REVIEW: Star Northbound to Alaska with Kids in a family suite

[Apexgal]

This was my first “suite” so I can’t compare. But we had all the main perks. You could not sell it as two rooms - there isn’t enough privacy because there really is a shared living space. We had a tub (the inside didn’t). But no jets. We could have opted for daily canapés but honestly preferred the afternoon tea more and it’s an opt in service. We asked him to remove the fruit basket after day 2/3 as we were getting our fill at meals. He did provide suite service - just poorly.

 

 

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[ChrisB123]

We go on the STAR in Oct, thank you for posting this.

[Roatanfans]

We did the family suite a few years ago on the Grand (15 day Hawaii) and it does seem like there is some confusion as to it being an actual suite- had to remind people when I wanted to use one of my benefits (Sabitinis breakfast was our favorite in the mornings) Room service actually tried to not deliver of the MDR menu one night- I had to remind them that this was the family suite and that is a benefit (they went and checked then we never had a problem after that). As suites go, it is nothing luxurious- really just a mini and a quad inside with a large open sitting room. When sailing our balcony was way too windy to use- they actually had to tie down the chairs, but I imagine the ship travels faster crossing the pacific then cruising Alaska. We really did love being able to travel as a family (with 3 kids we have to get 2 rooms and split up- this way we had our kids in the sitting room with grandma and aunt in the inside room) It was more for us then just booking 3 balcony rooms so we probably wont be doing it again soon unless we get a good deal (never hurts to ask, but they fill up fast since there is only 2 of them)

[Apexgal]

Sea Day!

First stop on our Sea Day was Sabatini's for breakfast. This was by far our favorite suite perk. It was just such a peaceful way to start the morning.

Sabatini's breakfast menu is not necessarily a list of what they have but suggestions for what they can offer. If you are looking for elaborate menu descriptions to inspire your choices like spinach and feta quiche … this isn't your place. The menu is more like "eggs any way" and they really mean it. However if you ask for it, and its on the ship, you will get it. For example, pancakes weren't on their menu but my youngest loves a pancake on vacation - so each morning, they would get him a pancake. We were able to have a bowl of berries each day for the kids at breakfast and I know berries are hard to come by on a ship. I asked for toast, avocado and eggs to make my own avocado toast - no problem. And the cappuccinos, mimosa's and real milk hot chocolate were all bottomless and complimentary. However they couldn't do a flavored cappuccino - but would get you one from the IC if that was your desire.

A small side note about chai tea - which is my go to drink. The IC uses a Torani syrup for the tea and its like drinking flavored milk. Bring your own tea bags (I do) and asked for steamed milk and make it yourself. Sabatini's would take my tea and steep it in a pot while they were steaming my milk. Also - this is the ONLY free hot chocolate on the ship. No packets in the horizon court.

The kids went to the kids club in the morning and we headed to Skywalkers to read. Skywalkers was one of the reason's I booked the ship. I wanted an indoor quiet place to have great views in the event of bad weather and it did not disappoint. We spent many days up there reading and watching the scenery.

Pub lunch for lunch for me and hubby. It took 30 minutes start to finish. They were rushing you through the crown grill. Definitely not leisurely but good and honestly we were still full from breakfast. Grandparents had taken the kids to the buffet and we got our first try of the buffet. Food is subjective but I will say, the buffet is the smallest I've ever seen on a ship and the choices I felt were limited. Hubby loves a hot lunch and usually any meat will do but there were few days that he could find something he could eat. We did enjoy the pizza place.

Kids went to the indoor pool in the afternoon. It was warm enough to enjoy and several folks enjoyed the outdoor pool all week.

That evening we went to club class dining for the first time. We never had a wait at all and pretty much had our same table. I was nervous about taking the kids because no one EVER mentions kids in club class. There was one other teen but ours were really the only ones in there. And it wasn't an issue. They eat off the main menu - usually with any sauces on the side and never really had an issue finding something to eat. There usually was 1-2 specials and they were always better than anything on the menu. Tableside is a joke - yes, somewhere near a table in club class it is prepared but definitely not at your table. And the most ridiculous was the evening special dessert flambé - they aren't allowed to use open flames so bananas foster was a warm limp banana in sauce with a scoop of ice cream. Don't get your hopes up.

After dinner it was back to guest services for my favorite screw up of the week. When my mom went to order a glass of wine at dinner, they swiped her card and said, they couldn't serve her because my son's picture was attached to HER card and it would appear that they were serving a minor. My son's photo was on my husband's and my mom had the same folio number as my son. It was a HOT MESS. My dad and I were able to order drinks for the table but he found out the soda package wasn't attached to his account.

When we got to guest services they said "We have fixed it and they will sort out the photos at security as you exit the ship in Ketchican". No. We had an early excursion and I was not going to try to explain this to security at 6:30 in the morning and I knew we needed photos to match names. An 70 year old woman wasn't going to pass for an 11 year old boy. They said there was nothing they could do at Guest Services. I know better. We refused to leave until they fixed it, swiped each card and showed us it was correct. Funny - when we refused to leave until it was fixed and asked to see a supervisor, things finally started happening. Then we showed them the paperwork that proved my dad had a soda package. They said despite me having the paperwork that proved it, they would have to start an inquiry into their system and they would get back to us. This also was unacceptable since I was holding the paperwork (Print off EVERYTHING before you leave) that showed he was entitled to it. We told them it needed to be fixed that night. When we went to order a soda the next day, it was fixed.

They were also working on the fact that our travel agent had gifted us with another specialty dinner but we had cards to prove it for 5 of us but not dad. There came a point that I was honestly surprised the man got on the ship - everything was wrong with him (but not my mom). They said there was nothing they could do since that was from my travel agent. Now this is where I got really frustrated. 5 people in a suite have a free card. 1 does not. Common sense says this is a mistake. It's $25. Good customer service would be to just handle it and give person 6 the $25. But no - I had to contact my travel agent in Ketchican and get that fixed too. These are all some of the "bigger fish".

Unfortunately guest services was really only good for printing off your charges. They were most unhelpful. Dad still didn't have a working room key after all this. And you couldn't be nice. You really had to be a witch and refuse to leave until they actually did something - they were skilled at telling you they had it under control and they never did.

By this point, all 6 of us at been at guest services for about an hour and were too tired for the kids club or anything else and had a very early morning ahead so off we went to bed. I got back to the room expecting my laundry because we had left the room at 8 that morning and I had left the laundry out. It arrived the next night at turndown.

And finally - what we wore - around the ship we were in long sleeves, kids were in short sleeves, and jeans this day. Outside you needed a jacket. At night every night, I wore pants or dress black jeans and a short sleeve dressy top and never got cold. This day was formal night. Dad wore a suit, hubby wore a shirt and tie and the kids had on slacks and a shirt/tie and we were all fine. Mom and I were also in slacks and a dressy top. Most men in club class wore a jacket - it was about 50/50 around the ship. Hubby didn't feel out of place in just his tie. And it was 50/50 women in dresses vs pants.

Up next: Ketchican

[ceilidh1]

Sea Day!

First stop on our Sea Day was Sabatini's for breakfast. This was by far our favorite suite perk. It was just such a peaceful way to start the morning.

Sabatini's breakfast menu is not necessarily a list of what they have but suggestions for what they can offer. If you are looking for elaborate menu descriptions to inspire your choices like spinach and feta quiche … this isn't your place. The menu is more like "eggs any way" and they really mean it. However if you ask for it, and its on the ship, you will get it. For example, pancakes weren't on their menu but my youngest loves a pancake on vacation - so each morning, they would get him a pancake. We were able to have a bowl of berries each day for the kids at breakfast and I know berries are hard to come by on a ship. I asked for toast, avocado and eggs to make my own avocado toast - no problem. And the cappuccinos, mimosa's and real milk hot chocolate were all bottomless and complimentary. However they couldn't do a flavored cappuccino - but would get you one from the IC if that was your desire.

A small side note about chai tea - which is my go to drink. The IC uses a Torani syrup for the tea and its like drinking flavored milk. Bring your own tea bags (I do) and asked for steamed milk and make it yourself. Sabatini's would take my tea and steep it in a pot while they were steaming my milk. Also - this is the ONLY free hot chocolate on the ship. No packets in the horizon court.

The kids went to the kids club in the morning and we headed to Skywalkers to read. Skywalkers was one of the reason's I booked the ship. I wanted an indoor quiet place to have great views in the event of bad weather and it did not disappoint. We spent many days up there reading and watching the scenery.

Pub lunch for lunch for me and hubby. It took 30 minutes start to finish. They were rushing you through the crown grill. Definitely not leisurely but good and honestly we were still full from breakfast. Grandparents had taken the kids to the buffet and we got our first try of the buffet. Food is subjective but I will say, the buffet is the smallest I've ever seen on a ship and the choices I felt were limited. Hubby loves a hot lunch and usually any meat will do but there were few days that he could find something he could eat. We did enjoy the pizza place.

Kids went to the indoor pool in the afternoon. It was warm enough to enjoy and several folks enjoyed the outdoor pool all week.

That evening we went to club class dining for the first time. We never had a wait at all and pretty much had our same table. I was nervous about taking the kids because no one EVER mentions kids in club class. There was one other teen but ours were really the only ones in there. And it wasn't an issue. They eat off the main menu - usually with any sauces on the side and never really had an issue finding something to eat. There usually was 1-2 specials and they were always better than anything on the menu. Tableside is a joke - yes, somewhere near a table in club class it is prepared but definitely not at your table. And the most ridiculous was the evening special dessert flambé - they aren't allowed to use open flames so bananas foster was a warm limp banana in sauce with a scoop of ice cream. Don't get your hopes up.

After dinner it was back to guest services for my favorite screw up of the week. When my mom went to order a glass of wine at dinner, they swiped her card and said, they couldn't serve her because my son's picture was attached to HER card and it would appear that they were serving a minor. My son's photo was on my husband's and my mom had the same folio number as my son. It was a HOT MESS. My dad and I were able to order drinks for the table but he found out the soda package wasn't attached to his account.

When we got to guest services they said "We have fixed it and they will sort out the photos at security as you exit the ship in Ketchican". No. We had an early excursion and I was not going to try to explain this to security at 6:30 in the morning and I knew we needed photos to match names. An 70 year old woman wasn't going to pass for an 11 year old boy. They said there was nothing they could do at Guest Services. I know better. We refused to leave until they fixed it, swiped each card and showed us it was correct. Funny - when we refused to leave until it was fixed and asked to see a supervisor, things finally started happening. Then we showed them the paperwork that proved my dad had a soda package. They said despite me having the paperwork that proved it, they would have to start an inquiry into their system and they would get back to us. This also was unacceptable since I was holding the paperwork (Print off EVERYTHING before you leave) that showed he was entitled to it. We told them it needed to be fixed that night. When we went to order a soda the next day, it was fixed.

They were also working on the fact that our travel agent had gifted us with another specialty dinner but we had cards to prove it for 5 of us but not dad. There came a point that I was honestly surprised the man got on the ship - everything was wrong with him (but not my mom). They said there was nothing they could do since that was from my travel agent. Now this is where I got really frustrated. 5 people in a suite have a free card. 1 does not. Common sense says this is a mistake. It's $25. Good customer service would be to just handle it and give person 6 the $25. But no - I had to contact my travel agent in Ketchican and get that fixed too. These are all some of the "bigger fish".

Unfortunately guest services was really only good for printing off your charges. They were most unhelpful. Dad still didn't have a working room key after all this. And you couldn't be nice. You really had to be a witch and refuse to leave until they actually did something - they were skilled at telling you they had it under control and they never did.

By this point, all 6 of us at been at guest services for about an hour and were too tired for the kids club or anything else and had a very early morning ahead so off we went to bed. I got back to the room expecting my laundry because we had left the room at 8 that morning and I had left the laundry out. It arrived the next night at turndown.

And finally - what we wore - around the ship we were in long sleeves, kids were in short sleeves, and jeans this day. Outside you needed a jacket. At night every night, I wore pants or dress black jeans and a short sleeve dressy top and never got cold. This day was formal night. Dad wore a suit, hubby wore a shirt and tie and the kids had on slacks and a shirt/tie and we were all fine. Mom and I were also in slacks and a dressy top. Most men in club class wore a jacket - it was about 50/50 around the ship. Hubby didn't feel out of place in just his tie. And it was 50/50 women in dresses vs pants.

Up next: Ketchican

 

Sorry to hear about the problems with the cards/guest services. What a hassle! We were on Star at Christmas and had great staff on the front desk - I'm guessing there is a new team in now, 7 months later. I am sailing on her in August so will see what the deal is then - fingers crossed we don't need to spend much time there!

 

We just did a short 3 day cruise on Ruby in April and it felt as if we were at the desk at least 5 times a day over the 3 days. I had the beverage package and my kids had the soda package but we were all charged for drinks constantly. Each time they verified that, yes. the packages were on the cards - the kids cards even had the stickers. Yet we were still charged. So frustrating! The last thing anyone wants to do on vacation is have to stand and argue about trivial things.....

[ChrisB123]

GREAT review, keep them coming. Sorry for the trouble you had.

[Apexgal]

Ketchican

 

First port day! Unless we are trying to burn OBC, we almost never take a ship excursion. I like to experience where we are and eat local and I like the flexibility of a DIY excursion - especially with kids and usually they are significantly cheaper. In Alaska, well that just wasn't the case. The cruise lines own Alaska. Yes, there are things you can DIY but most of the time they were MORE expensive than what the ship was offering or the price difference was so small, you might as well just do it through the cruise line. Actually in ALL things Alaska, it felt like they were trying to make all their income in the year in 4 months. The MOST expensive place I've ever been.

 

However - in Ketchican - we wanted to go fishing. We are from the coast and are used to boats and 5 of the 6 wanted to fish. We convinced my youngest to go (I don't leave kids on the ship while I'm on an excursion). I found

Avid Anglers charter that left right from the dock (many wanted you to take a 20 min cab ride). He offered a cruise ship special (3 hours at $130 a person plus $40 per adult for king stamp and license which we got from him). Most wanted a longer time and more money. With the kids, I thought this would be perfect. AND we were back on ship at 1:30 so there wasn't much time anyway. Really wish I hadn't had to pay for the kids since they really did nothing but whatever. You had to pay for kids with all of them.

 

The first breakfast timeslot is only available in the room starting at 6:30-7 and we had to be off the ship at 6:40. We could have just called in our order but doing that for 4 people would get complicated. Parents were up early so they just called in their order at 5:30. So hubby took one for the team and went to battle the buffet to bring back a small breakfast for us. It was mobbed.

 

We met our captain right as we walked off the ship and hustled to his very conveniently docked boat. We had lines in the water in 20 minutes. Unfortunately it was a slow day for king salmon (that's all that was running this time of year). He hustled. He changed up lines, and lures and depth and we went to other places. I will say that all of the boats out were working in tandem to give the customer the best day. Whenever someone caught something, they would radio out where they were and what they were using. He also had fruit, cookies and water/soda on board.

 

After a couple of hours watching wildlife and listening to bald eagles play which was amazing, we caught 2 kings at the exact same time. This was incredibly exciting for the 11 year old and completely freaked out the 7 year old. All the moving to get the lines out of the water and then hook 2 fish had the boat rocking a bit (and he's very much used to boats) and there was a lot of confusion. Mom and I had to reel in extra lines and dad and hubs had to reel in fish so I couldn't get to him to comfort him despite this being a very small boat. Big brother stepped in and calmed him. On the way back in, a humpback breached about 10 feet from the boat and swam with us for a while. It was stunning.

 

We had the option of processing the fish and sending it home. Of course! The captain would handle it and said it would be $88 for processing plus just over $2 a pound. I specifically asked if there would be extra shipping. No, he said, the $88 covered it. This was so incorrect. We specified a day to ship and it was over $200 by the time we got the fish (about 20 lbs) and they weren't in 1 lb filets as promised, it was random and a lot of large packs. Also - the fish were frozen and shipped in Styrofoam with no ice. They were cold but partly thawed when we received them in the hot south. After a few calls to the local fish markets to see if these had gone bad, we refroze them but weren't happy with our "surprise".

 

What we wore - the high in Ketchican was 54 that day but we were out really early and it was cold though happily not raining - a beautiful blue sky. We had on hiking/wind pants, long underwear, long sleeves, fleece, and a ski jacket and hats. I had to pop into the cabin every now and then to warm up.

 

He dropped us off next to creek street at our request - there is a nice visitor center with bathroom facilities (Though there was a head on the boat) about 2 blocks away. We walked down creek street and headed for the married man's trail. At the end of that - a very easy walk, was the salmon ladder. Nothing was running yet so we headed back to the ship and grabbed lunch.

 

The afternoon was showers, resting and off to dinner. We went to the best comedy show I've seen in a long time and was by far the best entertainment all week on the ship. And I cannot remember his name. After the show, we walked past crooners where the pianist had a lively bunch but apparently he was so good they gave him his own michal buble show later in the week - I'm not as much a fan. This to me was the best entertainment night.

 

The kids went to the kids club where everyone came home early. The oldest is allowed to check himself out. He also had his cell phone and would message us through the princess app if he left. The app doesn't ding so we checked it every 15 min or so. Since the youngest was in the 3-7 group, you are given a pager in case they need you. They never paged us but if the oldest ever left, he would always check in with his brother to see how things were going. On this night, the youngest was ready to come back but didn't want to tell the counselor so the oldest sent us a note to come get the youngest.

 

Back to the room and the laundry I put out before breakfast on the sea day, was back! whew! pickings were getting slim. And we had a couch for youngest! AND dad's free dinner finally showed up!

 

(my apologies if I've gotten some of the events out of order like the comedy show - relying on my memory only).

 

Up next: Juneau!

[Apexgal]

Kids Club

 

A quick detour to talk about the kids club as a whole....there were a little over 200 kids on this trip with about 16-24 in each age breakout (3-7/8-10/ etc) split pretty evenly between girls and boys. There was a mix of scheduled activities and free play. The 3-7 had very little in the way of options for "cool toys". They had some video games but the 8 and up had Skeeball and foosball. For the 3-7 there were a LOT of art projects. A few games and they always came back to the room with a stuffed animal, ribbon for winning a game, hat they had colored, face paint etc. We had so much stuff from just the kids club - 4 new small stuffed animals! They were least happy at night when all they really did was put on a movie about 8:30 - this was true across the ages. By the time they finished dinner, and got there it was close to 8 and there was little play time. No other line has stopped "playing" so early. Usually movies are reserved for the 10 pm group.

 

One small gripe by me. The last night - when all the luggage was out of the room the kids had a PJ party, which was fine. BUT they colored the kids hair. UGH! We had already taken our evening showers and are disembarking the next morning and now my kid needs a shower at 10 pm because he had green hair. Any other day, that would have been fine.

 

The 11 year old was less enthused. He thought his room was chaotic. Nothing ever started on time (according to him) and there was little control over the kids (according to him). One night, he was so excited about the schedule (competition games) that he asked to eat room service so he could be there right at 7. We happily agreed and he trotted off. He came back so frustrated because they had started so late and hadn't done half of what was promised. He enjoyed some of the free play time on the PS4s (about 8 of them) but the scheduled activities seemed a bit juvenile for that age. And their "Discovery at Sea" and other branded programs were not impressive at all.

 

For the junior ranger program in Glacier bay, they lumped all of the kids together from 3-12 and did one 1 hour presentation. It was too juvenile for even my 7 year old. They were so disappointed and wished he had gone to the one we went to.

 

We've done the clubs on Royal and Celebrity and hands down my kids prefer the ones on Celebrity. There were no scavenger hunts like celebrity, no talent show, no pool parties or soccer shoot outs for the older kids. Those had been hits for us on Celebrity.

 

Still unpacking - I'm a slow unpacker - but will post the bulletins when I find them.

[caribill]

The first breakfast timeslot is only available in the room starting at 6:30-7 and we had to be off the ship at 6:40. We could have just called in our order but doing that for 4 people would get complicated. Parents were up early so they just called in their order at 5:30.

 

You are not limited to delivery being just the times listed on the card. You can write in an earlier time if you wish.

[ceilidh1]

Kids Club

 

A quick detour to talk about the kids club as a whole....there were a little over 200 kids on this trip with about 16-24 in each age breakout (3-7/8-10/ etc) split pretty evenly between girls and boys. There was a mix of scheduled activities and free play. The 3-7 had very little in the way of options for "cool toys". They had some video games but the 8 and up had Skeeball and foosball. For the 3-7 there were a LOT of art projects. A few games and they always came back to the room with a stuffed animal, ribbon for winning a game, hat they had colored, face paint etc. We had so much stuff from just the kids club - 4 new small stuffed animals! They were least happy at night when all they really did was put on a movie about 8:30 - this was true across the ages. By the time they finished dinner, and got there it was close to 8 and there was little play time. No other line has stopped "playing" so early. Usually movies are reserved for the 10 pm group.

 

One small gripe by me. The last night - when all the luggage was out of the room the kids had a PJ party, which was fine. BUT they colored the kids hair. UGH! We had already taken our evening showers and are disembarking the next morning and now my kid needs a shower at 10 pm because he had green hair. Any other day, that would have been fine.

 

The 11 year old was less enthused. He thought his room was chaotic. Nothing ever started on time (according to him) and there was little control over the kids (according to him). One night, he was so excited about the schedule (competition games) that he asked to eat room service so he could be there right at 7. We happily agreed and he trotted off. He came back so frustrated because they had started so late and hadn't done half of what was promised. He enjoyed some of the free play time on the PS4s (about 8 of them) but the scheduled activities seemed a bit juvenile for that age. And their "Discovery at Sea" and other branded programs were not impressive at all.

 

For the junior ranger program in Glacier bay, they lumped all of the kids together from 3-12 and did one 1 hour presentation. It was too juvenile for even my 7 year old. They were so disappointed and wished he had gone to the one we went to.

 

We've done the clubs on Royal and Celebrity and hands down my kids prefer the ones on Celebrity. There were no scavenger hunts like celebrity, no talent show, no pool parties or soccer shoot outs for the older kids. Those had been hits for us on Celebrity.

 

Still unpacking - I'm a slow unpacker - but will post the bulletins when I find them.

 

My kids have been cruising since they were 6 months old - primarily on Princess as they really loved their kids programming. However, both myself and my kids have noticed changes with each cruise and about 3 years ago we decided to branch out and sample other lines to compare the clubs. My kids both hated the clubs on Disney but LOVED Carnival. Our next line later this year will be NCL. It used to be that I would have to drag the kids out of the club on Princess - now my 7 year old is still happy to go but my 11 year old is less enthusiastic. The activities are the same each time (I can't really complain about this as I can't expect them to change for every cruise) and they have done it all. A lot of the cool stuff they used to offer just isn't done any more - such as the talent show, for example. I agree with a lot of your observations - my kids often complain that they didn't run the activities they advertised, or they had them at a different time than stated.

 

The PJ party on the last night is great as you can pack the clothes from the day...BUT, like you, I am always wondering why they think it's a good idea to not only colour hair but apply full face paint! GAH! Last cruise we had to fly home with an extremely smudged full faced spiderman as my little guy didn't want to wash it off.....I was NOT happy!

 

We were sailing prior to the new Discovery programs and, to be honest, I don't see any difference other than the new layout of the clubs! The activities are all ones we have done many years ago - right down to the stuffed turtle/whale/crab etc (we have so many now that my kids are not allowed to bring them from camp!)

[Apexgal]

Juneau

 

Second stop was Juneau. It was a rainy, cold morning so we opted to stay on the ship this morning since our excursion wasn't until after 11. We had decided to do the 5-glacier seaplane excursion. Hubby wanted to helicopter but I wasn't excited about that or the price so we compromised on a float plane. Grandparents were headed off on the Best of Juneau - whale watching, salmon bake and Mendenhall (which they absolutely raved about).

 

We took the bus to the float plane dock but walked back at the end. The float plane was worth every dime and nickel. And yes, we even took the kids. As we were loading the captain said - sit anywhere you want but just don't sit in my seat. My smart alek older son asked - can I sit in the co-pilot seat. And the captain said yes - someone has to. He was over the moon! The scenery was stunning but it was cold up there. I kept my heavy jacket on the whole time. When we got back to Juneau we had a quick lunch at the dock and walked around town. We had talked about hiking Mendenhall but were scheduled to hike a glacier at the end of the trip and it was now spitting cold rain and the day had been so perfect, I didn't want anything to spoil it. So back to the ship for a lazy afternoon (after all, we are on vacation).

 

Funny story - 2 groups from the ship took an excursion on a helicopter to a glacier. Weather came in and one of the flights got out but the other was stuck for 6 hours. The ship waited for them.

 

A few overall observations:

I haven't talked much about evening entertainment because I wasn't too impressed and like food, its highly subjective. The North to Alaska series seemed hokey. There was a guy who told stories and was a one-man band that appealed to no one in our group. The speakers were ok - we didn't make it to Libby Riddles but she brought a dog that she had outside the theater that the kids got to pet. Another was giving a speech on photography.

 

The cruise directors staff kept dressing up and dancing and weren't that good at all - and should have left that to the production group. There were 2-3 production shows - we made 1 which was good, another we were at guest services and I can't remember if there was a 3rd. The house band seemed like they were playing off key and aside from the lead singer had no personality.

 

Two nights was "Tea-cake" performing soul music and I popped in for a second but it appeared to be just a 1-woman concert. And there was a Michael Bublé concert - again a one man concert. The comedian was excellent and I wish he had been on there more that once.

 

You will probably say I'm picky, and maybe I am but I've never not found things to do on a ship so in my opinion it was just "meh". Most nights we just stayed on the balcony watching the scenery or out on deck enjoying the light.

 

Also - despite reports from earlier this season, there was no escape room, no planetarium, and just lots of Trivia, Bingo and Zumba, during the day. There was a galley tour on the last day.

 

Next up: Weather/packing

[Apexgal]

Weather/Packing

 

A brief interlude to talk weather/packing. One of the locals referred to June as Juneuary. It could be summer or it could be winter. I've read a lot on these boards about "layers" and all you need is a lightweight waterproof jacket to go over your fleece. I'm here to debunk those myths. A lot likely depends on where you are from.

 

We are from the south. It's going to be a 100 today with nearly the same humidity. So "winter" to us is 40s. Alaska was winter to us.

 

Friends had gone the week before and said they had to shop for shorts it was so hot. The week after us hit record highs. But our week was cold. Highs were in the upper 40s/low 50s. If it was cloudy and windy, it felt colder. If it was sunny, it felt hotter. We were supremely lucky and didn't have much rain.

 

Myth 1: It's only cold on the Glacier Bay day.

Not true - I wore my lightweight thermal bottoms under my jeans nearly every day we were off the ship. Hubby didnt but kids and parents also did.

 

Myth 2: Layer short sleeves under a fleece and pair with a lightweight waterproof jacket.

Not true - Our base layer was long sleeves. Why? Because when we got back on the ship or if we stripped off our fleece (rare) we needed those sleeves. I wore short sleeves twice (after the cruise).

 

Myth 3: Don't take a heavy jacket.

Not true: We carried on our jackets and stuffed them in the overhead bins. As I left it was in the upper 90s and just carrying it made me sweat but starting on day 3 I wore it every day except for the last two of our land days at the end. What do I consider heavy? I have a Lands end parka (Warmer) that is heavy enough for me to ski in. Kids and hubby have the Lands End 3 in one combos that they had zipped together. If all of your excursions were in busses or sightseeing, you might could have gotten away with just a light outer layer and just been cold on Glacier Bay day. Actually one of the warmer nights was college fjord - because the sun was out and there was no wind.

 

Don't feel you need it- ok roll the dice....I get it. As soon as you step off the boat in Ketchican - within 20 yards there is a store with every color of the rainbow for 19.99 and yes, they were open at 6:30 and made quite a few sales then too. Fleece are $16.99. Had there just been two of us, maybe I would have done that. But that would have set me back $80 for jackets.

 

So what did I pack and what did I actually wear? I'm a light packer - kids pull their own carry on suitcases and backpacks and we had 1 extra med bag and 1 duffel - more than usual but shoes and bulkiness of fleece got me this time.

 

For 13 days, each person in our group had about 4 long sleeve, 5 short sleeve, 4 fleece-like over shirts, 2 jeans and 1 hiking/wind pants, 2 dress pants and 4 dress/dinner shirts, thermals, and the kids had a couple extra short sleeve shirts (because they are kids and they are messy) and we all had a pair of shorts just in case. When we left, the weather predicted highs in the 60s - not true, 40s and 50s were more likely. I wish I had had more long sleeve and less short sleeve. Though I wore short sleeve on the ship at night and was fine.

 

Shoes - each person had hiking boots (though a pair of basketball shoes subbed for my youngest), sneakers, dress shoes and flip flops. Flip flops were a waste of space. And it never rained so we really only needed either hiking boots or sneakers not both but I was terrified of wet shoes.And for as long as he had them on, the brown hiking boots would have been fine for my son in the dining room with his dress pants. What I wish I had was a pair of slip ons that weren't sneakers or dress flats for walking around the ship.

 

Socks - before we left, we added to our REI hiking sock collection thanks to a mid year sale and were well pleased with the smartwool socks. My feet were always dry, warm and not hot. Not cheap but so worth it. Waiting for that sale again!!!

 

We had hats and gloves but never really used them. Though we did use the hoods on our jackets.

 

We did have laundry since we were in a suite. Undies and socks were sent off nearly every night and I had them do some of our long sleeves because they were getting ripe. As I said before, I sent it out at night before turndown and had it back at turndown the next night. So Glacier Bay was the last night I could do laundry.

 

However on day 3 they lost my sons hiking pants that I had washed because they had fish guts on them. They were hand me downs from a friend but they were great, comfy pants. They however sent us someone's yoga pants in return. We immediately called to the laundry and they sent someone up to retrieve them. But by the last day, my son's pants were no where to be found and we had been in contact with the officer in the laundry and our steward. That morning our steward apologized and sent us to guest services to file a missing item report.

 

Guest services first tells me I have to wait for them to look. I politely tell them that they have been looking for 3 days. After some back and forth, I tell him I'm not leaving until I fill out a report. They get it approved and credit my account the cost of the missing pants. I had claimed $30 - because that would be the cost to replace them. That night the pants appeared on the bed. I think what happened is they shove the laundry into the closet randomly when it comes back. Someone must have not checked their laundry until they went to pack for the cruise and then turned them in. Other than that, we had no issues with laundry. I didn't send out anything fragile. Just cotton shirts and jeans.

 

Up next: Skagway

[ceilidh1]

Thanks for continuing the review - really enjoying it!

You weren't kidding when you said you had to spend a lot of time at guest services. Who needs that hassle on vacation - glad the pants turned up eventually!

[Apexgal]

Skagway

 

I'll try to make this one quick - the train. That's about what 70 percent of the passengers seemed to do. I loved reading how people would hang back and try to get the last car or try to sit on a side....it was a long line and then it was wherever your party could fit. We did manage to get seats on either side of the train. They will ask you to change sides on the way down. It's basically like bus seats. No tables. And there is a small bathroom in each car.

Food - for $10 they will sell you a snack box with Wheat thins, cheese spread, a slim jim and 2 oreos. We had packed our own granola bars, chips and pretzels etc and had a late large breakfast Some folks ignored the "do not take food off the ship" and took deli meat in a plastic cup wrapped in a napkin and I saw lots of apples and bananas as well. Seriously. They also provided complimentary bottled water on the train cars.

The way up was pretty. Informative - the workers were full of energy and gave good information. But honestly, it was boring even for me on the way down. The kids fell asleep. We had just seen everything and now you were seeing it again. I do wish I had just taken it one way and done the bus back or something else. I thought - my kids love trains. They will love this. And they did - for the first few hours. It was long - we didn't get back until after 5 (it was an 11:30 departure).

 

I also thought I read where they would drop you back in town but they don't. It was straight back to the ship. We opted to walk back into town just to look around and it was about a 15-20 minute walk or a shuttle for $5 a piece - that seemed steep for what we wanted. It was a lovely walk - just a little longer than expected.

 

Town was cute and we went in a few shops but by that point we were tired and hungry.

 

We went straight to dinner that night - hiking boots, fleece and all (gasp!) And no - they didn't turn us away. In fact, we were in the majority that night. Though I did see them turn away two people who had backpacks (we had dropped ours in the room). Backpacks were apparently too much.

 

What we wore - this was the coldest of our days with a high of 48 and up in the mountain was even colder on the platforms. Fleece, long sleeve and heavy coats and thermals kept me warm. Just used the heavy jacket on the platforms.

 

Nothing was really memorable about that evening's entertainment.

[ceilidh1]

Anything to add to the review? It has been great to read about this experience in a family suite - very little info out there about them! Thank You!

[ChrisB123]

Thank you for all this info.

[sherryf]

Skagway

 

The way up was pretty. Informative - the workers were full of energy and gave good information. But honestly, it was boring even for me on the way down. The kids fell asleep. We had just seen everything and now you were seeing it again. I do wish I had just taken it one way and done the bus back or something else. I thought - my kids love trains. They will love this. And they did - for the first few hours. It was long - we didn't get back until after 5 (it was an 11:30 departure).

 

Did something unusual happen to delay the train? This is supposed to be a 3.5 hour trip. Why did it take you over 5.5 hours? I'd have been bored and restless too!

[Apexgal]

Sorry for all the delays - life got in the way.

 

As to why we took so long - yes, we were "lucky" in that we were the first train out in that group and instead of swapping sides, we got to go an extra 7 miles each way (so 14 miles round trip) which at the pace you are traveling, takes a bit of time. Why it took even longer - no idea....maybe they were going slow that day. We were late leaving Skagway that night because now the last train was running late.

[Apexgal]

Glacier Bay

 

Glacier Bay and College Fjord are two days are when that balcony pays for itself. We tried to go out on deck but anywhere we went there was always a "yapper" talking loudly about who knows what and you were elbow to elbow. A huge part of glacier viewing that I think people don't talk about enough is the sounds. Not just the giant calving but the cracks and thunder-like sounds you hear. And that could only be heard on a balcony.

 

We also couldn't hear the commentary (because of the yappers) so being able to pop in and out of the room while listening to the commentary was excellent.

 

I really should have gotten up early. I mistakenly thought that it would be excellent scenery all day but by the time we left Marjorie I felt like the day was pretty much over.

 

I also thought the kids club would have more enhanced activities for this day. The kids went to the JR Ranger program which even the 7 year old thought was too juvenile and they got their JR ranger books but apparently didn't have to do anything to get sworn in and get their badges. The let them go out onto their private viewing area for a couple of minutes but basically they saw really nothing of the day. Then it was just the same activities as usual.

 

Hubs and I did go to the ranger talk and very much enjoyed that but it started at the exact same time as they opened the kids club for their ranger program so he had to go sign the youngest in. I did the unthinkable and saved him a single seat for our ranger presentation (we usually don't do this but the programs started at the exact same time). You would have thought I was holding the boat hostage. Such rude passengers.

 

Formal night was that night and we went to see the production show which was entertaining but more of a history of Broadway with elements of dance incorporated into it. Kids went with us as they usually enjoy the show but this one didn't capture their attention. It was more a retrospective on Broadway with personal video narratives of important people on Broadway and if you weren't familiar with the musicals then it wasn't too interesting.

 

Up next: College Fjord

[Apexgal]

College Fjord

Finally had some free time so I'm trying to catch up....College Fjord was to me the most under advertised and most impressive part of the trip. All that it mentioned was "scenic cruising" which I thought I had been doing for a week but this was jaw dropping beauty that I really didn't feel like most people had mentioned before.

The day was spent mostly with Trivia or in Skywalkers trying to finish up our books and at guest services filling out paperwork for missing pants., getting the right disembarking info (we were 1 group, traveling together and despite filling it all out together they gave us separate numbers) Scenic cruising was set for 6-9 pm.

Now - earlier in the week we had received a card indicating that our travel agent had gifted us with a specialty dinner and she had premade reservations for my parent's anniversary, but only 5 of 6 people in our group got this and you had to have it to no pay. So we went to guest services and they said because it was from a travel agent, they couldn't help us. So when we got to Ketchikan and she was getting us a bed for my son, I also had her look into this issue. It was a mistake on Princess' part and we had the voucher by that afternoon (day 3) but by then had already missed the anniversary dinner reservations and Sabatini's was full up for the rest of the cruise (so much for VIP suite reservations). However - the Sabatini's staff after hearing out plight - said - come on the last night at 5 and we will take care of you.

So we pack up everything before 6 (except for 1 bag that can be out at 9 pm)- which I've never had a cruise line ask me to do - usually its by 11 pm and we go to dinner. We went very casual and pretty much wore our traveling clothes for the next day as did most people.

Dinner was excellent but we could see that we were entering some beautiful scenery which we really weren't anticipating. We asked the servers to speed up service and we popped in and out of the restaurant between courses. Not what I would usually do but realizing where we were, they were happy to accommodate. We sped through dinner in about 1.5 hours and some of us left before dessert (so many nuts) and the food had been so incredible that we were full. To me, the menu descriptions did not do the taste justice.

Then we hustled outside where we had the place mostly to ourselves. I think most people had gone out early and then gone to dinner. We spent the evening just walking around in awe. It was glacier after glacier and just stunning. Better than Glacier Bay in my opinion.

The kids had gone to the kids club where as I mentioned before they dyed my youngest's son's hair green (thanks now he needs another shower) and went to bed.

[ceilidh1]

Hubs and I did go to the ranger talk and very much enjoyed that but it started at the exact same time as they opened the kids club for their ranger program so he had to go sign the youngest in. I did the unthinkable and saved him a single seat for our ranger presentation (we usually don't do this but the programs started at the exact same time). You would have thought I was holding the boat hostage. Such rude passengers.

 

 

This makes me crazy - they seem to do this with a lot of things - do they not even look at time/schedules, etc? So many times I have either had to miss something I really wanted or else drag the kids to it as the times clash. Even dinner can be stressful as we pick early dining so the little guy can get to the club when they open - problem is, sometimes dinner can take 2 hours and I either have to leave before I am done or take him and come back. Ugh!

 

Thanks for coming back - this has been one of the best/most informative reviews ever!

[Apexgal]

Debarkation

Saturday morning and its time to get off the ship. I was worried that I would hear anchors drop in the middle of the night since we were up at the front of the ship but I have to admit, the room was one of the quietest we've ever had.

First - one of the main perks of a suite is debarkation day room service. We saw on their app that you couldn't order it through their app - it said to call room service. Our steward left the door hanger on the bed as usual and on a whim, I went ahead and filled it out though we were planning to just call. Glad we did that. The grandparents were up early and tried to order coffee. When they called room service they literally screamed into the phone - No Room Service Today and hung up on them. Thankfully we had put the card out and were saved by a knock at the door.

On any other cruise, we typically just wait in our room until we are called and are always off the ship before 8 am. You cannot do this on Princess - you have to go to one of their lounges. Ugh. So we schlep all our things about 10 minutes before our "time" to one of the lounges. They come tell us its time to go and have a dedicated elevator waiting for us. Ok - this suite thing may not be so bad.

 

But when we get out of the elevator and are directed over to the line, we are told to go to the back of the long long line emptying out of the dining room. Seriously? What's the point of the "special lounge" if you send me to the back of the line?"

 

We get off the ship and when they say in Whittier to have transportation arranged they mean it. There are about 10 stores in the whole town and they all use one parking lot. And by stores - they are mainly fishing and bait stores. There is one condo for the whole town to live in. Do not expect to "grab a taxi" that day.

 

We had arranged to use Anchorage Tours and Transfers (highly recommend) - its a smaller bus not one of the large busses because the parents like a smaller feel and a lot of the larger busses indicated that you may have to load your own luggage - not an option for the grandparents. They also had a special before Christmas with a percentage off for booking early. I think it was about $150 for all of us.

 

Driver was entertaining, gave a great narrative and was almost like a personalized tour. They dropped us off at the airport first (we were renting a car). You don't rent a car in Whittier unless you want the price to triple for a one way drop off though their is an Avis in a rusty old trailer. Then took the parents to an Anchorage Hotel for the night.

 

Our part wasn't over yet - I mean, I'm in Alaska. I want to see it. The cruise however was and for the first time ever, I was happy to get off the ship. As you can tell, I wasn't impressed with Princess and most of it was around customer service. We've tried a lot of other lines and never had the issues we did and general "not caring" attitude that we had on Princess. I won't be back. Each line has their strengths in my opinion. Celebrity shines on quality of food and the kids club. Carnival has a variety of entertainment options and Royal is great for bells and whistles for the kids on the ships (ice skating, rock wall etc) and production shows. We haven't done NCL with kids so I can't compare. But if you asked me what Princess shines on, I couldn't give an answer. I thought it was because they "owned Alaska" but there was nothing other than the entrance to Glacier Bay that I didn't feel like another line would have done just as well or had something to substitute with.

 

That's just my two cents - a lot of folks love Princess. That's great. But they won't get my money any more.

 

Up next: Seward! (told you we weren't done)…..

[Apexgal]

Post Cruise (DIY Tour)

Many folks were surprised when I said we opted not to go to Denali. In my research, I felt like there was only so far you could go into the park without getting on an 8 hour bus and we are not an 8 hour bus family. We are water people so off we went to Seward.

 

We rented a car in Anchorage (not a subcompact - make sure you have room for luggage) and started our 130 mile trek south. We arrived at the airport around 10:30 and then plugged in a grocery store into the GPS. This is critical. This is not your usual interstate. You will go MILES without a convenience store much less a restaurant. We picked up some sandwiches, some snacks, fruit, a couple gallons of water for our water bottles and set off south with the intent that we would meander and stop where we wanted to stop.

 

This is a beautiful drive. It's not on the side of a mountain and there are no weather issues. Just a beautiful 2-lane road through the outdoors. You pass lakes, glaciers, mountains, wildlife etc. We had printed out a Seward Scenic Highway guide from this web site and it was great (http://www.seward.com/visit-seward/scenic-byway/) - at mile 41.3 look to your left and you may see mountain goats and sure enough there were mountain goats! There is a scenic overlook at mile xx.x and is great for picnics and guess where we ate lunch....

 

I wanted to see Girdwood which was down a long road off the highway so we headed in that direction. I knew I didn't want to do the Alyeska tram (what's the point if its foggy and you can't see anything) but there was a fantastic playground off the side of the road right as you come into Girdwood which allowed for some much needed energy burn. There was also a cell signal here which allowed the parents to do some quick recon....

 

What we found was Crow Creek Mine - which is one of the largest gold deposits in Alaska and the most authentic gold panning. We were given a baggie that had guaranteed gold, some instructions and a pan and got to work practicing. Once we had the hang of it, they pointed us to some buckets, shovels and pointed the way to the creek. This wasn't your average waterwheel pan - this was an actual creek that you just dug in. The kids LOVED it. We however did not strike it rich. A little tip - we just paid full price for the kids and then as adults we were half price spectators. Honestly we had to help the kids so much that there was no way we needed to be working on our own.

 

We start our trek further south and decide to skip the Alaska Wildlife center after we saw dozens of tour busses coming in and out and honestly by now, it was closing in on 3 pm and we had driven about 50 of those 130 miles. We had also lost all radio signal so we were now reliant on music from our iphones (plan ahead as we only had a 2 hour loop my husband uses for running and I thought if I heard those songs again, I'd go nuts).

 

We saw a opportunity for a short hike but as we were going in two girls came running out swatting mosquitos (these were the first we had seen of the bugs and didn't believe them). OH MY GOODNESS.....we had mosquitos in our shirts, down our backs, in the car - everywhere. And we came out running and cut our hike very very short.

 

We finally arrived in Seward about 8 hours after we had started on the 2 hour journey and it is a very quaint town without the "in your face" tourist feel that Ketchikan or Skagway has. We had opted to stay at the south end of town about 2 miles away from the cruise ship terminal at the Best Western. The Harbor 360 would have been my first choice but it was more than $100 more per night and the Best Western had good reviews and free breakfast. We had the cheapest room (an inside double) at $250 a night with nearly a 1 year out reservation. Not a room for the claustrophobic. There is no "outside window" - it overlooks the lobby and our luggage nearly filled up the room. Think cruise ship size. But it was clean, comfy and we weren't there very much.

 

We walked to dinner, walked around town - its about a block from the water and then we ended up at the town park for some after dinner energy burn. A quick stop at the Safeway grocery store to pick up more snacks and water and we were off to bed as we had a big day the next morning. The Kenai Fjords tour!

[Apexgal]

Seward

 

Up today was a 6 hour cruise with Major Marine out of Seward. Of all the things we did in Alaska, this ranks at or near the top for all of us. It was pricey and worth every single penny.

 

We spent a leisurely morning around the hotel and then packed up and headed over to board (we could have gone to the Sea Life center that was in walking distance to kill time but we live near an aquarium and go frequently). When you board, you are assigned a table and chairs (It reminded me of a nice European train in its layout ) inside the vessel which is where you can stash your stuff. You have no choice in where you sit. Then there are open decks in the front, back, sides and up top where you will likely spend most of your time and there are chairs and covered areas there.

 

We were incredibly fortunate and had a blue sky, warm (tho I was still in my coat and long johns) day. They said it was the first trip in more than 2 weeks that it hadn't been raining for. The captain was determined for us to see wildlife so as we were going out, anytime he saw anything he would motor over to it and we would watch for a while. We saw whales, otters, puffins, bears, sea lions, eagles and so many other things. The goal of the trip seemed to be the experience and not the destination which was most appreciated.

 

We had been warned that it does go into open ocean for a bit - I'd estimate around 20-30 min and it gets rough. This was apparently a rare flat day and the boat was still rocking. I'd say if you have any issues at all with motion sickness, be prepared. We were all fine (we live near the water and are on boats frequently) but even in flat water some folks were having a time of it.

 

When you book, you have the option to prepay and buy a salmon/prime rib lunch with salad, rice and dessert. Do it. The food was some of the best we had and honestly, it was easy. You think its pricey when you are at home and buying it ahead but once you get there you realize that $24 for lunch is about average. They also sell "hot dogs" which had been my original plan but those are reindeer dogs and my youngest would like you to know (from an earlier lunch) it does not taste anything like an Oscar Meyer hotdog.

 

They also had chips, candy, beer, soda etc for sale but I still had some of that in my bag from an earlier grocery store trip.

 

Now we have seen a lot of glaciers on this trip and my oldest just really wanted to touch one. He was in luck! After we had been at the glacier for a bit - they scooped up a chunk of glacial ice to make margaritas with and one for the kids to touch and play with. He was in heaven.

 

As we were leaving the glacier it was time for $4 margaritas with glacier ice (yes please) and they were kind enough to pour two sprites using glacier ice (free because we had bought the lunch). I won mom of the year here for bringing back those sprites. According to them, glacier ice tastes more dense than regular ice. Tastes the same with tequila to me!

 

There was also a ranger on board giving various presentations and she had a couple of activities up her sleeve for the kids at various time and was always happy to answer any random question they may have. She was also encouraging them to do their ranger books and at one point, came and sat with my oldest and they chatted for a bit.

 

My kids loved it. It was an extremely long day and there were only about 7 to 10 other kids on board (out of about 150) so use your best judgement. They spaced out lunch and dessert so that ate up some of the "boring" motoring time where we weren't seeing anything.

 

Back at the dock around 5:30 and after such a big lunch we didn't want much for dinner. We went to Woody's (a Thai restaurant favored by locals) and grabbed two dishes which were more than enough to feed the family and ended up being one of our cheaper meals of the trip.

 

Up next: Our last day....

[friend of Eeyore]

Our part wasn't over yet - I mean, I'm in Alaska. I want to see it. The cruise however was and for the first time ever, I was happy to get off the ship. As you can tell, I wasn't impressed with Princess and most of it was around customer service. We've tried a lot of other lines and never had the issues we did and general "not caring" attitude that we had on Princess. I won't be back. Each line has their strengths in my opinion. Celebrity shines on quality of food and the kids club. Carnival has a variety of entertainment options and Royal is great for bells and whistles for the kids on the ships (ice skating, rock wall etc) and production shows. We haven't done NCL with kids so I can't compare. But if you asked me what Princess shines on, I couldn't give an answer. I thought it was because they "owned Alaska" but there was nothing other than the entrance to Glacier Bay that I didn't feel like another line would have done just as well or had something to substitute with.

 

That's just my two cents - a lot of folks love Princess. That's great. But they won't get my money any more.

I've been enjoying your report. Thank you for being so thorough with it. I'm looking forward to the Last Day report.

 

I'm so sorry you had such a sucky time on Princess. Granted, I would probably be considered a Princess cheerleader, but I'd give Princess another try. Maybe not in a family suite, since it seems they don't think of those as suites sometimes (at least the employees on the ship), but in a minisuite or balcony (or regular suite, if you can afford it). A lot of it really depends on the ship, and the staff they have crewing it. And it sounds like you got a lot of new staff.

 

I've done Alaska 4 times, and it all depends on the intinerary and weather also - which glaciers you go to, how close you get, etc. I do feel Princess gives one of the better experiences up there, even though we don't do ship's excursions.

 

I would write a detailed letter to corporate (a different Cheerleader can give you the best email to use), detailing all of your issues (down to the last room service phone call - that was rude beyond belief), and outline what you think would be adequate compensation. (Unfortunately, it probably comes down to on board credit, which would mean taking a Princess Cruise again.)

 

I did try a new line myself this summer. It gave me a good taste of what I might like about RCL, and what I don't like. Even though it wasn't my favorite cruise ever, and there were problems that RCL could have handled better, I'm willing to give them another try someday.

Edited July 26, 2018 by friend of Eeyore
Clarity, paragraphing, spelling