Just Back-Island Princess to Alaska Review

[Target]

Wow! What a trip! I have mainly good things to say, but there are a few items that could use a little work by Princess. It was our first Princess cruise, and the only other cruise we have taken was on Disney.

 

Embarkation:

We stayed overnight in Vancouver at the Fairmount Hotel (beautiful hotel by the way), so we were bussed to the pier for embarkation. We arrived around 12:30 and went through pretty quickly. The immigration line was the longest, but we cleared that within half an hour. Once on board, we could go right to our rooms (on Disney we had to wait), so we could drop our carry on luggage and go to the buffet. NOTE: FYI. I had purchased some food items for our room (chocolate covered strawberries, cheese tray and chilled shrimp). When I ordered them through the gift program at Princess, I instructed them that I wanted them in our cabin upon arrival. I did not want to go to the buffet with the masses, so I ordered the food in our cabin to avoid that. Suprisingly, the food was not there, but certificates to order the food were. They were not valid for the first day, and to order them, a six hour advance notice had to be given. Quite honestly, if they had told me this when I ordered the items, I would not have placed the order. It defeated the purpose of ordering them! Oh well. We got them throughout the cruise instead.

 

Room:

Our room was an AB mini suite and we had been "upgraded" from an AE GTY. The room was great as was our steward, Leo, from the Phillipines. Our bathrobes were not in the room, but Leo grab two for us. NOTE: FYI. We asked for the robes on the Cruise Personalizer. We had heard that it was a "hit and miss" kind of thing. If you are truly looking for the robes, find your steward upon arrival and ask him to get them for you if they are not in your room. We talked with Leo at 2pm and he said they were almost out of them. I did not bring my robe because I thought it would be there-not a big deal, just check on it right away if you would prefer the robe (their robes are quite nice by the way!). We took the suggestion of a poster to bring our own pillows (I don't care for feather pillows which Princess provides) and that worked out fabulous! We brought blue pillow cases so Leo would know they were our pillows. We brought brand new pillows and left them for Leo or a crew member to enjoy. Left us room in our suitcase for souveniers!

 

Food:

The food is the biggest area of concern for us. We only have the Disney cruise to compare to, so bear with me as I explain our thoughts. We were in traditional seating, and the dinner meals were outstanding! Wonderful! The buffet (as stated elsewhere on these boards) was lacking in quality. It is what I would call "typical cafeteria food." There were alot of rice type dishes, casserole type dishes and food that was kind of blah. There was a salad bar (good), cheeses, fruit which were all good, but the hot food was not very good. The staff were very attentive towards the food, replacing the empty containers, etc. It was just interesting to see such a difference in quality between the dining room and the buffet. The buffet on Disney was outstanding and the food just tasted better in the buffet. NOTE: FYI. Room service menu is very limited. 4-5 cold sandwiches, hamburger, hot dog, salad, french fries, chips, chocolate chip cookie. The two times we used room service, the food was not good. The hamburger was ice cold, as were the fries. Because it was cold, the hamburger was very tough and dry. My husband had the same experience with the hot dog. The second time we used it we got turkey sandwiches. The sandwiches had the crust removed, so there were literally two bites to each half! Very small, almost a tea size sandwich. When the sandwiches arrived in our cabin, the bread was already dry! Again, comparing with the Disney cruise, their room service menu was very extensive and the food arrived hot and tasted great! The food on the Island Princess was very inconsitent throughout the ship. The dining room was great, buffet was so-so and room service was terrible. I was surprised it wasn't more consistent throughout. One last note on the food. I read on the boards that you could order from the main dining menu. All you had to do was go down during the day, read the posted menu and order what you wanted during your meal time through room service and you can eat in your cabin the same meal as in the dining room. NO! The only people who can do this are FULL SUITES. No one else! We were disappointed because we had decided not to do the Formal Nights because my husband dresses up for work every day and wanted a "real vacation" without dressing up. We decided it would be okay to skip them, because we would still be able to get a nice dinner in our room. We were surprised that we couldn't get a regular meal in our room. Here is what I don't understand: They encourage people to respect the formal dress code and not come in to the dining area in smart casual wear on formal nights. We made sure we respected this request and did not go to dinner on formal nights since were would not be in the right attire. Because we are respectful of this request, dinners that are already cooked and waiting for us in the dining room cannot be brought to us through room service? Part of me understands why people still show up on formal nights in their khakis...we almost felt like we were being punished because we didn't bring our formal wear. We missed out on lobster tails as well as another wonderful menu because of this. Was it our choice to skip formal night? Yes. However, our decision to skip was based on the information we read here telling us that we could still get our meals in the room. Had we been told that we couldn't get our meals in the room, we may have reconsidered. I suggest that Princess evaluate this situation and offer "Entree only" meals on formal nights through room service. Offer the meals only at the normal meal hours to help simplify things. Just a suggestion.

 

Entertainment:

The opening night show was cute. Singers were good and the juggler was fascinating (although his show seemed to go a little long-many people walked out). The second night's show was good with all singing. We didn't attend any other shows because they were just too late for us and we were too tired to attend. We heard the comedian was good. There was also a xylophone guy and a magician. Didn't get any feedback on those folks. We didn't use the casino or go to the clubs. We don't do that at home either. At our dinner table, we had a newlywed couple in their late 20's from England. They were quite disappointed with the activities (or lack of) on the ship for the younger set. We shared that the Caribbean would be more of a destination for their age, not Alaska. Alaska is for the folks who have always wanted to go there. We were on this ship for the ports, not the ship activities. So that is how we made our decision to go on the Island Princess.

 

Overall ship:

The ship was beautiful and I did not come upon a single staff member who wasn't helpful. We really enjoyed the ship and it's staff. We didn't do too many things on the ship outside of our port visits. We were up so early in the morning to watch the docking and depart the ship that we were in bed asleep right after our late seating for dinner (and we are in our 40's!!). We vowed to tell our kids we were up until 3am, so they wouldn't think we were "wimpy" for going to bed so early! We were exhausted!

 

Execursions:

We did not do an excursion in Ketchikan, our first port. We decided to just walk around and check it out. We were only there until 2:30pm and there seemed to be a mad rush to get back to the ship from the excursions. The line to get back on the ship was still long at 2:30 when we were supposed to be sailing away from the dock. We did the Pilot's Choice excursion through Temsco (we booked this on our own) in Juneau. We had the time of our lives! There were six of us including the pilot and we stopped on two glaciers. It was eerie just having us 6 walking around on this immense glacier with no one else around. We brought an empty water bottle and brought back some glacier water as a souvenier. We had a 50 minute tour by helicopter and walked on each glacier for about 15 minutes. I will never forget this excursion! Awesome! In Skagway, we took the White Pass Railroad and there was some breathtaking scenery! We are rail fans so the trip was fabulous for us. Some of the younger kids on the train were restless on the way back because we were going by scenery that we had already seen.

 

Cruising Glacier Bay and College Fjord was amazing. We didn't see much calving at all in Glacier Bay. College Fjord had numerous glaciers and we saw alot of calving from the Harvard Glacier. Whole sections of walls came down. The naturalist on board said it was the most calving he had ever seen there. We felt very fortunate!

 

Two side notes:

We were in D407 with an exposed balcony. Not a problem until we were cruising Glacier Bay. Someone threw their coffee over their balcony and right into ours. Quite a mess! Also, the ATM on board is in the casino. There is a $5.50 charge to use the machine! A little steep, but they do have a captive audience.....

 

Overall, this was the trip of a lifetime! It will probably be our last cruise, just because we can't afford to do this type of vacation. Our kids have enjoyed a Caribbean crusie on board Disney and my DH and I enjoyed our Alaska cruise. It is time to go back to our driving trip vacations in the future!

[RhondaPerr]

We just loved Leo...I teased him and asked if he hid in our closet because it seemed like the second we left our room he was there! I nominated him for Employee of the Month...I hope he got it!

[Target]

You are right on regarding Leo! He seemed to sneek in and clean our room within a matter of minutes! We stepped out for not even 30 minutes one day and when we returned it was done! We nominated him for employee of the month as well!

 

When were you on the ship with Leo?

[HighRoller]

Yes my experience is that any of those little philllipino's stewards are all little Dirt Devils and White Tornadoes and so discreetly done while I am out of teh cabin...would love to snag one them for my home!

[CRB#33]

Thank you so much! I too only cruised Disney, so it's nice to see some comparisons. Although I thought the buffet on Disney was very lacking except for the sliced meat you could get. Especially the breakfasts :eek:

 

I'm hoping to cruise Southbound in two years (if the ships sail the same itinerary, we would be on the Island)

 

Thanks again for your thoughts!

[Target]

Thank you so much! I too only cruised Disney, so it's nice to see some comparisons. Although I thought the buffet on Disney was very lacking except for the sliced meat you could get. Especially the breakfasts :eek:

 

I'm hoping to cruise Southbound in two years (if the ships sail the same itinerary, we would be on the Island)

 

Thanks again for your thoughts!

We only ate in the buffet for a few lunches on Disney. The food was pretty good at those times. If we didn't eat in the dining room, we had room service since the selection was so good and the food was tasty! We were on the Magic in December of 2002.

[RhondaPerr]

We were on the July 3rd sailing..

[APH]

Target - Thanks for the review - I'm glad you had a good cruise! :)

 

Do you have the bio for the Captain (I believe it was Nicolo Binetti - he's one of the only ones I haven't got yet)?

 

Many thanks once again :D

 

Andrew.

[eddie]

We had taken the N/B cruise on 7/10 Good cruise but I must echo some of your complaints. The Buffets were really disappointing.WE took most of our meals breakfast,and lunches in the dining room. The coffee has to be the worst I have tasted on any cruise ship. The worst part of the trip was getting home with Princess' flight arrangements. We departed the ship in Whittier at 7:00 we missed the 7:15 deadline to go through the one lane tunnel leading out of Whittier. The tunnel did not open in our direction until 8:00 AM We arrived in Anchorage at 9:15 for a 3:00 PM departure from Anchorage We arrived in San Francisco at 8:30 PM with a 2 hour delay before boarding a red eye for JFK arriving 7:00 AM. with the time difference it was 20 hours getting home . Bottom line nice ship, good service but they need to work on some other items

[Target]

Target - Thanks for the review - I'm glad you had a good cruise! :)

 

Do you have the bio for the Captain (I believe it was Nicolo Binetti - he's one of the only ones I haven't got yet)?

 

Many thanks once again :D

 

Andrew.

Andrew,

Our captain was not Nicolo. It was someone else. I will look it up in my Patters when I get home and tell you who it was. I am almost positive it is not him. If it is, I will send you his bio. Thanks!

Laura

[bdjam]

However, our decision to skip was based on the information we read here telling us that we could still get our meals in the room. Had we been told that we couldn't get our meals in the room, we may have reconsidered. I suggest that Princess evaluate this situation and offer "Entree only" meals on formal nights through room service. Offer the meals only at the normal meal hours to help simplify things. Just a suggestion.

Sort of tells you that you have to be careful with the information you get here. While the policy in the past was that you could order from the dining room menu for dining in your stateroom, I’ve also seen posts where it is not the case any longer. Hopefully you’ve passed your suggestions on to Princess and are not expecting them to pick it up off your post here. Your points about alternatives to formal dress in the dining room are pertinent especially given the discussions of that very subject on this board...I would certainly write Princess so that they are directly aware of your disappointment...just a copy and paste from what you've posted above would do nicely.

[Target]

Sort of tells you that you have to be careful with the information you get here. While the policy in the past was that you could order from the dining room menu for dining in your stateroom, I’ve also seen posts where it is not the case any longer. Hopefully you’ve passed your suggestions on to Princess and are not expecting them to pick it up off your post here. Your points about alternatives to formal dress in the dining room are pertinent especially given the discussions of that very subject on this board...I would certainly write Princess so that they are directly aware of your disappointment...just a copy and paste from what you've posted above would do nicely.

I put it on my comment card on the ship, but do you have a customer service email I could use? If not, I will call them and get it. Thanks!

Laura

[bdjam]

I don’t have an email address, but perhaps someone else does. The snail mail address is:

 

Princess Cruises (Corporate Headquarters)

24844 Avenue Rockefeller

Santa Clarita, CA91355

 

I’d send this to the attention of the Head of Passenger Services. Thanks for doing that – the feedback is valuable.

[bdjam]

Ooops – from another topic:

passengerrelations@princesscruises.com