Meals on Princess land tour

[pabeachie]

We're booked on a 4 day land tour on Princess before our cruise. Can someone tell me about meals that are available? Either at the lodges or on your own.

[Alaskanb]

If you do a search for the Princess lodges you will be staying at they have menus on-line. Use tripadvisor for places other than the lodges.

[pabeachie]

Thank you.

[Budget Queen]

As only a very general suggestion, budget 50% more than you would at home. :) You don't say where you are going, with Denali and McKinley Princess about a given and either Anchorage or Fairbanks??? Denali has a lot within walking distance across the street. Nothing but Princess at McKinley. Anchorage has multiple alternative options, Fairbanks lodging is all over the place, but none really with good walkable options. Some Shuttles are available.

[Northern Aurora]

If the OP is booked at the Fairbanks Princess Lodge then Pikes Landing Restaurant is within easy walking distance. This is the stand-alone restaurant associated with Pikes Waterfront Lodge, and has both a nice dining room and casual bar area.

 

Chena's Bar and Grill is also about 1/2 mile away from the Fairbanks Princess.

[geoherb]

We did not find the Princess lodge meals to be too pricey if you stick to the less expensive options. As Alaskanb said, you can find the menus online. Most of the lodges had a a casual restaurant in addition to a fancier one. A lot of the menu items are the same. I recommend the smoked salmon chowder. I made some this weekend. It always reminds me of being back in Alaska.

[kennicott]

With the exception of the Denali Princess we have stayed in all of their lodges, some more than twice. I spend my summers in the Wrangell Mountain, Copper River country in Alaska and go out of my way to eat at the Copper River Princess.

 

I was in the Fairbanks Princess when it first opened, I had a training class going there and got a very good rate for all of us. Of course, since then the prices have increased but I have stayed there more than once and I enjoy their meals, just up the road is Pike's Landing which I have eaten at many times since all this is close to the airport and I used to be in the airplane game, it was very good but been a while since I last was there, however, if I was going to stay just a night or two in Fairbanks I would eat at the Princess lodge and not bother trying elsewhere.

 

Some time back we were having a discussion here on C.C. regarding the meal prices at the Mt. McKinley Princess, since it is actually located in a quasi wilderness setting there isn't much around except trees, mountains and animals, in other words you can't go across the street to a McDonald's, that is for sure. One poster was complaining about the price of their big breakfast at the time and that they were holding their guests "price hostages". Since we had just been there and ate a couple of breakfasts, I tuned in.

 

I posted the price of Denny's Grand Slam in Anchorage which was almost identical in ingredients, prices were all but the same.

 

Today it's not much different, although I don't particularly care for Denny's food, we do eat breakfast almost every Sunday at a Village Inn here in town which I consider a quality fast food enterprise. The current breakfast menu at the McKinley Princess has this: "The Alaskan Breakfast---Two eggs with ham, bacon or reindeer sausage served with breakfast potatoes and your choice of toast or buttermilk biscuit. $10.99"

 

The Village Inn---Gives you a four item choice, out of a large variety such as, two eggs, scrambled eggs, two bacon strips, two sausage links, a sausage patty, hash brown potatoes, choice of bread, pancakes, country fried potatoes, etc. $9.97.

 

Judging from Village Inn prices in the lower 48 one would save about a buck for this breakfast, over a Village Inn in Alaska.

 

I notice that Princess has the guts to put their prices on their online menus, most of these outfits aren't doing that anymore.

Edited January 12, 2016 by kennicott

[arctickitty]

I have eaten in several Princess dining rooms in Fairbanks and Denali over several years. Princess hires a lot of seasonal staff, ranging from college students to folks on work visas from whatever country sends folks that year) so it was always funny that the servers were impressed to be serving a real Alaskan--they had so many questions about what it is like to live in Alaska. So don't expect to have a "locals" experience at Princess at all. Denali has a lot of staff from Brigham Young University. One year in Fairbanks a lot of the staff were from Bulgaria. Not the next year. Food has ranged from just above average to well below average. I found the food of lower quality than the Princess cruise I went on. Service in Fairbanks several different years was very slow. Some items are repeated at the different locations. A good value I remember was crab nachos--it was huge. A poor value was scallops in Fairbanks--they were tiny and overcooked. You can get lemonade with Alaskan-made berry vodkas. Some of the seafood will be Alaskan. But that's as Alaskan as it gets.

 

On the Natural History bus tour you get a little cardboard box of a couple of snacks. Many passengers leave them behind without opening so many frugal park staff have large stashes of leftover snacks!

[kennicott]

It is true that many, if not most, of the seasonal lodges in Alaska hire non-residents. (But that is the story of Alaska, it is where the cliche "termination dust" came from, miners, prospectors, cannery workers, construction workers, commercial salmon fishermen etc. would see the first snow on the peaks and call it that, meaning termination of the season was at hand and soon they would be catching the boat south for the winter.) In the Kennicott Valley the lodges at Kennicott and in McCarthy are no different, Kennicott often hires english speaking workers from the Eastern European countries, they are very friendly and good workers. Even some of the B & Bs have foreign help.

 

I recall when the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge first opened, they were really ballyhooing it up that locals would be waiting on you. That did happen and it was nice but lasted just for a short while. Locals like to take a day off now and then, particularly when the Copper fills with reds and dipnetting and the fish wheels are at their peak. A huge lodge like that with five or six coaches coming in filled with guests in the afternoon can not function very well with staff continually calling in saying they can't make it to work that day. Not to mention moose, caribou and sheep hunting season time.

 

Princess Lodges are designed and meant for seasonal operations. However their Kenai Wilderness Lodge was an exception. Although intended to shut down in the winter, during its first year it was so popular with Anchoragites that they kept it open in the winter and operated it year around for quite a few years.

 

For those visitors on budgets looking for a decent lunch, the Anchorage Senior Activity Center is open for non-members from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. It is located close to downtown but not within easy walking distance of the major hotels.

 

Arctic Rose Restaurant:

 

Ask Cashier for the Day’s Specials

 

SANDWICHES and SUCH

 

Chicken Salad in Tortilla Shell $7.00

Hamburger (sand only $4) with fries, $6.50

Cheeseburger (sand only $5) with fries $7.00

Philly Cheese Steak (sand $5) $7.00

BLT (sand $5) with fries $7.00

Fish & Chips $7.50

Golden Chicken Strips & Fries $7.50

Vegetarian or Chicken Caesar Wrap $7.50

Chicken Bacon Ranch Wrap $8.00

 

SIDES

French Fries $3.50

Fried Zucchini $3.75

Sweet Potato Fries $3.75

 

SALADS---Arctic Rose Chef Salad Supreme-$8.50---Salad Bar: Large $6.00---Medium $4.00----Small $3.00

 

DESSERTS

Ice Cream* (One Scoop) $100

Ice Cream* w/Syrup $125

*Ask for available flavors

Cookies $2.00

 

http://www.anchorageseniorcenter.org/

 

PS--In a little over a year we have cruised 4 times on Princess, 11 weeks total. I sure wish their MDR meals would match the meals served in their lodges today. Specialty Restaurants however are exquisite.

Edited January 13, 2016 by kennicott

[CaribbeanIsland]

While more expensive -- we thought the food was pretty good at the lodges. Not gourmet but filling and good.