Island Princess Soutbound 7-16-07 + 3-day land

[LisaH]

I posted this on Princess board and there is also a review on Cruise Critic Member Reviews. Thought I would share with all of you and say a million thanks to all who gave me advice, especially Budget Queen...

 

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First of all, thanks to all who gave advice and info in our quest to make Alaska a great experience.

 

We traveled to Anchorage on 7-12-07 from DFW and stayed at the Hilton Anchorage. We had an awesome room on the top floor - floor to ceiling windows. This hotel is very nice and clean and the big plus was air conditioning. The only problem we had was no hot water and that was fixed and they credited us $50 for the inconvenience.

 

7-13-07

Official start of land part of cruise with Princess. We re-checked into the same room we had booked on our own. They were very nice about letting us keep the same room for both nights. All of our information was together and organized with explanations of where to meet and how luggage would be handled.

 

7-14-07

Picked up around 10:00 am to head to Mt. Mckinley Lodge via motorcoach. The motorcoach was very clean and so was the restroom on the coach. Seats were comfortable. Our driver/guide was so-so...Travel time was approx 3 hours.

 

Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge was fantastic! It was my favorite of the two lodges. Unfortunately the mountain was not out this day but that was made up for later on the train ride. The lodge was immaculate and the food was good. We had dinner at the King Salmon - grill. Great views and a nice room. We were in building 19 which was one of the two new ones that opened last year. It was so peaceful and quiet...I was worried about air conditioning and mosquitoes but had no problems with either. We slept with the window open and temps were in the upper 30s, lower 40s in the morning. The mountain tip came out very briefly about 6:30 in the morning.

 

7-15-07

Motorcoach to Denali. We had a great driver/guide on this leg of the trip. She was fantastic. We saw a bear on the way and she even pulled over and stopped the bus. It was a distance away but we could see a black spot and got a good picture. Towards the end, the Princess outfitters get on board (at a scheduled stop) and register you and give a little talk about things to do.

 

The setting of the lodge is very pretty along the Nenana (sp?) river and we were able to listen to the river when we opened the window to our room. The lodge in my opinion needs an update. It was very clean but dated and the walls very thin. Again, no hot water and a disgusting shower curtain but these problems were remedied VERY quickly. Had a great dinner at the nice restaurant but can't remember the name. We had copper river salmon that was to die for.

 

The much maligned natural history tour was very enjoyable. The scenery was beautiful and we did not mind that we did not see a huge amount of wildlife. We got great pics on the return of a female moose grazing right there on the side of the road within 10 feet of the bus. The bus driver stopped, and we were all silent...and there were a lot of kids on our bus. You could have heard a pin drop. She posed for quite a while and it was fantastic.

 

7-16-07

Train ride from Denali to Whittier: This was awesome. We got lucky and had a great couple sharing our table and we talked and laughed the whole 9 hours. I will admit that towards the end, I was ready to get off. The train is very clean and lots of fun. The best part was not a cloud in the sky and the views of Mt. Mckinley in all its splendor was a very rare thing...perfect views of the WHOLE mountain...better than from the Lodge. It made the whole trip worth it. The other scenery was equally awesome. Our pics are great but do not do it justice. You must see it with your own eyes.

 

Embarkation to the ship was very easy as the outfitters did it all for us and brought us our key/cards onto the train and handed them out. All we had to do was get on the ship and go to our cabin. We had a mini suite bump out on Baja - B503.

 

I would not book this cabin again even with the extra view on the balcony. The cabin was great, size, cleanliness but there was a service door directly across from the cabin which made for noisy mornings, evenings and the last night was horrible when luggage was being taken out of cabins for debarkation the next day. I made a call to the purser's desk but there is nothing they can do and it went on until midnight.

 

Some other observations were that Princess service is not what it used to be. Their customer service seems to be lacking and it is whatever is best for them and not the customer. But it was a great trip. The Island Princess is a gorgeous ship and I would not hesitate to recommend the ship. It is the perfect size, not too big and not too small.

 

Hubby and I both got sick but I will get to that.

 

7-17-07

College Fjord - AWESOME - beautiful and sunny and not too cold. We got great pictures from our balcony. We were fortunate that I woke up early enough to see the glaciers. Many people missed them as we did not know it would be 6:30 am when we would see the glaciers.

 

7-18-07

Glacier Bay - simply spectacular. Words cannot describe. Weather was perfect, sunny and warm believe it or not. We were out on the balcony all day. We got very close to both Marjorie and Grand Pacific glaciers and NO CLOUDS or fog to obscure any visibility.

 

Evening: I woke up at midnight with nausea, vomiting and the other lovely symptom as well. Went to the doctor in the morning and got two shots and was confined to the cabin for 24 hours and missed Skagway. My hubby did the White Pass Railroad without me and got some great pics but I missed seeing it. The doctor said he should go as it was beautiful. They came twice to sanitize the cabin and I felt a bit like I was public enemy #1. Started feeling better by end of day and was cleared out of the cabin the next day.

 

7-19-07-Skagway

I was sick, hubby did White Pass Railroad and loved it.

 

7-20-07

Juneau - had scheduled the helicopter landing on Mendenhall glacier but it was cancelled due to bad weather. This was the only port my husband and I were well at the same time. Oh well.

 

7-20-07

Hubby got sick in the middle of the night with the same problem. The medical staff came to our cabin...same story. He was confined for Ketchikan.

 

7-21-07

Ketchikan - I went out unsupervised and bought some jewelry. Ketchikan is a lovely town. We had two shore excursions scheduled which we missed due to his illness and I did not want to go on my own. Princess credited us back for all missed excursions due to illness and weather.

 

Not many sick on this trip - about 5 probably.

 

7-22-07

Both hubby and I were well and out of the cabin and enjoyed our day at sea on the way back to Vancouver.

 

Overall we had a great vacation - it could have been perfect if we had not gotten sick and if Princess had been a little more attentive to customer service. Our dining staff was awesome - some of the best we have had on any cruise. Room service was perfect and I am happy to report the coffee has greatly improved. We had attitude issues with the Spa and one of the Maitre D's but not important enough to give detail.

 

I am happy to answer any questions you might have so please email me at lisa.hudson@eds.com.

 

Princess arrangements worked out perfectly. We did our own air and could not have planned it better. I messed up on the US Direct on the way home but that would have been the best way to go. I had not realized I needed to let Princess know what our flights were given that we had done it independently. Not a major issue however in the long run

[Italy52]

Welcome back. Thanks for posting your review of your cruise - enjoyed reading it. We were on the Island southbound last May and had a nice time. Always enjoy reading about other cruisers' experiences.

 

We also stayed at the Hilton last year; we were there for three nights. Next May we will go back again for three nights. We like the hotel, location, and staff very much - glad you had a good experience.

 

So sorry to hear about your "downtime." Glad to hear it was brief and didn't ruin your entire cruise.

 

Any chance you will be posting pictures???????

[LisaH]

Welcome back. Thanks for posting your review of your cruise - enjoyed reading it. We were on the Island southbound last May and had a nice time. Always enjoy reading about other cruisers' experiences.

 

We also stayed at the Hilton last year; we were there for three nights. Next May we will go back again for three nights. We like the hotel, location, and staff very much - glad you had a good experience.

 

So sorry to hear about your "downtime." Glad to hear it was brief and didn't ruin your entire cruise.

 

Any chance you will be posting pictures???????

 

Hi Italy52. My husband is going to show me how to post pics to a website so I can share them. As soon as he does that I will post the link. I think we took about 400-500 pics. The ones of Mt. McKinley are simply award winning if I do say so myself. I may submit to a contest on Princess' website. We were so lucky when on the train from Denali to Whittier that there was not a cloud in the sky and we saw the whole mountain.

[tddragoon]

How was the airfare out of DFW? After doing a southbound, would you consider a northbound, or do you think the southbound was the better choice? Sorry to ask so many questions, but I'm trying to narrow down my choices.

[LoriPhil]

We just returned from our Northbound July 16 cruise on the Coral and enjoyed having the day ahead in Vancouver (I've just posted our review and will also post separately on the Alaska boards). We found the cruise itself was wonderful going north, and loved having our last two days "at sea" viewing glaciers and generally enjoying the cruising experience. The only "down" was the limited flight options out of Anchorage and the long wait to board our 11:15 PM flight to Denver. Naturally, it was packed which made it a bit more challanging to get comfortable and we were beat by 10AM when we arrived home the next morning (napped the rest of the day and sent out for pizza, so that did improve our spirits). All that being said, I'd do exactly the same trip again if given the opportunity!

[LisaH]

How was the airfare out of DFW? After doing a southbound, would you consider a northbound, or do you think the southbound was the better choice? Sorry to ask so many questions, but I'm trying to narrow down my choices.

 

We used frequent flier miles - first class all the way around--NICE! So I can't say what the air fare would have been. I would not consider doing a northbound for two reasons...1) - we wanted the longer plane ride out of the way first and 2) we wanted the land first so we could relax on the cruise.

 

Feel free to ask any questions you like. You can email me direct at lisa.hudson@eds.com. I think it is just personal preference on north vs south. For us, there was never a decision to make...it was always going to be southbound.

[LisaH]

Welcome back. Thanks for posting your review of your cruise - enjoyed reading it. We were on the Island southbound last May and had a nice time. Always enjoy reading about other cruisers' experiences.

 

We also stayed at the Hilton last year; we were there for three nights. Next May we will go back again for three nights. We like the hotel, location, and staff very much - glad you had a good experience.

 

So sorry to hear about your "downtime." Glad to hear it was brief and didn't ruin your entire cruise.

 

Any chance you will be posting pictures???????

 

Here is the link...this is all of them, good, bad and ugly (not many of those). We have not titled them yet. I need to go in and edit the spelling in the description as hubby did this without me.

 

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/chudson200/AlaskaVacationJuly2007?authkey=2B2JW79OqRU

[fti]

I think we took about 400-500 pics. The ones of Mt. McKinley are simply award winning if I do say so myself. I may submit to a contest on Princess' website.

 

You might want to read the fine print about the contest rules. Last year when I read them, I had to basically give away my rights to the photo if I submitted it to Princess. That is not something I want to do with my photos. Most contests allow you to keep the rights. If you don't win, they can still use your photo any way they want. In my opinion, that is not fair. If they are going to use your photo, you should get compensated for it somehow. Either find a different contest or hope Princess changed its rules.

[LisaH]

You might want to read the fine print about the contest rules. Last year when I read them, I had to basically give away my rights to the photo if I submitted it to Princess. That is not something I want to do with my photos. Most contests allow you to keep the rights. If you don't win, they can still use your photo any way they want. In my opinion, that is not fair. If they are going to use your photo, you should get compensated for it somehow. Either find a different contest or hope Princess changed its rules.

 

I agree with you - I could not even find the link on their website to where you can submit. They told me I would be entered to win a cruise so I thought it might be worthwhile...i might check it out if I can find the area on princess.com

 

thanks

[Squirrel's Mom]

Lisa,

 

Great review and fabulous pictures. One quick question: Is that a COLLAR on the moose??

 

And re US Direct, was the problem that you didn't tell Princess before the cruise about your return flight OR while you were onboard?

 

So sorry about your illnesses!

[Italy52]

Here is the link...this is all of them, good, bad and ugly (not many of those). We have not titled them yet. I need to go in and edit the spelling in the description as hubby did this without me.

 

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/chudson200/AlaskaVacationJuly2007?authkey=2B2JW79OqRU

 

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful pictures, they brought back good memories of our 2006 trip to Alaska on the Island.

 

One question for you, when you stayed at the Hilton, were you in the tower section? If so, what room number were you in? It looked like the room we had last year was in one of your pictures.

[LisaH]

Lisa' date='

 

Great review and fabulous pictures. One quick question: Is that a COLLAR on the moose??

 

And re US Direct, was the problem that you didn't tell Princess before the cruise about your return flight OR while you were onboard?

 

So sorry about your illnesses![/quote']

 

Hey there, yes...some of the wildlife are radio tagged by the park dept so they can be tracked. Good observation!

 

Yes and the US Direct problem was my fault. On the cruise personalizer I did not put our flights in and there was no way for American and Princess to connect us to each other for the purposes of the on board check in. The purser's desk also said a limited number of on board check-ins was available so whatever the case - even if Princess has all your flight info...go to the purser's desk the first or second day and check into it. By the time I asked about it, the deadline had passed to sign up.

[LisaH]

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful pictures, they brought back good memories of our 2006 trip to Alaska on the Island.

 

One question for you, when you stayed at the Hilton, were you in the tower section? If so, what room number were you in? It looked like the room we had last year was in one of your pictures.

 

We were on the top floor or the Hilton - room # was something like 2206--not sure. Yes, and it was in the tower section and floor to celing windows - NICE. I think there is a pic or two in there taken from the room window.

[Italy52]

We were on the top floor or the Hilton - room # was something like 2206--not sure. Yes, and it was in the tower section and floor to celing windows - NICE. I think there is a pic or two in there taken from the room window.

 

 

Lisa, I thought I recognized the view from your pictures. We had a corner room with a view of the weekend marketplace, the train station and the bay. We are hoping to get that same room again---loved the view!

[CALMOM]

Thank you so much for sharing your pictures, awesome pictures. I could easily identify the bear pictures. Glad you had a great time, your pictures just made me even more excited about going in September.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you so much for sharing your cruise with us.

[Squirrel's Mom]

Lisa,

 

Thanks for your time! (I've always suspected -- especially in the Caribbean -- that they have the "wildlife" behind a tree and when a tour group is approaching, they lead the animal (croc, lizard, goat, whatever) into the optimum viewing position! Thought maybe the collar on this moose was the giveaway! :D )

 

Anyway, thanks for that info on US Direct. It was exactly what I needed. I've read on several threads that some people have been turned down but no one ever is sure why. We're not on Princess this time, but Celebrity. But I did get on line this morning and make sure that all our flight info is entered with them and that the airlines also have all the international info they requested. Will also follow up at earliest opportunity when on board. Do appreciate your help!

 

Thanks again for sharing!

[LisaH]

Lisa' date='

 

Thanks for your time! (I've always suspected -- especially in the Caribbean -- that they have the "wildlife" behind a tree and when a tour group is approaching, they lead the animal (croc, lizard, goat, whatever) into the optimum viewing position! Thought maybe the collar on this moose was the giveaway! :D )

 

Anyway, thanks for that info on US Direct. It was exactly what I needed. I've read on several threads that some people have been turned down but no one ever is sure why. We're not on Princess this time, but Celebrity. But I did get on line this morning and make sure that all our flight info is entered with them and that the airlines also have all the international info they requested. Will also follow up at earliest opportunity when on board. Do appreciate your help!

 

Thanks again for sharing![/quote']

 

You are most welcome...you will have a great time.

[UTmom]

Hi Lisa!

 

I loved looking at your pictures. We leave Monday for the land part of our cruise with Princess and then southbound on the Sapphire. I can hardly wait! Your pictures of Mt. McKinley were exceptional. I'm hoping that we get at least a glimpse of it!

 

Thanks again for sharing your trip with us!

[LisaH]

Hey UT Mom...that is what we hoped for also...one glimpse. We were disappointed when we did not see at the Princess McKinley Lodge but got a bonus on the train ride. So if you are taking the train, you will have two chances.