really appealed to us, but it was a fun experience. It wasn’t so much of an auction as it was an art sale though, since there was no real bidding. That might have been more of an issue with an apathetic crowd who were just “feeling things out” rather than really bidding, but who knows.

 

We arrived at Hubbard Glacier mid afternoon, which is the largest tidewater glacier in North America. Glaciers are beautiful, and this one is no exception. It was active, though not as much as some of the others we’d seen. It was really awesome to see the sheer length of it up close and personal. Many seal and otter sightings too, which is always a treat!

 

Tonight was formal night, which we chose to attend and dress up for. We’re not real fancy people, so this was a big deal for us. We’d chosen anytime dining, but we got a 2 top near a window when we arrived at 7:45pm. We’re also late eaters, so that might explain the easy seating. We loved our location so much that we requested a standing reservation for 7:30 every night at the same table. It was a perfect decision. Having your waiters learn your preferences and have your favorite appetizer waiting for you is a luxury we could get used to! Dinner tonight was good, better than Horizon Court for sure.

 

After dinner we hit the piano bar for drinks, and had a blast. It was the piano man’s first Princess cruise, so he was used to a younger crowd (moved over from Carnival), which was fine by us. He even took it in stride when I accidentally spilled his bourbon going up to request a song! All in all, it was a wonderfully fun night.

 

July 27th: Glacier Bay Today was a very low key day for us, almost with too little to do. Honestly, I think having done so much glacier/wildlife viewing on our land tour spoiled us a bit. The highlight of the day was waking up and having some coffee on our balcony watching whales right off our balcony! Even had some orca sightings! This was seen in Lynn Canal, which is notorious for being a whale hotspot. We were totally stoked to see them right from our room! We spent most of the day in our room and on the Deck 11 forward deck for photos. The naturalist did a good job narrating what we were seeing. My complaint with him though, was that he spent probably 75% of his time promoting a book by a fellow naturalist that was for sale in the shops. He must have referenced/quoted it every 5th sentence or something. Got very annoying and I felt like he was more of a used car salesman than a naturalist at that point. Just my two cents. Information was good, I just didn’t need to know what book it came from every 5 minutes.

 

July 28th: Skagway. We’d decided to rent Green Jeeps through Green Jeep Tours of Skagway to go our own way over the summit and into the Yukon. Jeanne met us at the dock at 8am, and we were promptly brought to our Jeep pickup point. Smooth pickup and we were on our way. Our 2 door TJ Jeep Wrangler was comfortable and equipped with snack/drink filled cooler, CB radio (to talk to other Jeeps), CD with narration for sights along the route, and a copy of Murray’s Guide. I’d printed a copy from home, so if anyone is planning this trip, don’t bother printing it! It was a very foggy, rainy day in Skagway, so we were worried about what we’d be able to see. We didn’t see a lot until we got over the Summit and into Canada, but once we did, boy, we were treated to a SPECTACULAR drive! This is a gorgeous drive, and we were able to take the Jeep on several off road gravel trails which gave us access to unique photo opportunities and hiking. We stopped for lunch in Carcross (Elk Sausage for hubby and Bison burger for me from a little stand off the side of the road) and enjoyed exploring the little area a bit. Headed as far as Emerald Lake (which was absolutely breathtaking!! It was like the water from Fiji/Tahiti with a mountain view! We had time to head out to Dyea as well once arriving back to Skagway to return the Jeep. This was an outstanding excursion that I would highly recommend to anyone looking for something other than the train.

 

July 29th: Juneau- We’d arranged for a cab to meet us at the dock and take us out to Mendenhall glacier for an early morning hike before we were to be picked up by Harv and Marv for our whale watch tour. We had a short port day today, so I’d made sure to confirm everything with everyone. We made it out to Mendenhall with no hitches, spending a fabulous morning hiking up to Nugget Falls and enjoying the beautiful glacier/falls. Unfortunately, Harv and Marv put us down for a dock pickup instead of glacier pickup when Callie did the schedule the day before. Because of this, we were not picked up a the correct time and missed our whale tour. I cannot tell you how devastated I was. This was supposed to be one of the highlights of our cruise itinerary. I had been so careful to confirm anything, I don’t know if I could have done anything more. I called them after less than 5 minutes had passed from our pickup time, but wasn’t able to reach anyone until it was too late to come get us. And because of the timing, there wasn’t enough time to get out on the water at another time. To her credit, Callie tried to make it right by offering complementary passes for the Mt. Roberts Tram, and offered to set up alternate plans for us in the city. She felt terrible, and I understand things happen. It just really sucked to miss out on this excursion, especially after hearing about all the bubble net feeding others got to see. She ended up reimbursing our tour price, as well as our expense of finding our own way back from the glacier. She even sent us one of their coffee table books about Alaska’s whales when we got home. If anyone is planning to use them, my advice would be to avoid taking them up on their offer to pick you up from the glacier, and just stick with dock pickup.

 

We instead hit up Tracy’s Crab Shack and had some AMAZING crab legs (of course) with some beers. We then did some shopping in town (we had no interest in the Tram), and visited the Alaskan Brewery. All in all, we did all we could to salvage the day for what we could, but it was still a bit disappointing.

 

Tonight was the second formal night on the ship, and we dressed up a little less for this one. Food had improved from the first couple nights where the dishes were good, but not great. Headed to the second running of Kevin Hughes the comedian, who had us laughing just as much as he did the first night. It was a nice ending to the day that hadn’t quite gone as planned.

 

July 30th: Ketchikan- Anan Creek Bear Viewing with Family Air Tours. This was THE HIGHLIGHT of our trip. Absolutely superb excursion all around. Dave Rocke (owner/pilot) is a great guide with a good sense of humor. We took his float plane for a 50minute trip out to Anan which is in the Tongass National Forest. Having never been in a float plane, this was an awesome (if not a bit cramped) experience. So cool taking off and landing on water! When you get to Anan, there is a short trail you have to travel down to reach the bears and the observatory. We were met at the trail base by a ranger who explained bear safety before letting us set out on the trail. It was just us and another couple going unguided, but it was completely fine. We did have 3 bears cross our path along the way, one with a fish in his mouth, but they didn’t seem to pay us any mind. Once reaching the observatory, we were rewarded with 3 ½ glorious hours of up close bear viewing. Blacks, browns, adults, cubs, feeding, climbing trees…we saw it all, up close and personal. The salmon were running like mad down there!! It was a life changing experience, being in their presence in the wild. Once in a lifetime experience!! We got back to Ketchikan early since we weren’t able to fly into Misty Fjords as planned due to the fog (and Dave reimbursed us because of it), so we got a quick guided tour of the city, and then set off to walk Creek Street and find our way back to the ship.

 

July 31st: At Sea - spent a lot of the day getting our stuff together for disembarkation the following day. We did attend a wine tasting which was a lot of fun. We got singled out as the Jacksonville Jaguar fans (since the hubby wore a Jags shirt to dinner occasionally and the head waiter noticed), which was neat. It was a good way to pass the time at sea, and drink some pretty good wines. Shortly after we traveled into the portion of the Inside Passage where we saw tons of whales, so we spent the rest of the day out on the Deck 11 Forward deck until it was time for dinner. We were sad to see this cruise portion of the trip coming to a close, but ready to enjoy our time in Vancouver too.

 

August 1st-3rd: We chose late disembarkation since we were spending a couple days in Vancouver and were in no huge rush to get off. We left at 9:30, and underwent a smooth disembarkation. Smooth transfer by cab to our hotel (Metropolitan Hotel) which was absolutely GORGEOUS!! I’d found a Groupon deal online which was a steal for the central location and beauty of this hotel. Highly recommend! We spent the next couple days sightseeing in Vancouver, visiting the Capilano Suspension Bridge, Grouse Mountain, Granville Island, Stanley Park, and all the sights in between. We used the hop-on, hop off train to get our bearings, and were able to use the ferry to get to Granville as part of the purchase price of the train fare.

 

As far as restaurants, one place of exceptional note is the Pourhouse in Gastown. It was outstanding. Wonderful drinks, and the food was exceptional. It’s a small place, but the service was wonderful, and we had the most amazing short ribs we’ve had in a long time!

 

We had booked the Quick Coach for transport to Seattle for our overnight flight on the 3rd. I would highly recommend anyone looking for transport to Seattle take the train if possible. Because of timing issues we couldn’t take the train, and the bus was just miserable. We were glad had arranged a 4 hour buffer between when we were supposed to arrive at the airport and our flight, because we were 2 hours late in arriving. It didn’t dampen the wonderful vacation we had just finished, but it was just such a disorganized experience, I’d never recommend it to anyone on any sort of a time schedule or who values your personal space and comfort.

 

Overall cruise experience:

 

We enjoyed our time aboard the Island Princess a lot. It was a great way to see the Inside Passage, and reach multiple locations in a timely manner. Food was overall pretty good, with the dining room being better than the Horizon Court. My husband was on a diet when we went, and was able to maintain his diet the entire time successfully. Our waiters were extraordinary and knew to have a plate of assorted cheeses waiting for the hubby each night. Super nice!

 

We found our room to be much more comfortable than expected, and we never felt like we were on a cruise ship. The seas were uncommonly calm, and having a balcony really made a huge difference in the experience. In our opinion, a balcony is a must for an Alaskan cruise after experiencing it!

 

We did have some issue with one of our pieces of luggage being damaged in transit to the room. The handle was stuck in the “up” position. We phoned our room steward to request a screwdriver to allow my husband to remove/repair it so it would be flight worthy on our return flight. She offered to have the upholsterer repair it (at no charge of course because they damaged it.) We gladly let her do so, only to receive our luggage back a day later, in the same condition we left it in. The response was that they were unable to repair it. We phoned down to Passenger Services to request a screwdriver (which we really wanted in the first place). We were told they did not have any on the ship. Right. Huge cruise ship with no screwdrivers to be had? Doubtful. Finally tracked down the steward who was finally able to get us one after we explained there was absolutely no way we could fly with our luggage in this condition. Ten minutes later, hubby had the handle completely fixed.

 

All in all, this was one amazing trip. After the months of extensive planning, it was great to see it all work out (for the most part). We are already planning our next Alaska trip to spend a couple weeks on land only, doing some camping in Denali as part of it. And we’re also setting money aside to send my parents on an Alaskan cruise in 2014 for their 40th anniversary. It’s just too beautiful of a place to miss out on.

[Keith1010]

Wonderful review and I am glad you had a terrific time.

 

Keith

[Assateague Island Princes]

Fantastic review - thanx so much for sharing! Took a lot of great tips about your lodging and stops on the way to Denali that I've stored away while planning our land only trip to AK next June. So appreciate that!

 

Also very, very sorry that things didn't work out with your whale watching excursion w/H&M. We've gone whale watching with them twice and it was truly the experience of a lifetime - each time. So I feel your disappointment, and know you must have been sick about missing it. I do hope that someday (and soon!:D) you'll be able to head back to the Great Land and will then be able to experience Harv and Marv's whale watching with great success.

 

Again, thank you so much for posting. Loved every minute of reading it this morning!

[mj]

Thanks for the review. Sorry you missed your whale watching tour. I would be devastated, too. We are supposed to go to Alaska next May and were going to use Harv and Marv.

[KruisinKath]

Nice review! Especially about Green Jeep Tours, which we're thinking of doing. I'm glad it was a good experience - so far, the few reviews I've seen have also been very positive, so that's good to see.

 

I'm so sorry you missed the whale watching - that's something I'm also really looking forward to, and would be very disappointed as well to miss out.

 

I hope you are like many who planned to only go to Alaska once, but are able to get there again, so you get your whale watch!