7-Night August Alaska Cruise on Star Princess

[zetalove08]

Hello everyone!

 

I am going to post a review/trip report on both the Alaska and Princess boards- I hope that is okay. Both boards were so helpful to me in planning, that I really wanted to provide a fun report when I got back to share.

 

First of all- if you have not been to Alaska... GO!!!! It was so much better than I could possibly describe or imagine, and more. I knew I'd love it, but I wasn't prepared for how much. I literally cried the last night of our cruise I was so sad to leave. Just breathtaking beauty!

 

This trip had been in the works for almost 3 years. My husband and I live in Florida and we hate the heat- we are meant to be in the Northwest I think. :) We've wanted to go to Alaska for a while, and always planned to go for our 5 year anniversary. (which is actually in a few days- we celebrated early on the ship). We booked this way in advance and slowly paid it off so there wasn't so much sticker shock. ;)

 

We decided on the 7-night roundtrip out of Seattle on the Star Princess, going to Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan, and Victoria, BC. We were on the August 17th trip. My parents actually last minute decided to tag along on the fun as well!

 

So now that you have the backstory... lets get going! :)

 

Pre-Cruise Travel Day:

We arrived to Seattle late, around 10:30pm I believe. It was a long travel day! We had arranged for a cab for the 4 of us from Eastside for Hire, and we did have a hard time finding where we were supposed to meet them. By the time we found them, we realized they only had a small prius for the 4 of us and our bags (which by the way, were falling apart- a wheel on our big one broke before we even got to the airport and the handle on my small rolling luggage broke off in the airport lol). I was a little bummed about this because I had asked specifically if there would be enough room and explained how much we would have and they had assured me there would be. I will say that the customer service for Eastside for Hire on the phone is not good at all, but in person our driver was great. He called another driver for my parents and we just took two. Cost more than it would have been to all split, but it worked! We were just ready to get to the hotels at this point.

 

DH and I were booked at The Moore Hotel and my parents were at another nearby hotel (there was no more availability by the time they booked), so we arranged to meet up in the morning at some point for breakfast.

 

I was definitely prepared for a no frills hotel and an older type of space, and I thought I prepared DH enough... he was fine but wasn't too thrilled. I think it's because he's never really been to a city so isn't used to older structures. I thought it was cool and kind of part of its charm! It was slightly stuffy, but the fan they provided helped a lot.

 

 

 

Me making a grumpy face at DH to stop making fun of the hotel! He kept making references to the movie "The Shining" lol.

 

 

[zetalove08]

 

 

 

One tip I will say- if you fly in that late, EAT something before going to bed! I was so antsy and hungry and couldn't sleep all night, it was terrible. DH fell right asleep so I didn't want to walk anywhere alone to get something to eat, but I was getting shaky I was so hungry. I think it was also because I had ran that morning and didn't eat a big lunch or dinner. Finally at 3am I woke him up because I felt so sick and nauseous from being hungry. He called around and believe it or not couldn't find anywhere that was 24 hours. He found a granola bar in his bag that I ate until I think 5 am when the earliest starbucks opened! Or maybe it was 6? All I know is it felt like the longest wait of my life, as I couldn't sleep at this point I felt so crummy. Once it opened DH kindly went and got me a bagel and juice and I felt WORLDS better, and ready to explore!

 

We were up and ready after that, so we decided to head out to Pikes Market and walk around (and of course grab more to eat haha). DH snapped a few more pictures of the hotel on the way out.

 

DH claims in this picture he was waiting for the flood of red colored water to come rushing around the corner like in the movie.. oh boy. haha.

 

 

 

 

[zetalove08]

Cute little "fireplace"

 

 

And we're off! DH had to show me the alley he cut through to get my Starbucks. He said it was an interesting experience and as he walked through two men were arguing and he heard one say "no one sells meth like I do! no one!" so he walked a little quicker. Yeesh!

 

 

We were a short walk from the market, and when we got there it was still very early and quiet- things were just getting set up. We saw some of the flowers getting put out and wow were they beautiful!! We were so tempted to buy a bouquet to put in our stateroom, but knew it'd be a hassle to carry on top of all of our luggage so we decided against it.

 

 

 

 

more to come soon...

[zetalove08]

We watched as they started bringing out the loads of fish, crab, and more. It was so cool to see it in the early morning like that, preparing for a big day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we walked around for about an hour or so, we found a little place to grab something more to eat. I remember I got some sort of croissant that was stuffed with proscuitto and feta I believe- very good! We took in the views and got so excited about our upcoming trip!

 

[zetalove08]

 

 

 

More pictures from the market… Throw that fish!

 

 

 

 

Around 10 we started milling back to the Moore to get our stuff all together and ready to grab a cab to the port. We were excited! :-)

 

Coming up: embarking on the Star Princess!!!

[zetalove08]

so sorry for the delay- been super busy catching back up on work! Here's a little update...

 

I left off with us about to head to the port. We grabbed a cab from the hotel and were on our way! It was a short trip over. This was probably around 11:00 or so? We were early for our embarkation time, but since we had to check out of our room anyway, we figured we’d just head over and if we had to wait at the pier no big deal! We pretty much walked right through to drop off our luggage, it was very smooth. We then headed to actually check in- this was also smooth. I was surprised how quick. After we got our cards and were set to go, we waiting a little inside, and then maybe 15 minutes later or so, around 12, we moved outside to wait. This is where we waited for probably around 30 minutes or so? It was actually a nice day, and the sun was shining so it was a little warm (nothing like the florida heat though!!). We talked to some people in line and got so excited for our trip! We had planned this trip for about 3 years to do for our 5 year anniversary, so it was very surreal to us that it was finally here!

 

Here was our view while waiting.. we couldn’t wait to get on and explore!!

 

Once we got on they directed us to our stateroom. This was new to us since we have only sailed on Royal Caribbean. It was nice to go right to the room to drop off our stuff. We headed to the room and found this on our door! So sweet and made it easy to locate our room lol.

 

 

We had splurged for this cruise and got a balcony, which we don’t normally get. This was such a good idea for alaska, we used it SO much! We headed out to see what it looked like, and our balcony was facing the drop off area for passengers coming on board. It was so funny because that very moment we stepped out there we saw my parents walking up to start getting on-board. I tried to grab my camera in time but I missed them.

 

 

We also noticed a little something waiting for us on top of the fridge area. A special surprise from our travel agent, it was so sweet! We saved them and ate them on our balcony during Glacier Bay day- talk about heaven!!!

 

 

After we dropped off all our stuff and met our stateroom attendant (he was so nice!), we set out to explore the ship! This is one of our favorite parts about going on a cruise with a new ship- just walking around and exploring every nook and cranny. One of our favorite places was the aft pool- never seemed to have that many people and it made you feel like you were on a private yacht. My dad started referring to it as the “fantail” and it just stuck- we called it that all week.

 

 

We continued exploring and just loved the ship! It was so exciting to see it still somewhat empty and know this was our “home” for a week. Around this time we were getting hungry, but didn’t feel like dealing with the buffet. We opted for pizza up on deck, and it started an obsession. We ate so much pizza over this cruise it was ridiculous, but it was really good! lol.

 

It was around this time my parents made it on board, and they met us to continue exploring the ship! We checked out the gym, theaters, dining rooms, etc. Eventually it was time for muster which was quick and painless (held in the Princess Theater for us) and then we headed up to the top to get some good views for sailaway!

 

 

Coming up: headed to alaska and first sea day!

[partybarbie]

It makes me so happy to read such a positive review. It reminds me of my first trip to Alaska. Princess was nice enough to give us an upgrade to a balcony cabin (it was a 10-year anniversary cruise with first DH). We also had the Staff Captain, Stefano Ravera, eat dinner with us one night and buy wine for the table. We saw bears, whales, eagles, glaciers, etc. right from the balcony. Thanks so much for letting me revisit my memories from your outstanding commentary and pictures.

[jeeper2]

Wonderful photos and review! I was away from the boards for a few days and headed straight for this thread. Sadly, I had to search for it, but I want you to know I appreciate what you have done and still hope to see more! It looks as if you had a wonderful time!

[sassyredhat]

Nice review and photos.

Pat

[partybarbie]

Don't leave us hanging.:eek:

[lovemyhubbyandfurbabies]

Lovely review so far!! Can't wait to read more! :)

[Working 2 Cruise]

Wonderful! Anxiously waiting for the rest!