Fantastic 12 night Alaska cruise tour "Denali Explorer" on the Star

[Elizabeth K.]

Here is my review of a fantastic northbound cruise tour. I also just submitted to the Star review boards.

 

We are a couple in our 50's and chose this cruise tour as our friends were already booked and did the research. I have wanted to go to Alaska for some time and was thrilled to have the chance. There were 6 of us. This is my 11th Princess cruise--all Caribbean--and it restored my faith in the product after a unsatisfying cruise last Nov. Everything was wonderful save for a few hiccups here and there. We did the northbound sailing out of Vancouver and the 5 day land tour after. We arrived in Vancouver and stayed at the Delta by Marriott which we used points for. Room was super nice and updated with comfy beds. It is ideally located about 3 blocks from the port and is walk able to the port for those with good mobility. It is also within walking distance to the waterfront paths and lots of shops and restaurants. We used the Skytrain (under $9 each) from the airport to get there and again walked to the hotel from the stop.

 

We walked to the port at noon and embarkation took about an hour. Fairly painless and there were chairs to sit on as well as bathrooms and water. I could have gone through a little faster because of Platinum status with Princess but chose to wait with our friends.

 

We opted for an inside cabin to keep the budget from exploding. I am used to balconies so this was a bit tough for me. But I would do it again in order to go back to Alaska.

 

Overall condition of the ship--well, it is an older ship and this is evident with some of the carpets and upholstery. I chose to not let that be a focus. Everything that needed to function functioned :-)

 

Food--Typically I avoid the buffets but hubby is a vegan now and we ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch in order for him to have better choices. This worked very well for him. I consider myself a foodie and I was very impressed with the food there. The salads and fruit were fresh and with lots of variety. The fish was good. There were good vegetarian curry dishes everyday. There was a good Mexican section one day. One morning the pancakes were so tough I could barely cut it with a knife but if I wanted to take the time I could've just gone back for fresher ones.

 

We ate in the traditional dining room, late seating. The dining room was half empty most nights. We were the only table in our waiters section the whole cruise while their other tables sat empty. Nice for us as we had their undivided attention. They were very good and came to anticipate our preferences. The vegan thing was harder there despite the head waiter discussing the next night's menu with him each night. This is one area that could have been better for hubby but he made the best of it.

 

Bar service was decent throughout the ship.

 

Activities/Excursions--We found ourselves a bit bored on embarkation day and the first sea day. Not ones for production shows, and the day times in particular seemed to lag. Weather was grey. I started getting nervous. But it got better. There were a couple of good bands on board that we really enjoyed and I thought they were better than any other I've heard on a ship. Any excursions we did we booked through Princess. Once we hit Ketchikan things looked up and it was fun from there on. We did a hike on our own in Ketchikan. Found it through the visitors center at the port. We needed to get out and move. In Juneau I did the whale watching booked through Princess while hubby and the others did a bike and tram tour. Weather held and the whales were out along with the sea lions. We had a great guide on board the vessel and waters were calm. He said that the whales don't breach much in Alaska. That they come there to feed, vs in Hawaii in winter they breach as it is associated with mating. True? I chose to believe him. So the humpbacks look more like submarines emerging from the waters. Tails are viable. I hoped to get to Mendenhall Glacier after this excursion because the ship didn't sail til after 8 but I still didn't have enough time. In Skagway we did a hike and float. The hike was the beginning 2 miles of the Chilkoot trail. Then the guide takes you on a raft on a calm river. Not scary other than the water in 35 degrees. Luckily no one fell out! The guide was bland having only been there for 6 weeks.He didn't know that much about the nature, but he was good on the water. We had a small group of 10 on the trip. And we have a great day.

 

We had sunny skies for Glacier Bay and College Fjord. Both were spectacular. We missed the one calving that took place having just gone to the room briefly. On the College Fjord day we were out on deck alot and we were fortunate to see a large group of Orcas go by. The naturalist said it was the first sighting for the season.

 

Disembarking was easy. We got right off the ship and right on the train up to McKinley Lodge. It is a wonderful area, nice rooms and restaurants and bars. There are wonderful decks to relax on while viewing either Denali or the river at each lodge. We did a kayaking trip on Lake Byers that was fun.The guide was experienced. We saw a loon which was delightful. He asked if we wanted to into this little inlet and we said yes. Maybe we'd see a bear. Lots of tracks were evident on the banks. After about 15 minutes the guide sensed a bear was close and he felt it was best to turn around. We could see Denali from the lake. In fact we saw the mountain on each of our 5 days on land. Spectacular.

 

We did a 7 mile Denali wilderness hike the next day. The guide was very knowledgeable and personable. Walking sticks and snacks were included. Now we're moving on to The Denali Wilderness Lodge. I took a day off from excursions. Some of our group including my husband did the whitewater rafting trip and they had a blast. My friend and I had drinks on the deck instead, but we were able to watch them float by on the river which was fun.

 

We did the Tundra Wilderness tour the next day. It was wonderful. We had an experienced guide who along with all of us worked on spotting wildlife. We saw a grizzly bear with 2 cubs and got to watch them play for a while. Also saw a big herd of caribou, and a couple of moose. The driver has a camera with a zoom and its connected to monitors on the bus so he can zoom in allowing us to see closer. I had binoculars as well. The most surprising and closest viewing was a wolf who loped on the road towards our bus, then moved over to the side of he road and went right along side the bus. Even the driver had never experienced that. The driver is able to slow down and/or stop whenever animals are spotted. He lets you out about every 90 minutes. All the wildflowers and tundra flowers were in bloom.

 

Next on to Fairbanks. BTW, all transfers were very seamless. Kudos to Princess. You are given envelopes on the way to each new destination that includes your tickets for excursions, your room number, room key (so no long check in lines), and other info about the lodge. In Fairbanks we did a Riverboat cruise was included in our package. I thought it might be boring but it was great. Weather helped as it was in the 70's and sunny. There is inside and outside seating. The highlight was getting to stop in front of Trail Breaker Kennels, an elite dog sledding organization run by the husband and family of the late Susan Butcher, the 1st female Iditarod winner. You can see the place from the boat and the captain stops the boat and connects by phone with the owner who gives a short presentation about the dogs and how they train them. He does a demo in which he has the team connected to an ATV type vehicle they use to train and we got to watch them go. Wow! We then stop at a historical Eskimo village and get off and there is an up close area where the dogs are again with a trainer who answers questions. Loved it.

 

All in all a fabulous time, helped by the weather and great service and options provided by Princess. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Edited July 2, 2017 by Elizabeth K.

[Wacruzr]

"The highlight was getting to stop in front of Trail Breaker Kennels, an elite dog sledding organization run by the husband and family of the late Susan Butcher, the 1st female Iditarod winner."

 

Not the first, but she won several times. You should have had a chance to meet the first, Libby Riddles, on the ship in Juneau.

 

Loren

[easyboy]

Great review. Glad you had a fabulous time!

 

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Forums mobile app

[Lucky TGO]

Great review Thank You.

Tony

[azbirdmom]

Thanks for sharing! We did a Denali Explorer cruise tour on the Star in May and are still in Alaska withdrawal. It's such a wonderful experience that will never get old.

[Elizabeth K.]

Oops sorry for the error. Libby was the first to win. and she was on the ship and gave a talk which I missed. The most recent winner also gave a presentation and brought some puppies on board.

 

I failed to mention some of the other informative talks by the rangers an others that were given on board and in the lodges. They were excellent. We also caught a talk at the McKinley lodge given buy a man who has climbed to the top of Denali several times. His photo presentation was great and gave us the chance to understand what it's like up there.

 

Also interesting were the numbers of first time Princess Cruisers on board and the few elites. At the Captain's circle cocktail party they honored the most traveled--1000+ days-- and the 2nd and 3rd were in the 900 day ranges. There were less than 200 Elites and 350 ish Platinums.

[loretde]

Fantastic review. Going on the Star Sept 9. First time on Princess and first time to Alaska. I can't wait! Thanks for sharing!