Review (long) -- Coral Princess, southbound July 24-31

[coralcruzer]

ARRIVAL IN ALASKA

My wife and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with a seven-night cruise on the Coral Princess, traveling south from Anchorage to Vancouver, from July 24 to July 31. We flew from Los Angeles to Anchorage, with a connecting flight in Seattle, the day before our ship departed from the dock in Whittier. We spent the night in Anchorage at the Microtel Inn and Suites, which is close to the airport in Anchorage, but in the middle of nowhere, with no places to eat or walk to nearby. We, and others that we observed, had to settle for snacks from the vending machine. But it was a good, clean hotel, with a courteous staff. Our room was quite large for two people, with two queen beds and a nice window shelf with a cushion on it to lie down and enjoy the heavy pine scent from the forest behind the building. The hotel had a computer in the lobby with free Internet access, allowing us to check and send e-mails. Coffee was available 24-7. In the morning, there was a selection of Costco muffins, cereals, juices and the like. There was a free shuttle to and from the airport. The best part of the deal, and the reason we stayed, was that I had booked the room last October, when I was surprised to find a rate of $62.99 a night, when all the other Anchorage hotels were at least $100 higher. As it turned out, we had gotten the winter rate because someone apparently forgot to "flip the switch" on the computer and switch to the higher summer rates. It was a goof for which I thought the hotel might not make good on, but not a word was said at check-in. If you need a quick overnight stay as we did, I can recommend the Microtel, even with higher summer rates, which I believe are less than many other hotels, probably because the hotel is in a bit of an isolated location, though we never felt unsafe.

AT THE AIRPORT

Once at the airport, Princess Cruises had a luggage check-in area, where we dropped our bags and were told that an announcement would be made about boarding our bus to go to Whittier. As we wandered around the airport, however, there was no announcement over the loudspeakers, as we expected. When we checked back at the luggage check-in area, we learned that there had been a verbal announcement only to people in the immediate area. Needless to say, we had to rush to get on the bus, where all the seats were taken except for two at the front of the bus that apparently were being held for the disabled or elderly. The driver then directed us to take the front seat, which was fantastic for me since I was shooting videotape.

ANCHORAGE TO WHITTIER

Just outside the airport, the driver -- a very friendly former schoolteacher, principal and schools superintendent from Colorado -- pointed out a moose alongside of the road opposite from us. It turned out to be one of the few animals we saw on our trip. It was quite overcast and cloudy as we headed to the dock, and soon it began raining -- a sign of things to come weather-wise. The driver took us through a wildlife refuge, where we got out and slogged through the rain and mud to look at a few animals. But mostly we just got wet. The driver had stopped because we had time to kill while waiting for our 2:30 p.m. "appointment" to go through a 2 1/2-mile-long, one-way tunnel built during World War II to get fuel supplies from Whittier to Anchorage by train. The entrance to the tunnel reminded me of an A-frame Swiss mountain cabin. The driver had to straddle the railroad tracks in the narrow tunnel, where the speed limit was 25 mph. He said it cost $120 to take the bus through the tunnel and $20 for cars, which were stacked up waiting their turn. The process is fairly tedious, since traffic coming the other direction must wait its turn, too. As we approached the Coral Princess, it was raining pretty steady and there was almost no visibility. After getting off the bus, we walked to the embarkation terminal, where a long line of people snaked along to present their cruise documents and get their room card keys, etc. After a quick pass through a security screening, we were welcomed onboard and made our way to our stateroom, Caribe 414.

OUR STATEROOM

We had booked the last available room on the port side of the 10th (Caribe) deck, and were almost dead center in the middle of the ship. My wife loved the stateroom! Caribe deck has the largest balconies, although only half of the balcony is covered and half is open to the elements. We were right next to the "bump-out" in the middle of the ship, which my wife liked because it acted as a sort of windbreak. And it was conveniently right around the corner from the main elevators. The decor in the room was very tasteful, and we were pleasantly surprised at the size of the room. Frankly, we have stayed in smaller motel rooms. The bathroom was quite compact, not unlike what we are accustomed to in recreational vehicles. There was a roomy wardrobe and a wall of shelves we used as a shoe rack and what not. There also was a good-sized safe with a four-digit combination lock in which we stored travel documents, jewelry, cellphones, etc. There also were two-drawer nightstands on either side of the queen bed (with a down comforter), a desk, refrigerator, TV, table and a hair dryer that my wife said was really only good for drying fingernail polish. She was glad that she brought her own hair dryer, as well. an extension cord with three outlets, since there are only two outlets in the stateroom and a shaver-only outlet in the bathroom. The only complaint we had was that our luggage did not show up in our stateroom until about 8:30 p.m. -- five hours after boarding. We were really anxious to get out of our travel clothes and freshen up for the night. Our cabin steward, Danny, from the Philippines, was exceptional --very friendly and attentive to detail.

COLLEGE FJORD AND GLACIER BAY

After setting sail about 10 p.m., we were in College Fjord the next morning from 6 to 9. We are basically night owls, so getting up at 6 a.m. after a busy day before was not the easiest thing to do! But it was made easier by having ordered room service bring us coffee, juice and sweet rolls to enjoy as we viewed the scenery from our balcony. The weather was lousy, however, with virtually no visibility. We were told that it was 40 degrees (in July!) outside and that the water temperature was 43 degrees. Still, it was an awesome experience, with chunks of glacial ice floating past us. We had pretty much a repeat of the same experience the next day in Glacier Bay, with more low clouds, fog, overcast, rainy weather. There were a couple of episodes of "calving," in which a piece of a glacier falls into the water, as we viewed Marjerie glacier, but we did not see any wildlife other than a few birds. The air temperature was in the low 50s. We were both glad to have brought warm coats and gloves. I also wish that I had brought a tripod for my camcorder!

SKAGWAY

In our first port, Skagway, it was more of the same lousy weather, which by now was getting me down. It was not a lot of fun in the rain walking from the ship downtown and back to catch the White Pass rail trip. We had heard so many good things about the White Pass trip that I was really looking forward to it. But we were both quite disappointed. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being best, I fully expected the 3 1/2-hour, 20-mile trip to be a 10, or at least a 9. But we thought it was only about a 4 or 5. I would guess that for about the first half of the trip, all we saw was a forest of trees, with only a quick glimpse of a scenic view. Not until you clear the tree line do the views really open up much, and then they are very quick. I suppose the views would have been much more spectacular had there been better weather. We had been in the next-to-the-last car on the 14-car train so that I could shoot video of the locomotives and first few cars of the train as we rounded bends and crossed bridges. At the summit, the locomotives are reversed, as are the passenger seats (they simply flip over the seat backs), so we were in the second car behind the diesel-electric locomotives on the return trip down the same route. Unfortunately, diesel fumes poured into our car, making people nauseous. The conductor closed the skylight windows to cut down on the fumes, but it did not really help much. The narration on the trip was pretty boring, delivered in a monotone voice. I had wished someone would play a more lively taped narration instead. By the time we got back to the ship (the train stops right alongside the ship), we were just kind of glad it was over. For us, it was a waste of $200.

JUNEAU

After days of rain, I reluctantly canceled by the deadline onboard ship a glacier helicopter-landing trip that I had prebooked before our cruise. I just didn't want to commit $282 (cruise price) for a helicopter trip that might be pretty bad given the rainy, overcast weather we had been experiencing. In our stateroom, there is a "weather" button on the phone giving the day's forecast, and it said more of the same inclement weather in Juneau. But when I was at the Klondike National Historic Park visitor center in Skagway, a weather report on the bulletin board indicated that it would be sunny and 75 in Juneau. So I didn't know what to believe. When we arrived in Juneau the next morning, it was indeed 70ish and sunny, with magnificent blue skies! I scrambled and rebooked my "four-glacier helicopter adventure" directly with ERA Helicopters, saving $40 in the process. I got to sit next to the pilot on the flight out to Taku glacier, where we landed and observed a "mulan," or waterfall into a crevasse in the glacier. It was fantastic. On a scale of 1 to 10, this helicopter tour rated a 15! I was dazzled by the whole experience. By the time I was dropped off in downtown Juneau to meet my wife (tracking each other down with walkie-talkies, great when shopping), it was 12:45 p.m. and we had to be back on the ship by 3:30 p.m. We intended to take the $12 (round trip) shuttle, which normally runs every 30 minutes, for the half-hour drive to Mendenhall glacier, thinking we could take the 1 p.m. shuttle, get out there by 1:30, stay and hour and catch the 2:30 shuttle back to town in plenty of time. But it turned out that since we were the only ship in port that day, the shuttles were cut back to hourly service, leaving downtown on the half hour and leaving Mendenhall on the hour. That meant that we would have to wait until the 1:30 shuttle to get out there and then have to take the 3 p.m. shuttle back to town. The driver told us that he could not guarantee that the 3 p.m. shuttle would get us back on time, so we had to cancel the trip, and instead decided to walk around the downtown area, which turned out to be a lot of fun.

KETCHIKAN

When our ship pulled into Ketchikan, we were met with a steady stream of float planes (probably 15 to 20 in half an hour), and even more beautiful weather -- blue skies, 70ish and sunny! We did not have any shore excursions planned since we heard Ketchikan was the place to do our gift shopping. So we spent our time walking around town, taking the funicular up to a lodge for a scenic overview of town and ate lunch at a great fish and chips place along historic Creek Street. My wife said she liked Ketchikan the best of the three ports (I guess it didn't hurt that there were seven jewelry stores next to each other right along the dock).

SHIPBOARD DINING

We had signed up for the traditional, first seating in the Provence dining room at 5:45 p.m. nightly (as opposed to second seating at 7:45 p.m.) Rather than get a group table for eight as requested, we were given a table for two against a wall near the dining room entrance that my wife really hated. We asked the maitre'd to move us to a table for eight the next night, and we were, but no one else showed up for the first two nights. Another couple joined us one night, and it wasn't until our last night on the ship that we had a full table of eight. The food was great -- filet mignon, New York steak, Alaskan crab legs, lobster tail, mahi mahi, etc. We had a really good waiter, "Billy the Kid" he called himself, and a busboy, Ricky, also both from the Philippines. One night we decided we didn't like the menu in the Provence dining room and ate the Horizon Court buffet, where, it turned out, it was German night, and was it fantastic! The Horizon Court is where we had breakfast each morning, and where we would go for lunch. The food was uniformly great.

We never did get around to trying out the pizza parlor, burger stand or outside BBQ, nor the two specialty restaurants, Sabbatini's (Italian) or the Bayou (New Orleans cajun), for which there was a $15 surcharge. Nor did we buy the rather pricey cola cards, instead enjoying the coffee and iced tea served at Horizon Court. We are not big drinkers, so we have nothing to report on the liquor service. One thing I wish Princess Cruises would do is include in their daily Princess Patter newsletter the nightly entree selection in each of the restaurants so we could decide early on if we wanted to dine in the Provence dining room, go to the buffet or try one of the specialty restaurants. The only way of knowing what's on the menu each night is to traipse around the ship and visit each restaurant before dinner.

SHIPBOARD ATTRACTIONS

There are endless activities on the ship, which is stunningly beautiful, with its four-deck center atrium and glass elevators. We took in the nightly live performances (singing, dancing, a comedian, etc.) in the ship's huge forward theater, hit the London-themed casino (where someone won $14,000 on the slots), toured the art gallery, library, Internet cafes and checked out the numerous gift shops. We also looked at the spa facilities, exercise room, basketball court, children's playground, teen center, etc. I wanted to go to the mini-golf course on the 15th deck, but it always seemed to be raining or we just didn't have enough time to do everything we wanted. Even after a week on the ship, we never got around to seeing everything!

SUMMARY

I initially had to talk my wife into going to Alaska, since she really enjoys Hawaii and would have liked to go back there (where we honeymooned and returned for our 25th anniversary). But now she is a HUGE fan of Alaska and the Coral Princess. We already our saving our nickels and dimes (actually, it probably will be another $5,000) to return to mainland Alaska to see the wildlife. And, at some future point, probably take another cruise, perhaps going northbound just to be different, and taking in new shore excursions. I really wish Princes Cruises would offer a 10-day cruise, with an extra day in each of the three ports. There really is not enough time in each port to do more than one, or maybe two, shore excursions. An extra full day is really needed to truly appreciate each of the towns at a slower, more relaxed pace. If you want to take a truly fantastic vacation, I heartily recommend the Coral Princess along the coast of Alaska!

[Coral]

Hi,

 

Thank you for the review. My first cruise to Alaska had miserable weather all week so I know how frustrating it can be. I went back and did some research on weather and decided to sail at a different time (May instead of July) and have had pretty good weather for my next 5 cruises to Alaska. Alaska is incredible when the weather is good.

 

Glad you liked the Coral Princess - she is my favorite ship for Alaska! Also glad the weather cleared up for you!

[cwestbrook]

We just got off the southbound Island (sister ship) and I thought you did a great job describing everything.

 

If you're ever in Skagway again, I recommend renting a car (we got ours from Avis for $53 with unlimited miles) and driving way past where the train turns around. We went to Emerald lake but you could go even further. There is some great scenery those on the train don't see plus you get to stop whenever you want to take pictures. It's a lot cheaper and a lot better trip, IMO.

[kristieokc]

Thanks for the helpful review --- sounds like you enjoyed it, once the weather began cooperating! :)

 

We are taking the Princess NB cruise next summer with the same ports, just in reverse, so I appreciate you sharing your experience. Thanks!

Kristie

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Thanks for the great reveiw, we are headed out in a couple of weeks and cannot wait - great info for us first timers to Alaska

[GeorgiaPeach100]

One thing that I would like to add is that Ketchikan is a great port for viewing Misty Fjords. We did the catamaran and floatplane return. This was one of the most unbelievable sights our group had ever seen. We booked through Princess. Great excursion. In Skagway I highly recommend the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari. Awesome paddling right up to a glacier. Another highlight for our group.

[SanDiegoSue]

I've been wondering whether to do the Skagway rail trip since everyone seems to love it. But, it was good to hear from someone who didn't think it was anywhere near a 10.

Anyone else who didn't think it was that terrific?

 

Sue

[tamsocal]

We did the bus tour/Rail combination trip last year (~8 hrs into Canada/Emerald Lake then the rail down the mountain) and absolutely loved it. Made for a long day but probably would have given it a 9 (no 10 due to the cafeteria style food for luch at ?? crossing--can't remember the name.....). Weather was more cooperative in May-- it was high 70-80's & we wished we had worn shorts & Tshirt.

[jd10367]

Thank you for your review. We will be on Island Princess in Sept. We also will be staying in C414. So its nice to hear about the room, and how it is with the hump.