Just Back from Alaska

[sillysailor 1955]

DH and I just back from Alaska last Sunday. It was fabulous - we cruised on the Diamond Princess. Can I answer any questions for anyone?:)

[cfrieday]

we will be going on our 1st Alaskan cruise on Sept 12 on Princess Golden. Did you do a whale watching trip? If so on your own or with the ship. Also if you were in Skagway did you get to Emerald Lake? We have scheduled a rental car and planning on driving. Definitely looking for other sight seeing suggestions. Thanks for your help

[sillysailor 1955]

we will be going on our 1st Alaskan cruise on Sept 12 on Princess Golden. Did you do a whale watching trip? If so on your own or with the ship. Also if you were in Skagway did you get to Emerald Lake? We have scheduled a rental car and planning on driving. Definitely looking for other sight seeing suggestions. Thanks for your help

 

First let me just say you will love Alaska. It was so much more than I expected. We did not book a whale watching trip (but did see one or two from the ship from afar). We met a couple who did a Whale Watching trip in Juneau. They said it was great with many sightings. The boat was sort of a barge kind of thing with roll up clear windows. In Skagway we did the White Pass RR which was fun. We did rent a car but it was in Ketchikan and we saw many eagles, a bear and her cub, and salmon. Whatever you do there you really can't go wrong. If you can swing it I highly suggest helicopter to Mendenhall Glacier - it was unbelievable.:)

[jlijny]

I have 2 questions...

 

1. Would you recommend Princess? We are loyal fans of Celebrity, but were told to use Princess for Alaska.

 

2. Did you use the ships tours, or did you book private tours? We just came back from 12nt Med cruise, and booked all private tours which were truly amazing. However, I don't know if that is a good idea for Alaska.

 

Any info you can share, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[CCBoy]

How was the weather? I've been tracking the weather on my iphone for our 9/27 sail on Princess. It indicated rain for most of the last 2-3 weeks. I am thinking that it was not a heavy rain but a nagging drizzle type..?

[jasperess]

Did you do just the helicopter to Mendenhall Glacier or did you have something with it like the dogsleds, hike, etc? And what did you think?

[sillysailor 1955]

I have 2 questions...

 

1. Would you recommend Princess? We are loyal fans of Celebrity, but were told to use Princess for Alaska.

 

2. Did you use the ships tours, or did you book private tours? We just came back from 12nt Med cruise, and booked all private tours which were truly amazing. However, I don't know if that is a good idea for Alaska.

 

Any info you can share, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

a little background... we have done 2 HAL cruises and most recently did Eastern Mediterrean on the NCL Jade.

We have never done a Celebrity cruise (would like to however)

Apparently HAL and Princess are owned by the same company

NCL ships (our included Dawn, Spirit and Jade) do not compare to the Princess "experience"

 

We did a land/cruise tour - We flew from NYC to Seattle where our "tour" began

 

Princess put us up in the Doubletree Hotel right across from the airport (very nice). They next day they flew us to Anchorage where we boarded their bus to their Mt McKinley Lodge, again very nice (the food at the lodges is NOT included and is okay but very pricey, think NYC prices). We spent 2 nights at this lodge (took a little shuttle bus trip to Talkeetna which is a cute little town there). We were then taken by bus again to their Denali Wilderness Lodge for one night (this included a 5 hour Natural History Tour into the park - honestly trade up to the 9 hour trip if you want to see wildlife, I am sorry we didn't because we didn't see many animals but our friends who took the longer trip got some great shots of Grizzly Bears, Moose, etc. (although the thought of sitting on a school bus for that length of time did not really appeal to me). On the next day we boarded the train to the ship (9 hour trip but very comfortable and beautiful scenery)

 

The only ship "shore excursion" we booked was the Skagway White Pass RR. We booked helicopter trip to Mendenhall Glacier on our own (its much cheaper). We booked through Temesco - very professional and we highly recommend this trip. In Ketchikan we did a float plane trip (was good but if you can only pick one go with the helicopter). We then rented a car and you can easily find "wildlife"

 

All in all we found Princess to very comprable to the HAL cruise (although I found the food much better). The ship was huge but very, very nice. I can't wait to take another Princess cruise. Sorry to ramble but I REALLY LOVED THIS TRIP.:)

[CCBoy]

"We booked helicopter trip to Mendenhall Glacier on our own (its much cheaper)." - How much was it if you don't mind me asking? Prices aren't posted on their site. Cruiseship has it for $299 for helicopter ride and a short 25 min walk on the glacier.

[wowsmom]

How was the weather? I've been tracking the weather on my iphone for our 9/27 sail on Princess. It indicated rain for most of the last 2-3 weeks. I am thinking that it was not a heavy rain but a nagging drizzle type..?

 

We just returned yesterday. We had off/on showers in Anchorage the day before our cruise. On the cruise itself, the weather was fantastic - probably mid-high 60s in Whittier and the sea days, 74 in Skagway, probably around 70 or so in Juneau and 80/humid in Ketchikan (which was actually a bit too warm for us - the tv on the ship said the high would be 65 so we wore jeans! :eek:).

[A&Emom]

I last sailed Celebrity on the Zenith, out of San Juan to NYC, back in 1997. I was on The Princess Sapphire to Alaska in July and I would say that Princess compares favorably to Celebrity. The food choices were very good. No caviar, though I did love the special order escargot. The salads were so fresh I had some with every meal.

 

I'm not sure if it's the cruise line or Alaska but dress was definitely less formal than on Celebrity.

 

I booked all my family's tours privately. I used the Toursaver book for b1g1 free excursions. My husband & I were traveling with our 2yo son & 6yo daughter, as well as 18 other family members we decided to join on the cruise at the last minute. In Skagway, we rented a car and using Murray's Guide had a delightful drive up to Emerald Lake.

 

 

I have 2 questions...

 

1. Would you recommend Princess? We are loyal fans of Celebrity, but were told to use Princess for Alaska.

 

2. Did you use the ships tours, or did you book private tours? We just came back from 12nt Med cruise, and booked all private tours which were truly amazing. However, I don't know if that is a good idea for Alaska.

 

Any info you can share, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[ToddinVA]

How did you like the ship? We'll be on her on Sept. 5. I'm also curious about the pricing for the helicopter tour.

[LoriPhil]

On Diamond and Sapphire, Skywalkers is a great place to sit and view the Inside Passage - up very high spanning the aft portion of the ship - very comfy during the day. Access is only through the aft elevators and stairs.

 

For those choosing between Princess and Celebrity: Princess has access to Glacier Bay - beautiful. The naturalist on-board for much of the trip also adds a welcome dimension to this cruise.

 

Alaska is wonderful - whichever line you choose.

[sillysailor 1955]

"We booked helicopter trip to Mendenhall Glacier on our own (its much cheaper)." - How much was it if you don't mind me asking? Prices aren't posted on their site. Cruiseship has it for $299 for helicopter ride and a short 25 min walk on the glacier.

 

We did the Pilots Choice trip (featured 2 landings on Glacier). Our friends did the glacier and dog sled combo. They enjoyed that as well but we wanted more air time. Check out their website for more info. I can't recall the exact cost of trip but it was at least $50 cheaper for each of us than what Princess charges.

[sillysailor 1955]

How was the weather? I've been tracking the weather on my iphone for our 9/27 sail on Princess. It indicated rain for most of the last 2-3 weeks. I am thinking that it was not a heavy rain but a nagging drizzle type..?

 

We were very lucky with the weather, the only time it rained was when we got on the ship in Whittier - they were having a heat wave. It was great, but then you never know:D

[sillysailor 1955]

How did you like the ship? We'll be on her on Sept. 5. I'm also curious about the pricing for the helicopter tour.

 

We thought the ship was very beautiful. I was a little concerned upon boarding because it is much larger than anything we have previously sailed on, but I needn't have worried - it is very very comfortable. I'm sure you will be happy (check out the spa pool - never really busy).:)

[PennyAgain]

How was the weather? I've been tracking the weather on my iphone for our 9/27 sail on Princess. It indicated rain for most of the last 2-3 weeks. I am thinking that it was not a heavy rain but a nagging drizzle type..?

 

I didn't know any cruises would run late late in the year.

[2278]

We did the Whales and Rain Forest excursion in Juneau. They pick you up at the dock and then you go for a short hike. Our guide, Richard Stokes was a very knowlegable resource. The hike ended on a beach across form the Mendenhall Glacier.

 

We then went to a small marina and boarded a small boat with about 16 people and proceeded to get into a pod of about 7 whales which we followed for about an hour. We then broke off and scouted out a mother and calf.

 

Good people and very courteous. We booked it through Princess.

[JAKcruiser]

Todd,

 

I know this thread is old at this point, but I saw that you were due to use Alaska Cruise Transfer on your Alaska trip. Did you end up using them and if so, how was your experience?

 

There are a few people on this board considering using them but not many reviews are available.

 

Thanks so much!