Island Review - Alaska - 8/13-20

[patches05]

This was our 4th Princess Cruise and 1st trip to Alaska. Here are some thoughts on our great vacation!

 

Pre-cruise: We flew Delta from Detroit-Seattle-Vancouver to spend 2 nights in Vancouver before the cruise. We stayed at the Delta Vancouver Suites that I got through Hotwire for $165.00/night. Our first night was DH's birthday & we went to the Blue Water Cafe & Raw Bar for dinner - very good!

 

On our full day, we started the day by going to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens for a tour. It was very beautiful! We then had a delicious lunch at Meat & Bread. We then walked over to Canada Place where the Pacific Princess was in port. We walked around the pier area & then saw the Fly over Canada movie, which was great! We then walked along the north seawall up to Stanley Park where we rented bikes & rode around the park. It was beautiful! After returning the bikes, we walked back along the north seawall. We had a yummy dinner at Cordova's and then walked back to the hotel for a good night's sleep!

 

Embarkation: I was dreading this process since I had read some unpleasant things about Vancouver embarkation. For us, it was a breeze! We took a very short cab ride from the Vancouver Delta Suites to Canada Place. We had planned on walking; however, it was raining pretty steadily. We left the hotel at 10:45am & we were in our room at 11:45am!

 

Stateroom: We were in balcony cabin C641. The room was exactly what we had expected, as we have had 2 balcony rooms & 1 mini-suite on our previous trips. Our partially-covered balcony was in the bumped-out section, so we looked directly over the water. The cabin isn't huge, but was more than fine for DH and me.

 

Food/Drink: This is where I was a bit disappointed. Our most recent cruise was in 2009. I don't know if the food quality on Princess has gone down in 5 years, or if I've become more of a "foodie," which is entirely possible. I am a very good home cook & have high standards. That said, I really like simple food as well, as long as it's tasty.

 

I'm expecting & was 9 weeks along on this trip, so I purchased the Ultimate Kids Package. I usually enjoy a cocktail before dinner, and pairing wines with my dinner courses, but not right now. My frustration with the bartenders was that, for example, my no-jito one night was prepared VERY differently at a different venue the next night. One would think there would be set standards as to what quantities of ingredients would be in the drinks. This happened a handful of times over the course of the week.

 

The MDR appetizers and pasta dishes were delicious. MY DH and I found the mains & desserts to be ok. Another frustration was that when asking the waiters which desserts had alcohol in them, it was tough getting a concrete answer. In hindsight, I should have checked with the head waiter.

 

I was also very surprised at what people wore in the MDR. Many, many people were in flannels/sweatshirts, jeans, tennis shoes. There were two nights where I was just too tired to go through the process of putting on my dressy dinner clothes, so we opted for other dining venues. This is the first time where I didn't go the the MDR for dinner, but I felt I should honor what my body was telling me. I guess everyone is different, but I personally would honor their dress code or find another option.

 

We had the Alfredo's pizza lunch one day, that was good. But I LOVED the pizza by the slice that they serve by the pool. I am super picky with my pizza; I make my own at home from scratch. I must have had it at least 5 times throughout the cruise.

 

We were also very pleasantly surprised by the buffet. We are not buffet people, but when we had the pool pizza, we wanted a salad, so we'd grab one from the buffet & eat there. All the servers were excellent & courteous. The desserts that I sampled were better than the MDR ones that I could eat. I loved the chocolate chip cookie that I had, but those were only out one time when we were up there.

 

Sabatini's was excellent! We ate there on our first & last nights on the cruise.

 

Ports: Ketchikan - Our favorite! We used Southeast Sea Kayaks to kayak through Orca's Cove & then we boarded a sea plane for a flight-seeing excursion. I HIGHLY recommend this company. Juneau - We took a Harv & Marv whale watching trip with a side trip to Mendenhall Glacier. It was really nice! After, we spent a little time in the Red Dog Saloon, where DH had some local beer & I had root beer. Skagway - Worst weather of the trip with some rain/fog; although not a total washout. We rented a car from Avis & drove all the way to Whitehorse and back stopping at what scenic areas could be seen through the fog. Glacier Bay - We had a pretty day for the scenic cruising. College Fjord - A beautiful day! I preferred this to Glacier Bay!

 

Ship: This was our first time on a ship the size of the Island Princess. Overall, we really liked it! I believe the ship is narrower than the other Princess ships we've been on. We felt the crowdedness in the picture viewing area & the atrium. I know she's going through dry dock fairly soon for some changes/updates. I thought the ship was in good condition. Some areas of carpeting were worn, some wood finished areas were banged up, there was a hole in a lamp shape at the Wheelhouse Bar, and the brass finish on our bedside lamps was really worn.

 

Crew: Most every crew member we encountered was very friendly. Two nights in the MDR we had the same waiters. They were polite, but didn't engage in conversation at all. We have been used to our Princess waitstaff introducing themselves, asking about our day, etc. I missed that a bit this cruise, as none of the waitstaff we had were that outgoing.

 

Gym: I thought it was small. DH and I tried to go there on our at sea day. All treadmills & elliptical machines were taken and people were lining up for them. We opted to run around the Promenade Deck 7 instead. The only bad thing was a garbage/sewer smell that permeated the air the closer you got to the front of the ship.

 

Casino: We spent a fair amount of time here playing penny slots. It was nice that they had non-smoking days & even when smoking was allowed, the area where my favorite machines were was not smoky at all. The smell of smoke really bothers me on a good day and being pregnant, I especially didn't want to be around smoke.

 

Debarkation: Another very smooth process. We ate breakfast in the MDR & then left with the other independent travelers. We rented a car from Avis in Whittier for the drive to Anchorage.

 

Post-cruise: We drove through the tunnel with no wait. We stopped at the Begich Boggs Visitor Center just outside of Whittier where we spent $5/pp to see a short movie & view their exhibits about the Chugach National Forest. It was money well spent! We then continued on and stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center where we thoroughly enjoyed looking at/snapping pictures of all sorts of animals. We drove to Anchorage where we had a so-so lunch at the Glacier Brewhouse, then it was on to the airport for our Anchorage-Seattle-Detroit flights.

 

It was a great time! If you have any questions, please ask! :)

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

 

 

Alfredos?

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[patches05]

Thanks for the review.

 

 

Alfredos?

 

That's what they call the complementary pizza lunch that they have in Sabatini's. It's made to order. If I remember correctly, they have five or so different types of pizza one can order.

[Colo Cruiser]

That's what they call the complementary pizza lunch that they have in Sabatini's. It's made to order. If I remember correctly, they have five or so different types of pizza one can order.

 

Gotcha, forgot they were offering it there.

[Keith1010]

I enjoyed your review/report.

 

Keith

[patches05]

I am glad you enjoyed my review. It was nice reflecting on the trip - we really had a super time!

 

If anyone has any Vancouver/Alaska/Island Princess questions, I would be more than happy to help. :)

[1153rsmith]

I am glad you enjoyed my review. It was nice reflecting on the trip - we really had a super time!

 

If anyone has any Vancouver/Alaska/Island Princess questions, I would be more than happy to help. :)

 

We are doing the southbound in a week and a half. Where is the heated pool? Do you happen to remember how deep it is?

 

This will be our first time on Princess. Any can't miss food items other than the pizza?

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for your review.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[trbarton]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Thanks for your review.

 

I'm doing a Meet & Greet on the Island next month through the Panama Canal. I have letters for the officers and am wondering if you have a list of who the current officers are?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom:)

[Illyria]

Thank you for the review! We'll be doing southbound on Island next month. I'll be getting UKP too, hopefully they can get the drinks right :)

[cruisequeen4ever]

I'm sorry to hear you didn't have the best experience with the UKP. I get it on every cruise, and the drinks have always been consistent and delicious.

 

Also sorry to hear that your lunch at Glacier Brewhouse was only so so. It's usually fantastic and popular among locals and tourists. In fact, just came back from dinner there where the wait was over an hour (as usual), but as locals, we know to make a res. ;-)

 

Glad everything else was great on your cruise, and congratulations on our pregnancy!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[patches05]

We are doing the southbound in a week and a half. Where is the heated pool? Do you happen to remember how deep it is?

 

This will be our first time on Princess. Any can't miss food items other than the pizza?

 

We never went swimming - sorry! The only thing I would have wanted to do was go in the hot tub, but I can't right now. :(

 

Some other food items we enjoyed:artichoke souffle, soft shell crab, lobster, & veal chop from Sabatini's; veal & bowtie pasta, potato gnocchi, wild mushroom soup, escargots, & veal ravioli - in the MDR.

Edited August 24, 2014 by patches05

[patches05]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Thanks for your review.

 

I'm doing a Meet & Greet on the Island next month through the Panama Canal. I have letters for the officers and am wondering if you have a list of who the current officers are?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom:)

 

Here is what was on our Log of the Cruise:

Captain - Mariano Manfuso

Staff Captain - Vincenzo Lembo

Senior First Officer - Giuseppe Castellano

First Officer - Pasquale Modesti

Senior Second Officer - Mike Robbins

Second Officer - Chris King

Third Officer - Harry Ford

Third Officer - Christopher Glendinning

Third Officer - Daniel Hentley

[patches05]

I'm sorry to hear you didn't have the best experience with the UKP. I get it on every cruise, and the drinks have always been consistent and delicious.

 

Also sorry to hear that your lunch at Glacier Brewhouse was only so so. It's usually fantastic and popular among locals and tourists. In fact, just came back from dinner there where the wait was over an hour (as usual), but as locals, we know to make a res. ;-)

 

Glad everything else was great on your cruise, and congratulations on our pregnancy!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

My drink experience was really odd - maybe they had new bartenders for our cruise.

 

We chose the GB based on Tripadvisor reviews & were very underwhelmed. Any staff we came into contact with seemed as if they would rather be doing something else than helping us. DH got the halibut, which he said was good, but nothing special. I had the reindeer sausage pizza w/ blue cheese. The sausage itself was good, but the rest of the pizza was missing something, it was bland, but too salty. DH even commented on how the blue cheese didn't have much flavor! The other odd thing was how oily the pizza was, both on top & underneath the pizza. It wasn't like oil that can accumulate from pepperoni on pizza that can be blotted off. It was like they poured olive oil on my plate, put the pizza on it & then poured more oil on the top. Very strange. Oh well!

[trbarton]

Here is what was on our Log of the Cruise:

Captain - Mariano Manfuso

Staff Captain - Vincenzo Lembo

Senior First Officer - Giuseppe Castellano

First Officer - Pasquale Modesti

Senior Second Officer - Mike Robbins

Second Officer - Chris King

Third Officer - Harry Ford

Third Officer - Christopher Glendinning

Third Officer - Daniel Hentley

 

Thanks!!!

 

Do you happened to have the list from the Embarkation Patter which has more officers like Cruise Director etc? I use those names & positions for my letters inviting them to our M & G.

 

Thanks again!

 

Tom:)