Grand Princess May 11th Alaska Review

[bigpuma]

Overview:

My wife and I got married last June on a Carnival cruise with my 2 kids and some of my family. We decided we wanted to return to Alaska and do another cruise for our Honeymoon. We picked this cruise because it leaves from San Francisco and we live in the Bay Area. This was our first Princess Cruise and I was looking forward to trying Princess, especially in Alaska. We had previously sailed on Royal Caribbean out of Seattle to Alaska 4 years ago.

 

Embarkation:

Leaving from San Francisco Pier 27 was was easy and convenient for us. We drove up in the morning and I dropped off my wife and our luggage at the pier a little after 10am. I then drove to the parking lot at 55 Francisco dropped off the car and walked back. It is a fairly short walk and very easy. After checking in we waited for the ship to board.

 

Around noon they called our boarding number so we headed to our room to drop off our carry ons and headed to the dining room for lunch. We had booked last summer during the Sip and Sail Promotion but our sticker was not on our cards so we headed to guest services to get it fixed. Unfortunately this took several days to rectify so we had to purchase the AIBP package but eventually this was fixed and we were refunded. This was the only hiccup on the cruise so no big deal.

 

Shortly after we headed to the muster drill and a little after 5 we set sail for Alaska.

 

Passing Alcatraz

 

Sailing by the Golden Gate:

 

More to come:

[bigpuma]

Not sure why my photos are not showing, I am trying to post from google photos.

 

Anyway I shall continue and try to fix the photos later.

 

After sail away we headed to the dining room for dinner. We had anytime dining and after reading here we were concerned about getting a table. However we never had a problem getting a table any time we walked into the dining room as long as we were willing to share a table of 6 or 8. We enjoyed getting to know our fellow passengers and the food in the dining room was always very good.

 

After dinner we hung out in a few of the bars and headed to bed early.

 

Day 2: At Sea

The first Sea day we got up and headed to the buffet for some breakfast. Unfortunately we found the food in the buffet to be lacking so we only ended up eating there 1 more time the entire cruise. After breakfast we headed up to the One5 lounge where jigger_b had organized a meet and greet for us cruise critic folks. We must have had 50 of us at the meet and greet and we were even treated to a visit and Q&A session with the Captain and other officers. Thanks again jigger_b for setting all that up.

 

After the meet and greet we had a leisurely lunch and again met up with our cruise critic friends for a Cabin Crawl and Poker Run. It was great seeing all of the different cabin types from ocean view to the Penthouse suite. I thought I had a great hand for the poker run with a 7 high to win the lowball prize but I was beaten by several others. :D

 

After the cabin crawl we relaxed most of the day at Crooners or wheel house or Vista either having a drink, eating, or trying our hand at trivia.

 

Day 3: At Sea

 

Not much to add here we again spent the day eating, having drinks, and relaxing watching the waves go by. What was remarkable was how calm the water was with 1-2 foot waves the first 2 sea days. It was like sailing on the Caribbean. That evening they had the Crab Shack so we signed up and enjoyed an incredible amount of King Crabs and other Sea Food. I highly recommend the Crab Shack if you haven't done it. It was a blast and the food was very good.

 

more to come

Edited May 29, 2016 by bigpuma

[bigpuma]

Day 4: Juneau 1:30 - 10pm

 

Juneau started out as another lazy morning having breakfast in our room and looking for wildlife as we sailed through the inside passage. Once we got to Juneau we got off the ship around 2:15 and headed to our Whale Watching excursion. We booked a small boat Whale Watching through our travel agent and we ended up on a boat with 6 people including ourselves. The trip was awesome with about 2.5 hours on the water. We saw Humpbacks, Eagles, Dall's Porpoises, Sea Lions, and the best was we got to see a pod of Orcas. I will try to post photos later and I figure out how.

 

After Whale Watching we got back to the port around 6:30 and decided to do a little shopping before heading back to the ship.

[Mary Ann 2]

Thanks for the review. Can't wait to read more. With less than 2 weeks to go, interested in hearing everything.

[Working 2 Cruise]

I love Alaska! Unfortunately, we have to miss it this year...:mad:

 

You might try Photobucket for your photos...

 

Thanks for the review!

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review.

 

Keith

[Luvmyrotti]

We've thought about doing the 10 day Alaska out of San Francisco, so I'm enjoying your perspective. I can't wait to see your pictures, especially the pod of orcas!

Edited May 29, 2016 by Luvmyrotti

[Thermy]

Thanks for much for your review! I'm really enjoying it! I'm cruising out of San Francisco to Alaska on the Grand in August. Looking forward to reading the rest of your review. :) I saw your photos by right clicking on them and choosing to open them in a new tab.

[sunsetbeachgal]

My stepdaughter was on this cruise and had a wonderful time, and thought the ship was in excellent shape with a great staff. They also enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather in Alaska.

[lbfluffy]

Thanks for the review. Our roll call only has 9 members. We are slow. Question we are coming from Los Banos and will come down the 101. I want to beat rush hour, but I also want to get on early so we can book the chefs table. What time did you leave your house to get to the pier? Did you hit rush hour? Also did you prepay parking? We also got the sip and sail promo. Hope we don't have problems.

Thanks.

[CruisinCadie]

We will be taking this cruise in August so I am eagerly awaiting every installment. Keep up the good work.

 

Kathy

[rocklinmom]

Loving your review so far! We are on the Grand in two weeks.

[dtb55]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. We're doing the same itinerary in Sept. If you have any patters that would be awesome too.

[Nimbusteach]

Thank you for this! We leave in a few days and are so excited! We would also love to see patters or menus if you have them. Also when were the formal nights? We were hoping to do the ultimate balcony dinner on the first formal night.

 

Can't wait to see the rest of your reviews!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Clarea]

Enjoying your review.

[tracyd1014]

My hubs and another couple were all on this cruise. This was our 4th time to Alaska and their 3rd time. We had a good time all and all. The entertainment was repeatious from earlier Princess cruise we had been on so we didn't attend many of the shows. The food was excellent and we did Chefs Table one night which was super good. The biggest complaint I had was that the common areas w ere freezing cold. I mean to the point people had on heavy coats inside most of the time. We have never been disappointed in Princess.

[lbfluffy]

My hubs and another couple were all on this cruise. This was our 4th time to Alaska and their 3rd time. We had a good time all and all. The entertainment was repeatious from earlier Princess cruise we had been on so we didn't attend many of the shows. The food was excellent and we did Chefs Table one night which was super good. The biggest complaint I had was that the common areas w ere freezing cold. I mean to the point people had on heavy coats inside most of the time. We have never been disappointed in Princess.

 

I'm hoping we are able to get the Chefs Table. We've never done it and this would be great to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. I wish I could book it ahead of time.

 

Jessica

[bigpuma]

Thanks for the review. Our roll call only has 9 members. We are slow. Question we are coming from Los Banos and will come down the 101. I want to beat rush hour, but I also want to get on early so we can book the chefs table. What time did you leave your house to get to the pier? Did you hit rush hour? Also did you prepay parking? We also got the sip and sail promo. Hope we don't have problems.

Thanks.

 

We live in Morgan Hill so we left our house around 8:30 and took 85 to 280. Just hit a bit of traffic on the 85/280 exchange otherwise it moved pretty well. We pre-paid parking at 55 Francisco and it was a good thing we did. The garage was full and they weren't letting anyone without a pre-paid reservation park.

[bigpuma]

On with the review. After shopping in Juneau we headed back on to the ship and our usual routine of eating in the dining room and hanging out and having drinks. We really didn't take part in much of the entertainment other than going to the various trivia sessions on board. Also as someone had mentioned Juneau was very warm. Probably 75 degrees so we were wearing t-shirts on our Whale Watching and enjoyed the sun.

 

Day 5: Skagway

We could never decide what to do in Skagway so we ended up just walking around the town and doing a bit of shopping. Once again it was unseasonably warm although not as warm as Juneau. We took the train 4 years ago which I would highly recommend but since we had done it already we didn't bother this time. The town is nice and we ended up heading back to the ship for lunch and a lazy afternoon. That evening we made an impromptu decision to try the Crown Grill for dinner. Since we were in port until 8pm we didn't need a reservation when we stopped by at 6. The food at the Crown Grill was exceptional but I filled up on the soup and appetizers and couldn't finish my steak. :D oh well everything was awesome. After dinner we again slipped into our routine of hanging out at different bars.

 

Day 6: Glacier Bay National Park

This was definitely one of the reasons we booked this itinerary. Last time we cruised to Alaska we did the Tracy Arm so I was very excited to see Glacier Bay. We woke up early and ordered breakfast in the room with the plan of looking for wildlife. Didn't see much from my balcony that morning so I headed up to the deck to check out the views. Got up there just as we were passing Reid Glacier and a little bit later we got to Margerie Glacier where we spent about an hour. The ship moved slowly toward the Glacier with it on the Port side and stopped for probably 30 minutes. I got a lot of good photos of the glacier from the deck then sat at the bar on deck while taking in the beauty. As the ship started rotating to put the glacier on the starboard side we decided to head down to our room and check it out from the balcony so we wouldn't have to compete for deck space. Got a bunch more photos before we started heading out to see another glacier. After leaving the last glacier we headed for lunch. Most of the afternoon we spend hanging out on our balcony looking for wildlife. We were rewarded as we passed near Hoonah and saw a bunch of Humback Whales. In fact one such Whale came up for a breath within what seemed like 15 feet of the cruise ship. I heard a loud noise as it blew near the front of the ship so I looked down to see the Humpback float past the ship just below my balcony. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera ready at the time. After that we went back to our normal routine of hanging out and getting dinner.

[CMM]

Once we got to Juneau we got off the ship around 2:15 and headed to our Whale Watching excursion. We booked a small boat Whale Watching through our travel agent and we ended up on a boat with 6 people including ourselves. The trip was awesome with about 2.5 hours on the water.

 

Do you recall the whale watching company?

 

Enjoying your review. Thank you for posting it

[greenie082756]

Thanks for sharing your experiences on your cruise.

 

I know now after doing the Tracy Arm Fjord cruise last year what Princess meant about "Coming back new".

 

I felt after that cruise, that I had dusted off some old stuff and was ready to tackle what was ahead. We will do another cruise to Alaska soon I'm sure. :D

[lbfluffy]

We live in Morgan Hill so we left our house around 8:30 and took 85 to 280. Just hit a bit of traffic on the 85/280 exchange otherwise it moved pretty well. We pre-paid parking at 55 Francisco and it was a good thing we did. The garage was full and they weren't letting anyone without a pre-paid reservation park.

 

 

Thank you. I will book the parking now.

[sk8terchick]

We were also on this cruise and had a great time[emoji3]. It was my 4th time & my husbands 2nd time to Alaska. The Grand was a nice ship. So many people say it is run down & pick on the littlest things in reviews about this ship. We enjoyed the miniature golf course on board & the shows as they were new for us. We bundled up for Movies Under The Stars with some great Mexican Ponchos my husband got from his dad. They are toasty warm!

We had a blast, was one of the more relaxing cruises we have had. We only did the train in Skagway because it was my hubby first time at that port.

Love your review[emoji177]

 

 

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[tracyd1014]

I had my iPad on video just "in case" one of the glacier's calved I got the big one that came down in glacier bay. Get video if you can take all the background talking. If anyone would like to have it, please email me @ tracyd1014@yahoo.com and I will send it to you. I'm not sure how to post a video here.