We just returned

[Nebuckeye]

Wow, we just returned from our 7 day cruise on the Coral Princess and had a majical time. I want to thank everyone from cruise critic.com for their imput.

We started off in Vancouver flying in the day before. Good move on our part because people in our group had very delayed planes. We stayed at the Coast Vancouver Airport Hotel. Shuttle from airport to hotel, complimentary breakfast or dinner, and shuttle to boat terminal for $200(US). The place was not fancy but we were only there 12 hours. Nice bar restaurant and the rooms were very nice. Next morning left for the ship(only one in dock) got there at noon and walked right on, roamed the ship and waited for the other members of our group.

After a slight mix up in our group table we had a delicious meal. We had early dinning and it worked out great. althoug we missed 3 day because we we in town and just ate at the anytime dinning or the buffet which is open 24 hours. The buffet breakfast is really good too.

We saw the comedy show and went to be in our very spacious room with a balcony. I mean it was very spacious. The shower was tight for my 6'5"

husband and don't try to shave your legs but the balcony was spectacular. We had many a cocktai on the balcony with several friends.

We take wine and hard liquor on board and bought some on shore in some of the cities no problem

We spent one day at sea getting our sea legs and landed in Ketchikan.

Beautifull little town with a lot of rain. All day. We just walked around and saw many toten poles. Pack a rain coat, in fact all we wore was jeans and sweat shirts fot the whole trip.

Next day Juneau. We didn't book any tours with the Princess and on advice from many got off the boat and went to the tram parking lot and booked a tour cheaper. Took a bus tour with Juneau tours to the glacier and through the town . Had a blast. Then ate lunch on the pier went shopping and back to the ship. Lovely day

Day 4 Skagway, as advised we rented a van in Skagway from Avis(the nicest People) and drove up the highway with Murrphy's Guide. Fantastic. We could stop and look at what ever we wanted for as long as we wanted. Weather was beautiful and the company was too. The van was $90 plus gas($20) and we split it 3 ways. Can't beat it.

Off to Glacier Bay the naturalist on board kept us informed on what we were looking at and the sun was shinning. What more could we ask for.

The whales were plentiful( probably 20 or so) right off the boats side about 100 yrds out.

College Fjord was next with sea otters plentiful. We watched for hours off the back of our deck with all 12 of us.

We disembarked with such ease caught our tour guide for Anchorage witch we found on line by going to the Chamber of Commerce in Anchorage. Ben was the nicest guy and even offered to drive us all over Anchorage, which we did. The cost was $110 per couple(3) and the ride was about 4 hours with all the extras. Well worth the investigating. He picked us up at the dock and dropped us off at the Mususem for the next leg of the tour.

We had contracted with Alaskan Tours for a 2 day tour of Denali State Park.

Bus ride to the park and a stay in the Bluffs Hotel(on of three choices)Nice place and we were not in it much. Day 1 we took a 14 hour bus ride all over the park. TOOO long we about died. We would stop every 2 hours to get out and had lunch but 14 hours. I must admit every animal in the park was on cue, even the wolves. Bring binoculars.

We did a rafting trip the next day, FUN, and left on the train. So relaxing.

Arrived at the train terminal at 8pm got our bags very quickly and caught a taxi to airport and left on the 11:30 pm flight.

We are still recovering but boy was it fun.

I loved the ship but had a few comments. They will shove a camera in your face all the time. The pictures are expensive and I can do the same thing with my digital. It started to make us mad. The shows were Ok something to do at night( or should I say day the sun never set)and I would have liked more dance music for a longer period of time. Other than that it was wonderful and I would recommend the Coral. The staff was helpful and by the end of the week I could even understand them. The tip is included ($10 @ day per person)and was a big help( we did tip our steward some more)

Well that is our trip in short from. If you are planning a trip to AK. This is the place to be. Ask Questions and research. It pays off.

Good Sailing

NEBUCKEYE

[qiangf2]

I loved the ship but had a few comments. They will shove a camera in your face all the time. The pictures are expensive and I can do the same thing with my digital. It started to make us mad.

 

Nice review!

 

Sometimes, I feel some of the on board photographers' skill are much desired, since they are professional. It is also annoying to force everyone to participate their photo session when you board the ship. My DW told me to let them take pictures just for being nice. I think they are taking advantage of people for being nice. just my two cents.

[NancyIL]

Thanks for your review. We loved our northbound Coral Princess cruise, too! The only photos taken of us were as we boarded the ship and one night at dinner.

 

You must've been in Denali National Park rather than the state park. Were you on the tour bus to Kantishna? That IS a long time to be on a bus - but you had the opportunity to see SO much more wildlife and scenery than some people on cruisetours who go only 17 miles into the park on the Natural History Tour.

[RCCLismyfav]

Nice review!:)

[newman's dad]

Good review! Do you have any platters you can post? Who was your cruise director? Where was your room located?

[mamadot]

Could you please tell about the entertainment, any enrichment series and also the cruise director? Also, were the park rangers on board at Glacier Bay and Colllege Fjord? We will be boarding the Coral on September 10. Thanks for any information!:)

[Nebuckeye]

Well, I took about 400 pictures with my very small digital camera and have some great pictures of all 12 of us that went together. All were just as good as theirs.

Our room was on the the BAJA deck:) starboard side and in fact right off the elevators. We were worried about noise and there was none or we were just so tired, great location, we did not have to walk far.

The cruise does a wonderful job with their naturalist. :) There were several programs in the theater to tell us what we were going to see and then they talked while we were in the Fjord and at the Glaciers. Simply wonderful.:) The nightly entertainment was Ok. We went to something everynight either the comic or the stage shows, but only 3 night were really good.

They like to play alot of games, Newly wed game, Trival Pursuit, Idol etc.

We aren't really into that stuff.

All in all we had a blast on the ship.

Hope this helps and have a great voyage. :)

[Meditrina]

Wow! Thanks for all the terrific information! We are heading to Alaska on the Coral NB a week from tomorrow!

 

We also have booked the 14 Hour Kantishna bus in Denali, and I am a little worried that it might be too long on the bus, although we're really hoping that it will enable us to see quite a bit more. I was under the impression that the bus stops about halfway thru to allow people to do a little hiking / sightseeing, etc. Is this not the case?