Trip report Island Princess 18 June Vancouver to Anchorage

Recently returned to the UK having spent one night at Vancover Airport (Fairmont Airport), 5 nights in Banff followed by overnight in Vancouver (Sutton Place), 7 night cruise, overnight in Anchorage (Captain Cook) and 2 final nights in Vancouver (Fairmont Waterfront). Travelled with my husband, son aged 21 and daughter who turned 19 on the cruise.

First time in Alaska and enjoyed the cruise altho weather not very good - cloudy and cool most of the time, wet and cold in Juneau, but lovely sunny final day in College Fjord and sunny, warm day in Anchorage. Watched the 9.30am lumberjack show in Ketchikan (bought tickets direct from the visitors bureau on the quayside), did the 2 hour glacier trek in Juneau (would strongly recommend booking afternoon tours as when weather not to good the mornings tend to have very low cloud and tours involving helicopters,float planes can be cancelled - our 10.30 trip was rescheduled to 2pm but even then we had to wait around for 45 minutes on the dock as the weather was marginal and the helicopter company had to send up a helicopter to see if the trip was feasible), and the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari in Skagway.

All 3 towns very touristy, particularly Skagway where I'd recommend definitely doing a tour as there's not much else there apart from mainly tacky tourist shops and jewellery stores - it reminded me of Main Street Disneyworld!! Juneau was a much nicer town (even in the pouring rain) and Ketchikan fell somewhere between the two. Alaska was the first place I have ever been to where I was unable to find anything worth buying (apart from fudge from Alaskan Fudge in Juneau - exceptionally good), altho some lovely art and glasswork in Anchorage but too expensive.

Island Princess was a nice ship - buffets were very good as food is being regularly replaced because of Norwalk- but thoght the food in the restaurants had deteriorated from previous Princess Cruises. Also, dress was very very casual on the first night -saw one man turn up at the restaurant in shorts and loads of people in denim jeans and collarless t-shirts -and even the subsequent casual nights were a mixture. Formal nights were smart but it was disappointing that about 80% changed back into casual as soon as dinner finished - on the UK P&O line (sister line to Princess) this is virtually unheard of and also the casual nights are far more smarter.

Overall, a good time with lots of wildlife (except bears, unfortunately) but I don't think I'd go to Alaska again as I need warmth for a summer holiday (altho we were told in Juneau that the previous week had 2 days in the 80's) and altho the glaciers and scenery were interesting, I'm glad I didn't have a further 7 days in the interior.

If you have any questions, please ask.

sailing the same week. Yes, the weather was not so good in Juneau and Ketchikan, but that last day down the inside passage was glorious! Were you out when your ship, another Princess ship and the Radiance were sailing in tandem? It made a nice picture. We had some dolphins and orcas swimming with us from time to time.

You probably won't like this but we sailed southbound from Seward on 6/24 and got to Vancouver on 7/1. Our weather was great everyday except Ketchikan that was drizzly, but that adds to the ambiance of Ketchikan. It is always drizzly there. It was so warm in Juneau my 25 year old daughter walked all the way back to the ship to change into shorts and a tank top - was hitting 80. Skagway weather was also good. Chilly cause of the ship moving at Hubbard glacier but when the ship stopped in front of the glacier (which we got really close to) back down to the tank top. We were really fortunate.

You never know about the weather in Alaska.