karatemom2

I see lots of critiques of afternoon tea here - so, I will share my take. This is one of the nice traditions that Princess continues. Is it the equivalent to a grand afternoon tea, with three tier serving tray, elegant tea sandwiches, your own pot of tea, traditional clotted cream, etc. No, it is not. You would pay on average $75 to $100 per person for a tea of that level, maybe more depending on the venue. This is a nice inclusion for no additional charge that provides a relaxing afternoon respite in a lovely setting. I generally find the scones fine to very good depending on the ship. As I said, on Sky Princess Southampton itineraries, we were served real clotted cream, but even the other cream on other itineraries is fine. The tea sandwiches are a mixed bag, but I just choose one or two that appeal to me, and maybe one sweet item from the generally a nice selection of offerings. And I have no issue with the scones - they are generally served warm and are a small tasty bite with cream and preserves. I know what I'm getting and I adjust my expectations accordingly and enjoy it immensely, especially as I'm not paying extra for it and it is one traditional element that Princess has continued to offer which I appreciate. For those who don't like it or find it underwhelming - just don't go. You can always schedule an expensive traditional tea on one of your port days if you are looking for that level. I love afternoon tea in an elegant setting with all the trimmings and often schedule them for occasions with my daughter when we are celebrating or traveling - but I'm paying a hefty sum and expect a different level of quality, service, and amenities. Princess afternoon tea is definitely not that, but to me a tradition I appreciate and enjoy for what it is and will continue to enjoy with realistic expectations about what is offered.

One hundred percent this. We felt so blessed to be able to take our kids on cruises as they were growing up. They knew they were blessed and lucky to be able to take vacations as often as we did - something we were able to afford by choosing insides, especially for those very pricey Christmas cruises. We found it cozy and incredibly bonding time - as I said some of the most magical and precious memories that we treasure. I love my balcony time now and we cruise differently - but I would trade it any day to turn the clock back and share an inside cabin with my young kids again.

Plenty of people enjoy their cruise just fine in an inside cabin. If they didn’t ships would be sailing half empty.

You don’t say how old the kids are, but I will share that while we prefer a balcony now - there were many years when our kids were young and traveling with us we chose an inside and those are some of the best memories of my life. We cruised round trip from LA to Hawaii (15 days) over the Christmas holidays 4 years in a row in an inside cabin. I loved our cozy stateroom lit up by our little Christmas tree. It was magical. If you can get a balcony it’s very nice to have but I will note that in a quad balcony cabin the beds will typically block the balcony door when they are pulled out each night. So your mileage may vary on the convenience factor for accessing it part of the time. If you do end up choosing the inside, I can say from experience that it will work just fine as well. Edited to add that my husband is 6’7” and so is my son. And our daughter is 5’10”. If we can make it work, anyone can.

Yes, we have used both Get Your Guide and Viator for both shore excursions and also pre and post cruise tours. We have had good experiences in general and always read the reviews carefully. They have a generous cancellation policy and once you book the name of the tour company is usually listed in the confirmation which allows for even more research on customer reviews. If you change your mind you can always cancel.

You will not be seeing brown bears in Ketchikan. The local bear population there are black bears. Brown bears can be seen in Haines, Hoonah (Icy Strait Point), Skagway, and Kodak. But you won’t find them in Ketchikan which is the port about which the OP was inquiring.

You can order other tea options if you let one of the waitstaff know. My husband will only drink the orange tea and they are always happy to bring him his own small pot. I prefer English Breakfast, but I’m fine with the standard Lipton black tea they pour. I will also note that we found the overall quality of afternoon tea much better on our cruises out of Southampton - better and more traditional tea sandwiches, and REAL clotted cream. I think they level it up a notch for their trips with majority Brit passengers. Regardless, I love afternoon tea on every ship and hope it never goes away.

Every Princess casino has a host that is in charge of guest interaction. It is helpful to introduce yourself, spend some time chatting, being visible, and trying to strike up a level of rapport as they are instrumental in both providing onboard perks such as gifts sent to your stateroom - chocolates, chocolate covered strawberries, champagne, etc. They also are the people that arrange complimentary meals in the specialty restaurants. For table players in particular, where the point system seems more mysterious, a good relationship with the casino host can be very beneficial to make sure they are well aware of your level of play. At the end of the cruise, the host is overseeing the distribution of Come Back offers as well.

Ultimately only you can decide what interests you most - personally I would lean towards the combination with whale watching. The salmon bake can be fun if you want to enjoy some good food in a pretty setting but if you aren’t interested in taking time for an extended meal it may not be the best option. The salmon hatchery is not that compelling unless you really have an interest in salmon life cycle and perhaps seeing them if you are there during the window when they are returning. Glacier gardens is very pretty and unique so that might be something you enjoy more - you could look at photos and videos online to see if it looks like something you’d like. If you like the idea of the puppies and dog sled summer camp maybe that’s the best choice? Mendenhall is not required viewing unless it really interests you and you might enjoy Nugget Falls and beautiful surroundings. You need to think about what appeals most to you and make a decision based on which activity seems aligned. Most of these activities have online reviews and videos that you might want to check out.

Yes, people use the hot tubs on Alaska cruises regularly. You will see plenty of people enjoying them, even on chilly days. We have a hot tub at home so don’t opt to use them on our cruises, so not sure what most people wear as cover ups, but we do see people on deck wearing the Princess robes and using the provided pool towels and blankets. Your room steward will happily refresh your robe for you as needed during your cruise. We use ours after showering and rarely need to ask for replacements - they dry quickly when you hang them up as they aren’t particularly heavy weight material.

Wow, that’s really sad. It sounds like they are barely keeping it open. Wonder what the hours will even be??

Very nice to know! And see how well my silly typo worked out? We all learned something new and helped inform the cat lovers of the world where they can get their feline fix on an Alaska cruise!

While it would be disappointing - and mind you we have been in the same boat, I wouldn't assume just because one ship of a similar size made it their yesterday that guarantees conditions are the same today. NCL Bliss was scheduled from 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. PST yesterday and you just posted this 4 hours ago saying the ship had just turned around, which would have been about 9:30 a.m. PST - so more like 20 hours difference since the NCL Bliss left Tracy Arm Fjord. A lot of glacier calving can happen in that amount of time and the ice conditions are likely completely different today then yesterday. It is common for ships to not get very far if conditions aren't favorable and that can vary from day to day. We have sailed on the Bliss in Alaska as well and the last time we didn't get to the glacier - so it happens on all ships! I trust that the Captain knows best how to keep his ship, crew, and passengers safe and would not second guess or question his decision.

Yes, if you didn't spend much time in the Visitor Center and focused more on the Nugget Falls hike. The Visitor Center is small and while mildly interesting, does not need much time IMHO. I would rather spend my time outdoors taking in the scenery and going to Nugget Falls.

Haha! But cats are so much cuter and more cuddly! Really, this should be an answer to the other thread here where someone was asking if they could see cats on their Alaska cruise - maybe the could rent one! 😄

We have 385 days and our only invite was on our Alaska cruise out of Vancouver last September. Seems like the 7 day Alaska cruises draw fewer high level Elite passengers. Probably 7 day cruises in general draw less unless people are doing B2B cruises. It seems most of the high number Elite passengers favor longer cruises.

We love Alaska but our Norway cruise on the Sky last summer was truly one of our favorites. Absolutely breathtaking. Here is my detailed review with photos.

We usually take a taxi in Vancouver as it’s super easy and a lot less expensive than ship transfers. They are literally lined up as you walk out of the luggage area. However, on a couple of occasions when we had late flights we did excursions that ended at the airport - it’s a good way to use the time and your luggage is stored on the bus so you can enjoy your time in port before heading to the airport. Not sure this is for your friend with mobility issues, but I’ll mention this for others who might benefit. In Vancouver, on a couple of occasions when we had a long day before flying out, we have rented a cat at the port and returned it the airport. This provided us the ability to spend a day exploring on our own with our luggage safely stored in the trunk and our own transport.

Herring Cove is your best opportunity to see bears locally in Ketchikan in mid August. They feed on salmon there. It is where we have enjoyed the majority of our black bear sightings on our Alaska cruises.

No, it was a 14 day roundtrip from Seattle in July. Maybe the 7 day skew younger - I don't know. It was the quietest and most senior cruise we have ever taken.

We have done two different tours in ISP with Hoonah Travel Adventures. They are excellent and locally owned. They do not offer a combined Whale Watching and Bear Tour - but they do offer both tours that could be booked separately on the same port day if your port day time permits. Here is a link: https://hoonahtraveladventures.com/

I don't know what a High Score room is, but Princess has an excellent youth program. We have done most of our cruises with Princess in Alaska and only one HAL cruise there on the Amsterdam. Although our kids always love Alaska, it was probably their least favorite cruise from a ship standpoint. It skewed very elderly, even for us as adults. There was only one other kid on the ship my daughter's age and not really any teens to speak of for my son at the time. Maybe things have changed, but we never did another trip with HAL. It just wasn't our vibe.

You will be far enough offshore that you will NOT receive cell service. As has been shared, you would get routed through Cellular at Sea and it is costly. Smartest action is to sign up for your ship's internet package, go on airplane mode at sea, log in through your ship wifi package and use that for calls, texts, etc. We have no problem making calls via wifi with family on our Princess cruises via this method.

This is really good advice. There are a number of tour companies - certainly there should be one who will work within the ship’s port time. We have scheduled a private tour for our upcoming port day there that goes to Castelmola and Taormina and gets us back to the ship in plenty of time. And though it’s a private tour - for our party of 4 it’s priced well below the cost of doing a similar tour with Princess for 4 people. And we control our agenda in consult with our tour guide. Keep looking and perhaps check on your roll call here to see if someone is looking to share a tour.

So glad you found it helpful. We truly consider it one of our very favorite cruises. I hope you win your bid for the forward balcony cabin. Good luck!!