Just Back From Coral Princess

[ruvidu]

We flew in last night around midnight and we are a bit tired but I did want to report in.
We did the Princess tour with 2 nights in Fairbanks, 1 night at Denali Princess and 1 night at McKinley Princess before boarding the Coral Princess in Whittier.
We were impressed with all aspects of Princess in Fairbanks including hotel, food, tours and personnel. We did the Gold Mine and found $29 worth of gold whcih was included int he price. Well, my wife found $22 and I found $7. We also saw downtown Fairbanks and the Alaska Pipeline.
We loaded up on the Princess rail cars on Thursday and rode it to Denali Princess Lodge. This is where the disappoinment set in. The lodge and parking lot was still under construction. The rooms were not ready and they had nowhere to put about 300 people for about 3 hours. Everyone kind of crashed in the building common areas and the lodge. It looked like a homeless shelter until the rooms were cleaned and opened for us. We ate lunch at the deli where we had 1 chicken salad sandwich split between us, a bottle of water, a Coke and a cookie. The cost was $13.00.
We did the Natural History Tour here which was included in the package. Our driver was great and we saw Moose, Caribou and the Alaska state bird a ptarmigan. Of course Denali was covered in clouds and we could only make pictures of where it should be. We were served instant coffee, hot chocolate and granola bars at our last stop. The driver also gave us a beautiful book about the park with lots of pictures. Everyone on the bus had a great time.
When we got back our rooms were finally ready. In our room we found water that you could not stand to put in your mouth, no AC and no means of ventalation besides an open window.
After unpacking we headed off to dinner. Again we got the feeling that we were unexpected guests. Our steaks were burned, our portates cold and service very lacking. Any time we questioned the service we were told "Oh, this is our first week". The tea and coffee tasted just like the water.
Sleeping that night was hard because of the ventilation problem. You could open your window but then you had to close the drapes to keep the light out.
The next morning we were up early to go catch a covered wagon ride. We and 6 other people met a van at 6:30 AM and went to the Black Diamond golf course, ATV course, horse train and covered wagon ride. You could do all of these things at this one location stuck back behind the hills. We had a ball and enjoyed meeting all of the employees. The have a little cafe there and some neat local soft drinks plus beer. On the ride we took they stopped at a little cabin and served us hot chocolate, coffee and little pies made with cranberries and rasberries I belive. They wree good.
Back on the bus around noon to go catch the train again. We all were told to report back to the same car and table as the day before and we started the next leg of our journey.
We had luch, reindeer chilli in a bread bowl, on the train today. It was good. We saw moose and Dall Sheep as we trucked along. The most exciting thing we saw on this trip was Denali, "The Great One". Our guide in our car told us to look to the right as we came out of some trees. There is was, just like in the pictures we had seen. Not a cloud in the way. It was covered in snow and standing out against the dark blue of the sky. You could hear the gasps and ahhhs as we all stood silent. We understand that only 25-30% of the people who make this trip get to see Denali. We felt blessed.
Our train stopped that afternoon at Talkeetna where we boarded our buses and haded to the McKinley Princess Lodge with room keys and information packs in hand. Here was another disappointment. The rooms are located in buildings a good ways from the lodge. To get there and back you have to call a shuttle bus. We took the bus to our building and dropped our bags. The luggage we had sent on from Fairbanks was in the room waiting on us. Again no coffee makers, no AC and someone had turned the hallway heat up to about 90. We called for a shuttle, went down to the lodge and ate dinner. We then went out on the deck to see Denali again. The could were just starting to build around the top and again it was beautiful.
We were told to preregister in the lobby that night for the ship. That involved signing papers and giving them a Credit Card impression. They assured us this would speed things up when we got to the ship terminal tomorrow. They even gave us a little pink tag to insure everything went well. We bought T-shirts that said "I Saw The Mountain". We figured we were in the minority and may never come this way again.
We called for another shuttle to take us to our room so we could wash some clothing and get ready to head to the ship in the morning. Imagine our surprise when we found that these buildings had no wahwers and dryers. They had not been delivered yet. We also found that the drink machines had not been filled thus we had nothing to drink but tap water. We finally found 1 building about 200 yards away that had a working drink machine. I also ran into some maintenance guys who were working on the heat problem. They said they had it fixed and the washers would be in the next day. They said that with a grin and looking at each other. We went to bed that night anxious to get on board the ship. The bus will pull out about 7:30 AM and we plan to be one of the first on board.
I will post the SEA portion of this report later. I gotta go help with some things around the house.
If there are any questions post them here and I will get back to you.
Russ

SC Traveler
Until our Alaska Land/Sea Tour & Cruise
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[me@sea]

Thank you for your post [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

I will be at McKinley Lodge for 2 nights in July. What are the restaurants like?

Thanks!

[ruvidu]

We only had one meal and that was at the dinning room. The meals were well prepared and served with style.
Some folks went to the hamburger/sandwich resturant and then ate out on the deck. They said their food was good too.
Our two dinners were around $40. You can sit at your table and see Denali.
Be sure and take you some eye shades to keep the light out. You will have to have your window and curtain open in the summer.
Have a great trip and I hope you get to see "The Great One" as well.
Russ

SC Traveler
Until our Alaska Land/Sea Tour & Cruise
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[PharmacyRx]

Ruvidu,
Thank you for the review! We are going on the same trip Tuesday as first time cruisers! What did you think about the ship and your cabin? What would you have done differently and what did you find that was exceptionally wonderful?

Thank you in advance!
Pharmacy Rx

[ruvidu]

I don't think we would have done much differently. All of our excursions were wonderful and exciting.
We had BAHA 535 on the Starbord side and our friends had 520 on the Port side. They were nice with the exception of the bathrooms.
I would never have gone to Horizon Court. It was terrible. Not so much the food but the service and finding a table. Go to Bourdou and get a great breakfast and lunch.
North To Alaska in Scagway is a great store. They will ship anything you purchase for the cost of the postage.
Spending Monday on deck while in Glacier Bay was exciting and also the helicopter ride to a glacier in Skagway was a once in a life time trip. Oh yeah, seeing Denali was definatly a high.
Have fun and take time to meet the people of Alaska as you go. They are great.
Russ

SC Traveler
Until our Alaska Land/Sea Tour & Cruise
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[ruvidu]

The Sea portion of this trip is now posted as well.
Russ

SC Traveler
Until our Alaska Land/Sea Tour & Cruise
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[tinydancer21]

Glad you had a good time. It is sort of a bad time to go on a Princess tour right at the begining of the season especially stopping at Denali Lodge and Mt.McKinley Lodge both are BEAUTIFUL lodges later in the summer but they are completley closed in the winter because the temp drops below -60 so they just shut everything off and getting it going again is a task. It is also hard because they get mostly new staff every year so until they get their "grove" going it can be rocky. I have always though they should hire more staff earlier in the year but it's hard because school just got out May 17th.
Next time you come, come later in the summer. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Glad you enjoyed Fairbanks though! I might have saw you loading on the train on my way to work! I work at the Borough which is that big gray building behind the News Miner where you loaded on. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

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9/04 Pride Second Anniversary, First Honeymoon!

[ruvidu]

Hey Tinydancer21
We loved your town and everyone we met there. I plan to come back as soon as the old bank account will let me.

As for the Princess Lodge accomadations I know it was one of the first weeks but I still don't understand why we were led to believe we would have great accomadations when they were not even finished with construction. All of the buildings we stayed in were new not just reopened. All of this and we paid as much as anyone going next month when Princess will have their act together. We talked to a good many people who have been with Princess for years but say they have seen bad changes since Carnival took over.
Again, we loved your state and every person we met, the natives, the newly trasplanted and the Summer help. It must be somthing in the air.
As I told every Alaskan I talked to "Take real good care of what you have. It is priceless." I have seen what tourist and non caring transplants have done to my state.
We hope to be back soon,
Russ

SC Traveler
Until our Alaska Land/Sea Tour & Cruise
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