Sea Princess - July 1-11

[cathatgirl]

Preface:

This is a first time post from a first time cruiser. I've never been into the idea of cruising. This trip was a last minute decision. I went with family. We stayed on the Aloha deck.

 

Ship:

Okay, so seriously, it took me a couple days to orient myself. Other than a walking tour of the Queen Mary II, I've no frame of reference for cruise ships, so I will just say that it's nice, and in general clean with no funk. My one complaint is that there's not enough clocks on the walls. I had to buy a watch to figure out what time it is. With sunrise at 4am-ish and sunset around 11pm-ish, "early" and "late" is really relative.

 

Rooms:

I had an inside room with twin beds. The room size was modest but not cramped. I was able to unpack and shove my two carry on bags underneath the bed with no problems.

 

The shower does not drain as quickly as it does at home. So sometimes when the boat is rocky, the shower does pool and will spill out of the stall. So just be aware. The hair dryer will shut down when it overheats, which is like 2 mins if used on High and you'll have to wait a good 10 minutes before it cools down enough to use again. That's a pain in the ass. Just use it on Low.

 

The room steward was very friendly, nice and conscience. My room was always clean and orderly. Even after I made a mess of my bedding after an afternoon nap, I'd come back to my room to neatly turned down sheets.

 

I didn't always get my breakfast and fruit order forms in my room so I left a note for my steward for the fruit forms daily. He got me the fruit forms and after a couple days, room service just delivered 3 days of fruit at a time so I was never lacking for fresh fruits!

 

Baggage:

It took a while for bags to be delivered to the rooms on embarkation so if you packed motion sickness meds, keep it with you and not in your luggage! Disembarkation was a breeze.

 

Dining:

We did the Anytime Dining option. There's almost always a wait when eating between 5pm to 7pm and then at 8pm-8:30pm. Waits can vary from 10 mins to 75 mins. However when you are given a pager, you can pretty much wait anywhere you want. There were times we'd just wait out on deck on Promenade or even in the Wheelhouse Bar. You are not stuck in the Atrium if you don't want to be while waiting. We can pretty much get seated without waiting between 7pm-7:45pm and after 8:45pm. The other option is to make a reservation in the Anytime dining room on the day of. I STRONGLY recommend doing that on the first formal night. The wait for anytime dining was INSANE!

 

Service in the dining room is always friendly. Some waiters are just better than others but everyone is always pleasant. I'm glad the head waiters are not pushy about specialty drink purchases, 'cause I'm cheap, except for the last day, I didn't make any additional drink purchases. I was just fine with my water, coffee, tea, and lemonade (lemonade is only in the buffet though). The food was usually very good to excellent. A couple misses in my book, but only a couple. My only complaint is that sometimes, service is dog SLOW! Most meals will take about 1 -1.5 hrs, which is fine, but our last meal took up to 2.5 hours! It just took forever for the courses to arrive.

 

The food in the buffet was often similar, if not the same as in the dining rooms, but somehow it was just not as good. Perhaps due to sitting out in the heat lamps? I only really went to the buffet for breakfast and late night snack. It was crowded for breakfast at the first port but otherwise not bad in terms of crowds. There was two special buffet lunches: Sushi lunch and an Alaskan lunch. I missed the Alaskan lunch, but the sushi was awful.

 

I was not particularly impressed by the pizza restaurant. Service was slow AND the food was mediocre. The grill was pretty good with their big juicy hot dogs and burgers. Frozen yogurt at the ice cream bar was perfect when it started to warm up on our way back south.

 

I had afternoon tea once and it was quite lovely met a family of cool people. I really wished I had the opportunity to do it again. But sometimes a mere 1-1.5 hour break between lunch and tea, and then between tea and dinner, is just tough on the stomach.

 

In general, I loved sharing tables with other people at meal time. Anytime dining gave me the oppty to sit with different awesome people whose company I truly enjoyed.

 

Entertainment:

The singing and dancing acts in the Princess Theater were much better than I expected. I was expecting lame Disneyland-ish stage shows. I was pleasantly surprised and caught every show with my mom. They weren't Broadway shows but not a high school talent show either.

 

The variety acts in the Vista Lounge was a hit or miss depending on your taste. The ventriloquist Michael Harrison was entertaining, until of course, he brought out his doll. The other props were better. I had skipped the comedians Scott Wyler and Dan Bennett. Lorenzo Clark's show was more "comedy" than magic. It was somewhat amusing, after you get pass the 10+ minute promo video of his past performances which must have been over 20 years old. Comparing him on stage vs. the videos just reminded me of the difference in appearance between 1955 Biff from Back to the Future II vs. 1985 in the alternate timeline Biff. Larry Dunsmore was just as entertainingly in his show in the Vista Lounge, although not as obnoxious as he is normally when playing every night in the Crooner's Bar.

 

The entertainment team do their best to keep things entertaining and lively for the trivia games, pictionary, karaoke, and the crew show nearing the end of the cruise, sometimes with success, sometimes not. The cruise director was amusing, even if his jokes were old and so 20 years ago. But I guess if you've never heard the joke before, it's new to you right?

 

The culinary demo and the galley tour was fun. It was only on the last day at sea.

 

Photos:

I've never notice how annoying it is to have my photos taken until this cruise. I swear, every time we port there's a photo op with someone in a costume or in the dining room, or on deck. Although I will have to say, the print quality of those photos were good. I just can't say the photos were always good. Photos were $20 each. A set of 2 (photo package of the same photo) comes with a free folio for $40. The buy 3 get 1 free offer only applies to the formal and casual portraits which are priced at $25 each. Digital copies of the photos are available for sale at $10 or $15 if you purchase the print and have your own usb flash drive (flash drive also available for sale if you don't have one). Digital copies are $50 each if you do not purchase the print. You have until the day of disembarkation to purchase photos as well as the souvenir video. They play the souvenir video as they are available on one of the channels in your stateroom. I ended up purchasing the group photo of us at the last formal dinner.

 

Spa and Gym:

Spa is obscenely expensive in my book. Each of their health seminars were just opportunities to see you services. Even the raffle was for discounts on services, not freebies. The gym was a bit cramped although well equipped with machines and televisions screens attached to the ellipticals and treadmills. Headphones are available to borrow at the spa desk. Weight machines and free weights are available as well. An aerobics rooms with balls are available but seminars are sometimes held there. A dry sauna and steam room is also available. The gym can be crowded at times especially on sea days.

 

Pools and other outside entertainment:

In the day time, the pools at midship is always full of kids. There is 2 spas and a small round pool near the stern of the ship that is covered, but not indoors, and one spa that is not covered. This area is meant for adults. This pool however, is too small to swim in. The pools and spas are all warmed to a comfortable temperature. It's the temperature of the draft that hits you when you get out of the pool that you have to worry about. Remember to get a robe from your room steward. It'll make walking from pool to room less chilly.

 

The pools were definitely in use. Mostly by children and teenagers during the day time. The adults tend to soak in the spas. It was just too chilly for me to swim until after we started heading for Victoria. Until the last couple nights, it was too windy, or chilly, or damp or all of the above to watch a movie at night for the Movies under the Stars. Watching the soccer game outside was pretty cool... except we were in heavy fog and the ship's fog horn sounded every few minutes. I gave up and went to watch the game in the casino.

 

Other Facilities:

Internet Cafe was just too expensive for my blood. I just used my cell phone in port and went to a free wifi place like the library when in port. Otherwise, it was kinda nice to be disconnected for a while.

 

Laundry Room had insanely lengthy waits. I just handwashed what I needed (mostly stinky gym clothes) and line dried in the shower. I'm on vacation, why am I bothering with laundry?

 

Elevators... at least one or two is out of order or not working well. During peak meal hours and other busy hours, work out those quads and hit the stairs!

 

Ports:

Ketchikan reminds me of Fisherman's Wharf in SF. Tourist traps everywhere I looked. We took a local city tour which was a little cheaper than the ship's excursion but not by much. The front door lady at Dolly's House on Creek Street was entertaining. If you go in, definitely take a photo of the silk "condoms" Dolly had turned into bathroom decor. We did see the 4th of July parade but no fireworks. It's too bad there wasn't anything special on the ship for Independence Day except for the kids.

 

Juneau was cold, drizzly, foggy and overcast. Yes, I'm constantly reminded that it's in a friggin rainforest but still!!! Instead of taking the tram up to Mt. Roberts, we opted for a city tour, Mendahall Glacier, whale watching, and a little shopping in the tourist traps. Mendahall Glacier was amazing. Definitely wish we could have stayed longer. Whale watching was just as amazing as we saw at least a dozen humpback whales.

 

Haines was definitely something completely different. It was a quiet little town. Unlike Ketchikan and Juneau, the docks were not inundated with local tour booths, jewelry stores, and souvenir shop. An excursion package with a ship would definitely be worth it here. Some people rented cars while other took a ferry to Skagway. There's a free shuttle bus that takes you around town. We opted to go to the Bald Eagle Foundation, a walk around town, a walk around Fort Seward, a peek into the Hammer Museum, and a hike from the docks through the woods to Kelgaya Point. The library had free internet. I know some folks found Haines boring as hell, but I found it rather quaint and relaxing. I'd love to go back again during eagle mating season.

 

Bald Eagle sightings were pretty abundant in all three ports.

 

Victoria was bright and sunny, but the stay was too short. We opted to hang out downtown. The Parliament building had free tours. The Empress Hotel had tours for $10.

 

Scenic Cruising:

While departing Haines, we were able to see Rainbow Glacier. Because there was too much "traffic" at Tracy Arms, the captain took us to Endicott Arms instead where we saw Dawes Glacier. Before departing for Victoria, we saw Sundum Glacier. They were all pretty amazing. Although I'm a bit bummed not to have seen any active calving.

 

At times, we were able to see a pod of orcas and whales from the ship in the distance. Binoculars would have been helpful.

 

Cruising out of the bay and under the Golden Gate Bridge on a bright and sunny afternoon and returning on a foggy morning really made me realize what a scenic and beautiful city San Francisco really is!

 

 

Final Note:

Overall, I had a fabulous time on the cruise. I'll definitely have to do it again sometime in the future. Perhaps drag my husband with me next time. A few lessons learned as well, such as definitely bring a powerstrip for the room. Reading other people's tips before the cruise, I brought one, that my brother constantly came over to use. Bring a watch as well as an alarm clock, especially if you usually use your cell phone as your watch. Make dinner reservations whenever possible, just call in the morning. And if you look young enough, bring a photo id when going to the bar. I got carded the one and only time I ordered a drink during their "power hour" drink special time. It took me nearly 10 minutes to get my drink because I spent most of that time trying to convince the bartender I was WAY over 21 and not borrowing my mom's stateroom card to purchase a drink. I don't think i look that young anymore, but apparently somebody out there still does. Keep motion sickness medications with you rather than your luggage because you may not get your luggage delivered before the ship gets underway. Next time I will seriously try not to over pack. I didn't wear half the clothes I brought with me. And finally, always check to see where the youth rec room is on the ship and DO NOT book a room underneath it. Kids, they're loud and stay up all hours of the night! haha. I had a fun time randomly chatting with wonderful people when dining and even on sea days lounging on deck. When the weather finally became warmer nearing the end of the cruise, it was nice being able to nap out on deck with a blanket, sunglasses, and smothered in sunscreen. This trip definitely changed my mind about cruising. I'm looking forward to my next trip, whenever that will be.

 

Now... to sort through the gigs and gigs of photos from this trip!!!

 

btw, to those of you reading who was on this cruise, cat hat girl says "hi".

[partybarbie]

Sounds like you had a fun time and are now hooked on cruising. Welcome to the website and thanks for an entertaining review.:D

[RickEk]

Thanks for the review!

[utseabee]

Thanks for the review. I am booked on the Sea Princess in less than 3 weeks for me first cruise as well.

:)

[pixie123]

Preface:

This is a first time post from a first time cruiser. I've never been into the idea of cruising. This trip was a last minute decision. I went with family. We stayed on the Aloha deck.

 

Ship:

Okay, so seriously, it took me a couple days to orient myself. Other than a walking tour of the Queen Mary II, I've no frame of reference for cruise ships, so I will just say that it's nice, and in general clean with no funk. My one complaint is that there's not enough clocks on the walls. I had to buy a watch to figure out what time it is. With sunrise at 4am-ish and sunset around 11pm-ish, "early" and "late" is really relative.

 

Rooms:

I had an inside room with twin beds. The room size was modest but not cramped. I was able to unpack and shove my two carry on bags underneath the bed with no problems.

 

The shower does not drain as quickly as it does at home. So sometimes when the boat is rocky, the shower does pool and will spill out of the stall. So just be aware. The hair dryer will shut down when it overheats, which is like 2 mins if used on High and you'll have to wait a good 10 minutes before it cools down enough to use again. That's a pain in the ass. Just use it on Low.

 

The room steward was very friendly, nice and conscience. My room was always clean and orderly. Even after I made a mess of my bedding after an afternoon nap, I'd come back to my room to neatly turned down sheets.

 

I didn't always get my breakfast and fruit order forms in my room so I left a note for my steward for the fruit forms daily. He got me the fruit forms and after a couple days, room service just delivered 3 days of fruit at a time so I was never lacking for fresh fruits!

 

Baggage:

It took a while for bags to be delivered to the rooms on embarkation so if you packed motion sickness meds, keep it with you and not in your luggage! Disembarkation was a breeze.

 

Dining:

We did the Anytime Dining option. There's almost always a wait when eating between 5pm to 7pm and then at 8pm-8:30pm. Waits can vary from 10 mins to 75 mins. However when you are given a pager, you can pretty much wait anywhere you want. There were times we'd just wait out on deck on Promenade or even in the Wheelhouse Bar. You are not stuck in the Atrium if you don't want to be while waiting. We can pretty much get seated without waiting between 7pm-7:45pm and after 8:45pm. The other option is to make a reservation in the Anytime dining room on the day of. I STRONGLY recommend doing that on the first formal night. The wait for anytime dining was INSANE!

 

Service in the dining room is always friendly. Some waiters are just better than others but everyone is always pleasant. I'm glad the head waiters are not pushy about specialty drink purchases, 'cause I'm cheap, except for the last day, I didn't make any additional drink purchases. I was just fine with my water, coffee, tea, and lemonade (lemonade is only in the buffet though). The food was usually very good to excellent. A couple misses in my book, but only a couple. My only complaint is that sometimes, service is dog SLOW! Most meals will take about 1 -1.5 hrs, which is fine, but our last meal took up to 2.5 hours! It just took forever for the courses to arrive.

 

The food in the buffet was often similar, if not the same as in the dining rooms, but somehow it was just not as good. Perhaps due to sitting out in the heat lamps? I only really went to the buffet for breakfast and late night snack. It was crowded for breakfast at the first port but otherwise not bad in terms of crowds. There was two special buffet lunches: Sushi lunch and an Alaskan lunch. I missed the Alaskan lunch, but the sushi was awful.

 

I was not particularly impressed by the pizza restaurant. Service was slow AND the food was mediocre. The grill was pretty good with their big juicy hot dogs and burgers. Frozen yogurt at the ice cream bar was perfect when it started to warm up on our way back south.

 

I had afternoon tea once and it was quite lovely met a family of cool people. I really wished I had the opportunity to do it again. But sometimes a mere 1-1.5 hour break between lunch and tea, and then between tea and dinner, is just tough on the stomach.

 

In general, I loved sharing tables with other people at meal time. Anytime dining gave me the oppty to sit with different awesome people whose company I truly enjoyed.

 

Entertainment:

The singing and dancing acts in the Princess Theater were much better than I expected. I was expecting lame Disneyland-ish stage shows. I was pleasantly surprised and caught every show with my mom. They weren't Broadway shows but not a high school talent show either.

 

The variety acts in the Vista Lounge was a hit or miss depending on your taste. The ventriloquist Michael Harrison was entertaining, until of course, he brought out his doll. The other props were better. I had skipped the comedians Scott Wyler and Dan Bennett. Lorenzo Clark's show was more "comedy" than magic. It was somewhat amusing, after you get pass the 10+ minute promo video of his past performances which must have been over 20 years old. Comparing him on stage vs. the videos just reminded me of the difference in appearance between 1955 Biff from Back to the Future II vs. 1985 in the alternate timeline Biff. Larry Dunsmore was just as entertainingly in his show in the Vista Lounge, although not as obnoxious as he is normally when playing every night in the Crooner's Bar.

 

The entertainment team do their best to keep things entertaining and lively for the trivia games, pictionary, karaoke, and the crew show nearing the end of the cruise, sometimes with success, sometimes not. The cruise director was amusing, even if his jokes were old and so 20 years ago. But I guess if you've never heard the joke before, it's new to you right?

 

The culinary demo and the galley tour was fun. It was only on the last day at sea.

 

Photos:

I've never notice how annoying it is to have my photos taken until this cruise. I swear, every time we port there's a photo op with someone in a costume or in the dining room, or on deck. Although I will have to say, the print quality of those photos were good. I just can't say the photos were always good. Photos were $20 each. A set of 2 (photo package of the same photo) comes with a free folio for $40. The buy 3 get 1 free offer only applies to the formal and casual portraits which are priced at $25 each. Digital copies of the photos are available for sale at $10 or $15 if you purchase the print and have your own usb flash drive (flash drive also available for sale if you don't have one). Digital copies are $50 each if you do not purchase the print. You have until the day of disembarkation to purchase photos as well as the souvenir video. They play the souvenir video as they are available on one of the channels in your stateroom. I ended up purchasing the group photo of us at the last formal dinner.

 

Spa and Gym:

Spa is obscenely expensive in my book. Each of their health seminars were just opportunities to see you services. Even the raffle was for discounts on services, not freebies. The gym was a bit cramped although well equipped with machines and televisions screens attached to the ellipticals and treadmills. Headphones are available to borrow at the spa desk. Weight machines and free weights are available as well. An aerobics rooms with balls are available but seminars are sometimes held there. A dry sauna and steam room is also available. The gym can be crowded at times especially on sea days.

 

Pools and other outside entertainment:

In the day time, the pools at midship is always full of kids. There is 2 spas and a small round pool near the stern of the ship that is covered, but not indoors, and one spa that is not covered. This area is meant for adults. This pool however, is too small to swim in. The pools and spas are all warmed to a comfortable temperature. It's the temperature of the draft that hits you when you get out of the pool that you have to worry about. Remember to get a robe from your room steward. It'll make walking from pool to room less chilly.

 

The pools were definitely in use. Mostly by children and teenagers during the day time. The adults tend to soak in the spas. It was just too chilly for me to swim until after we started heading for Victoria. Until the last couple nights, it was too windy, or chilly, or damp or all of the above to watch a movie at night for the Movies under the Stars. Watching the soccer game outside was pretty cool... except we were in heavy fog and the ship's fog horn sounded every few minutes. I gave up and went to watch the game in the casino.

 

Other Facilities:

Internet Cafe was just too expensive for my blood. I just used my cell phone in port and went to a free wifi place like the library when in port. Otherwise, it was kinda nice to be disconnected for a while.

 

Laundry Room had insanely lengthy waits. I just handwashed what I needed (mostly stinky gym clothes) and line dried in the shower. I'm on vacation, why am I bothering with laundry?

 

Elevators... at least one or two is out of order or not working well. During peak meal hours and other busy hours, work out those quads and hit the stairs!

 

Ports:

Ketchikan reminds me of Fisherman's Wharf in SF. Tourist traps everywhere I looked. We took a local city tour which was a little cheaper than the ship's excursion but not by much. The front door lady at Dolly's House on Creek Street was entertaining. If you go in, definitely take a photo of the silk "condoms" Dolly had turned into bathroom decor. We did see the 4th of July parade but no fireworks. It's too bad there wasn't anything special on the ship for Independence Day except for the kids.

 

Juneau was cold, drizzly, foggy and overcast. Yes, I'm constantly reminded that it's in a friggin rainforest but still!!! Instead of taking the tram up to Mt. Roberts, we opted for a city tour, Mendahall Glacier, whale watching, and a little shopping in the tourist traps. Mendahall Glacier was amazing. Definitely wish we could have stayed longer. Whale watching was just as amazing as we saw at least a dozen humpback whales.

 

Haines was definitely something completely different. It was a quiet little town. Unlike Ketchikan and Juneau, the docks were not inundated with local tour booths, jewelry stores, and souvenir shop. An excursion package with a ship would definitely be worth it here. Some people rented cars while other took a ferry to Skagway. There's a free shuttle bus that takes you around town. We opted to go to the Bald Eagle Foundation, a walk around town, a walk around Fort Seward, a peek into the Hammer Museum, and a hike from the docks through the woods to Kelgaya Point. The library had free internet. I know some folks found Haines boring as hell, but I found it rather quaint and relaxing. I'd love to go back again during eagle mating season.

 

Bald Eagle sightings were pretty abundant in all three ports.

 

Victoria was bright and sunny, but the stay was too short. We opted to hang out downtown. The Parliament building had free tours. The Empress Hotel had tours for $10.

 

Scenic Cruising:

While departing Haines, we were able to see Rainbow Glacier. Because there was too much "traffic" at Tracy Arms, the captain took us to Endicott Arms instead where we saw Dawes Glacier. Before departing for Victoria, we saw Sundum Glacier. They were all pretty amazing. Although I'm a bit bummed not to have seen any active calving.

 

At times, we were able to see a pod of orcas and whales from the ship in the distance. Binoculars would have been helpful.

 

Cruising out of the bay and under the Golden Gate Bridge on a bright and sunny afternoon and returning on a foggy morning really made me realize what a scenic and beautiful city San Francisco really is!

 

 

Final Note:

Overall, I had a fabulous time on the cruise. I'll definitely have to do it again sometime in the future. Perhaps drag my husband with me next time. A few lessons learned as well, such as definitely bring a powerstrip for the room. Reading other people's tips before the cruise, I brought one, that my brother constantly came over to use. Bring a watch as well as an alarm clock, especially if you usually use your cell phone as your watch. Make dinner reservations whenever possible, just call in the morning. And if you look young enough, bring a photo id when going to the bar. I got carded the one and only time I ordered a drink during their "power hour" drink special time. It took me nearly 10 minutes to get my drink because I spent most of that time trying to convince the bartender I was WAY over 21 and not borrowing my mom's stateroom card to purchase a drink. I don't think i look that young anymore, but apparently somebody out there still does. Keep motion sickness medications with you rather than your luggage because you may not get your luggage delivered before the ship gets underway. Next time I will seriously try not to over pack. I didn't wear half the clothes I brought with me. And finally, always check to see where the youth rec room is on the ship and DO NOT book a room underneath it. Kids, they're loud and stay up all hours of the night! haha. I had a fun time randomly chatting with wonderful people when dining and even on sea days lounging on deck. When the weather finally became warmer nearing the end of the cruise, it was nice being able to nap out on deck with a blanket, sunglasses, and smothered in sunscreen. This trip definitely changed my mind about cruising. I'm looking forward to my next trip, whenever that will be.

 

Now... to sort through the gigs and gigs of photos from this trip!!!

 

btw, to those of you reading who was on this cruise, cat hat girl says "hi".

 

I was on this cruise and I remember seeing you! Your hat was adorable! I remember Larry the piano guy making fun of it. He was quite obnoxious at times but sometimes he was funny.

We also went to Mendenhall Glacier and it was amazing! I wish we could have stayed less time in Haines and more time in Victoria.

[dfields1814]

Good review.. fair criticisms. Your experiences pretty well match many (but not all) of my own.... except when you said the hot dogs at the grill were pretty good. I think they are really good! I had the same concern about the slow service in the MDR on our first cruise. Now I just accept the idea that dinner will take an hour and half minimum. It is just part of the cruising experience. I have not been to Alsaka. But we are visiting many of the same ports on our next cruise. So I read that part of your review with great interest. Thanks for your review.

[willyguy]

Thank for the review.

[California Native]

I thought you wrote a great review!!!!

There's so many new cruisers these days, that I'm sure it will be very helpful to them!!!

Many times those of us who have cruised for so long...

kind of forget to mention things, as they've almost become 2nd nature

to us and we don't realize how surprising it can be for others!

I hope you find another cruise in the future that you enjoy!!! All lines and even ships can be a totally unique

experience!!!

Buon Viaggio!

K.

[karatemom2]

Very well written and balanced review. Thanks!

[W247]

Preface:

This is a first time post from a first time cruiser. I've never been into the idea of cruising. This trip was a last minute decision. I went with family. We stayed on the Aloha deck.

 

Ship:

Okay, so seriously, it took me a couple days to orient myself. Other than a walking tour of the Queen Mary II, I've no frame of reference for cruise ships, so I will just say that it's nice, and in general clean with no funk. My one complaint is that there's not enough clocks on the walls. I had to buy a watch to figure out what time it is. With sunrise at 4am-ish and sunset around 11pm-ish, "early" and "late" is really relative.

 

Rooms:

I had an inside room with twin beds. The room size was modest but not cramped. I was able to unpack and shove my two carry on bags underneath the bed with no problems.

 

The shower does not drain as quickly as it does at home. So sometimes when the boat is rocky, the shower does pool and will spill out of the stall. So just be aware. The hair dryer will shut down when it overheats, which is like 2 mins if used on High and you'll have to wait a good 10 minutes before it cools down enough to use again. That's a pain in the ass. Just use it on Low.

 

The room steward was very friendly, nice and conscience. My room was always clean and orderly. Even after I made a mess of my bedding after an afternoon nap, I'd come back to my room to neatly turned down sheets.

 

I didn't always get my breakfast and fruit order forms in my room so I left a note for my steward for the fruit forms daily. He got me the fruit forms and after a couple days, room service just delivered 3 days of fruit at a time so I was never lacking for fresh fruits!

 

Baggage:

It took a while for bags to be delivered to the rooms on embarkation so if you packed motion sickness meds, keep it with you and not in your luggage! Disembarkation was a breeze.

 

Dining:

We did the Anytime Dining option. There's almost always a wait when eating between 5pm to 7pm and then at 8pm-8:30pm. Waits can vary from 10 mins to 75 mins. However when you are given a pager, you can pretty much wait anywhere you want. There were times we'd just wait out on deck on Promenade or even in the Wheelhouse Bar. You are not stuck in the Atrium if you don't want to be while waiting. We can pretty much get seated without waiting between 7pm-7:45pm and after 8:45pm. The other option is to make a reservation in the Anytime dining room on the day of. I STRONGLY recommend doing that on the first formal night. The wait for anytime dining was INSANE!

 

Service in the dining room is always friendly. Some waiters are just better than others but everyone is always pleasant. I'm glad the head waiters are not pushy about specialty drink purchases, 'cause I'm cheap, except for the last day, I didn't make any additional drink purchases. I was just fine with my water, coffee, tea, and lemonade (lemonade is only in the buffet though). The food was usually very good to excellent. A couple misses in my book, but only a couple. My only complaint is that sometimes, service is dog SLOW! Most meals will take about 1 -1.5 hrs, which is fine, but our last meal took up to 2.5 hours! It just took forever for the courses to arrive.

 

The food in the buffet was often similar, if not the same as in the dining rooms, but somehow it was just not as good. Perhaps due to sitting out in the heat lamps? I only really went to the buffet for breakfast and late night snack. It was crowded for breakfast at the first port but otherwise not bad in terms of crowds. There was two special buffet lunches: Sushi lunch and an Alaskan lunch. I missed the Alaskan lunch, but the sushi was awful.

 

I was not particularly impressed by the pizza restaurant. Service was slow AND the food was mediocre. The grill was pretty good with their big juicy hot dogs and burgers. Frozen yogurt at the ice cream bar was perfect when it started to warm up on our way back south.

 

I had afternoon tea once and it was quite lovely met a family of cool people. I really wished I had the opportunity to do it again. But sometimes a mere 1-1.5 hour break between lunch and tea, and then between tea and dinner, is just tough on the stomach.

 

In general, I loved sharing tables with other people at meal time. Anytime dining gave me the oppty to sit with different awesome people whose company I truly enjoyed.

 

Entertainment:

The singing and dancing acts in the Princess Theater were much better than I expected. I was expecting lame Disneyland-ish stage shows. I was pleasantly surprised and caught every show with my mom. They weren't Broadway shows but not a high school talent show either.

 

The variety acts in the Vista Lounge was a hit or miss depending on your taste. The ventriloquist Michael Harrison was entertaining, until of course, he brought out his doll. The other props were better. I had skipped the comedians Scott Wyler and Dan Bennett. Lorenzo Clark's show was more "comedy" than magic. It was somewhat amusing, after you get pass the 10+ minute promo video of his past performances which must have been over 20 years old. Comparing him on stage vs. the videos just reminded me of the difference in appearance between 1955 Biff from Back to the Future II vs. 1985 in the alternate timeline Biff. Larry Dunsmore was just as entertainingly in his show in the Vista Lounge, although not as obnoxious as he is normally when playing every night in the Crooner's Bar.

 

The entertainment team do their best to keep things entertaining and lively for the trivia games, pictionary, karaoke, and the crew show nearing the end of the cruise, sometimes with success, sometimes not. The cruise director was amusing, even if his jokes were old and so 20 years ago. But I guess if you've never heard the joke before, it's new to you right?

 

The culinary demo and the galley tour was fun. It was only on the last day at sea.

 

Photos:

I've never notice how annoying it is to have my photos taken until this cruise. I swear, every time we port there's a photo op with someone in a costume or in the dining room, or on deck. Although I will have to say, the print quality of those photos were good. I just can't say the photos were always good. Photos were $20 each. A set of 2 (photo package of the same photo) comes with a free folio for $40. The buy 3 get 1 free offer only applies to the formal and casual portraits which are priced at $25 each. Digital copies of the photos are available for sale at $10 or $15 if you purchase the print and have your own usb flash drive (flash drive also available for sale if you don't have one). Digital copies are $50 each if you do not purchase the print. You have until the day of disembarkation to purchase photos as well as the souvenir video. They play the souvenir video as they are available on one of the channels in your stateroom. I ended up purchasing the group photo of us at the last formal dinner.

 

Spa and Gym:

Spa is obscenely expensive in my book. Each of their health seminars were just opportunities to see you services. Even the raffle was for discounts on services, not freebies. The gym was a bit cramped although well equipped with machines and televisions screens attached to the ellipticals and treadmills. Headphones are available to borrow at the spa desk. Weight machines and free weights are available as well. An aerobics rooms with balls are available but seminars are sometimes held there. A dry sauna and steam room is also available. The gym can be crowded at times especially on sea days.

 

Pools and other outside entertainment:

In the day time, the pools at midship is always full of kids. There is 2 spas and a small round pool near the stern of the ship that is covered, but not indoors, and one spa that is not covered. This area is meant for adults. This pool however, is too small to swim in. The pools and spas are all warmed to a comfortable temperature. It's the temperature of the draft that hits you when you get out of the pool that you have to worry about. Remember to get a robe from your room steward. It'll make walking from pool to room less chilly.

 

The pools were definitely in use. Mostly by children and teenagers during the day time. The adults tend to soak in the spas. It was just too chilly for me to swim until after we started heading for Victoria. Until the last couple nights, it was too windy, or chilly, or damp or all of the above to watch a movie at night for the Movies under the Stars. Watching the soccer game outside was pretty cool... except we were in heavy fog and the ship's fog horn sounded every few minutes. I gave up and went to watch the game in the casino.

 

Other Facilities:

Internet Cafe was just too expensive for my blood. I just used my cell phone in port and went to a free wifi place like the library when in port. Otherwise, it was kinda nice to be disconnected for a while.

 

Laundry Room had insanely lengthy waits. I just handwashed what I needed (mostly stinky gym clothes) and line dried in the shower. I'm on vacation, why am I bothering with laundry?

 

Elevators... at least one or two is out of order or not working well. During peak meal hours and other busy hours, work out those quads and hit the stairs!

 

Ports:

Ketchikan reminds me of Fisherman's Wharf in SF. Tourist traps everywhere I looked. We took a local city tour which was a little cheaper than the ship's excursion but not by much. The front door lady at Dolly's House on Creek Street was entertaining. If you go in, definitely take a photo of the silk "condoms" Dolly had turned into bathroom decor. We did see the 4th of July parade but no fireworks. It's too bad there wasn't anything special on the ship for Independence Day except for the kids.

 

Juneau was cold, drizzly, foggy and overcast. Yes, I'm constantly reminded that it's in a friggin rainforest but still!!! Instead of taking the tram up to Mt. Roberts, we opted for a city tour, Mendahall Glacier, whale watching, and a little shopping in the tourist traps. Mendahall Glacier was amazing. Definitely wish we could have stayed longer. Whale watching was just as amazing as we saw at least a dozen humpback whales.

 

Haines was definitely something completely different. It was a quiet little town. Unlike Ketchikan and Juneau, the docks were not inundated with local tour booths, jewelry stores, and souvenir shop. An excursion package with a ship would definitely be worth it here. Some people rented cars while other took a ferry to Skagway. There's a free shuttle bus that takes you around town. We opted to go to the Bald Eagle Foundation, a walk around town, a walk around Fort Seward, a peek into the Hammer Museum, and a hike from the docks through the woods to Kelgaya Point. The library had free internet. I know some folks found Haines boring as hell, but I found it rather quaint and relaxing. I'd love to go back again during eagle mating season.

 

Bald Eagle sightings were pretty abundant in all three ports.

 

Victoria was bright and sunny, but the stay was too short. We opted to hang out downtown. The Parliament building had free tours. The Empress Hotel had tours for $10.

 

Scenic Cruising:

While departing Haines, we were able to see Rainbow Glacier. Because there was too much "traffic" at Tracy Arms, the captain took us to Endicott Arms instead where we saw Dawes Glacier. Before departing for Victoria, we saw Sundum Glacier. They were all pretty amazing. Although I'm a bit bummed not to have seen any active calving.

 

At times, we were able to see a pod of orcas and whales from the ship in the distance. Binoculars would have been helpful.

 

Cruising out of the bay and under the Golden Gate Bridge on a bright and sunny afternoon and returning on a foggy morning really made me realize what a scenic and beautiful city San Francisco really is!

 

 

Final Note:

Overall, I had a fabulous time on the cruise. I'll definitely have to do it again sometime in the future. Perhaps drag my husband with me next time. A few lessons learned as well, such as definitely bring a powerstrip for the room. Reading other people's tips before the cruise, I brought one, that my brother constantly came over to use. Bring a watch as well as an alarm clock, especially if you usually use your cell phone as your watch. Make dinner reservations whenever possible, just call in the morning. And if you look young enough, bring a photo id when going to the bar. I got carded the one and only time I ordered a drink during their "power hour" drink special time. It took me nearly 10 minutes to get my drink because I spent most of that time trying to convince the bartender I was WAY over 21 and not borrowing my mom's stateroom card to purchase a drink. I don't think i look that young anymore, but apparently somebody out there still does. Keep motion sickness medications with you rather than your luggage because you may not get your luggage delivered before the ship gets underway. Next time I will seriously try not to over pack. I didn't wear half the clothes I brought with me. And finally, always check to see where the youth rec room is on the ship and DO NOT book a room underneath it. Kids, they're loud and stay up all hours of the night! haha. I had a fun time randomly chatting with wonderful people when dining and even on sea days lounging on deck. When the weather finally became warmer nearing the end of the cruise, it was nice being able to nap out on deck with a blanket, sunglasses, and smothered in sunscreen. This trip definitely changed my mind about cruising. I'm looking forward to my next trip, whenever that will be.

 

Now... to sort through the gigs and gigs of photos from this trip!!!

 

btw, to those of you reading who was on this cruise, cat hat girl says "hi".

 

Hello there! I had lunch with you in the dining room after our short Victoria stop! My husband was the one that worked for HP? I sat next to your mom.

 

I would have to agree with your assessment above. The only thing that I was truly disappointed about was the Lotus Spa, EVERYTHING was a sell's pitch! I had a horrible massage there where the masseuse kept trying to sell me the products she was using - definitely not relaxing. The seminars were the same way, the " How to increase your metabolism" and the "How to work on your ab's" seminar where the exact same thing, a sells pitch and they didn't talk about metabolism at all.

 

My room size was good, but it was hard to sleep because there seemed to be a lot of hallway noise. We had an inside cabin. Our cabin steward on the Caribe deck (Cesar) was TOTALLY AWESOME! He was always friendly and was always around to make sure we were doing ok. We had the first seating for the traditional dining and had great waiters ( Florin and Jojoa)! There were 17 of us split into two tables so we got a little rowdy - including leading the Star Spangled Banner on the Fourth of July.

 

It was a fun trip! We didn't get to see any whales from the ship though.

 

I will write out a full review a lil later on!

[ITMan]

Hi there,

 

Excellent review. I was only whinging yesterday that there dont seem to be amny reports back from the Sea Princess!!

 

We are off on the Sea in 4 weeks (today!!) on 10th August. We cant wait!!

 

BTW CatHatGirl intrigued... DD (16 now!) has a fluffy cat hat with pink ears she got from Disney a few years ago she plans to take with her... certainly draws comments!!

 

Thanks again

 

Alex

[cathatgirl]

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome and compliments :)

 

@W247 I remember you! Your husband's gonna help me fix my HP printer right? :P I swear, all the spa stories I've gotten from other passengers just made me shake my head and laugh. I would seriously expect something better of a place that charge what they charge plus 15% tip for a massage!

 

It was great meeting you and your husband! Hope you guys had a good trip back to Boise!

 

@pixie123 Thanks! Larry did give me a hard time about my hat! haha! funny thing is, I was in the audience without my hat once and he didn't recognize me until I walked up to him later on and he was like, oh you do have hair and not horns underneath! haha. I agree, less time in Haines and more time in Victoria would have been better. I barely got to do anything in Victoria before having to return to the ship. I'm just glad I've been in Victoria before and just went to things I didn't get to last time.

 

@dfields1814 Depending on your budget, there's a lot of options in port. Being unemployed at the moment, I was being cheap and tried to maximize my experience on limited funds. I spent a total of $400 on excursions/tours, transportation shopping, auto-tip, the little extra I gave my room steward, and a single drink. Had I just a little more extra funds, I would have loved to go kayaking in Ketchikan and a trip out to the Bald Eagle Preserve in Haines. There was barely enough time to go and enjoy Buchart Gardens, my brother went and said he was really rushed and the fact that they sat on the bus for an hour due to a big rig blocking traffic didn't help! I was just lucky I had been already so Buchart Gardens was off my list. Had I not been in Victoria before, I might have considered the hop on hop off tour bus for $27 which gives me a overall tour of Victoria in 90 mins and I can stop at various places I wanted to spend a little more time.

 

@ITman I originally wore my cat hat because I just got it as a gift from a friend and it makes it easier for my mom (with limited english skills) to spot me or describe me if she's looking for me, while keeping my head warm and my messy hair covered! (multiple birds with one stone!) My usual cat hat is just made of fleece and i have a cat ears headband for warm vacations spots. i didn't realize it was going to make me so noticeable to everyone else. :P your daughter's fluffy cat hat will be perfect for alaska!

[pixie123]

I was also on the Caribe deck and Cesar was our cabin steward. He was very friendly and always greeted us when he saw us coming out of our cabin or going back in.

 

Cathatgirl- my son had made a hat out balloons at the crew show and happened to pass by the Vista Lounge as Larry was signing Cd's. My son asked him to sign his balloon hat and was asked if he was dropped on his head as a young child. He replied that as a matter of fact he was. He pointed at his sister and said she had pushed him out of his walker when he was a baby. It was too funny! He was also harassed in Crooners when he was taking pictures of him.

[jdr2]

Thanks for the great review. We are sailing on the Sea Princess in November and we were starting to worry about the negative reviews, but we were really pleased to read all your comments.

[Woobstr112G]

Great balanced review. Thanks for taking the time to post.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

[kiwipete]

Thanks cathatgirl, we were on the cruise with you and loved it. Hope you're as hooked on cruising as we were after our 1st one a couple of years ago.

Kiwipete

[cathatgirl]

@kiwipete it was great to meet you and norma too! i still have your card in my unpacked back.... somewhere... i'm definitely gonna have to talk hubby into taking a cruise with me next time! have a FAB anniversary cruise this christmas!!

[Dani24]

Great review! I love how detailed and organized it was, and that it was engaging and funny!

 

I sail on the Sea Princess in 2 weeks, so I was very excited to read this. :)

[ITMan]

Cathatgirl,

 

Dont suppose you have the patters from your trip do you.. dying to get hold of some for the Sea Princess Alaska!!

 

Thanks

[southpawsdakota]

Thank you so much for your review, I was beginning to worry about the Sea Princess. We sailed on the Coral to Alaska last June but will try not to compare. We are doing Traditional dining as that is what we like and do like the late seating. I read on another post that when in the Alaska waters people were not able to do laundry, is this a fact? Again thank you for your post.

[SherriffJoe]

We did Alaska 4 or 5 years ago on Regal Princess and indeed the laundry was closed while in Alaskan waters. It must be that the older ships have a limited gray water holding tank capacity. Just do your laundry prior to arrival in Alaska or right after you leave them.

[W247]

We did Alaska 4 or 5 years ago on Regal Princess and indeed the laundry was closed while in Alaskan waters. It must be that the older ships have a limited gray water holding tank capacity. Just do your laundry prior to arrival in Alaska or right after you leave them.

 

yes, they did close the laundry down when we were in Ketchikan and Juneau. On sea days we were able to access the laundry room to do laundry, but good luck trying to find an open washing machine!!! People were waiting around for hours! My sister, who had a mini-suite, actually used her jacuzzi tub to wash some clothes.....

[W247]

Cathatgirl,

 

Dont suppose you have the patters from your trip do you.. dying to get hold of some for the Sea Princess Alaska!!

 

Thanks

 

I have my patters! I just need to get them scanned and stored somewhere for you to view them!

[MargoK]

@kiwipete it was great to meet you and norma too! i still have your card in my unpacked back.... somewhere... i'm definitely gonna have to talk hubby into taking a cruise with me next time! have a FAB anniversary cruise this christmas!!

 

Hi cathagirl - Pete is the 'leader' of our Christmas/New Year Roll Call on the Diamond, and from you last comment above - is there something we should know;)???