Just Back - 10-day Grand Princess to Alaska June 29 to July 9, 2013

We had a grand time on the Grand Princess cruising from San Fracisco to Alaska. Following are a few notes:

BOARDING - We had guests for the BVE, so our boarading time was about 11AM. We arrived at the terminal by shuttle van about 10:45 and boarded with no problems. It was nice to have a practically empty ship to tour with our guests. Lunch was very nice. Wine was poured for guests only.

THE SHIP - We are used to the other grand class ships, so the closet space in our Caribe Deck balcony cabin being quite a bit smaller was a surprise. Didn't make a whole lot of difference on this cruise, but on a longer cruise I would definitely miss the extra space. The smaller closet gave more floor space in the bathroom which IMO was not needed. There were no mats on the balcony, but I understand they are planned for the future.

We missed Skywalkers, but Princess did do a good job with the 05 Lounge area on Deck 15. The outside areas here are lovely. Outside portside here is the smoking area. I heard that ours was the first cruise with the designated outside smoking area here only. No more smoking aft on Deck 14 or midship on Deck 14 that we had on the Star Princess in April.

We had only two dinners in the main dining room. We enjoyed the HC for dinner on every other night. Food was very good to excellent with many selections. I am not a fan of seafood generally, but they do an excellent job with many different seafood choices. If you are into trying new foods, this is the place! Many dishes I had never even heard of!

We had lunch for the first time in Alfredo's, and the pizza was excellent.

Service on the ship was very good with the usual friendly crew we love on Princess ships.

PORTS: We have visited all of the ports before, so we chose things we hadn't done before.

KETCHIKAN - We took the Princess Duck Tour - a land and water excursion. It was fun and showed us the area from land and sea, but I wouldn't do it again as we'd rather see more of the countryside. This is one of our favorite ports. There was time for more exploring and shopping when we returned.

ICY STRAIT POINT (HOONAH) - We did the Princess bear search tour. We saw plenty of evidence that there were bears in the area, but we didn't see any! However, the drive through the backroads was very scenic and the boardwalk provided through the bear viewing area was a nice hike. When we returned to the pier, we walked down to where the zip line ends to watch for our granddaughter and her dad to come down the mountain. Because of fog in and out of the area, it was quite a wait, so we didn't stay to see them actually land. They loved the ride.

JUNEAU - In the morning, we did the Princess excursion to the dog sled summer camp. That was a lot of fun. We rode in a nice little cart, similar to a golf cart, around on dirt paths. The dogs were really fun, and the puppies we got to play with were just a month old and adorable. In the afternoon we did the Princess Mendenhal Glacier combination whale watch tour and ended up at the Orca Resort for a grilled salmon dinner. We saw lots of whales on the way to the resort, and had a good meal there.

TRACY ARM FJORD - This was just a cruising tour to Sawyer Glacier. We got pretty close to the glacier and enjoyed the fantastic scenery everywhere you looked. This is another favorite place of ours, and if there is a next time, I really want to take the small boat tour of this area.

VICTORIA - Our time was short here. We took the Princess Orca excursion and saw lots of Orcas though from quite a distance. We were on big comfortable catamarans for both this excursion and the one in Juneau, so there was plenty of room to move around. It was a very relaxing few hours.

THE WEATHER - Though there were times when we saw white caps and huge swells while sailing along, the ship was smooth as could be all the way. Never felt like I had to hold on to anything while walking around. It was quite cool (cold to me!) and I was happy to have my long johns, ear muffs, and boots especially in Tracy Arm. The ship was quite cool as well. Layers of clothing is the key to comfort! And don't forget rain gear. We had very little rain - mostly sprinkles - but be prepared for all kinds of weather. There were a few hours when the sun shined directly on our balcony and shorts would have been nice then!

Hope those of you who are waiting for your cruise to begin have a wonderful time in beautiful Alaska.

Thanks for your review, I've got a friend on the Grand now as he got on the day you got off

I didn't realise that Princess had a stop at Icy Strait but it looks like it replaced Skagway on your cruise. How close did you get in Tracy Arm? I've never been closer than the channel Y split at the island. I always take the all day Adventure Bound excursion from Juneau and the glacier can be spectacular up close.

Thanks for your review, I've got a friend on the Grand now as he got on the day you got off

I didn't realise that Princess had a stop at Icy Strait but it looks like it replaced Skagway on your cruise. How close did you get in Tracy Arm? I've never been closer than the channel Y split at the island. I always take the all day Adventure Bound excursion from Juneau and the glacier can be spectacular up close.

Right. We didn't get close enough to see any calving like you do in Glacier Bay, but the scenery through Tracy Arm is so spectacular that it was O.K. for us, but I hope to someday take that small boat tour. It wasn't offered by Princess on this cruise, and because we were in Juneau on the 4th of July I was afraid of missing the Adventure Bound starting time. The Grand had a couple of different itineraries this year. One I believe went to Haines as well. We chose our particular itinerary because it went to Icy Strait and Tracy Arm.

Who were some of the entertainers on your cruise and who is the cruise director? Thanks for any of the information you may provide. We will be on board in a couple of months.

Thanks for your review. Sounds like a great cruise.....:):):)

Bob

Enjoyed your review! Sounds like you had a wonderful time. We've done several 7 day Alaskan cruise, but would love to do a 10 day out of SF. Someday!

Hi Bucky! Thanks for the nice review. We are leaving on the Grand to Alaska in three weeks and are very much looking forward to being back on Princess again after two long years away from our favorite cruise line!

Thanks for the review- we set set on her in less than 2 weeks!

Who were some of the entertainers on your cruise and who is the cruise director? Thanks for any of the information you may provide. We will be on board in a couple of months.

Our cruise director was Martyn Moss, and his staff was wonderful - very energetic and friendly group. He had so much planned for every day, there is no way anyone could be bored! We thought he did an excellent job. As far as entertainers go, there were many! The comedian that stands out was Kevin Hughs. He was on twice and did another seminar type session one day. I didn't see that one, but people said it was good. We didn't see any of the musical production shows.

Hi Bucky! Thanks for the nice review. We are leaving on the Grand to Alaska in three weeks and are very much looking forward to being back on Princess again after two long years away from our favorite cruise line!

Hi Mary, welcome back to Princess. We made the Captain's Luncheon on this cruise! I didn't get the cutoff number, but it's been a long time since we've qualified. We've been taking longer cruises, and there are always so many Elites with many more days than we have on those.

I know they vary the route a bit but was surprised at Icy Strait. I picked my date last year on the Sea Princess 10 day from SF specifically for the stop in Haines instead of Skagway. Next time I'll look for Icy Strait.

I'm on the Grand in Sept for Mexico

Were you allowed to drop off things into your room right away?

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Were you allowed to drop off things into your room right away

 

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Yes, we dropped off our things in our balcony stateroom as soon as we boarded. Our family members were in a mini, and their cabin was also ready. I was surprised and happy that we could do that even though we boarded early because we were BVE passengers. Gave us the freedom to tour the ship with our guests without lugging stuff with us!

Awesome, good to know!

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Hey Bobbie, sounds like u and the family had a great get away but I'm betting you're exhausted and happy to be home (for a few weeks anyways)! Thanks for writing the review and the 'tips', will keep them under my hat! Cheers. Gloria

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