Review Sapphire Princess and 7 Day Independent Land Tour

[LarryF]

Well, I thought my review was buried and gone, but I see you were able to resurrect it! Thanks for the kind words and am glad if my review helped you out.

 

I finally put all my 350 pictures in a photo album yesterday and it so put me in the mood to go back to Alaska. I am pretty sure we will go back again next year. We need to decide soon so we can use our frequent flyer miles!

 

Larry

[Tyrkitty]

Larry - Please post a link on this thread when you start a new one with your plans for the trip next year. I keep this one in my subscribed threads as I'm sure others do and I would hate to miss out on your plans. We are planning to go again in '09 and maybe just do independent land. Want to spend some time in the area around Seward and then maybe head back up to Denali.

[dhmom99]

I just found this thread while researching some tour operators. I really wish I had read this review early. Larry, this is such a masterpiece!

[dhmom99]

I was able to finish reading half of it in the past 1 hrs. It is so captivating reading your review.

[LarryF]

I love it when someone stumbles across my journal as it brings back all the wonderful memories from our Alaska adventure. I'm happy you're enjoying it and hope you have a great time in Alaska!

 

Larry

[dhmom99]

I love it when someone stumbles across my journal as it brings back all the wonderful memories from our Alaska adventure. I'm happy you're enjoying it and hope you have a great time in Alaska!

 

Larry

 

Larry, thank you. I got so much to look forward to after reading through your review.

[01Sweetpea]

Larry - I justed finished printing out your journal, all 56 pages :eek: , I'm going to read on my flight to Arizona Friday.

 

If you were to do a cruise and land tour again, would you still do it in the same order, or would you reverse it and do the land portion first?

 

Looks like I'm going to have to add Sapphire Princess to my choices now!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this!

[LarryF]

Originally we were looking at doing a 4 or 5 day cruise tour through Princess beginning in Anchorage and taking the cruise on the back end.

 

After reading many posts on this board and especially encouragement from Budget Queen, I decided to do my own independent tour instead of going through Princess.

 

My main reason for doing the cruise first and then the land was based on price. It's cheaper to go north than south. That's also why we chose to go in May as the cruise, rental car and lodging were cheaper than in June and July.

 

We loved the cruise and land tour and would have thought the cruise would be a bit more relaxing than the land portion....but with all the activities we did and waking up early everyday to see the beatiful scenery, both land and sea were exhausting!! I also like to cruise first as the scenery keeps building and get more spectacular every day.

 

I am sure there are also many advantages and compelling reasons to to the land first and cruise last.

 

The biggest tip I could give would be to give yourself an extra day or two once you get home before you go back to work...

 

Larry

[vozzie]

We did a Northbound cruise then independent land tour also.

 

Would do it exactly the same way again. As Larry says ... the scenery and excitement grows as you head North. I would imagine it would be a bit of a downer. ..leaving Alaska and cruising back south to reality.

 

For those who say they like to do the land tour and then "relax' on the cruise ... just as Larry said, you are just as busy and active on the cruise as the land tour.

[qiangf2]

Larry, good to see you posting here again. Last October, I even made multiple copies of your complete review and gave to some of my friends who were planning for their 2008/2009 Alaska trip. Yours is must classic textbook reading material for Alaska cruise.

[LarryF]

Larry, good to see you posting here again. Last October, I even made multiple copies of your complete review and gave to some of my friends who were planning for their 2008/2009 Alaska trip. Yours is must classic textbook reading material for Alaska cruise.

 

I make a guest sneak appearance every now and then!:D

 

Will be sailing the caribbean in 2 weeks. I know we'll have a great time as we always do in the Caribbean. But I cannot wait to get back to Alaska. We may do a Mediterannean or South American cruise next year, but I'm hoping to do three weeks in Alaska in 2010!

 

Take care,

 

Larry

[qiangf2]

I make a guest sneak appearance every now and then!:D

 

Will be sailing the caribbean in 2 weeks. I know we'll have a great time as we always do in the Caribbean. But I cannot wait to get back to Alaska. We may do a Mediterannean or South American cruise next year, but I'm hoping to do three weeks in Alaska in 2010!

 

Take care,

 

Larry

 

Are you thinking about one-way + in land tour + another one way back for 2010? Sounds fun!

 

Have a great time in Caribbean!

[Tyrkitty]

Can't wait to hear your Alaska plans for 2010. Again please post on this thread when the time comes even if you start a new one so we can join in on the fun again. We're going back sometime in the next few years. Have a big one coming up - fly to Australia and then cruise back to LA - 10 days land first then 31 day cruise. On the Sapphire. Can't wait.

[Kerry&LuAnn]

Larry, in Juneau what was your reason for taking the whale watching trip with Harv & Marv rather than the one offering as an excursion from the Sapphire Princess?

[LarryF]

giangf2 - My first preferene is to cruise up from Vancouver and then spend two weeks on land. I want to do a lot of the same things we did before, but want to add Homer and at least 1 or 2 more areas we didn't get to on the last trip. I will also say it is appealing to me to look at cruising up on Princess and then back on another ship that would go to completely different ports.

 

Tyrkitty - I cannot wait for the day that I have the time an dm money to do a 31 day cruise like you. I'm on a 10 year plan to retire and hopefully a trip like that is in our future! Have a great time!

 

Kerry & LuAnn - Independent tours are usually less expensive and less crowded. As I understand it, the boats that the cruise lines use are large vessels that hold dozens of people; Harv and Marv's boats only hold 6 to 8 people and there were ony 4 of us on our tour with them. That's reason enough to go independent!

 

Take care,

 

Larry

[qiangf2]

giangf2 - My first preferene is to cruise up from Vancouver and then spend two weeks on land. I want to do a lot of the same things we did before, but want to add Homer and at least 1 or 2 more areas we didn't get to on the last trip. I will also say it is appealing to me to look at cruising up on Princess and then back on another ship that would go to completely different ports.

 

Take care,

 

Larry

 

You are definitely an adventurous kind. Take care!

[Podie]

Larry, I'm really enjoying your thread. We spent two weeks on land in Alaska in 200 and plan to take a northbound cruise in May 2009, with an additional week on land afterward. As you mentioned, coming from Florida, the cold is, well, really cold! I remember standing on a Kenai Fjords boat thinking I would simply freeze to death if I didn't move soon!

 

I still haven't chosen a cruise line but your report has so far put Princess right up on top! Can you tell me more about the fitness center facilities? How many treadmills, etc? Thanks!

[LarryF]

I really liked the fitness center. I would guess that they had about 10 or so treadmills, 4 or 5 elyptical (sp) machines and several stationary bikes. They also had a full array of weight machines and free weights.

 

Larry

[Leadft]

Hi Larry (and Amy!) -

I have been planning a cruise in June on the Sapphire followed by an independent land tour -- and stumbled across this thread about a week ago. I have read two installments each night in bed (I never took my laptop to bed before I found this review!) to study your route, recommendations and advice. I just finished and I have to say -- GREAT JOB. I loved it from beginning to end, and shed a tear when Amy got the quilts after all. She is a lucky lady!

 

Your review was unbelieveably helpful to me. I am going on the trip with my dad and I plan on printing the entire review and mailing it to him to read as well. So thank you, thank you, thank you for all your effort! You rule!

[LarryF]

Thanks Leadft...that's great that you are taking your dad! I hope my daughter does that for me one day!!

 

Larry

[vegs1]

Hi Larry and Amy,

 

I stumbled upon the review of your Alaskan cruise and I must say that I've read a ton of travel material in my time but I don't think anything compares to what you have written about your trip. You show such depth of emotion and your written words conjure up fabulous images of what you saw.

 

Thank you for taking the time to put it all down for others to enjoy. And thank you for sharing some of your personal life with us. I started reading your review only to get some insight into an Alaskan trip I hope to take and ended up feeling like I'd made a new friend.

 

You are a truly wonderful human being, Larry. Amy is lucky to have such a great guy to purchase something for her as a surprise that will bring great memories to you both.

 

We are hoping to do our Alaska cruise in 2009. Hopefully, we'll be as lucky as you with weather, wildlife spotting and the like.

 

Thank you, thank you for sharing with us.

 

Cheers,

Beth

[LarryF]

Thanks for your kind words, Beth!

[1stcruiser1]

Larry, How about a review after you get back from the Caribbean? Loved the Alaska review.

[LarryF]

I do plan to write a review of our 10 days in the Caribbean. I don't know that it will be nearly in depth as Alaska's as we've been to the Caribbean Islands about 15 times! However, you never know what might happen..

 

Stay tuned...:D

 

Larry

[vegs1]

Thanks for your kind words, Beth!

 

You are most welcome, Larry. You deserve the kind words.

 

I should have asked earlier....and this may be a silly question but does it matter which side of the ship you are on if you are doing a Northbound cruise? I assume you have land on both sides but wouldn't want to miss out on anything.

 

Also...did you find the number of people getting on and off the Sapphire took a long time or was it pretty efficient?

 

Thanks for your help!

Beth