Review: Voyage of the Glaciers SB May 20-27 Coral Princess w/4 days DIY pre-cruise!

Hi all. Decided to go ahead and start this with an intro and such! My husband Greg (66) and I (Sally 60) are from Salisbury, NC and this was our first cruise and our first trip to Alaska. It was our 30th wedding anniversary trip.

Briefly, We flew to Anchorage on May 16th and stayed the first 2 nights in the Alyeska Lodge near Girdwood. The 3rd night we stayed in the Denali Fireside Cabins in Talkeetna, and then back to Anchorage (Embassy Suites) Boarded the Coral in Whitter and sailed to Vancouver, 2 nights in the Blu Hotel. I am going to attempt to hit some of the highlights with photos! It was an awesome adventure for both of us!

Day 1

We arrived at the Anchorage airport at around 8:40pm. Having a 4 hour time change from the East coast, this was way past my bedtime! Getting through the airport and picking up our rental car went pretty smoothly. We were on our way to Girdwood within the hour. The drive down Hwy 1, Seward Hwy was gorgeous. The sun was shining brightly and by then it was almost 10pm! Afraid I may not see the sun again I made my husband stop for a photo!

We arrived at the Alyeska Hotel and headed to the Aurora Bar & Grill. Sitting next to us was a couple from Charlotte, NC. Go figure! After an awesome sandwich & free glass of wine, my mind & body said it was 4am! Off to bed. Next day 2.

Outside Hotel Alyeska. Mainly a ski resort but great rates in the off season!

Day 2

We got a pretty good nights sleep and after a nice breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to explore the Seward Highway. And you guessed it...it was raining! I really wanted to stop at the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center but decided it was not going to be too much fun in the rain. I haven't told you yet that I'm obsessed with moose! I was a little sad not to be able to have that guaranteed sighting! We are also foodies so I will review most of the restaurants. We drove all the way to Seward. Typical seaport. There were no cruise ships around, maybe a few days too early. We ate lunch at Ray's Waterfront. I will say this was the worst meal of the entire trip! The special was salmon tacos & the salmon was borderline rancid! Sent it back in exchange for cod fish & chips which was editable. We did get to see both otters & seals playing around the docks. That made up for the bad food! I'm posting mostly cell shots so don't have any pictures. It was a pretty dreary day. We stopped at Safeway for wine, gin, and some snacks, then headed back to Girdwood. FREAK OUT TIME! MOOSE!!! Slam on brakes, jump out of car, run down highway!

Totally beside myself! (I have seen moose in WY & MT but...) I had a foreign tourist ask me if it was a bear! [emoji15]

Back in Girdwood, we had the best meal of the entire trip. We had dinner at Jack Sprats. I think they are rated one of the top restaurants in all of Alaska. The fresh Halibut was amazing!

Next Day 3

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Thank you for this review! Looking forward to the rest as we are on the Star June 10. We are also spending a few nights at Alyeska and have reservations at Jack Sprat AND Ray's (which I may now cancel😁)

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looking forward to the review as we are doing this trip in September on the Coral

Thank you for this review! Looking forward to the rest as we are on the Star June 10. We are also spending a few nights at Alyeska and have reservations at Jack Sprat AND Ray's (which I may now cancel)

 

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Your will love Jack Sprat. Just note they do not serve distilled spirits. Just beer and wine. All the restaurants in Alyeska are supposed to be good. And I had no clue but it's pronounced...Aly es ka ... we were saying Aleese ka.

Nice start, beautiful photos!

Day 3

My husband loves a big breakfast so we ate at the hotel which was good! They had a buffet also but it was pretty pricey. (most restaurants in AK are) Our waiter, Alex, gave us some good tips about Talkeetna and Anchorage. So we headed North and it was raining...AGAIN. The Seward Hwy is still amazing even in bad weather. Our first stop was Potter's Marsh. A wildlife area South of Anchorage. Lot's of birds, waterfowl and of course moose! (I didn't tell my husband, I drive him nutty!)

Very pretty area and saw ducks, a few eagles, and a moose! The moose had 2 calves which I was dying to see but you don't upset "BIG MOMMA!" She was actually on the news that night with her little ones!

From Anchorage we traveled to Wasilla. Ate lunch at the Loose Moose. It is a burger place with a mixed burger of Bison, Pork, and Beef. A nice place to stop and a big step above fast food. Then on to Talkeetna. We rented a cabin at the Denali Fireside Cabins. Very cute and would have loved to have stayed longer!

The Princess buses were all coming to town for the train stop and so on. I waved to all the buses! We had a short walk to town. Light rain mixed with sun so it wasn't too bad. Welcome to Talkeetna!

Let's talk a little about temperature. As I said above, it had been pretty rainy. In the photo I have on a waterproof ski shell, a vest, a light hoodie and jeans. Also waterproof boots. This was May and Talkeetna so a little chiller than the cruise ports. It was a steady 40 degrees with drizzle and a slight breeze. None of the planes were flying, no one was climbing mountains, local shops were just opening for business.

I won't show you photos of all the shops and restaurants that I took. You've seen most of them if you've done any research on the town. But the most intriguing was the legal marijuana shop! Our waiter in Alyeska had told us about it or we would have had no clue. Being a child of the 60s.....I did have to go inside! They card you and you have to smoke it in private. I never asked the prices, just went to say "I've been there!"

We had dinner at the Wildflower Cafe. The chef was George Bush's private chef. It was good. After dinner we asked were the locals go and we were told the Fairview Inn. The bar was pretty much what you would imagine for Talkeeta! We loved it!

Everyone we talked to was very friendly. I'm sure the locals get more of an attitude as the tourist season ramps up.

Next Day 4

Enjoying your review and nice photos!

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Just a note about uploading photos. I was doing good with the cell downloads then switched to the PC and had to go with Photobucket. I'll go back to the cell. It's a little easier.

Thanks for the review. Nice to see a review where someone did the land part on their own.

Thanks for the review.

Day 4

Wake up in Talkeetna and head to the Roadhouse for breakfast! Pretty cool place. More than enough food!

On our way out of Talkeetna we stopped at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. We had actually considered staying there. Nice place with awesome views we just could not see the big one.

One of the highlights of the trip was stopping in the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla. We were the only guests there and it was such a treat. Joe Redington's(founder of the Iditarod) son takes out sled dogs rides there & his son brings the pups onboard the Princess ships. It's a small museum but I could have talked to the volunteers for hours.

Back in Anchorage we drove around a bit and had dinner at the Glacier Brewhouse. It was pretty good but I felt it was more of a tourist spot. It's in walking distance of the Captain Cook so it gets a lot of traffic. I did get an Open Table reservation. Nice place with good service. Our room & the bar at the Embassy Suite was more than accommodating.

BTW....the sun was out!

Next up Day 5 .... the cruise!

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Love the review & pictures! We leave on the Coral next Saturday can't wait!!

Loving your review!

When you are done - maybe post a link on the Alaska port of call section. They have a "stickie" for 2017 reviews :D

Great stuff so far...

Thanks for switching back from Photobucket, it's the worst photo site for looking at one photo at the time.. Takes forever to get throught their ad's before viewing the single posted photo's .. Tapatalk is great !!

Thanks again

Srpilo

Very nice; thanks for taking the time to do this review

Day 5

It's finally time for our debut! First cruise! I'm so excited! Some of you will be waking up to board the Coral this morning! Embassy Suites does have that important big breakfast! They do fix pretty good omelettes. Back in the room we attached our luggage tags. I laminated mine, punched a hole in it, and attached with a plastic zip tie. Note: zip ties are hard to remove without wire cutters, a good knife, or scissors! My cuticle clippers are history! We each had 2 pieces of luggage & a back pack. We were told by the cruise representatives that the buses leave the airport starting at noon. Meet in baggage pick up area #1. At 10 or so we headed to the airport. My husband dropped me & the 4 bags off at #1 and he went to turn the car in. A nice young man helped me get the bags to the Princess check in. They start checking bags at 8am.

I am detailing this because I asked about airport pickup myself and never got a complete answer. So hope this helps others who want to know. When you check your bags in you are given a a square color card. I got purple. The color responds to the bus time. It' first come first serve so if 30 people check in at 8am. They pretty much take up the first bus! I am looking at all the luggage & my heart is sinking, oh no it's going to be 2pm when we get out of here! The lady says, "Purple is the first bus." Yay, I felt like I was in the lead on the Amazing Race! Within the hour, there were at least 6 buses filled. I'm thinking they were leaving about a half hour apart. We loaded the bus about 11:45 & headed to Whittier! Our driver was part tour guide so it was nice hearing details about the ride that I had taken 4 days earlier. There were 2 moose not far from the airport so I knew it was going to be a great day. Did I mention that it was raining?!?! Yep!

I didn't know what to expect about "the tunnel". I kept telling my husband when we were in Girdwood, don't go near "the tunnel"! Buses have priority at the tunnel so we got through pretty quickly! Our driver got us all vey excited playing the Indiana Jones theme song and telling us as soon as we were though, we will see our ship. They only load one ship at a time in Whittier.

We were let off at a large metal building. Sifted through lines, at some point our picture was taken, we were given our cruise cards. The last stop was a table where I pulled my 2 bottles of wine out of my backpack! Yeah, I carried that precious cargo with me most of the day! Mostly all covered walkways. It's raining! We were on the Coral! It was around 1:45pm or so. We went up to check our cabin and our bags were already there!

I'm going to back track a bit...this being our anniversary & first cruise, it was all or nothing! We did splurge for the full suite. DH travels for a living and acquires thousands of travel points. Our airfare, hotels, rental car, were all purchased with points! We even got a slight discount & onboard credits for the cruise.

Our cabin was C702 on Caribe. Our cabin steward was Morris! Nice fellow & very accommodating. First thing we did was call room service to switch out our mini bar. 6 gins, 4 vodkas, and all tonic water! Second thing we did was call the dine line & got our name on the list for the chef's table. I learned to do these things form y'all here at Cruise Critic! Thank you! We are starving so we headed up to Horizon Court for a late lunch & a little exploring.

(To be continued)

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Do you remember how long it took to drive from Alyeska to Wasilla?

Your DIY is similar to one we have planned for next year. ;)

Reading another thread - hope you are feeling better!

Do you remember how long it took to drive from Alyeska to Wasilla?

 

 

 

Your DIY is similar to one we have planned for next year. ;)

 

 

 

Reading another thread - hope you are feeling better!

We left Alyeska around 11am. After stopping a couple of times, I think it was around 1:30 when we ate lunch in Wasilla. I'm going to say if you drove straight there it would not take more than 2 hours. Feeling much better. Thank you!

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Day 5 continued

Look the suns out!

The Caribe deck aft has lots of room & deck chairs. We had an aft suite so our room was just around the corner. I bet I sat out back for over an hour with my glass of wine & just watched Whittier. So beautiful, sunny, and peaceful!

The muster drill was around 7:30pm. We grabbed our life jackets and headed to the Universe Lounge on deck 6. Pretty uneventful, you just have to put your life jacket on and fasten it.

Our dinner at Sabatini's was at 8:30. First night suite perk! Dinner was awesome with impeccable service! I had the lobster 3 ways. I am in love with the Chocolate Journeys & took pics of all of them throughout the week. We also met 2 couples from our CC roll call.

Beautiful sail away from Whittier! Lots of scenery! As the sun set, we were not aware that this was the "calm before the storm"!

Next up Day 6

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Great review. Thanks for doing it!

So excited to read this! We are doing the Coral NB with DIY after, also in a suite. Can't wait for the rest!

Following

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Day 6

5am DH wakes me up! "Sally, we're rocking. Where is the Bonine?" Leaving Whittier, while I still had cell service, checking the Weather Channel, I saw several warnings for Alaska but didn't give it much thought. We went back to sleep for a few hours. Let me tell you, the sea was angry!

This photo was taken from the sofa, looking out the sliding glass door. Going outside was not an option! Gale force wind, high seas, heavy rain, and it was freezing! Welcome to Alaska!

On a good note, breakfast at Sabatini's is the bomb! Good coffee, fresh squeezed juice, and everything made to order. Loved Jorge, our waiter and the rest of the breakfast staff. There were never more than 3 tables of guests anytime we were there. So spoiled!

Next up! Zumba! Anyone that has ever done Zumba, knows how much you move, hop, twist and turn! Now, try it on a ship that is doing the same thing!!! I was able to stand up and but took a wide stance! It was comical. The cruise director, Lexi, usually teaches Zumba but her South African counterpart led the rocky sea class! Quite an experience for sure! I heard the line dancing class was a hoot too!

Lunch was our first visit to the MDR. Club class dining was in the Bordeaux dining room. I can see where others complain about club class. The tables were never full. Not to boast, but it's pretty nice to show up for dinner when you feel like it and immediately be escorted to your table. We loved our waitress, Ana Lynn, and would always ask to sit in her section. During lunch that day, now remember we are on deck #5, a wave crashed over the window! From that moment forward, this became the "Deadliest Catch" day! Storms in the Gulf of Alaska are wicked! I heard a lot of folks were sick. Just remember Bonine is your friend! I was glad when we turned up into Yakutat Bay towards the Hubbard Glacier. The sea was calmer.

DH and I decided to go get a hot lava stone massage. It was pretty awesome. Pricey too. I was freaking cause it was running into my Hubbard time! I did have a window to look out. The masseuse kept telling me to put my head down! "You can't see anything"! I will say after a lovely massage they try to sell you all kinds of expensive lotion & oils which royally pissed me off! I jumped up, ran to get dressed, bolted to the aft, and all I saw was ice, fog, rain and an unclear wall of white. It was too icy for the Coral to get close. I was disappointed.

Back into the gulf, we rocked & rolled into the first formal night. I took 2 long knit dresses. DH had a sport coat and tie. We were dressed fine. Dinner was good & I could combine whatever I wanted. And the Chocolate Journeys!

I had a hard time sleeping but was finally able to dose off.

Next Day 7

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I'll be on the Caribe deck in 504 Northbound in July. Please elaborate on the Chocolate Joirneys! [emoji50] And also what is the Chef's Table all about? Does it cost more?

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