Review Star Princess Alaska May 5-12 - Including Photo's and patters

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. Pictures are great. We will be on the Star in November so I have a question regarding the new televisions. Do they have coax inputs? Also if you know, is the remote locked where you can't change inputs should you hook up an external device such as a portable DVD player?

 

Thanks in advance for your reply.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Valiamo]

Nice cabin!

 

Were there any activities/shows that your particularly enjoyed? How about food on the ship? Any particular things that you enjoyed?

 

 

Thanks. This cruise was more about the ports of call vs the ship itself. The Glacier tour, Skagway and Juneau were great ports and we really enjoyed them. We really did not do any of the on-ship activites. We did watch one of the stage shows, and went to a movie in the Princess Theater. They were good productions (but not Great).

 

I did enjoy the guitar player. Jelrod Pentacase, he had an awesome voice and played the guitar very well I was quite impressed by his playing, and we stopped and watched him several times.

[Valiamo]

OP;

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. Pictures are great. We will be on the Star in November so I have a question regarding the new televisions. Do they have coax inputs? Also if you know, is the remote locked where you can't change inputs should you hook up an external device such as a portable DVD player?

 

Thanks in advance for your reply.....:):):)

 

Bob

 

 

Great question Bob. Yes, there is a Coax input into the TV, but I was not sure about unplugging it from the ship's systems and exchanging it for your own device with Coax. The remote was VERY primitive, while I was able to view the TV settings, through a menu, but didn't see a way to change the input device to another one. I would suspect you would need a universal remote to access the input menus.

 

I do hope someone that has tried to attach a device will chime in and talk about their successes

[Valiamo]

Glacier Bay - Grand Pacific and Margerie

The park rangers were stationed all around the 15th deck and gave a commentary, over the in-ship communication system, on the scenery and history of the area. It was very informative. They had pamphlets that were distributed early, so you could follow along.

 

There is also a book/map available in the ship's stores, “The Alaska Cruise Companion” that comes with a large fold-out map and points out each of the waypoints as we travelled through the various ports. This book is WELL worth purchase price $19.00 at the start of the cruise. We had the map open most days and were able to follow our course up and down the coast. The captain would announce which waypoint we were at on a regular basis.

 

We sailed to the top of Glacier Bay and cruised past the Grand Pacific Glacier (not very impressive)

 

We then stopped in front of Margerie Glacier where we spent over an hour right floating right beside the glacier. After 30 minutes, the ship rotated 180 degrees once giving both sides of the ship an outstanding view of the area. One of our waiters said that this was the closest he has been to the glacier in all the times he has been up there.

 

Yes, we were this close to the Glacier.

Catching the Glacier calving, the crash of the ice down to the ocean was breathtaking. You could see the waves coming towards the ship after the ice had broken off

 

Our Park tour guide was on the ship-wide intercom and gave us updates as we came close to each of the points of interest. She was very informative and had a nice calming voice.

[Valiamo]

Icebergs - Can anyone tell me what the vivid Blue colour on the iceberg is? Is this paint from it hitting the ship?

 

We do know that at least one of the icebergs actually hit the read starboard of the ship. As there was a loud crunch sound and I caught this photo, as we were rotating. I suspect that this caused a later problem (my thoughts ONLY)

 

Sailing away from the Margerie and Grand Glaciers

 

We then sailed down the Bay to Lamplugh Glacier. While not as impressive as the Margerie glacier, we did slow down and completed a full 180-degree turn so both sides of the ship could view it.

 

 

 

 

 

[Valiamo]

View from the stern of the Star. Yes, you needed your jacket and gloves on.

 

 

The sea was like Glass as we headed out of the Glacier Bay area.

A view of the Lamplugh Glacier

Edited May 19, 2018 by Valiamo

[Valiamo]

As we were visiting (or supposed to visit) 3 Alaskan ports, there were 2 x time changes. The first was on Day 3 (evening) and back on Day 5. So Monday night we had our first-time change and we adjusted our clocks 1 hour back (Noon became 11:00) to match local Alaska time.

 

 

We watched one of the shows in the Princess Theatre “Stardust”. While the show was good, it was not very long, and the artists were not the best. I have seen much better stage shows on other ships.

[Valiamo]

Day 4 - Skagway

 

Welcome to Skagway, we arrived into Skagway early and were docked when I crawled out of bed at 7:00.

 

Out views up and down the ship

 

We were berthed at the closest dock to the side of the mountain and had the railway trains right outside of the midship gangways.

 

 

I must have been sleepy because I thought there was only 1 ship in port, and I could not figure out how come the Star had 2 bridges.

 

 

If you are berthed in the second position on the dock, you have quite a long hike to get to the end of the Dock.

There are a number of painted ship notices on the rocks beside the dock. Some of the paintings were very impressive, and some were going back to the 1970's. Alas some were just butt ugly.

 

We were joined in Skagway by the Ruby and the Nieuw Amsterdam. I finally realized that the Ruby was directly behind us in port.

 

[Valiamo]

The Star tied up.

 

 

The Niew Amsterdam at the other pier.

 

 

We really liked Skagway, it was a quaint town, and the vendors were very friendly. We never felt that we were being pressured by any of the vendors. We walked from the ship to the town area (maybe a ½ mile walk), and it was a nice and warm day. We stopped into a number of stores and looked at their wares. Personally, I thought that Skagway was the most reasonably priced of the (2 stops we had). Buy your goods here if you want great local Alaskan art and prices.

 

We LOVED the Quilt shops both here “Rushin’ Tailors” and in Juneau “Changing Tides”. Maria was able to pick up some very nice local fabric for her quilting.

[Valiamo]

View of the main street

 

 

And of course the driftwood storefront

 

 

We visited a small arts and crafts gift shop, and purchased some artwork, only to find out the clerk serving us was the artist herself (Tina). She was so personable and nice, as almost everyone we met in Skagway was so friendly and nice.

 

I just loved this old door as I was walking past.

 

[Valiamo]

White Pass Scenic Railway

We returned to the ship for lunch and then took the White Pass Scenic Railway up to the Canadian Border and back.

 

This is an OUTSTANDING excursion, and the price to catch the train in town or from the pier was almost the same. We were one of 4 trains (about 10 cars each) that left the 2 ports areas (two trains for our ports and 1 for the Nieuw Amsterdam) and one from the downtown. Luckily we were on the second last train, as we had to travel an additional 7 miles into Canada to do the loop around near Fraser, BC and back down the White Pass. Because the train does the loop, you do not have to trade spots to see the other side as you came back down the pass.

In the morning there is one additional train that goes all the way into Canada passing through BC and into the Yukon. You MUST have a passport for this excursion. You did not need one for the 3-4 hour train tours

You can stand on the platforms between the cars, but you cannot cross between cars (safety reasons). I spent most of the trip on one side or the other taking photos of the scenery, which was outstanding both ways.

 

This is the path that the gold miners of 1898 took from Skagway to the Yukon. The path is still there. It was hard to imagine the Gold Miners trying to get up the pass to get to the gold mining fields. Even harder to realize that they needed to carry 1 TON of supplies in order for them to pass into Canada to head North into the Yukon and Alaska to stake out their claim. Some of them took 10 trips up and down the pass to get all the supplies up.

 

View of how close you are to the side of the hill

 

 

View of the engines and train cars

 

 

 

View down to Skagway

 

[Valiamo]

White Pass trail

 

The walking pass of 1898

 

 

 

View up the trail

 

 

 

Just an awesome view.

 

 

The train heading up the pass

 

View of the valley we came up on. You can see the rail line in the bottom left of the photo, and on the top is the highway between Skagway and Fraser BC.

 

[Valiamo]

The OLD Train Bridge

 

 

 

One would hope that that the train bridge was safe to travel…. Hmm nope..

 

 

Inspiration Point

 

 

[Valiamo]

Border into Canada

 

This is the US border crossing. The Canadian crossing was 12 mile further up the road.

The painting "Onto Alaska with Buchanan" on the rocks celebrates a Gentleman, George Buchanan, who helped hundreds of kids from the Eastern US travel across Canada and into Alaska. The painting is a tribute to George put there by the kids he helped. Google "On to Alaska" for a truly feel good story.

 

The Old Canadian Border crossing. This is the old North West Mounted Police station (or at least a depiction of it)

 

 

Snow in the pass

 

 

 

[Valiamo]

Old Glacier Field - these large boulders are left as the Glacier receded.

 

 

Our ships in port

 

 

Ruby leaving before us

 

[Valiamo]

We have a cancelled port…. pout...

 

We were scheduled to sail away at 8 PM. Seems that everyone was on board well before 8 as the Captain spoke to us at 7:55 and gave us some bad/sad news.

 

The ship was having technical Issues with the starboard rudder and they were going to travel directly into Juneau (arriving early) and a repair crew was en route to meet the ship where they were going to effect repairs on the rudder. (hmm wonder if that iceberg we hit the day before had anything to do with this??)

 

Unfortunately, as the repairs would take a very long time, our stop in Ketchikan was cancelled, and we would spend overnight in Juneau and when repaired we would then head directly back to Vancouver and have 2 sea days instead of a stop and 1 sea day.

 

As an apology, Princess was providing refundable OBC to every passenger, full refunds of any excursions booked (Princess booked only) plus a future cruise credit (book before June of 2019) and a refund of the port fees for Ketchikan. While disappointing, it was nice to have the refundable OBC, as it paid for most of our expenditures on the ship. All of the refunds or credits were applied to our accounts almost immediately.

[Valiamo]

Day 5 and Day 6 Morning - Juneau

 

Juneau is a typical port town/city, it is the capital city of Alaska, and has about 35,000 permanent residents, and many seasonal workers. They also serve some 2 million visitors a year (according to our tour guide).

 

Alas, I was not impressed with Juneau (BUT, that is my opinion only). We heard good things about the Alaska State Museum (easy walking distance from the pier), The Macaulay Salmon Hatchery, the Tram to the top of Mount Roberts, and whale watching tours. We took a tour to the Mendenhall Glacier and in retrospect should have done the Hatchery and the Museum.

 

They said there was a lot of snow at the top of the tram, and those that went whale watching saw both Orcas and Humpback Whales.

 

We did not get into the Red Dog Saloon but went into their gift shop. The prices were very expensive, and we didn’t buy anything there.

 

Views of the City from the Ship

 

South from the Ship

Downtown Juneau

[

Other ships in port

 

The Tramway to the point (it was VERY close), you could walk to here in 10 minutes.

 

[Valiamo]

Juneau, continued

There were a ton of shops around the port area, including the typical Diamonds International chain of stores.

This a walkable city, and you do not need to walk very far from the ship to get into the shopping area.

 

This is one place that I felt high-pressure sales by most of the shops that we went into. The jewellery stores all had someone at the door offering free charms or baubles (I thought I was in Cozumel again). Most of the gift shops that we visited had large signs saying “Alaskan Family owed” and the clerks made sure that you knew they were Alaskan owned, it really felt like high-pressure sales.

 

One bright light is we did visit a quilt store (Changing Tides) and we were quite impressed with the overall selection and prices. The staff were very happy to help us, and we spent a long time in the store.

[Valiamo]

We took a ships Tour up to Mendenhall Glacier

 

This was a very good tour that took you up to the Glacier (about 15 miles outside of Juneau). IT was a 30ish minute bus ride, and 2.5 hours at the Glacier.

This is a “Do It Yourself” tour and you had to find your way around the area. There is a lot of walking and it is a trek up to the visitor centre. There are elevators, but this is not really a place for someone with mobility concerns. I would say you would need to walk at least 250 feet to get to the visitor's centre.

 

 

That is the Glacier in the distance, and it is over a mile away from where we stood.

 

 

 

 

On the cheap, riding the bus from the city is possible, BUT you are left with a minimum of a 1-mile walk from the bus stop to the entrance to the visitor centre area, and another mile to get near the glacier. We watched a lot of hot and sweaty individuals walking from the bus stop (really not advised).

 

This is our first view of the Glacier

 

 

 

To get an understanding of how much this glacier is shrinking, in the 1930’s the glacier was at the level of visitor centre’s sign (1+ miles back) and several hundred feet higher. The small lake you see in front of the Glacier is quite young (less than 50 years old).

 

There was a HUGE waterfall to the left of the glacier and we walked to this point an back (a 2-mile round trip). We walked there an back again in less than an hour

 

 

We were able to see some wildlife. The visitor centre had high power scopes focused on the side of the hills and the Mountain sheep on the sides. There was also a porcupine in a tree next to the visitor centre. I was sure that the porcupine was just a doll, as it sat very still for the longest time. If finally moved and I realized it was real.

 

[Valiamo]

Day 6 - Ketchikan (our missed stop)

 

Ah… not going to Ketchikn, owing to our rudder that needed some work. We stayed overnight in Juneau, and they worked very hard under the ship repairing it. While we didn’t see any divers, there were all kinds of pieces of equipment that were off the starboard side and under the ship.

 

We did hear later (from passengers on the Nieuw Amsterdam that most of the best and most reasonable shopping was in Ketchikan. We did like easy going way of the vendors in Skagway, and shopping in Juneau was not really fun and quite expensive. Case in point, in Skagway, the Ulu’s Arctic Knives were priced at $3.99 each or 3 for $10, and Juneau the same item was priced at $9.99 each.

 

Another early awakening…. Good morning Day 6

 

04:20 am the ship started up, and we felt the full vibrations of the ship pulling away from the Juneau dock. It was nice to see the sail away, but at 4:20… yikes! I was surprised that the ship shook that much as we pulled out of port. Normally, I never feel a ship docking or pulling away. This time it actually felt different.

 

According to the Captain, the repairs had been affected early and we were full steam ahead back into Vancouver. We still had a long way to go, and we were travelling ~15-20 knots the entire way.

 

Day 6, of course, was our Formal night, and the Captain's reception for frequent cruisers. We had Lobster dinner tonight, and it was excellent. In fact, this is the first solid meat that I had been able to eat in many months (I was very excited).

Captain Tuvo, was a great host for the reception, and he showed he had a great sense of humour and could entertain the guests. He said the frequent travellers were outnumbered by first-time cruisers 2:1. The top cruiser on the ship was a Mr and Mrs More who had 1341 nights at sea (that’s like 191 - 7-night cruises).

 

It was interesting that the Asian influence cruisers were much better dressed up, than most of the rest of the passengers. I actually felt out of place in my dress pants, shirt and dressy sweater

 

Day 7 -At sea

 

The last two days on the ship were spent quietly resting up from the two ports and running around trying to get all the gifts for family back home.

 

We had a great meal at the Crown Grill, and they were easily able to accommodate both me (blended meals) and my Maria, Gluten-free. A shout out to Bogdan who made sure that we were well fed and that our meals were prepared correctly.

 

Our time in the MDR was always a very nice time, and we always had excellently prepared meals to our liking. Marino (head waiter) was especially attentive and made sure that I could eat properly, and he personally followed my meals through the kitchen making sure I could eat them… Yes, he got a special tip from us.

 

Also a special shout out to Anthony, in the Ice Cream shop. I asked on Day one for a special blended Milkshake (Boost, Protein and Drink Powders) and he was more than happy to assist. In fact, each day that I got in line, he would smile and ask for my drink and powder to make me a shake.

[Valiamo]

Disembarkation day

 

We had a 12 noon flight and we DID NOT rush to the Airport. We were in a middle disembark group, and we took our time.

 

The ship was back and docked before 6 AM on Saturday. Disembarkation started at 7:30 am they were running ½ late by 9 AM. The foreign tour groups took a LONG time to get off the ship. We had a disembark time of 9 am, and we left the lounge (early) at 9:30 as we had a noon flight.

 

Gathering your luggage was very easy, but I am sure they used porters that could not count or read. Our disembark group was Orange 1 (as per our luggage tags), and I found one piece of our luggage in the Orange 5 line, and the other in the Orange 9 area. It took a while to find the 3 pieces and get them together.

 

Customs was an absolute BREEZE, you give your customs declaration card to the Customs agent, they asked if you had Booze or smokes, and you were on your way. There was no stopping here, just a customs agent collecting your customs declarations.

 

But.. once you got past customs and trying to get upstairs was not an easy task. So many people trying to get out of the same small area together. Both ships were disembarking at the same location, and it created a quite foot traffic jam.

 

We were taking the Skytrain out to the Airport, and we were outside and walking to the train around 9:45. We walked down from Canada Place, to Waterfront Drive, and then turned left on W Cordova Street (maybe 200 yards). One MUST enter the train station on the W. Cordova Street side, as the entrance right beside Canada Place does not service the YVR line (Airport). It is maybe a 5-minute walk around the corner.

 

We walked over to the Waterfront station entrance to the Sky train and were down and on the train by 10 am. Make sure you catch the YVR train, and not the Richmond train. They are clearly marked, and there are continual announcements.

 

The Skytrain ride to the Airport was a breeze ($4.10 each one way) We just tucked our suitcases in between the seats, and sat beside them. There were loads of seats available, and no-one seemed to mind we had our luggage on one seat and we were sitting beside them. Payment can be made via ANY Tap or chip-enabled credit or debit card, they could not have made it easier to get to the Airport.

 

We were at the Airport by 10:30. The airport is the LAST stop on the YVR line, so there is zero chance of you missing your stop.

 

Final thoughts….

 

Weather plays a big part in how much you can and how much you will enjoy your cruise. The weather for our cruise was outstanding, we could not have asked for better weather. While it was cool at the Glacier's and in the evenings, it was not in any way bitterly cold.

Even though we had 1 missed port, we did not feel that we missed out on anything that we had planned to do (shopping maybe). The crew of the Star Princess were excellent, and always a welcoming bunch. I never felt like I was intruding, when I asked for special meals, they were just happy to help.

 

There were a TON of activities scheduled around the ship, and you could spend all your days on the ship running from activity to activity.

 

It is true that the Captain and his officers make a cruise. Captain Tuvo showed enthusiasm that seemed to flow down to everyone on the ship.

 

An Alaska Cruise is a once in a lifetime cruise. We have now been there and done that.

Our next big adventure will be a Coast to Coast Panama Canal cruise in 2020 (with a Pacific Coastal and a couple of Caribbean cruises to round out our experiences)

 

Thanks for reading and I hope I have given you some good information.

[toledo]

Terrific pictures. Thanks so much for sharing everything.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[shirazcruiser]

Great question Bob. Yes, there is a Coax input into the TV, but I was not sure about unplugging it from the ship's systems and exchanging it for your own device with Coax. The remote was VERY primitive, while I was able to view the TV settings, through a menu, but didn't see a way to change the input device to another one. I would suspect you would need a universal remote to access the input menus.

 

I do hope someone that has tried to attach a device will chime in and talk about their successes

 

We were on this sailing and hooked up our IPad via HDMI cord and used a RCA universal remote that had an INPUT button which we programmed to the LG tv. We watched downloaded Netflix and Amazon shows.

[Valiamo]

We were on this sailing and hooked up our IPad via HDMI cord and used a RCA universal remote that had an INPUT button which we programmed to the LG tv. We watched downloaded Netflix and Amazon shows.

 

Excellent, thanks for the details!