Alaska Island Princess Northbound May 27th review.

Back from our Northbound Island Princess Alaska cruise that set sail on May 27

I'm still making my way through our pictures and videos and will update once I've done so but wanted to give a little update on our trip, for both the cruise part and our DIY trip from Whittier to Denali.

We arrived in Vancouver, BC from the east coast of Canada on the Sunday. Our ship was casting off on the Monday. There was no way I would chance a same day in flight for this first big trip planned!!! :D The flights were uneventful and the worse part was having to be at the airport at 5am. I had booked a room with the Best Western who had a cruise transfer package where you would take a cab there, then they would return that fair to you, and the next morning shuttle you to the pier, and it included a hearty breakfast for two. We arrived in Vancouver a little after Noon and then headed to the hotel right away and didn't have to wait long before being able to head up to our room.

Once there, we had already done a search for the nearest pharmacy so we headed there to pick up some stuff we hadn't packed such as shaving cream, hairspray etc. We stopped at Subway for lunch and then went back to our room. I had been sick early in the week and neither hubby nor I were feeling very spry by that point since we had barely slept the night before, so we headed back to the hotel, went up on the roof for some picture-taking and then basically crashed for the rest of the night.

The next morning we reserved our shuttle, went down for breakfast then checked out and hung out in the lobby until the shuttle arrived. Met up with another couple, Jim and Ronnie, who stayed at the same hotel (shuttle was shared between hotels) and who were on the same cruise as us! So we chatted up and soon had some familiar faces on the trip.

I do have to admit that I got quite excited when we got out of the shuttle and saw the sign for the Island Princess. This was our first big trip where I had done all the planning and reservations and it was almost surreal that it was finally here!

The one thing I hadn't known about, and I'm not sure why it caught me off guard, was having to go through security and customs. It wasn't horrible, but hubby had brought some film and multiple cameras in his camera bag and he didn't want it to go through the x-ray machine (it can damage the film) but he managed to convince one of the security people to review it by hand. She wasn't happy about it, but she did it. Another person opened up his camera bag and went through all his lenses and cameras, pretty much with a fine-tooth comb. They were more thorough then the airport security!

Regardless, we made it through, got our room cards and then sat down to wait our turn to get on the ship. Lo and behold, Jim and Ronnie (who we had lost in the lines) were sitting pretty much across from us!

We boarded the ship after no more then a 1/2 hour wait, if it was even that long. For the amount of people they had to move (although it wasn't a full ship) they were pretty efficient.

We had a port balcony on the Baja deck, almost the last room on the aft of the boat. I didn't chose the last room because the balcony was uncovered while ours was covered. Since our trip had very few sunny and nice days, the covered balcony sure did come in handy! I don't think I could have picked a better room for us. It was away from any main areas, not below or above any high-traffic areas so it was quiet, and I actually enjoyed having to walk quite a distance to get anywhere. Settled all the great food, and worked some of it off!

After dropping off our carry-on bags in our room and with the little fold-up ship map we were given, we were off to explore the ship.

Oh my. What a lovely vessel! We were enchanted and thrilled with the decor. We'd never been on a cruise ship before. We'd been on some ferries but certainly nothing close to this.

We did a tour of the spa area. Well, I did the tour while Rob simply followed along without paying too much attention. He chatted up another man who was pretty much in the same boat; following his wife. We met up with them later and I was introduced to Stan and Linda.

While exploring, we caught our first glimpse of wildlife! A couple of sparrows were flying around the covered pool area.

I'm not certain why, but we didn't make it to the top deck on our first exploration foray. Close to the time we were to depart, we headed back to our room to give a last call to family since my cell plan is only a within-Canada plan and we would have to resort to Wi-Fi hotspots from then on out to provide updates (Rob's mom was a bit nervous for us since she'd watch a bunch of documentaries about people gone missing on cruises. Lol!). We got word that our cast-off would be delayed about 1/2 hour as they were waiting for some last-minute passengers (exactly the reason why we flew in the day before the cruise!).

Our main suitcase with our dress clothes had finally been delivered to our room so we decided to open that up and hang the dress clothes up to minimize wrinkles. We were in the midst of doing that when Rob commented "Are we moving?". We peeked around the corner to see the balcony and low and behold, we had casted off and were moving away from the dock! We grabbed our jackets and cameras and rushed out where we finally made out way to the open part of deck 15.

While on the open deck, we found The Grill, and since both of us hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning, we ordered burgers and fries. Best. Fries. Ever! The Grill became a favorite for us during the cruise. Rob still talks about them. :rolleyes:

That night, we decided to check out our dining room. We had anytime dining in the Bordeaux dining room so we got dressed in our business casuals and headed out. Since we'd eaten so late at The Grill, we weren't really that hungry but we both ordered from the menu. Rob ordered what looked like a very thinly cut piece of steak, and I ordered the salmon. Both were very good and the service was excellent. I can't get over how friendly all the staff were. And happy! They'd greet you in the mornings, no matter how early, with a genuine smile and cheerful “Good Morning!” as they went about their day.

Soon it was goodbye Vancouver and hello open ocean. First stop, Ketchikan!

Island Princess continued. . .

More pics of the ship. . .

Day at sea:

We left a drizzly Vancouver and woke up the next morning to some sun peeking around the clouds. I think we woke up around 5:00am and couldn't get over how light it already was. We stepped out on our balcony to check out the views as the mountains passed us by. There were more on the starboard side, but sailing the inside passage also gave those of us on the port side some mountain views too. While looking ahead towards the front of the boat we saw a whale and watched it a few minutes before it dove down out of sight.

I turned on the TV and The Love Boat show came on. I got Rob to video take the opening credits where it showed the Princess ship used and we had a bit of a giggle over it.

For breakfast, we had gotten room service, but had woken up so early that it was a while before it was delivered. Looking at the Patter, there was an event I wished to attend right around the time breakfast would be delivered. It arrived a bit early and we had only gotten cereal so I gulped that down and headed out to the event I wished to attain while Rob stayed in the room to finish his breakfast.

Unfortunately the nice weather didn't last and the boat encountered either some rougher seas, or winds (or both) because it began rocking. Nothing major but the water in the pools were splashing over the sides a bit. I was concerned I'd be motion sickness, but it wasn't that bad, or at least not for me. I did see a lot of people wearing those anti-nausea patches behind their ears but neither myself nor Rob were bothered, for which I was thankful. I had had my bout with nausea early in the week and didn't care to repeat it!

I believed we at at The Grill again for lunch, and later, got ready for the first formal night of the cruise (there were 2 in this itinerary). Rob had rented a tux through a company used by the cruises and it was waiting for us in our room so we got all dolled up and headed out. We didn't see the champagne pyramid get poured, but saw the people getting their pictures taken pouring champagne on the pyramid. We also met up with the two couples we had befriended and introduced them to each other and we chatted a bit. Our cruise director, Richard Joseph came on the mic and introduced the staff, including the captain. Once that was done, we said goodbye to our friends and headed off to the dining room for supper.

There wasn't any room left in our dining room so they sent us down to the one used by the assigned dining group in the Providence dining room. So we got to see both dining rooms!

We had again eaten a late lunch so weren't really hungry so Rob just had a cup of tea with a dessert while I had shrimp. I had been told by Ronnie to try the banana dessert so I did. Oh my, was it ever good! Thanks for the tip Ronnie!

Ketchikan:

The next morning we again got up really early (a pretty common theme during this trip) and looked out of our balcony to the town of Ketchikan. I took a couple of pictures with my cell phone in the hopes of finding a Wi-Fi hot spot to update the families.

That day we decided to try the Horizon Court. We found a bountiful array of food choices. Funny thing with me and buffets, I actually tend to eat less at them. I'll put a few things on my plate to try, then I'm good.

We returned to our rooms, picked up our cameras and jackets and we were off! In the lineup at customs, we were given a book of coupons for multiple shops in each port of call. While leafing through it, I saw coupons for charms for a charm bracelet. I'm not much into charms or bracelets, but figured it would be a very cute souvenir of our time in Alaska. There were 5 charms (with a bead included) available; 4 in Ketchikan (forget-me-not flower, a totem pole, a cruise ship and a moose) and the last one in Skagway. My goal that morning was to get all 4 of the ones found in Ketchikan. It felt like I was on a treasure hunt and I had to get them and get them now! Poor Rob wanted to take it a bit slower and see the sights but I was on a mission and we see everything AFTER I had gotten all 4 of my charms. Ha, ha!

Once I had my charms, I calmed down and then left it to Rob to decide on where he'd like to go. He didn't really have a particular place in mind so we meandered around the town, going as fast or as slow as we wished and didn't have a particular goal or place in mind. We did make it to creek street and walked through there, then further out past the shops, walking almost out of town then turning around and heading back. We had seen a candy shop in my quest for charms and Rob's a bit sucker for chocolate. That, and it was a bit cold and was drizzly and we had seen they also sold coffee and tea. We found a Wi-Fi hotspot and so I was able to send an update to the family letting them know we both made it safely to Ketchikan.

In the Candy Shop, Rob found some chocolate covered espresso beans so he was a very happy camper. We chatted up with a fellow from one of the other cruise ships docked and he and Rob talked shop while my eyes started to glaze over. I finally managed to disentangle Rob from his new friend (with the help of the other man's wife), we got our chocolates and hot drink and sat down for a while. There was 1 more shop I wanted to visit that was mentioned in our coupon book; the Tongass Trading Co for a really nice fleece lined jacket they had on (which included a free hat) so on our way back, we stopped in there. I love this jacket!

I believe it was close to 1:00pm by that point, and we were casting off about an hour or so after that. Since we're not big shoppers, once we'd seen the sights we decided to head back to the boat to get dried off and eat lunch. Since I had missed Zumba@sea the previous morning due to a conflict of interest, I made a point to go then and had a fabulous time. If all the walking we did that morning, and Zumba wasn't enough, I decided to hit the pool to swim a few laps (if it wasn't busy). As luck would have it, it was virtually empty when I got in so I had a chance to do a few laps and had my fill before others joined and it got too crowded. By then I was done so out I went. Of course, when we cast off the weather turned and it was beautifully sunny so I sunned myself a bit on a patio chair before heading to my room to hit the shower.

That night, we dressed up business casual and made out way to our dining room. We looked at the menu outside the door and couldn't pronounce a thing on it. Again we weren't super hungry so we decided to see what they had at the Horizon Court. We ended up eating there every night.

Had I known this pre-trip, we would have packed a lot less dress clothes! It would have made packing waaaaay easier. Oh well, live and learn. At least I know this for the next time!

Ketchikan cont. . .

Ketchikan continued. . . along with a picture of my charm bracelet!:D

Juneau:

This was my much-anticipated port of call! Alaska's Ultimate Zipline & Canopy Expedition here we come!

We arrived again on a cloudy, drizzly day and we were up before we even docked so got to see a bit of the trip into port. We even docked on the port side, so we could see how they got the ship to the dock. Since our zipline expedition was only later in the morning, after breakfast we headed out to see the sights. I wanted to do the tramway up to Mount Robert's but it was pretty cloud-covered so we decided to wait a bit to see if it would clear up. We walked around a bit, then decided what the heck, might as well go up the mountain. I had the Alaska TourSaver book and remembered seeing a BOGO coupon for the tramway so I fished that out and got our tickets. Up we went!

Yes it was overcast up there, and most of the trails were closed due to snow, but it did break up enough now and again to see the sights down below and we were able to make it to the lookouts on one of the only trails open so it was worth it to me. When we got back down, it was nice and sunny. We headed back to the boat to eat and get changed (me), drop off my bulky digital SLR camera and grab my smaller point-and-shoot for the zipline expedition. On the way back to the boat, as we were walking along the boardwalk, I spotted a Bald Eagle flying over our boat, just above the trees (there's a nest there not far) and then I saw it lower its legs and it was coming lower. I pointed it at Rob and we stopped to look at it flying overhead as it kept getting lower. Since we have plenty of such eagles here where we live, we knew it was on the hunt for something so we watched as it came down and plucked a fish right out of the water behind our cruise ship. Unfortunately, no pictures of the eagle as the camera was tucked away in the camera backpack.

Juneau continued:

Zipline with Alaska Canopy Adventure!

We were met in front of the tramway station by a zipline rep and I handed my reservations as well as the only other coupon in the Alaska TourSaver book I used for a BOGO zipline. So now the book is useless to me with only 2 coupons used. Ha, ha. Oh well, it paid for itself in what I saved for what I used it for so it's all good.

Once everyone had arrived we headed to a small boat to cross the Gastineau channel to the other side where we were picked up in a Mercedes Unimog and driven to the main lodge where we watched a little video, got assigned into two groups with two guides per group and got all harnessed up. Back in the Unimog we went and we driven up a little ways then we walked up a steep incline to the first trial platform. It wasn't very high or a very long line, but it was just to get you used to the gear and to brake. The next line was a bit longer and a bit higher and was again a little trial run. After that, if you had any misgivings, it would be very difficult to get you down so speak now or forever hold your peace!

What. A. Rush! Loved it! I'm not big into heights but do enjoy the occasional thrill. After the first couple, it was odd but I was getting more nervous to continue. I think it was the whole part of looking down and then stepping off the platform yourself that got to me. If I'd be hooked up and then released I think it would have been better for me because I wasn't making the choice. It did get better and easier as we continued on so I obviously worked through whatever misgivings I had. Yay! It would have sucked had it been ruined for me since this was my excursion that I had been waiting so long for! Being up so high in the Sitka spruce trees on little platforms, the trees would sway as people were ziplining on and off, and in the wind. That was unexpected, though again, I don't know why it didn't clue in? I had watched videos so knew how it all worked. I guess the only time I've been up on platforms that high were when they were man-made and anchored to the ground so they didn't move. When on a particularly swaying tree, I stayed close to the trunk. Ha, ha!

The suspended bridges were something of an interesting walk. I'm not certain if it was anything lingering from my illness at the beginning of the previous week, or the fact that I was tired, but has it ever happened to you when you've done something repetitive for hours and when you stop, you still feel it? I sometimes felt like I was rocking on a boat even when on solid ground and would almost get a episode of vertigo. Kind of annoying but nothing major.

Well the vertigo came back big time on the suspended bridges. The two guides broke our group of 6 into two; myself, Rob and another couple with the 1 guide, then the last couple with the other guide. I was the last of our group to step on the bridge and the guide started swinging it side to side like a swing. I'm not sure if it was the fact that I was the last one that it felt really strong to me, but I had a really hard time walking the bridge. I knew I wouldn't fall, I was secured 6 ways 'till Sunday on the bridge. The bridge itself was very secure and there was no way to fall of but I just couldn't get my bearings and walk very well on the bridge while it was swinging. I wasn't scared or nervous, I just couldn't find my footing. Rob looked back and noticed I was quite a bit behind the rest of them and was having a hard time. He kind of felt bad he hadn't noticed before. On the next bridge, I ended up being first, right behind the guide and the second time went better.

We continued on to the longest and fastest zipline of the tour, where you can get up to 35mph in speed if you curl up in the cannonball position. I had tears coming from my eyes, you go so fast! The last one, they have a photographer up on a cherry-picker to take your picture as you go past a clear section of the line and then you can buy a picture of yourself if you'd like.

The last line still brought you to a platform up in the trees and to get down, you rappel down the platform. You then walk up to the original cabin you got geared up in and you're done! The one reason why I chose this particular group is that they give you a medallion at the end as a souvenir. Along with the medallion, I bought a hoodie sweater that has “I survived the Zipline!” on the back.

Once we got back on the speed boat and were returned to the dock, we grabbed a quick lunch on the boat and headed out again to get to Mendenhall glacier.

Juneau zipline continued. . .

Juneau

Mendenhall Glacier:

We only had about an hour and a half before the last shuttle out of Mendenhall arrived so we trucked out to the glacier to make the most of it. We didn't walk all the way to the falls like some others who were closer, but we were close enough and stayed there as long as we could before heading back to our pick-up spot.

We got dropped off by the tram station and walked around the city since we hadn't done that previously. Found another Wi-Fi hotspot and sent an update to the fams.

I think Juneau was the port we stayed out the longest and walked the most. It was long but satisfying day as we sailed away from Juneau and headed towards Skagway.

We had Dr. Thomas Ryan on board and he did a couple of talks in the Princess Theater about the glaciers and gold rush and others, and when we sailed out of Juneau, he came on the mike and spoke about the whales and marine life in the area and to be on the lookout for whales. We saw some sea otters and sea lions, porpoises but no whales until late that evening as we were sitting in the Horizon Court having our evening coffee and saw the blow of a whale and tail as it dove.

Skagway:

The weather in Skagway was by far the worse. Where the other days cleared up as it progressed, here it actually got worse and began to rain and be very windy and cold. This town had Rob's excursion; the White Pass and Yukon Route on the vintage steam train. This one was only for 4 hours and only up to Fraser Valley but how often can you say you've been on a steam train? So we booked that tour and it was only at noon so we walked the town a bit. My first stop was to get the last charm for my bracelet. What was this charm? You guessed it, a train! My quest for my charm bracelet was now complete.

After that, I was game for anything. Took a few pictures of the town but couldn't find a Wi-Fi hotspot to send an update to the family. Oh well. Again, since we're not big shoppers and all the stores carry very similar things, we were quickly done with our town tour with still some time before our train ride. Rob decided we should see if they have a Geo cashing. He pulled up his GPS on his iPod and low and behold there was. So we went out hunting and found it.

Seeing the steam engine warming up was quite the sight and we were excited for our trip. I was a bit concerned due to the cloud-cover being so low and there were some places on the excursion where you could just make out what the guide was saying was on the side of the road. Still though, it was quite the experience and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I just thought it was great to hear the “chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga whoo-whoo” of the steam engine as it chugged along and blew its horn.

It simply boggles the mind to think of the engineering that went into building that railway. Very hardy and persevering people!

Near the end of the tour they were offering a DVD for $15 and for an extra $5, you could get a hat. Rob said that was a pretty good price for a DVD so we bought both the DVD and the hat. Rob's looked at the DVD and said it was really good.

When we got off the train (should have taken them up on the offer of dropping us off right at the dock by the ship) but we were still wanting to find a Wi-Fi hotspot (which we never did) so we stood in the cold, wind and rain until we gave up the search and headed back to the boat. Thank goodness for the jacket I had bought in Ketchikan, it certainly helped keep me warm, despite me wearing layers!

Of course, we decided to head back just as everyone else did, on all the cruise ships at the dock so it was a bit congested. That was pretty much the most people I had seen so far on the entire cruise and ports.

Once on board we got changed, ate and took warm showers as we cast off and headed to Glacier Bay.

Skagway cont.

And picture spoiler alert for geocashers!

Skagway train continued. . .

Skagway continued. . . and a pic of my finished charm bracelet!

Will post the glacier viewings and our land trip in Anchorage/Denali tomorrow.

Thank you for the neat review and pictures! I have been looking at the webcams for the various AK cruises and cloudy, cloudy and rain or dreary for the most part. Very few sunny days recently. As to be expected in AK though. I cruised there in 1999 and had wonderful sunny days for the whole week. I hadn't realized how odd it was to have such perfect weather until the Captain told us during a daily update how lucky we were and that sun is usually only 10% of the time!

Thank you taking the time to pull this all together. Very nice.

Keith

Thanks for taking us along. Great review

Thank you for the neat review and pictures! I have been looking at the webcams for the various AK cruises and cloudy, cloudy and rain or dreary for the most part. Very few sunny days recently. As to be expected in AK though. I cruised there in 1999 and had wonderful sunny days for the whole week. I hadn't realized how odd it was to have such perfect weather until the Captain told us during a daily update how lucky we were and that sun is usually only 10% of the time!

Thankfully, I had been forewarned by reading on this thread but really, the weather in Alaska is very similar to our weather here on the East coast of Canada. While we were gone, the same type of weather was going on here at home. Just a bit warmer though. However, I'm glad I bought the fleece lined jacket in Ketchikan.

Thanks Keith1010 and RM!

I think you'll like our little excitement that happened while heading to College Fjord. I'll post that one tonight.

Thankfully, I had been forewarned by reading on this thread but really, the weather in Alaska is very similar to our weather here on the East coast of Canada. While we were gone, the same type of weather was going on here at home. Just a bit warmer though. However, I'm glad I bought the fleece lined jacket in Ketchikan.

We've done the Canada/NE 3 times and visited Halifax and St John. The very first time we cruised to Halifax along with TS Nicole in 2004. A rough ride and rainy both there and St John the next two times really nice weather in Canada. Glad you had a nice cruise!

great review so far

thanks for taking the time to do such an extensive review

Glacier Bay:

I had meant to get up early enough to see us sailing into Glacier Bay for the chance to see Humpback whales but the cold of Skagway and the early mornings were catching up with us so we missed it, but still got up fairly early and had breakfast and waited until we got to the glacier. We were out on our balcony for a bit, then Rob wanted a better view so we headed out to the the open deck. Not in the front but on the side. It wasn't the Promenade deck but I can't remember which one it was. It didn't have any of those blue glass, or glass at all. In any case, we huddled in the doorway to cut the wind as we watched the little icebergs float by and the sea otters stare at us from their backs as they floated along without a care in the world.

And there she was, Margerie Glacier. I didn't realize that the Grand Pacific Glacier was there as well as I couldn't really see it from our angle.

The ranger spoke for a bit, but as we got as close as we would that day, she said now it was time to listen to the glacier and all went quiet. We could hear the rumble of thunder, which was the sound of calving but it was few and far between. The entire time we were on the port side, we heard a lot of rumbling but no calving. Then the ship began to swing to the starboard side. We headed to the back of the boat when that happened and again, heard some rumblings but nothing really happening. Then, bit by bit, we would see little splashes of water indicating small pieces of ice were breaking off. For some of the small pieces, it sure did make a lot of noise!

Then it happened. The first chunk of ice broke off and landed in the water. It wasn't very bit, but enough to give you a sense of awe in seeing this occurrence. Then more pieces began to fall. It got to the point that you could start predicting where a calving would occur if smaller pieces would fall all in the same spot. If you kept looking there, you'd catch the calving from start to finish and wouldn't miss it. I have a series of pictures showing this, but Rob's got it on video (which is better, ha, ha!). Still though, it was great to see it happening and I was glad it did while we were there.

Once we sailed away far enough from the glacier that we couldn't see any further calving, we headed up to the Horizon Court to get a warm drink and food.

If I had one complaint, it would be that the display of the rangers be kept in the court a little longer after the glacier viewing. We didn't get a chance to speak to them or see their display by the time we got to the Court.

After we ate, we headed back to our room to check out the view from our deck and listen to the ranger talk on the TV. He was doing a presentation in the Theater that was also live broadcast in the rooms. This ranger was excellent. I can't remember his name but he was great.

I had been cold outside, despite my layers so was exhausted and actually fell asleep on the bed after the ranger talk. Rob doesn't nap, no matter how tired he is, and I'm not even certain he was very tired, so he went out to take some pictures and such.

He came back a little while later and asked if I wanted to see some whales. I suited up and we went out and saw some whales. I managed to get a video of them on my digital camera and caught both tails coming up as they dove down.

Glacier Bay continued . . .