Island Princess

[Outhouse]

Just back yesterday from a Southbound cruise on the Island. Really tired but if anyone has questions, post them up and I will try to answer. Really great trip and ship.

[StellaRN]

Hope you are all rested up and ready for questions. What excursions did you do? Did anyone do any fishing? DH loves to fish and would like to know about any trips and with who. We are going next July. Did you do a land tour would like any info on that also. Don't you hate getting back to "real life"

Stella

[Outhouse]

Hope you are all rested up and ready for questions. What excursions did you do? Did anyone do any fishing? DH loves to fish and would like to know about any trips and with who. We are going next July. Did you do a land tour would like any info on that also. Don't you hate getting back to "real life"

Stella

Out of Skagway, we took the White Pass Railway. It was a good trip but really smokey which affected significantly the views. Plus we sat next to a brat kid which affected the trip. Still nice though.

 

Out of Juneau, we took Capt Larry's and it was the best excursion we did. A bunch of Humpbacks plus some Orca's. Really a great trip. Be sure to book Capt. Larry early so you get him versus one of his other Captains.

 

Finally, out of Ketchican, we fished with Northern Lights Charters. We kept 4 fish and released about 8 small fish. Ken is a really nice guy and really trys hard for his customers. Did not appear that anyone was tearing it up though.

 

I wish we had done Denali although the people we talked to complained about the trip. They had a combination of rain and smoke from the area fires. About 1/2 said they would do it again and the other half hesitated a bit. One fellow suggested that if he did it again, he would do the land portion independently vs. thru Princess.

 

Any other questions? The Island Princess was PERFECT!!! Only complaint came from a dinner in the Horizon Court. While there was a very good selection of food, it was all cold. Breakfast there was good though. Bayou Grill is really good. Did not do Sabatini's. Main dining was very, very good. LOVE BOAT DREAM dessert is out of this world!

[StellaRN]

Were the excursions through princess or did you arrange on your own? How long was the fishing trip and what did you fish for? Hubby wants details. He will fish in every port if he can. I don't think he should then all he sees is water!!! Did you do any flight either helicopter or planes? I'm glad you liked the Island. So much talk about all the other ships, thought maybe there was something wrong with the Island.

Stella

[Budget Queen]

Orca Enterprises and Northern Lights are independents.

[Outhouse]

Both Orca and Northern Lights are independent. In ketchican with northern lights, we fished about 1/2 day and the Coho or Silvers were running. You can check Ken's website for information on what is running the time of year that you are there. Ken recommended that we come back in June when theKing Salmon are running for a chance at a really BIG fish. One up to 50#. The four we caught that we kept (we released a number of smaller fish) averaged around 10 pounds or so. More Q'?

[JannyO]

We'll be on the Island this Saturday-was it terrribly cold? Can you get away with a heavy windbreaker?? We're from the desert so this will be a BIG change for us. Can you give a quick review of the Bayou Cafe? I think we might take it in....

Thanks again,

 

Jan

[Outhouse]

We were really, really blessed. Had sun everyday except the last day which was at sea. In the early am, we would wear fleece with a gore tex rain coat as it was quite cool. As the day wore on, we would shed one after another piece of clothing until we were in short sleeves. Again, the weather was really great. I would do just as we did, carry a good fleece jacket and another to put on top as a wind breaker. I even wore gloves in the early am when we were in College Fjord. I would rather have too many than too few clothes.

 

When you are in college Fjord and Glacier as well as when you are cruising the Inside Passage just north of Vancouver, we stayed out on deck instead of being in our cabin. We did have a balcony but still wanted access to both sides of the ship. Just too much to see.

 

Best place to be is either at the back of the ship or on the Sun Deck. The Sun Deck has some glass wind breakers that you can huddle behind should the wind come up. In addition, you can see over the glass in midship which is good if you want to take binocs.

 

Other random comments:

1) Try the Strawberry float in at the ice cream bar. It is Stawberry ice cream with Sprite. WOW! It costs extra. $4.50. I think.

2) The Bayou Cafe was good and probably worth the extra $10 but the main dining rooms are quite good. In the Bayou you can get Lobster all week for an extra $6. Service is really great there as well.

3) Formal nights were on Sunday and Thursday. These really weren't monitored closely. I took a suit. About 25% were in tuxes, 50% in suits and the balance were casually dressed. No one seemed to care.

4) Anytime dining is the way to go. Never, Never had to wait a second to eat. 2 times we requested a table alone and that was cool.

5) Avoid the buffet at dinner. The food was ok just cold. The dining rooms are too good to miss. The buffet is fine for breakfast and you can even get eggs cooked to order.

6) Can't recall which night but we had crab legs mid week and Lobster was on the menu on the last formal night. They had scallops on the last night which were really good as well. There is a sirloin available every night and it is quite good. The ceasar salad is also always available and is good as well.

7) The Love Boat Dream desert was on the last night as well and PLEASE DON"T MISS IT. If you can, send me one. It is the best desert I have ever had and I really don't normally like chocolate deserts all that well.

8) Be sure everyone has binocs. If you don't have good ones, borrow some from a friend. They are required.

9) Be sure, if possible, your camera has a good zoom lens. My camera only had a 3x zoom and it wasn't enough.

10) Juneau had the best shopping in my opinion.

11) The fitness room is quite nice.

12) As the week wore on, they had sales of various kinds.

13) On the last day at sea, the head chef gave a cooking demo which was really fun then we got a galley tour which was interesting.

14) Be sure to request a foam cushion for your mattress. The mattress is hard and the foam really softens things up a bit.

15) Wife and I each bought a coke sticker and probably could have gotten away with one except at dinner.

16) Wife had Sorbet for desert most nights and they are really good. Very light and just right after a big dinner.

17) KechiCandies(sp?) is a good place to get candy to take home. Really great selections. They had chocolate covered oreos that my office loved when we returned.

18) We had our fish shipped home that were caught in Ketchican. Ken with Northern Lights arranged for Cedar Lodge to process and ship the fish. It was fedexed yesterday and I got it today. 20# cost about $110 to ship. It was cut into 1# filets and vacumn sealed and then frozen. Quality service. Minimum charge was $85, I think.

19) We are not drinkers but there seemed to be some really good deals on bottles of liquer on the ship. I remember Absolute vodka was $10 a bottle.

 

What did I forget???? Sorry for being so long winded. Let me know if there are more questions.

 

Ps. If you are in Anchorage on Saturday, don't miss the Saturday Market. I think they said when we were there that there would be two more. It is a combination of a flea market, craft fair and produce market. Took us about 2-3 hours to see it. Really fun for $0.00.