Home from Ak... Coral Princess

[Tulsa Cats]

We returned home this week from a land/cruise Princess cruise on Coral.

Weather was unbelievably warm on our three port days. Okay, for those of you planning to cruise later this summer..... First of all, if you're on the "train ride from h ll" good luck. The ride from Denali can take anywhere from one to two or more hours than the brocure says. Trust me, there are some gripy people out there, so plan accordingly with some form of entertainment. The scenery is great for the first four to six hours, then you need a magazine or something. Food was okay and expensive, and they push the bar, which is worth the money when you're bored out of your mind and listening to people complain. ( in my opinion)

Coral Princess was okay. Timing was as close to perfect as it can get.

I wish they had a listing of movies in the room. They had some great movies, but you had to catch as catch can on them, no warning and when we called to ask, we were told we had all the info we were going to get.

The dining room was very slow, food cold and many received wrong orders.

Many ate their wrong food anyway since they didn't have another hour to wait for the correct food. And if you drink anything but wine and water, bring your patience panties..... very slow. One man at our table said he saved a bundle on his bar bill that night.

We took the local tours.... Chilcoot was good. Orca was good. One bad meal on land... Hangers in Juneau. The fish and chips were the worst we had on the whole trip, but it was neat to sit on the water and watch the float planes fly in and out.

Oh yeah, jeans were allowed in the dining room. I'm not talking about "dressed up" jeans, I'm talking jeans and a collared or in the female case, a cotton v-neck top. I wish they'd change the rule or enforce them. I personally don't care either way.

I know it was the second week of the seaon, but I don't think Princess had their act together, and after a wonderful two weeks trip to the Med last year, it was a bit disappointing.

Thanks to all who helped with tips and advice. I'm a wiser cruise with your help

[Budget Queen]

The Alaska RR is a common shock for people, who aren't aware of the distances. Out of Whittier, you need to allow 10 hours, Anchorage/Denali Park 8 hours. Many just don't realize how far places are, especially people who do no homework and just book these cruisetours based on brochures only.

 

Hopefully there may be a next time for you, and consider a car rental. :)

[PennyAgain]

BudgetQueen, you are so right about how much most people don't know about the train! I've had people tell me 'it can't take that long' and 'it can't be that far.'

 

Thanks for doing such a fine job of letting the truth get out.

[ARRTrain]

The trains pretty much run as stated in the book, but went 1 train is delayed anywhere on the line, they usually delays other trains.

 

Your Coral trip was the 2nd day for train operations for the Whittier ships this summer, things got delayed. The railroad ran on time the next weekend.

[kenish]

Yesterday I saw a map of Alaska superimposed on the Lower 48. Ketchikan was near Jacksonville, Seward was near Little Rock, and ANC was near St. Louis. The far western Aleutians stretched to LA and Pt. Barrow was in northern MN. :eek: