REVIEW Star Princess NB Vancouver to Whittier June 3 2017

we had a family group of 12 people, ages 11-67 from three different cities. We flew into Vancouver the day before, on Friday. 8 of us arrived about 2 pm and the airport was full of people and immigration lines were unbelievably long, it took us a couple hours to get through. (the other 4 people didn't arrive until 10 pm and sailed thru immigration in 30 minutes), So the 8 of us after surviving immigration took the SkyTrain to our hotel downtown. Cost was probably about the same as 2 taxis but 11 year old grandson thought the train would be more fun. It was quick and easy and luggage was no problem.

Our hotel was the Delta Marriott Suites which was very nice. We had some cocktails in the lounge area then explored downtown a bit. Saw the steam clock in GasTown then ate dinner at a fun place.

Vancouver, cont

Saturday some of us walked along the seawall all the way to Stanley Park, went right by Canada Place and saw our ship. The walk was nice. In Stanley Park we first looked at the totem poles then went to the aquarium. Saw lots of cool fish including many tanks of jelly fish.

We grabbed a taxi to go back to the hotel, picked up our luggage and walked to the nearby BC Liquor Store to pick up some wine to take on board. We then met up with our other 4 people of our group and it was an easy couple blocks walk to the ship. By now it was 1:30 and there were absolutely NO lines anywhere, we went breezing thru immigration onto the ship, easy easy.

We had 6 cabins on Baja Deck, 5 balconies in a row and one inside cabin. B602,604,606,608,610 and inside 612 We asked the steward to open the doors between them so could walk from one end to the other which was awesome. We were on the port side.

We explored the ship and headed out aft for Sailaway, there is a great pool and deck area there.

The pools are heated. One pool is also in a covered area.

Said goodbye to Vancouver

Muster was on Deck 7 and our group was in a spot with no chairs, standing room only, and was WAY too long. In fact you could not hear everything being said. I saw other groups having enjoying their muster sitting in lounges. Our gals made the most of it.

Our Baja deck overlooks the Caribe deck below, which is partially uncovered.

We had late traditional dinner in the Almafi dining room starting at 7:45 pm. We prefer the late seating so we are not rushed from excursions. We had plenty of opportunities to see shows. With our 12 people they had two tables of six each next to each other. The food was excellent, wait staff was great and fun. I enjoyed chocolate for dessert almost every night

Sunday - Sea Day

It was a relaxing day, we enjoyed the ship. Grandson found some other boys his age and they swam a lot, pools were heated. There were two ping pong tables and there was a tournament so some of us played in that. There was a "bean bag" tournament. Some played bingo. Almost every day there was a craft project class, us gals went to the first one and made bracelets which was fun to do.

The Princess@Sea intranet app works really good, there could be some improvements like push notifications, but we used it all the time for messaging each other (including group messages) as well as looking up events on the ship and where they were at.

Sunday night was the first formal night.

I iron hubby's shirts in the laundry room, there is one on each deck I think. Later in the week I was able to do some washing which helped us keep our packing to a minimum. There were 2 washers and 2 dryers, each one took one token which cost $3 each but is easily purchased using your cruise card right there in the laundry room.

Nice photos!

Monday - Ketchikan

This day was chilly (51 degrees high) and rainy. But it was ok because our excursion was riding ATV in the rainforest. Lots of fun. Shuttle came to pick us up at the visitors center in town, not too far of a walk from the ship. Once there they have us heavy duty rain jackets with hoods and rain pants/bibs because the object was to get as muddy as possible. So it did not matter that it was raining.

There were two people to an ATV and we had two guides. We went up and down the trails up in the rainforest. Stopped a couple times for photo op including a very cool waterfall. Only downside should have had waterproofed gloves as well as it was WET. Much fun however. Then they shuttled us back to the ship.

Love the pictures.

Tuesday - Juneau

This day was nice and sunny and comfortable. We docked on the port side. We walked around in town in the morning for awhile before our planned whale watching tour

On the way back to the ship, I apologize the photo is not clear, but there was a bald eagle sitting on a post.

Juneau Continued

We had booked a Whale Watching tour with Harv & Marv, we had 12 people so had a private boat. They picked us up right at the ship and gave us a nice narration as we drove to the boat dock area. On the way they stopped at Brotherhood Bridge where you had a nice view of Mendenhall Glacier

On the boat, there were the 12 of us, a captain and a naturalist. We saw whales immediately not even out of the bay area yet. Saw lots of whales the entire time, much fun. The naturalist did a great job of explaining a lot about the whales and otters and other things we saw. Although we didn't really need it that day, the cabin was covered and heated and plenty big for us with tables. You could also watch from outside.

I didnt take any whale photos because I just wanted to thoroughly enjoy looking at everything.

They shuttled us back to the ship. I had thought about taking a taxi to Mendenhall but was tired by then so we just enjoyed the ship the rest of the day

It was my birthday so Princess decorated the cabin door like they always do At dinner I got a special little cake to share and the wait staff sang to me LOL.

Weds - Skagway

The day started out cloudy and 50s but warmed up as day progressed. Our group split up and did different things at this port. Several went ziplining and had a blast. Two rented a car and drove to Emerald lake and stopped by to see the sled puppies. One of my adult sons and I did a Hike & Float which was a 2 mile moderate beautiful hike thru a forest then a fun easy raft ride down the river.

The shuttle picked us up and took us to the hike site. We had a great guide Brian who told us everything about what we were seeing in the forest. It was really beautiful and I enjoyed getting some exercise. There were 8 people in the group in addition to the guide, he was careful to talk to everyone, get questions answered, and make sure everyone kept up

Skagway , cont

Later back on the ship, they brought some husky puppies on board in the Piazza. They are so cute.

You could get in line to take turns to hold the puppy and get your photo taken. Some people also petting them in the little fenced area they were in.

Late afternoon we got come cheese and fruit and crackers from the buffet and enjoyed that with our wine on the balcony.

Loving this! We have a cruise planned on Star in late summer and are planning on doing the ATV's in Ketchikan and a private boat in Juneau! So glad to hear that you enjoyed them:)

Thursday - Sea Day Cruising Glacier Bay

This was one of my favorite days! The photos (at least my photos) simply do not capture the beauty of the glaciers, especially the awesome blue of the ice. It is simply remarkable. The ship cruised all around and spent time moving the boat around so all sides had plenty of time to see everything. We spent a lot of time on our balcony but we also went to many other open areas of the ship to view as well. Good viewing from lots of places.

There was a lot of chunks of ice floating around. We also saw otters and sea lions. We hard the "calving" of the glacier as chunks fell off into the water. Also, a local naturalist comes on board for most of the day and talks about what we are seeing over the intercom.

A seagull flew over to the ship and landed on the balcony edge below us!

We spent most of the day in Glacier Bay. Thursday night was the 2nd formal night. Lobster and Beef Wellington were some of the choices. After dinner there was dancing on the Piazza and a balloon drop which was fun.

One thing I really loved about Alaska in June is all the sunlight. The sun does not set until around midnight and comes back up around 4 am. It never really gets totally dark out

this was taken after midnight I think

and here is the sunrise just a few hours later

Friday - Sea Day - College Fjord

Another awesome day of seeing more glaciers. We got to College Fjord in the afternoon and were there for about 3 hours. Before we got there, our ship had a medical emergency. We were not close enough to a port and the Star does not have a heliport so a Coast Guard helicopter came to retrieve the sick passenger. First it hovered and dropped a medic or someone down to the Ship It took awhile for that person to do what they had to do to prep the patient. About half an hour later the patient and medic was lifted up onto the helicopter and they headed for a hospital. We all really hoped and prayed the ill passenger recovered quickly. It would be very scary.

Because of the helicopter, they had closed off many open areas of the ship until the rescue was completed. They also drained the main pool so the water would not fly out. They later took advantage of the empty pool to clean and paint

Finally in College Fjord we enjoyed glaciers again. It is truly amazing.

Saturday June 3- Departing the Ship and starting our Self-Land Tour

Getting off the ship in Whittier was easy. We had left our bigger bags outside our door before dinner the night before and they were taken off the ship for us. We just had roller bags and a couple backpacks. We had requested early to get off since we had an independent (not Princess) shuttle to Anchorage. We grabbed breakfast at Horizon (no room service that morning( and just talked off the ship, did not bother going to a lounge to wait No lines, it was raining but there was a covered walkway to the terminal building. It took minutes. We waited there until our shuttle for Anchorage.

The shuttle we had was a coach bus and made no stops but the driver did an awesome job narrating all the way there. We went thru the tunnel. Later a moose crossed the highway right in front of us!

We were dropped off at the airport. Very easy. We picked up 3 rental cars (there were 12 of us) and started heading back down Seward Highway to spend a couple days in the Seward area. First we stopped at Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, which was great. Lots of fun animals to see, bears, reindeer, bison, lots of things. Spent a couple hours there.

We drove down to Seward and checked into the Harbor360 hotel around 4 pm. Decent hotel and right on the water. We had dinner at Rays and walked around awhile. There was an otter just hanging around in the bay by the hotel.

Thanks for sharing

Sunday - Seward

We had reserved the 7.5 hour boat cruise with Major Marine for all 12 of us. It was outstanding. We got soooo close to the glacier and saw wildlife and whales as well. We boarded the boat right outside our hotel.

We had assigned seating with tables which was nice for keeping our stuff while we were up walking around and outside. It also worked for the buffet dinner which was very good. They had free coffee, tea and tap water but you could also purchase sodas or alcoholic drinks.

There were two levels but we were seated on the lower level

We saw many whales and some otters and sea lions, but the most impressive were the glaciers

Seward and Major Marine Cruise, cont

The boat was able to plow through all the ice and get much much closer to the glaciers than the cruise ship did. It was so beautiful. We heard the calving of the glaciers.

at one point another cruise boat needed supplies so they came near us and our boat workers thru a bag over to the other ship which they caught.

Major Marine Tour, cont

They brought chunks of glacier ice up on to the deck that you could pick up and even taste. They brought a HUGE chunk up and chopped it up for margaritas.

That evening we had dinner at Apollo's. It was good and LOTS of food!

Monday - Seward

Harbor360 had free breakfast. Then we all went to Alaska SeaLife Center which was interesting. Lots of things to see

The kids did an extra tour called an encounter where they were able to get up front and close to some otters. Fun for them

We had lunch in Seward then started to head back to Anchorage, we all had flights out late that night. Along the way we first stopped at Exit Glacier. There is a trail to walk to the glacier, easy 1 mile hike, had signs along the way to show the timing of the retreat of the glacier.

We later stopped at Potters Marsh and walked around awhile. Drove to Anchorage, had dinner at Humpy's (very good), then returned our rental cars (Avis) at the airport. Went to our gates and had red eye flights back home.

this was an AWESOME trip! So glad we went!!

Awesome trip report ! You certainly had some great experiences and made wonderful family memories.

Thanks for taking the time to include so many details and photos. This will be very helpful for those folks in the planning stages.

(Please add it to the 2017 Trip Report list)

good idea, thanks, I did it

Enjoyed your review a lot!!