Sept. land & Island Princess cruise

[kdt]

Recently returned from a 2-week Alaska odyssey: 1 week on-our-own land portion in an RV (Denali and Seward) and 1 week Whittier-Vancouver on the Island Princess. It was our first on all fronts and it was FANTASTIC! Thanks to all for your advice on these boards, it was all extremely helpful right down to the specific costs of the buses in Vancouver! For the brave souls who are interested in my take on the RV experience, I'd be more than happy to let you know the costs, etc., which I thought were pretty reasonable (keeping in mind it was off-season). I will try to post a link to some photos, but need to whittle them down seeing as how we took about 1,800...

 

THANKS AGAIN, EVERYONE!

[Kaylas Mom]

Dying to read your review of the Island Princess. Glad you had a good time!

[cruisebie]

We will be on the Island Princess next June doing the Whittier to Vancouver route! Unfortunately time won't permit us to do a land stay also, but I guess that will be a good excuse to return. :) What did you think of the Island Princess? Did you do traditional or anytime dining and what did you think of the food? Did you do any excursions? I'm a cruise newbie, and as you can see, I'm a bundle of questions. :D Thanks in advance for any info you can give!

[kdt]

Here's my unofficial official review since there aren't many of the Island:

 

We really enjoyed the Island Princess, and thought her a beautiful ship. Let me caveat that by saying that we've never been on a commercial liner before, only smaller research vessels and not for pleasure! However, I polled others onboard who have been on other Princess ships and different cruiselines, and there was universal agreement that the ship and the Voyage of the Glaciers cruise was really nice and very "classy." If there are cruising perks that have since disappeared, I wouldn't know. The only thing I'd heard was that there has been a lot of staff turnover since the purchase of Princess by Carnival. Again, others on this board may be able to comment on whether that's good or bad, we only had a very positive experience with the ship and the crew. The IP is beautifully appointed, with lots of natural stone and wood. Put it this way, my DH was actually taking photos of the restroom area near the spa because it was so nice! We were in one of the mini-suites, which was very nice. Lots of room and very efficient use of space in the design. They even use individual tiles on the bathroom floor! What was most noticeable to us was the uncrowded feeling onboard. I don't know if that was because of the demographic of our specific cruise (end of season, older, lots of scenery viewing from private balconies and cooler-if nice-weather) or a deliberate design. We went as far as to ask if the cruise was only partially filled, to find out that there was only a single cabin available. In any case, we got the sense of having lots of space to ourselves. We prowled around a lot, and spent a lot of time out on the deck, often with few people. One hint, use the stairs instead of the elevator and you will be alone a lot!

 

We opted for personal choice dining, which means you eat in the Bordeaux dining room or the specialty restaurants (of course you can eat in the Horizon Court buffet any time you want and people absolutely do). Provence is reserved for fixed seatings, I believe. We found PC dining to be a good fit for us. Embarkation night was the only night they hand you a card with a dining time and dining room assigned. Then they seated people at tables, filling them up as they went. I believe that this is also what they did for personal choice diners in the Bordeaux dining room the rest of the cruise - the maitre'd asks how many in the party, then he asks if you want to sit alone or with others, which you gives you your "sociability option." Let me point out that the tables for two are often seated about 1 foot apart, so you might as well talk to your neighbors! Which we did, and made many friends. We particulary enjoyed one of the tables for two because of its location and because of our particular waiter. We ended up requesting that table 4 more times, but in order to do that we had to eat either early (6-6:15) or late (after 8). The early option was fine because it left us time to see the earlier evening shows, and typically in port we didn't leave ourselves time to eat lunch! I thought the food was quite good; in fact, I find it impressive given how many meals they are actually preparing. I ate a lot of seafood - salmon, halibut, rockfish, lobster, crab - but my husband often ate meat and thought it was good. I need to point out that our waiter would often "alter" the entrees for us or make recommendations as he saw fit, and trusting his judgment turned out to be the best thing we did. We finally just dispensed with the menu saying, "Just bring us whatever you recommend!" This resulted in my receiving for dessert one night a slice of tiramisu and a bowl with one scoop of every single one of their ice cream or gelatos, a beef wellington with TWO lobster tails on top of it, and an avocado personally prepared by him right at the table. I don't think any of those things were actually listed on the menu! Suffice it to say that the service at mealtime fulfilled every cruise dining fantasy I had, and of course being called "signora bella" didn't hurt either... Can you say "extra tip??" We never ate at Sabatini's, although I heard from others that they thought it was wonderful. We did eat at the Bayou Cafe, but I didn't feel the need to go back. You get a different ambience and nice live jazz, and the tables are further apart, but I didn't think the food was particularly better. However, I would recommend trying it to see what you think, because we had such a terrific time in the dining room. The food in the Horizon Court was good when I tried it (as is the view, which is terrific being up so high on the bow), and there is quite a variety from which to choose. You will need to practice a bit of self-restraint as opposed to the dining rooms, where portions are more the size of those you'd get at a nice restaurant on land. Of course, self-restraint is not something I'd recommend on a cruise anyway... Afternoon tea is really nice, and the scones are fabulous. I ended up being seated with people from Australia and New Zealand, and they gave them the thumbs up. Because this is held in the afternoon however, I only went one of the days we were at sea. Cruisebie, when you go to Glacier Bay, be sure to try the caribou chili and the Glacier Bay chowder they serve on deck. It's delicious!

 

Coffee.... there have been MANY opinions posted here, and they're probably all correct. I drink coffee every day and would have to say that it isn't the best coffee I've ever had. It certainly isn't the worst however, and it didn't stop me from drinking it.

 

Alcohol - We didn't try sneaking any onboard (although I do think my DH snuck a small bottle of Jack Daniels in his backpack coming back from Ketchikan) since our cruise left on 9/11 and I figured that they might have been hypervigilant checking luggage. It was a pleasant surprise to discover that wine prices in the dining room are cheaper than those on land ($38 vs. $50 for one I am familiar with), and that if you don't finish it all in one night they'll cork it and save it for you for later in the dining room. If you don't like wine, you won't care about any of this.

 

So far, you will probably think that I only ate and drank, but I swear that was the least of it!

 

I am not sure what I expected for entertainment, but I thought it was good and very professional. I felt a bit sorry for the performers because the crowd did not applaud or laugh much even though they came to the shows, but according to the crew this is typical for late-season Alaska, as was the not-so-busy casino, which ended up being good if you wanted to learn how to play some of the games.

 

I did not use the spa or the exercise area, though many others did and I did go check it out just to see what it looked like. The last day of the cruise I discovered the stern of the ship, which is not quite as obvious to find. There is a pool back there that not many people use, I think. It is also a great place to watch the scenery or when you leave port. Where else can you play oversized chess while Vancouver Island goes by?

 

Excursions: In Skagway we went on the White Pass and Yukon RR trip booked through Princess. I have read elsewhere on the boards that some prefer to do this by car, but we wanted to go by train, given the history of the pass and the RR. Again, late season results in nearly empty cars (and MAJOR discounts in all the ports), which was a bonus. It is a beautiful trip, whether by car or train, and I would highly recommend it. Skagway was the longest port call; I don't know if this is typical. After that, Skagway is easy to wander by foot, and the guided NP ranger tours are free and interesting. The cruise ships disgorging thousands of passengers and the merchants waiting to take our money gives you a pretty good sense of what it must have been like in 1898, albeit a lot safer!

 

On the advice of others on this board (thank you Budget Queen et al), we scheduled our own excursions in Juneau and Ketchikan. My husband's Pilot's Choice helicopter trip was cancelled due to low clouds and rain, but my on-my-own to the Mendenhall Glacier where I was completely by myself for a nice hike in the rain forest was only $10 RT, complete with an Alaska/Juneau narrative. The City Museum in Juneau is a little hidden jewel - you can see Benny Benson's original Alaska flag design drawing along with some of the other children's. I thought that was pretty neat. Others on the cruise did whale watching, snorkeling etc. and I heard universally positive results. Highly recommended in Ketchikan is a float plane trip to Misty Fjords NM. We went with Michelle of Island Wings and it was absolutely worth it. We lucked out and had such beautiful weather that she actually brought a photographer friend along. Ketchikan is also nice to walk around in, and if you get a map at the visitor's center, you can do a nice walking tour. I would have liked to have gone to the Saxman Native Village, but I couldn't do everything. Next time!

 

(see next post for continuation)

[kdt]

My overall rating of my trip? An A+++++! The crew was extremely nice and helpful, the ship beautiful, well let's face it, I had a great time. AND, we had extraordinarily beautiful weather, given it was 9/11-18. Jeeze, even McKinley was completely clear for 3 days up at Denali, and did I mention the aurora??

 

Now, the ONLY thing I did not like: Those darn blue-tinted panels all along the bow. I understand that they are there to block the wind, but on a cruise that's all about the scenery, they are a royal pain in the a**. They cause reflections in photos and make all the glaciers look blue, and the number of people staking out spots in the glassless areas leads me to believe that others felt the same way. One way to avoid this would be to stay on your own balcony if you had one. However, if you like being out and about, you just have to put up with them. I suppose I should just shut up, given how great everything else was.

 

Oh yeah, the only other bad thing, now I have to figure out how to get enough money to go back to Alaska again!!!!!

[Lorabelle]

Now, the ONLY thing I did not like: Those darn blue-tinted panels all along the bow. I understand that they are there to block the wind, but on a cruise that's all about the scenery, they are a royal pain in the a**. They cause reflections in photos and make all the glaciers look blue, and the number of people staking out spots in the glassless areas leads me to believe that others felt the same way. One way to avoid this would be to stay on your own balcony if you had one. However, if you like being out and about, you just have to put up with them. I suppose I should just shut up, given how great everything else was.

 

Oh yeah, the only other bad thing, now I have to figure out how to get enough money to go back to Alaska again!!!!!

 

 

I was on the Coral this season which is the sister ship to the Island. I have to completely agree with your comments about the blue panels! It drove me crazy. I wanted to be out on the decks at times to get a view from both sides of the ship, but I ended up on my balcony more times than not because I didn't have to look through a tinted window. The areas without the panels were very crowded during glacier viewing, so again, I would end up back to my one sided view on my balcony.

 

Other than that, though, I don't have many complaints, but I feel better getting that one out, LOL!

 

Lori