Alaska on Princess - RT Seattle

[luvocean9]

My mother and I have this cruise scheduled May 14, 2006 (Mother's Day) on the Sun Princess. (Wanna go now; can't wait!) This is the Inside passage cruise round trip from Seattle (Ketchikan, Tracey Arm, Juneau, Skagway, Victoria). We have a balcony (C606) on the port side and was wondering if the starboard side is any better for this cruise?

 

Also, we are just in Victoria from 5:00p to 11:59p. I was thinking about going to Chinatown and Market Square and was wondering if the stores are open that late and if these places are worthy shopping experiences?

 

There is plenty of time to make these decisions, but the planning and obsessing is half the fun!

[calikak]

Hi! We did the same itinerary in 2004 on the Diamond and had a great time. I don't think either side of the ship is so much better on this cruise, since it's round-trip so there will be a view of the land either on the way up or the way down, depending on which side of the ship you're on. We're from Seattle so we've been to Victoria a lot, so we just stayed on the ship that night, but lots of people went ashore and seemed to have a good time that night. I don't know if they shopped or not. You might try searching on the Alaska board, lots of good info over there! :)

[Kylie]

We did the same cruise on the Star Princess a couple of years ago. We had a balcony on the starboard side and it seemed we docked on our side most often but since it is round trip you will see pretty much the same on both sides coming or going. We are cruising with RCCL this summer RT so we can do true inside passage. Having done that one other time we were disappointed that RT from Seattle doesn't do this.

We did a ship excursion (something we don't often do) in Victoria since the time was short. We took a tour of the city - it is far to walk from the ship to anywhere. Sorry I can't tell you about the shopping since we didn't do any there (not enough time) but the city is beautiful - enjoy!

[Cruisin' Chick]

We were in Victoria on a rainy day (well, much of that cruise was in the rain) so we caught the shuttle (very reasonable) to the Empress Hotel. We walked around for a bit, while hubby obsessed about finding one Canadian postage stamp so he can send postcard to his mother. Then I suggested the Miniature Museum. We spent a long while there. Then we walked around the little shopping area near there -- by then, it stopped raining. Bought a few souvenirs in non-touristy shops and then caught the shuttle back.