Belated report from the Sapphire Princess

[NJ2FL]

We sailed from Whittier to Vancouver July 21st preceded by a Fairbanks/Denali cruisetour.

It took me a few weeks to first get over a cold I caught (Thankfully it didn’t bloom until I was on the plane home) and then catch up at work. But I learned so many wonderful things on these message boards I thought I’d “pay it forward” a bit and share just a few things I learned and experienced. And I’ve posted them at www.alaskanwebsite.com

• Dreams do come true. Thanks to a wonderful TA who has many years of experience we were upgraded to a balcony after booking an outside cabin. He didn’t make any promises, but to our delight, it happened. It’s a beautiful thing.

• Princess is deceptive in its advertising pertaining to its pre-cruise accommodations. Their online and brochure advertising only shows the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge It was only after we booked our cruisetour did the info they send with our cruise docs list alternative accommodations. We were put at the Fairbanks Rivers Edge Resort. My friends, this place is NOT a resort. They don’t even have a lounge chair on the premises. There are no dining choices and the only “river view” was from a bench on a mosquito-laden lawn. The rooms are little “cabins” which in theory should be quaint but it was too close in flavor to the RV camp it owned next door. I’m not a snob…but if I’m paying for four-star accommodations I want to get four-star accommodations. The only upside to all of this was the great people we met who were also staying there and on our tour with us.
  
• Downtown Fairbanks is a very rundown little place. All the more reason we wished were at the Riverside Lodge with more dining choices rather than having to waste time on the shuttle to go to dinner.
  
• While the El Dorado Gold Mine and Paddle wheeler cruise were fun, TIP: if you have the time, visit the museum at the University of Alaska/Fairbanks. You can easily make it through at a leisurely pace in about two hours. We had time the day before the cruisetour started and really loved that museum. It may be on some of the longer cruisetour itineraries – I don’t know. It’s a wonderful museum combining native arts and crafts with modern art and natural history. We also learned a great deal in preparation for the week to come.
  
• The train to Denali was a LOT of fun. TIP: Grab some coffee cups with lids from the hotel and take with you. Pour whatever you’re drinking on board the train into them because when the train starts rocking, the drinks start sloshing! I had my own stash of soft drinks and tipped the bartender when I asked for ice. They say you can’t bring snacks aboard but many people do and no one from the train makes you get rid of it. By the way, the food and drinks they offer are quite reasonable and very good.
  
• Denali: Ah! Wilderness! The Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge was lovely. Nothing beats sitting on that deck at the Bistro Lounge in the warmth of the midday sun enjoying lunch with new friends and admiring the awesome scenery.
  
• We boarded the bus at 6.30 a.m. for the Tundra Wilderness tour. Word to the wise… the restrooms in the park are tricked up outhouses. No running water. Some were better than others in terms of odor TIP – skip the second cup of coffee or tea in the morning! This would not have been such a big deal except that tour was about 7 hours and Mother Nature does call! I’m not really a prima donna – but one of the facilities was really stinky and even though I pulled my t-shirt up over my nose I just couldn’t handle it!
  
• The box lunch provided by the parks department on the Tundra Wilderness Tour consisted of a bottle of water, a roll, some carrots, some cheese and some slices of reindeer sausage/salami type stuff. I wish I brought something less salty and artery-clogging. TIP/Warning: IF you do bring your own snacks, be very careful with what you do with it to dispose of waste. The bus drivers are (correctly so) careful to have everyone separate their garbage and dispose of it properly without leaving any traces behind to disturb the natural habitat. And you’re going to be on that bus for a very long day and there are no snack bars or MickyDs along the way!
  
• The Tundra Wilderness Tour was amazing – we were very lucky and saw bear, wolves, eagles, caribou, dahl sheep, Ptarmigans and terrific scenery. BRING BINOCULARS!

I’m very glad we took the tour portion before our cruise as it we were growing weary of putting our luggage out before 6 a.m. and schlepping on and off busses. I strongly recommend anyone taking a cruisetour to tour first and cruise second.

· Aboard the Sapphire Princess. Lovely ship, hard to write about anything that hasn’t been covered before. Just a few things I learned and did….

o Wish I had my winter coat. Yes, layers are good, but this girl who lives in Florida was not warm enough even with hat and gloves while cruising through glaciers.

o I brought my laptop with me and every night I uploaded my photos from the digital camera on to my hard drive. In retrospect, I should have brought a couple of blank CDs to back up the hard drive photos but fortunately, everything came home in tact!

o The wireless card inside my laptop gave me the opportunity to use the wireless café at the $.50 a minute rate rather than $.75 on the ship computers. I composed my emails in Word and then cut and paste them into messages and hit “send.” The Internet was valuable when I was considering buying a new watch and some perfume on board. I checked online and saw that the Citizen watch WAS a good deal, but the perfume could be purchased at fragrancenet.com for considerably less. By the way, the bottles of Absolut and Tanqueray I purchased at the duty-free shop to take home were excellent values and they were put in a vacuum packed bubble wrap to protect them in the suitcase. I did look again at the perfume prices at the Vancouver duty-free – some were higher than regular retail!

o TIP A last minute purchase at Sport Authority was one of my favorite cruise ‘must-haves.” I picked up a $10 sack pack and used it every day. I put my laptop in it and carried it to the Internet café. I stuffed it into my tote bag as an “extra” tote for shore excursions and it was great to stuff my extra sweater, gloves and hat into when I went up to the sun deck. Made of easy-to-clean & dry nylon, it was also good for taking to the pool, gym and spa.

o I read all the lists to of things to bring and the most helpful was the power strip. I gave my leftover laundry detergent (I brought with me some travel sized ALL concentrate) to the cabin steward – they have to buy that stuff for their own use. I also left him our left-over bottles of water and soda that we picked up at a supermarket in Fairbanks. Singles and Fives were very helpful for tipping tour guides, bus and shuttle drivers. I got a roll of quarters from the purser to do laundry and wound up coming home with a few “Princess” quarters – the kind used in the slot machines – in my wallet. So weed them out before you get off the ship

o Speaking of laundry. I met the nicest people in the laundry room! TIP I discovered that you could just add quarters to the dryer to get an extra ten minutes or so rather than putting in another dollar.

o Great little gifts to bring back home: In Juneau, just beyond the pier, is a tiny shop that sells Glacier Smoothie Silt Soap and Lotion. Three for $20. I brought a bunch back for my friends. IMO vacations are never long enough and I hate spending time shopping. I’m personally not big on souvenirs. I grabbed a fresh copy of the Princess Pater from the purser’s day every day to take home as a momento of the trip.

o My experience with Sprint PCS – I was able to use my phone in Anchorage (but not Whittier), in Fairbanks and Juneau. There was no data (email/Internet) service anywhere in AK.

Observations:

The passengers: BIG ship, lots of people. Of course a proportionate number of rude or inconsiderate jerks. Like those who left their newspapers flying around the decks. Or our neighbor who got locked out of his cabin when putting his suitcase out the night before we disembarked and was banging on his cabin to wake his wife. (This must have gone on for five full minutes at about 1 am –I kid you not.) I finally got out of bed, opened the door and offered to call the front desk for him, at which point his hard-of-hearing wife sticks her head out of the door and asks “Joe, where did you go?” And the people raising a ruckus from their balcony as we sailed into College Fjords at 6 am. C’mon – a little common courtesy so everyone could appreciate the serenity and quiet – especially before we’ve been caffeinated! And I was APPALLED by how many people did not tip tour guides and bus drivers.

We got dressed up for formal night but given my personal druthers, I’d have rather have gone to the buffet in slacks – particularly the evening we came back from a long day sightseeing in Ketchikan. I just didn’t feel like bothering, but it was my first cruise and felt obligated to go for it.

We enjoyed the freedom of Anytime Dining but would have preferred being seated at shared tables more often. They usually were not available when we went to dinner (somewhere between 7.30 and 8) It was so enjoyable meeting new people.

The service on Sapphire Princess was fantastic. Though I had no other cruises to compare it to, I have stayed in five-star hotels and have never seen more people sincerely eager to please than the Princess employees. Our cabin steward was ALWAYS (or so it seemed) in the hall with a smile and asking if he could be of any assistance.

The food in the dining rooms was just okay but I’m not all that picky - I will say the soups were excellent, the steak was lousy. Considering we were in Alaska, Halibut should have been on the menu more than once. TIP If the appetizers don’t really appeal to you, ask to split an entrée. Tea service was very poor. A proper tea should offer more than just one sort of tea, and the scones w/ clotted cream were few and far between. We went just once. We dined at the Horizon Court for breakfast and most lunches. Very good food and terrific selection BUT there should have been a greater choice of whole grain breads. And the croissants and bread should have been warm. Not a hard thing to do.

My only regret is that we didn’t take the whale watching trip. The friends we met on the ship loved it. We did see some from the ship from afar (no photos I’m afraid!)

I went on my cruise to Alaska thinking it would be a once-in-lifetime journey but I would very much like to return - maybe in ten years. God willing we can all stop killing our environment and the wildlife (I want to see those whales!) It is an amazing place and I wish good cruising to all of you who venture there.

www.alaskanwebsite.com

[nisky]

Thanks for your review and interesting tips! We, too, found it annoying that Princess leads you to think you will be staying at the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge when they actually use 4 accomodation locations -- and they book these by the cruisetour you are taking, not by the date of your booking!

[photodoodle]

Thank you for your thoughtful, well-written and very useful review. I agree that people should tip guides, especially when they are fantastic as all of mine were. I'm with you: I want to get back to Alaska, and I worry about we are doing to wildlife and wild habitats everywhere. I spent some time at your website. Nice photos!

[Less2me]

Great review and tips! We are trying to decide between Princess and HAL for our cruisetour. The one you took is close to what we're looking at. Can you tell me which tour number you booked?

 

Virginia

[NJ2FL]

Can you tell me which tour number you booked?

 

Virginia

 

It was 3B 12 Day Heart of Alaska. I highly recommend taking the tour before the cruise.