Back from Sea Princess 7/3

[kusscate]

I have just posted a review which should go up in the next few days but am happy to answer questions. We had a GREAT time. Here's the review since it will not be up for awhile and I see people checking this post:

 

For those of you who are doing Alaska this summer on the Sea Princess, I am happy to report that I have almost all good things to say. We had a great cruise.

 

Staff was the most accommodating and friendly I've seen in years (this was across the board). Cruise Director was not my favorite but not awful. John Clelford -- did not see him around too much, which was too bad. Chris from Australia was especially funny. All others were nice, and it is clear they like and respect each other. Sometimes you feel tension, but this was a happy ship. Wish they'd done the morning trivia question every day, but they stopped after two days. Probably lack of participation.

 

Food was Princess food. Great bread, desserts, soups and appetizers. Loved dining room breakfasts and lunches, but dinner main courses are spotty (although the roast beast was not overdone and both the lobster and crab legs were very good -- skip the other fish). We were a group of 11, and the anytime dining room allowed us to make a daily reservation at table 91. We had fantastic waiters -- Wiroj (truly exceptional), Alden and then Coenraad. They did magic tricks for us every night. Buffet is typical Princess buffet fare. Service in Horizon Court was very good. Pizza on deck 8 was tasty stuff.

 

Our cabin (D241) was too far forward, so on the one REALLY rocky night, we had some issues. Never again will I stay anywhere but midship. However, we had our best-ever steward, Carlos from Brazil. FABULOUS.

The shower was hot & cold, hot & cold. No big deal except when we were on 15-foot swells. Bed was comfy but hard (which I like).

 

Entertainment varied in quality. I am not big on the production shows, especially on the smaller ships, and these were pretty much as expected. The magician was fair, the comedian was great, and the last show with Larry Dunsmore was fantastic. (Do not miss Larry every night in Crooners.) He is hilarious and talented. Pretty good MUTS. The naturalist, Mark Rich, was very very good. Go to his presentations. Libby Riddle is also fun. She was outside with two of her dogs till about 20 minutes before her show. (They can't come on board.)

 

We skipped the port and shopping presentations. We've been the Alaska before and do not need to hear about the stores that pay off the cruise lines.

Ports were mostly fun. We like Ketchikan (good book store on Creek Street) and were surprised by how much Skagway has improved (lots of cute stores not on the cruise map --jewelry, handpainted items, etc). We did the duck tour in Ketchikan (rating 3.5 out of 5) and the dog musher camp in Skagway (rating 4 out of 5 -- the one in Seward was better). Juneau is kind of seedy. We were lucky to be in Victoria on Canada Day, and the weather was gorgeous. Too bad we left at 2 p.m.

 

Get up early on Tracy Arm Day and head to the front of the ship. We went to the Horizon Court. Get a table on either side. You need to be there by 4:30 or so to get a seat by the window.

We played a lot of trivia. If you like Princess grocery bags, go for it. Sea Princess needs some new prizes, but we don't play for the prizes.

We did not play Bingo. (I’m recovered from that addiction.)

We went to the Casino on non-smoking nights and mostly lost money (a little) at Blackjack table. No one to blame but ourselves.

Photographers were very nice and less pushy than on previous ships. Photos are a rip-off however…

Ride back to SF was quite smooth. Phew. Embarking and debarking were a breeze.

Sea Princess was my first Princess ship (2002) and the only one I've been on twice. Her engines worked fine. She's a little shopworn but still pretty, easy to learn (only 2000 passengers). She will look great after her facelift, and I’d follow her anywhere again.

[DocM3]

Thanks for posting - I'm one of those that have been waiting to hear how your trip went.

 

It's nice to have some positive reactions. We don't sail till Aug 22nd so hope everything stays as good when its our turn.

[wa2rskica]

I have just posted a review which should go up in the next few days but am happy to answer questions. We had a GREAT time. Here's the review since it will not be up for awhile and I see people checking this post:

 

For those of you who are doing Alaska this summer on the Sea Princess, I am happy to report that I have almost all good things to say. We had a great cruise.

 

Staff was the most accommodating and friendly I've seen in years (this was across the board). Cruise Director was not my favorite but not awful. John Clelford -- did not see him around too much, which was too bad. Chris from Australia was especially funny. All others were nice, and it is clear they like and respect each other. Sometimes you feel tension, but this was a happy ship. Wish they'd done the morning trivia question every day, but they stopped after two days. Probably lack of participation.

 

Food was Princess food. Great bread, desserts, soups and appetizers. Loved dining room breakfasts and lunches, but dinner main courses are spotty (although the roast beast was not overdone and both the lobster and crab legs were very good -- skip the other fish). We were a group of 11, and the anytime dining room allowed us to make a daily reservation at table 91. We had fantastic waiters -- Wiroj (truly exceptional), Alden and then Coenraad. They did magic tricks for us every night. Buffet is typical Princess buffet fare. Service in Horizon Court was very good. Pizza on deck 8 was tasty stuff.

 

Our cabin (D241) was too far forward, so on the one REALLY rocky night, we had some issues. Never again will I stay anywhere but midship. However, we had our best-ever steward, Carlos from Brazil. FABULOUS.

The shower was hot & cold, hot & cold. No big deal except when we were on 15-foot swells. Bed was comfy but hard (which I like).

 

Entertainment varied in quality. I am not big on the production shows, especially on the smaller ships, and these were pretty much as expected. The magician was fair, the comedian was great, and the last show with Larry Dunsmore was fantastic. (Do not miss Larry every night in Crooners.) He is hilarious and talented. Pretty good MUTS. The naturalist, Mark Rich, was very very good. Go to his presentations. Libby Riddle is also fun. She was outside with two of her dogs till about 20 minutes before her show. (They can't come on board.)

 

We skipped the port and shopping presentations. We've been the Alaska before and do not need to hear about the stores that pay off the cruise lines.

Ports were mostly fun. We like Ketchikan (good book store on Creek Street) and were surprised by how much Skagway has improved (lots of cute stores not on the cruise map --jewelry, handpainted items, etc). We did the duck tour in Ketchikan (rating 3.5 out of 5) and the dog musher camp in Skagway (rating 4 out of 5 -- the one in Seward was better). Juneau is kind of seedy. We were lucky to be in Victoria on Canada Day, and the weather was gorgeous. Too bad we left at 2 p.m.

 

Get up early on Tracy Arm Day and head to the front of the ship. We went to the Horizon Court. Get a table on either side. You need to be there by 4:30 or so to get a seat by the window.

We played a lot of trivia. If you like Princess grocery bags, go for it. Sea Princess needs some new prizes, but we don't play for the prizes.

We did not play Bingo. (I’m recovered from that addiction.)

We went to the Casino on non-smoking nights and mostly lost money (a little) at Blackjack table. No one to blame but ourselves.

Photographers were very nice and less pushy than on previous ships. Photos are a rip-off however…

Ride back to SF was quite smooth. Phew. Embarking and debarking were a breeze.

Sea Princess was my first Princess ship (2002) and the only one I've been on twice. Her engines worked fine. She's a little shopworn but still pretty, easy to learn (only 2000 passengers). She will look great after her facelift, and I’d follow her anywhere again.

 

Adding if you're going, take a power strip and a travel alarm clock especially if you're in an inside cabin! Wash/dry was free, but both machines took much longer to cycle than my home machines and there aren't that many of them. Princess could eliminate two ironing boards and add a couple more machines in every laundry room!

 

If you wait, you can get discounted services (like I got a facial, neck/shoulder massage, foot ankle massage "20/20/20" for $89 vs $159 or so in the beginning) and "deals" on internet cafe. Sadly, the only picture "deal" was to buy 10 (at $20/ea) to become eligible for 50% off (so $50) a digital photo album (with the pics you just bought downloaded, then you can add your own...haven't done it yet, so I'm hoping there aren't any hidden charges)

 

Cookies in Horizon at "snack time" were awesome and will keep in your room 'til the next day!

 

DH won at the casino! Woot! (I did not!)

 

The day after the very rough night (day was still tough...15' swells for about 18hrs), I found the best spot for me was on Promenade deck in the comfy steamer loungers. Go mid-ship for most stability!

 

Overall, great trip and we traveled with my 81-year old, not so mobile, dad. Stubborn did agree to an electric scooter once and a wheelchair at Butchart Gardens. Traveling with Zoe's Travel from Sac and being dropped/picked up right on the pier was WONDERFUL!

[usandthekidz]

Thanks so much for the review. We are departing August 22nd. We're in the same part of the ship, but lower. E342/E344. Any recommendations? Did you take Dramamine or use any other seasickness medicines during your trip? Did it help? This is our second cruise. The first, to Hawaii, only had one rough night & we survived, then we were to the rear.

[kusscate]

Thanks so much for the review. We are departing August 22nd. We're in the same part of the ship, but lower. E342/E344. Any recommendations? Did you take Dramamine or use any other seasickness medicines during your trip? Did it help? This is our second cruise. The first, to Hawaii, only had one rough night & we survived, then we were to the rear.

 

I had very good seabands called psibands from drugstore.com. Also took Hylands for seasickness but finally broke down and took meclizine (dramamine) after DH made the cabin kind of unpleasant. If it gets rocky, just take it. Our "safe spot" was the hamburger grill. Although for me, being near French fries is not safe. I did not get sick, but I felt pretty bad. My DH got sick because he took a shower when it was really rocky. He had no bands and had not taken meds.

My sister in law was in E306. I think E344 is pretty close to the front. You might want to see if your TA can move you back. I got us moved from D207 to D241.

[mariakitty]

The Sea Princess is a lovely ship and we miss her! Thank you for the review.

 

As for sea sickness, a crew member told me that eating apple slices and drinking ginger ale is what the cruise line tells the crew to use when feeling sick. Apparently the crew are not allowed to take seasick meds. You will burp, which apparently is a good thing!

[kusscate]

To echo wa2rsikca, cookies in Horizon are very dangerous. 3:30 p.m. Be there. There is a cart and they have them on one side of the buffet too. Also, we got a coffee card. It's worth it, and they only stamped it once for a large latte. A good deal. Latte and cookies. That way you avoid the Horizon Court swill (although one woman making the lattes was one of the few unfriendly staff memmbers we encountered).

 

Also, although we got 250 free minutes for internet access (we are platinum), they charged us for WiFi. So if you plan to go online with your own laptop, ask the internet cafe guy how that works. I think if we had not used all 250 minutes, we would not have been charged. (I didn't use any; another family member did.) BTW, WiFi did not work on my iPhone. I have no idea why.

[LongtimecruiserfromCA]

I have just posted a review which should go up in the next few days but am happy to answer questions. We had a GREAT time. Here's the review since it will not be up for awhile and I see people checking this post:

 

For those of you who are doing Alaska this summer on the Sea Princess, I am happy to report that I have almost all good things to say. We had a great cruise.

 

Staff was the most accommodating and friendly I've seen in years (this was across the board). Cruise Director was not my favorite but not awful. John Clelford -- did not see him around too much, which was too bad. Chris from Australia was especially funny. All others were nice, and it is clear they like and respect each other. Sometimes you feel tension, but this was a happy ship. Wish they'd done the morning trivia question every day, but they stopped after two days. Probably lack of participation.

 

Food was Princess food. Great bread, desserts, soups and appetizers. Loved dining room breakfasts and lunches, but dinner main courses are spotty (although the roast beast was not overdone and both the lobster and crab legs were very good -- skip the other fish). We were a group of 11, and the anytime dining room allowed us to make a daily reservation at table 91. We had fantastic waiters -- Wiroj (truly exceptional), Alden and then Coenraad. They did magic tricks for us every night. Buffet is typical Princess buffet fare. Service in Horizon Court was very good. Pizza on deck 8 was tasty stuff.

 

Our cabin (D241) was too far forward, so on the one REALLY rocky night, we had some issues. Never again will I stay anywhere but midship. However, we had our best-ever steward, Carlos from Brazil. FABULOUS.

The shower was hot & cold, hot & cold. No big deal except when we were on 15-foot swells. Bed was comfy but hard (which I like).

 

Entertainment varied in quality. I am not big on the production shows, especially on the smaller ships, and these were pretty much as expected. The magician was fair, the comedian was great, and the last show with Larry Dunsmore was fantastic. (Do not miss Larry every night in Crooners.) He is hilarious and talented. Pretty good MUTS. The naturalist, Mark Rich, was very very good. Go to his presentations. Libby Riddle is also fun. She was outside with two of her dogs till about 20 minutes before her show. (They can't come on board.)

 

We skipped the port and shopping presentations. We've been the Alaska before and do not need to hear about the stores that pay off the cruise lines.

Ports were mostly fun. We like Ketchikan (good book store on Creek Street) and were surprised by how much Skagway has improved (lots of cute stores not on the cruise map --jewelry, handpainted items, etc). We did the duck tour in Ketchikan (rating 3.5 out of 5) and the dog musher camp in Skagway (rating 4 out of 5 -- the one in Seward was better). Juneau is kind of seedy. We were lucky to be in Victoria on Canada Day, and the weather was gorgeous. Too bad we left at 2 p.m.

 

Get up early on Tracy Arm Day and head to the front of the ship. We went to the Horizon Court. Get a table on either side. You need to be there by 4:30 or so to get a seat by the window.

We played a lot of trivia. If you like Princess grocery bags, go for it. Sea Princess needs some new prizes, but we don't play for the prizes.

We did not play Bingo. (I’m recovered from that addiction.)

We went to the Casino on non-smoking nights and mostly lost money (a little) at Blackjack table. No one to blame but ourselves.

Photographers were very nice and less pushy than on previous ships. Photos are a rip-off however…

Ride back to SF was quite smooth. Phew. Embarking and debarking were a breeze.

Sea Princess was my first Princess ship (2002) and the only one I've been on twice. Her engines worked fine. She's a little shopworn but still pretty, easy to learn (only 2000 passengers). She will look great after her facelift, and I’d follow her anywhere again.

 

Did you make it to the steakhouse? Did you have the new menus with the "homestyle cuisine" in the dining room? Did there seem to be less motion on Plaza deck? Thanks for sharing.

 

Dee

[kusscate]

The steakhouse on the Sea Princess is an appendage of the Horizon Court. Without the atmosphere, I'm not sure I care about it. We always go to Sterling when we are just the two of us on other ships, and we always love it, but we did not on this ship (partly because we were in a group of 11, some of whom are CHEAP).

No "homestyle cuisine." Can't wait to hear more about that!

I can't answer the motion on Plaza deck question. Once I was drugged, I was fine on any deck -- although sleepy. But I do think our rockiness was a fluke. We had unexpected 15-ft swells. (One of the crew members told us about 40-foot swells going around South America on a bigger ship that could not go through the canal -- I cannot even imagine it. EVERYONE was sick...)

[HiMagicFan]

Re Steakhouse....is it not private? We are going to take my Dad for his birthday as a special treat. We were on the Tahitian princess and it was not adjacent or attached to anything so was nice and quiet, very "special".

 

Re Ice Cream ~ I know you can get some in the afternoon but read somewhere that the sundae station is a pay station. do you know how much? I don't drink so this would be my vice....

 

Re coffee card ~ do you have to pay for the hot chocolate? another think I like most mornings.

 

Re Spa ~ do you know if there is a spa card that allows you to use the pool/jaccuzzi. TP had it by cost per day or a card for the entire cruise access...considering this versus a spa treatment. Although the discounts were interesting.

 

thanks for your quick review and responses! just love how people share on cc...so very helpful!:)

[badgerdee]

Great review! We had a good time on our recent Sea Princess cruise too.

 

So glad you confirmed the washers were free to use. I was beginning to think I was going mad when I was questioned on this topic in a recent roll call thread :p

[kusscate]

Re Steakhouse....is it not private? We are going to take my Dad for his birthday as a special treat. We were on the Tahitian princess and it was not adjacent or attached to anything so was nice and quiet, very "special".

 

Re Ice Cream ~ I know you can get some in the afternoon but read somewhere that the sundae station is a pay station. do you know how much? I don't drink so this would be my vice....

 

Re coffee card ~ do you have to pay for the hot chocolate? another think I like most mornings.

 

Re Spa ~ do you know if there is a spa card that allows you to use the pool/jaccuzzi. TP had it by cost per day or a card for the entire cruise access...considering this versus a spa treatment. Although the discounts were interesting.

 

thanks for your quick review and responses! just love how people share on cc...so very helpful!:)

 

I'm sure steakhouse food is good, but I've also been on the Tahitian, and this is nothing like that; it is an older ship and was not configured for the specialty restaurants. But look at it and then decide. (THe tahitian was an especially nice steak house IMHO.)

 

I did not see sundaes, pay or otherwise, but I do know that soft serve was free. And ice cream and sorbet in the dining room were excellent.

 

I think you do have to pay for hot chocolate but I am not sure. I think you can get the stuff in the packages free in the morning...

 

Never saw a spa card. But I was not with spa people so never went. We did a lot of deck walking (deck 7 is a wonderful walking deck -- 3 times = 1 mile with no stairs to go up and down).

[sherman931]

Thank you, I enjoyed reading your post.

[kusscate]

Great review! We had a good time on our recent Sea Princess cruise too.

 

So glad you confirmed the washers were free to use. I was beginning to think I was going mad when I was questioned on this topic in a recent roll call thread :p

 

Badgerdee, you were the prior traveler who gave me hope, and you were right; it was a great cruise, well, except for the 15-foot swells...

 

Re: the washers...they are Mielle front loaders, quite small. We were right across from the laundramat on deck 8 and it was always crowded and always hot. Some family members did laundry and said the soap did not come out (even using half a box), and the dryers took a very very very long time (they had to lay their clothes all over thier cabin because the laundramat closed before their load was done). So I would suggest you try to avoid doing laundry. And don't try to put two loads in the dryer at once or you'll get old waiting for dry clothes. There are a couple of irons/boards in the laundramat, so leave the steamer at home. I wouldn't load up on shorts either -- I wore more sweats and jeans than shorts. And there is a line in your shower so you can wash a few things with the Princess shampoo (which is now a combo body wash shampoo, but it was fine).

[pedirn]

Kusscate I echo your sentiments regarding the washers and dryers. Hopefully they will be replaced during dry dock this year. Took forever and then had to lay clothes around the cabin to finish drying. Busy isn't the word for the laundry room.

 

Not sure why you were charged for wireless internet. We had our netbook with us and used it although not too sucessfully. It worked great up around the computer room but the cabin was another story. We could get the wifi to work if computer was held up in the air towards the ceiling. It was a pain. But our wireless time came out of our 250 minute (free) package.

 

Chris

[aaerobear]

My bet is that, if they replace the washing machines and dryers, they will have that nasty little slot that requires all those hard earned quarters we are hoarding, to make them work :eek:

[Poppy01]

Thanks for the review. We join our cruise with Sea Princess on Monday. Unfortunately there are no balcony rooms left, could you tell me where the best position is for the Tracy Arm Day? If we were not too bothered about breakfast, what time do you think we should be on deck? Did you see any wildlife?

[kusscate]

Thanks for the review. We join our cruise with Sea Princess on Monday. Unfortunately there are no balcony rooms left, could you tell me where the best position is for the Tracy Arm Day? If we were not too bothered about breakfast, what time do you think we should be on deck? Did you see any wildlife?

 

Go to the front of the ship or the side near the front. We picked Horizon Court (which is at the front on Sea Princess). No reason to be away from the food (buffet was not open at the beginning).

 

We got to Horizon Court at about 5 a.m., and the only side window tables still available were in the area allocated for people with mobility issues. We sat there anyway but would have moved if requested. So, I'd suggest getting there at 4:30.

 

You want to be at the front of the ship. If it's not too cold, you can go outside on Lido deck or above. They let you use the doors out of Horizon Court on Tracy Arm Day. But it was raining when we were there, so we stayed inside until we got to the glacier (hello gorgeous!). If you look down at the bow from the Lido deck, you can also see some semi-covered areas below but I'm not sure what decks those are or if they belong to the suites.

 

We saw a lot of birds and some seals. No bears. We saw whales on other days but not that day.

 

Be sure to go the the naturalist's talks in the theater. He does not talk much on Tracy Arm Day (restrictions on noise). He's really informative.

 

Have fun. Hope you have great weather!

 

Oh, front of ship is also great for going under the bridge as you leave although it's windy. Pretty orange bridge.

[kusscate]

Not sure why you were charged for wireless internet. We had our netbook with us and used it although not too sucessfully. It worked great up around the computer room but the cabin was another story. We could get the wifi to work if computer was held up in the air towards the ceiling. It was a pain. But our wireless time came out of our 250 minute (free) package.

 

Chris

 

I think we got charged because we used all 250 minutes. So people using WiFi should take care to leave $25.00 or 1/4 of minutes untouched. We were not charged WiFi on another account on which we only used 100 of our 250 free minutes. (I only know how this worked for the free platinum minutes; might be a different story if you pay, and as I said earlier, I was not the one online. I was offline for 10 heavenly days. Even my Kindle whispernet was incommunicado.)

[FLACRUISER99]

The steakhouse on the Sea Princess is an appendage of the Horizon Court. Without the atmosphere, I'm not sure I care about it.

On the Panama Canal trip the steaks were the best I have ever had. The way the tables were set up and the way it was partitioned off you did not feel you were in the HC.

[HiMagicFan]

for answering my questions...re the steakhouse, I will let my mom know we should check it out first since I think we are both thinking it is like the tahitian princess.

 

I am looking forward to our cruise in september and walking the deck may be another option.

 

thank you

[Calgon1]

Booked on the 12 Aug sailing. Quick question on formal nights .... When are they?

[pedirn]

Our formal nights were the third night (second sea day) and the next to last night which is the day we were in Victoria. I do have all the Patters from our sailing if you have any other questions.

[peterv]

I have always thought that at some point they would change the dedicated pizzeria on the Sun/Sea/Dawn to either a Sabatini's or Sterlings and move the pizza to a station on the Lido deck. At least it would make it a more attractive atmosphere instead of one side of the HC buffet.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[pedirn]

Peter, that is an excellent idea. We didn't particular care for the pizza there anyway. It would be a great place for either Sterlings or Sabitinis.