Just Back from Dawn Princess 7/19/04

Just a quick review of our experience which was great!

Embarkation-

Prior to leaving Chicago, we placed the Pink Princess tags on our luggage. (I didn't realize what a good idea this was at the time). We arrived in Vancouver about 10:30am. waited for luggage and to our dismay, did not appear at the baggage claim. A fellow passenger then informed me that because I had placed the Princess tags on my luggage, it would be taken diretly to the ship! I confirmed this with the Princess rep and was eternally greatful. And yes my bags showed up at my stateroom by 3pm. Customs at the airport was a breeze. We took the advice of fellow cruise critics and took a taxi to the ship terminal about $25 if paid by credit card. Because we had registered online, check in was a breeze also. We, then, stood in a customs line for Canada. Word of advice: if you have a passport, you get directed to the express line. Passengers with birth certificates wait in a much longer line. And on to the ship by 12:15pm.

Day at Sea

If you are a soda drinker or have kids, would highly recommend the Soda deal for $22- all the soda you can drink for the week. You are given a "coke" glass and a sticker for you room card and can get soda at most bars and at the Venetian Room and Florence dining room. We got our money's worth.

All cabins can get Princess bathrobes upon request. They are quite nice, and eleviates the need to pack one. Just ask your room steward.

Great wool blankets are available next to the ping pong tables on deck 12- these are great when lounging on the deck whatever the weather.

Ketchikan

We took the Tatosh island kayaking excursion. I'm told that this is the better of the kayaking excursions. After a 10 minute bus ride, a ten minute rubber boat ride (my favorite part), we landed on a black shale beach. Our guides Marvin and Hanna were incredible. We saw bald eagles, starfish, plucked crabs from the water...I could go on and on. They only allow 20-26 people for this excursion and often sells out.

The only down side is that it doesn't leave you much time in the town for shopping and such.

Juneau

Again following the lead of other cruise critics, we rented a car. We rented from Hertz at the airport. After a short taxi ride to the airport (Hertz will reimburse you up to $15), we were upgraded from the smallest compact car to a minivan (that was a nice surprise) for no additional $$$. We drove to the Shrine of St. Therese. This is truly an amazing place! And then to the Mendenhall glacier---we tried to take the "red hike" and after about 1 1/2 hours turned back. We never made it to the large water fall or the glacier. There is a path that we found later that takes you along the water to the large water fall. ( Wish that we would have seen it first!). There are many guides...just ask. We then drove to the Gold Creek Salmon Bake. (This is an excursion through the ship, but because we drove in on our own, we received the "locals discount"- saved about $46). It looked a little hokey when we first drove up, but we were pleasantly surprised. The food was very, very good and the atmosphere was delightful. a little shopping in town (better than Ketchikan) and returned the car.

Skagway

By far our favorite shopping spot. We took the Rock Climbing/Repelling excursion. I had never even attempted this before and was pleasantly surprised. Our guides, Dan and "Griz" were great! We did this from 12:30pm- 4pm, leaving us time before and after the excursion for exploration. A hidden treasure that we found was a small restraunt located very close to the dock called The Stowaway. I went back twice, and I wasn't the only one from the Dawn who did this. One fellow passenger was there for lunch and dinner and brought back meals to the ship. Please not that this was not because the food on the ship is bad, it's just this place is so incredible. We ate only appetizers...the prawns are to die for, the seasoned french fries with special suace are worth repeating..just try it!

Disembarkation

This is what I learned...we took the train to Anchorage and were given "Aqua" tags for our luggage. This brought our luggage to the Egan Center (hospitality Center) in downtown Anchorage. Our train actually stopped at the airport, and then we were instructed to get on a bus that would take us to the Egan Center to claim our luggage. Which we did immediately---BIG MISTAKE. Do not claim your luggage until you are going to the airport. The airline will probably not allow check in until 4 hours prior to your flight. We had a flight at 11:30pm...and were looking at about 12 hours of dragging our luggage around. Finally, a very nice supervisor named Carol, made special arrangements for us to leave our luggage. We finally returned to the airport at around 6:30pm after exploring Anchorage, and were told that "red tag luggage" could be claimed in a special room next to the Northwest ticket counter. I never could really understand why our luggage was taken to the Egan Center, and would have preferred to claim it at the airport..just seemed easier. Another hint- if you book through Alaska Airlines you can check-in at a ticket counter in Whittier, luggage and all.(This seems the best option and time saving too.) We unfortunately were booked through American airlines.

Hope this helps!

I'm all in favor of making check-in a breeze. What do you mean when you say you "registered online?" Are we talking about the Passenger Immigration Form on Princess' Cruise Personalizer or is there something more that I should be doing to simplify my life?

You are right- the Passenger Immigration Form- on-line. When you check-in at the first Princess booth ( they are divided by decks), if the Form is completed on-line, they simply ask for the credit card to make an imprint and you are on your way to customs.

I figured it wouldn't matter how the Passenger Immigration Form got there because Princess made lots of noise about it having to arrive 30 days before the cruise due to new federal law (post 9-11). I submitted mine over the internet only because I was too lazy to mail it before the point at which it might have arrived at Princess too late.

Score one more point for laziness!

Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise. I'm just over 1 week away.

We took the Tatosh island kayaking excursion

Did you book this yourself, or thru the ship?

I booked through the ship. I had looked at a number of kayaking tours and this was the best deal for the amount of time. Couldn't have been happier. this same tour company does a bike trip also. I think it's called SouthEast adventures.

We were also on the 7/19 sailing and had a terrific time. I would agree about the pink luggage tags, but still check the baggage carousel for your luggage. One of our bags was still on the belt, upside down so the tag was not visible. On our friend's luggage, the tag had ripped off, so theirs would not have made it if we didn't check. Our embarkation was not quite as smooth, but still not too bad. I think we got there a little later which may have been the difference. As was stated, they divide you according to the deck of your stateroom. We were on the Aloha deck and that line was more than twice as long as any other! After quite some time a Princess rep came along and told us that we could go on any line, it didn't really matter. Then things proceeded more quickly. When we got to the desk, the rep only had to go to the Aloha desk to pick up our packet and keys. We had the personal choice dining (there was a group of 6 of us). That was great for us, since our schedule was different every day and we didn't have to be tied into a set time for dining. We found it easy to make a reservation for dinner and that we way we avoided the line waiting for a table at the Florentine dining room. Apparently, most people did not realize you could do this. We had a fabulous room steward, Jefferson, who was very accommodating. Since we had 3 cabins next to each other, he was able to open the partitions on the balcony between the cabins. That really expanded our viewing capabilities. We found the entertainment to be less than stellar, but realized that this is not why most people take an Alaskan cruise. Also, the casino slots were very "tight."

As for the excursions, they were truly the highlight of our trip. In Ketchikan, we did flightseeing with Carlin Air to the Misty Fjords. Although it was cloudy, it was still awesome. Jeff landed on a lake and we were able to get out and walk around on a small island in the lake. In Juneau, we went whale watching with Capt. Larry. We saw humpback whales bubble net feeding which was quite an experience, as well as sea lions and porpoises. In the afternoon we did a glacier landing and dogsledding with Coastal helicopters. They were a great operation, very friendly and helpful. That trip was my favorite of all. There are simply no words to describe it! In Skagway, we had more of a relaxing time and did a tour to the Yukon with Frontier Excursions. Dave was our guide and we found him extremely well versed in the history and geograpy of the area. Again, the scenery was spectacular.

Of the 2 days cruising by the glaciers, College Fjords was by far the better viewing experience. There are so many glaciers to see there. We got very close to Harvard glacier (closer than the naturalist had been before!) and we got see several large calvings. The thunderous sound as the ice falls off is not to be believed - very awe inspring!

After the cruise we did a 4 day land tour - 1 day at Mt. McKinley lodge, 1 at Denali, 2 at Fairbanks. Unfortunately, the mountain was not visible during our entire trip. We found the accommodations at McKinley to be the best. We did a river rafting trip that was a bit of a bust, but we had fun, nonetheless. Other than bald eagles, wildlife was nonexistent and it rained, making the conditions less than favorable. At Denali, we upgraded to the Tundra Wilderness Tour which was a wise move. That is where we were able to see the much anticipated wildlife - grizzly bears, moose, dall sheep, and caribou. Fairbanks was our least favorite. The included tours were rather hokey - the El Dorado Goldmine and the Riverboat Ride on the Cheena River. Once again, however, because we were a fun loving group of six, we found a way to enjoy our adventures and had hours of laughter. I would highly recommend the short walk to Pikes Landing Restaurant near the Fairbanks Princess. The food was great!

All in all, it was the best trip we've ever taken. It was a different kind of cruise from the others I've experienced (Bermuda and the Caribbean), but as I stated earlier, it's all about the scenery. To all who are still planning, have a great trip! I'd be happy to answer any questions.