Rare pkt1976 Posted May 24, 2012 #1 Share Posted May 24, 2012 This was my second cruise and I cruised solo. I found so much great advice and info from reading reviews here on cruise critic, I wanted to pay it forward and share my experiences. It will take me a bit to get through all of it but I will be posting the trip chronologically so I will start from the beginning. A little background- I'm in my 30's and cruised solo. I enjoy all kinds of activities and especially love photography. I had cancer in 2009 and had multiple surgeries, chemo and radiation to my abdomen. I was in a wheelchair for 6 months and have slowly built up my strength the last year and a half. I am going on my dream cruise to the Med in October. I booked this cruise at the last minute and got a great deal. Even with the solo supplement, it was very reasonable and easy for me since I live about a half hour from San Francisco. For me, this was a "practice" cruise to see how I would do with pain management as well as my less then stellar memory (due to the chemo). I also have wanted to go to Alaska for some time and see the beautiful scenery there. It was awesome!!! I saw bears, moose, whale, seals, a wolverine, eagles and more. I will start posting detailed info and photos, but here is the very short version to start. Embarkation- 7 In short, it was a mess. Ship cleanliness- 9 Ship decor- 8.5 Customer service- 8 Food- 8 On board amenities- 8 Ports- 10!!!! Entertainment- 9 Shore excursions- (I did two) one was a 10 and the other one was a 8. Staff organization- 7 Anytime dining- 8.5 Overall- 8.5 Would I go again? Yes!! I have over 1000 photos and videos to go through and choose to post here. I will post the link to my blog when I get to the end where there will be more photos. Let me know if you have questions and I will try to answer them :) It may not be right away if the answers will be later in my review. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bralli Posted May 24, 2012 #2 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Can't wait for the details! We are going on the 22nd of next month. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babewho Posted May 24, 2012 #3 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Congratulations on your recovery, and thanks for the great review. It was very helpful, because friend and I will be doing this itinerary on the Grand in Sept. 2013. We, too, live near San Francisco, and not having to fly was a big bonus for us! I look forward to reading your blog and seeing your photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmench Posted May 24, 2012 #4 Share Posted May 24, 2012 I'm glad you had a wonderful cruise we will be going on same cruise in two weeks so we are eagerly awaiting our turn. How was the weather ? In looking at the forecast for the next 10 days it shows rain so I am curious about your cruise , who were the entertainers? You say you went on an excursion that you gave a 10 which one was it? You said you saw a lot of animals , where did you see them at? Thanks for taking the time to post and answer any questions we may have I will be waiting for your response and looking forward to viewing your photos Becky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pkt1976 Posted May 24, 2012 Author #5 Share Posted May 24, 2012 I'm glad you had a wonderful cruise we will be going on same cruise in two weeks so we are eagerly awaiting our turn. How was the weather ? In looking at the forecast for the next 10 days it shows rain so I am curious about your cruise , who were the entertainers? You say you went on an excursion that you gave a 10 which one was it? You said you saw a lot of animals , where did you see them at? Thanks for taking the time to post and answer any questions we may have I will be waiting for your response and looking forward to viewing your photosBecky We were very lucky and had great weather for most of it. It rained a little in Victoria, but not that much. The forecast before the trip showed rain in most of the ports, but I guess cleared up. A lot of the time it was overcast, but not raining. I will cover the entertainers in a bit. I went to a lot of the shows nearly every night so there are many of them to tell you about. I went on the 8 hour bus tour in Skagway, which is the one I gave a 10 to. We saw animals every day whether it be on ship or in port. We went pretty early in the season so it wasn't the optimal time, but we were very lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pkt1976 Posted May 24, 2012 Author #6 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Day 1- Embarkation day I had planned on getting a ride to the Alameda Blue and Gold Ferry and taking the boat to San Francisco. That morning, my sister and brother in law asked if I wanted them to go ahead and take me to SF. Of course, I said yes. Traffic was wonderful until we hit the Embarcadero. Then it was a huge slow mess. Eventually, we parked and walked the remainder of the way to the Pier 35. They had staggered boarding on our cruise and my embarkation time was 12:30. Pier 35 was a completely unorganized mess. There were two Princess ships at Pier 35 that day. There were porters to take luggage but there were no signs to let anyone know which porter to give their luggage to or where to line up. In fact, many people from both ships had their luggage end up on the wrong ship. I hope that they eventually received their luggage, but know that they did not for an extended amount of time. I hope Princess learns from this mess. Really, some signage and having someone double check the luggage tags before doing the final loading would have made a huge difference. Fortunately, I received mine but met several people who did not. One piece of advice I read on cruise critic was to pack 1-2 outfits, paperwork and medications in your carry on. Incidents like this reiterate that point. They had one very long line for both ships to get into once you found a porter to give your luggage too. There was also no signage for this. Once they let people in at noon, the line actually moved fairly quickly. The lines ended at two doors, one for people on the Star and one for people on the Sea. We had to stop to fill out the health questionnaire and get in another line for the final check in. I was on board about 12:20. There was a crowd for the embarkation photo so I passed it up and walked on board. There were Princess personnel guiding everyone to the elevators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmench Posted May 24, 2012 #7 Share Posted May 24, 2012 We were very lucky and had great weather for most of it. It rained a little in Victoria, but not that much. The forecast before the trip showed rain in most of the ports, but I guess cleared up. A lot of the time it was overcast, but not raining. I will cover the entertainers in a bit. I went to a lot of the shows nearly every night so there are many of them to tell you about. I went on the 8 hour bus tour in Skagway, which is the one I gave a 10 to. We saw animals every day whether it be on ship or in port. We went pretty early in the season so it wasn't the optimal time, but we were very lucky. Thanks for responding, we have been to Alaska twice we've been to Skagway both times but this time we will be visiting Haines. We had beautiful weather when we went so that is why I was wondering what the weather was like but I am glad that you mentioned that there was forecast for rain but you didn't get it. Whether the weather is good or not doesn't really matter it's more important to just be on a cruise and relaxing.i will continue to await your review and thanks for taking the time and I am happy to hear that your health is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmench Posted May 24, 2012 #8 Share Posted May 24, 2012 By the way where was your cabin located? Was the ship rocky? Becky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pkt1976 Posted May 24, 2012 Author #9 Share Posted May 24, 2012 I was on deck 10 (Baja) in room 202. It was in inside room all the way in the front of the ship. It was small but set up well and very comfortable. The best part about my cabin was that just steps away, there was a door to a deck area that was only accessible from deck 10. I was out on that deck a lot! It was fabulous. It was an excellent deck to take pictures from and was never too crowded. I spent a lot of time freezing my butt off on that deck. Another great tip that I learned on cruise critic was to turn my tv on to the bridge channel at night to serve as a “window” to the outside. If I’m in a totally dark room, I’ll sleep and sleep so this worked out well for me. The bathroom was small but usable and the shower was larger then the other cruise ship I have been on. I saw an outside cabin with a window and my room was a bit smaller but configured better so I actually had more livable space. There was a small refrigerator in the room that I had the steward empty. It really did keep the food and drinks that I put in there cold. I asked for an egg crate mattress topper for the bed and found it to be very comfortable. I also asked for a house coat to use during the cruise and my room steward brought one right away. I felt some motion in my room, but I don't think it was any worse then anywhere else on the ship. My room steward’s name was John Paul. He was in his 30’s and he is from the Phillippines. He has a wife and two kids (10 & 13). He has worked for Princess for 7 years and said he loves what he does but misses his family. He was a wonderful steward and did a wonderful job. I filled out a recommendation card for him to help him be recognized for how hard he works. Here are some room pictures- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pkt1976 Posted May 24, 2012 Author #10 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Here is the front deck on the Baja Level- The bridge of the ship was right above us- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pkt1976 Posted May 24, 2012 Author #11 Share Posted May 24, 2012 I had a fairly early boarding time, so I was able to run around the ship taking pictures without too many people in them. Here are some- Wheelhouse bar- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougH Posted May 24, 2012 #12 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Here is the front deck on the Baja Level- The bridge of the ship was right above us- Wow, that is the first time I've ever seen lounge chairs out on the forward deck. Nice :) Did you happen to notice if the chairs were also out on Aloha also? My cabin is pretty close to the bow on my cruise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pkt1976 Posted May 24, 2012 Author #13 Share Posted May 24, 2012 I did not go onto the forward Aloha deck. Hopefully someone will know and can answer you :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine101 Posted May 24, 2012 #14 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Hi, so glad your health is improving. You sound like you have a really great attitude to life, and that always is a real plus in recovery. I am really enjoying reading about your cruise so far as I will be doing the same cruise in July 2012. Look forward to the link to your blog when you have caught your breath after arriving home. Cheers, Christine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator0178 Posted May 25, 2012 #15 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Looking forward to more review and pics.:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickEk Posted May 25, 2012 #16 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Wow, that is the first time I've ever seen lounge chairs out on the forward deck. Nice :)Did you happen to notice if the chairs were also out on Aloha also? My cabin is pretty close to the bow on my cruise On our cruise on the Sea Princess a couple of years ago, they had lounge chairs on both the Aloha and Baja forward balconies. They were stacked sometimes... I would assume because of the weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gay Cruiser Posted May 25, 2012 #17 Share Posted May 25, 2012 My Partner and I will be on the Sea Princess Alaska, 08/21/12 and would love to see HC cabin photos if you happened to see one. Inside Cabin is what we have booked. I have been on it's sister ship the Dawn in a regular balcony in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivavegas Posted May 25, 2012 #18 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Very nice review! Thanks for sharing your photos and travels! Congrats on your recovery.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duttydad Posted May 25, 2012 #19 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Looking forward to your complete review. We will be going on the same ship/cruise on august 21st. Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pkt1976 Posted May 25, 2012 Author #20 Share Posted May 25, 2012 My Partner and I will be on the Sea Princess Alaska, 08/21/12 and would love to see HC cabin photos if you happened to see one. Inside Cabin is what we have booked. I have been on it's sister ship the Dawn in a regular balcony in the past. I'm not sure what you mean by HC? Is that a catagory? My room was a catagory JJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treven Posted May 25, 2012 #21 Share Posted May 25, 2012 I'm not sure what you mean by HC? Is that a catagory? My room was a catagory JJ. No, he was probably referring to a handicapped cabin; but of course I could be totally wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWJs Posted May 25, 2012 #22 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Thanks so much for posting your review and pictures! :) Glad you had a good cruise on the Sea and wonderful news about your recovery. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimiq Posted May 25, 2012 #23 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Thanks for the pics and review cant wait to see more pics :-). Was on the Sea Princess a few years back for 14day cruise and the crew and the ship was fantastic. I only got good memories of that cruise. sea ya Eric Hal Westerdam March2012 Coral Princess Sep2011 Ruby Princess Nov2010 Sapphire Princess Sep2010 Rccl Adventure Of The Seas April 2010 Carnival Miracle Feb2010 Rccl Oassis of the Seas Feb2010 Rccl Majesty of the Seas Nov2009 Rccl Navigator of Seas Sep2009 Hal Westerdam Nov&Dec2008 Caribbean Princess Nov2007 Sea Princess Nov&Dec 2006 Diamond Princess Apr2005 Rccl Navigator Dec2004 NCL SUN Nov2004 Visit of QM2 Oct2004 Carnival Victory Nov2003 Golden Princess Apr2003 Celebrity Mercury Nov2002 Carnival Elation Nov2001 NCL SKY Nov2000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slug33ukuk Posted May 25, 2012 #24 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Anyone visiting Juneau.......RED DOG SALOON...is a MUST....Just after lunch is the best time..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pkt1976 Posted May 25, 2012 Author #25 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Princess Theater- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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