Back From Alaska
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From: Sue Mullen on 10 Jul 2010 17:05 Marcia wrote: > Plus > the bed felt like a cement slab. Again, I don't know if that's the norm > on cruise ships or just the Sapphire. Princess tends to have very hard beds, but if on the first day you ask your cabin steward for an "egg crate" topper, it will solve the problem. Sorry you had so much rain, but overall it sounds like you enjoyed yoour cruise. sue
From: Surfer E2468 on 10 Jul 2010 17:23 we liked alaska a lot,but my husband will not go there again,stupido booked a cruise to the eastern carribean in august,just what i need after all the heat waves we have had here on the east coast. cruise lover(~~~~~) ..
From: John Sisker on 10 Jul 2010 18:15 "Marcia" <Marcia(a)spamlessinlasvegas.org> wrote in message news:i17s9v$3t9$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... > Jeff Gersten wrote: >> Marcia(a)spamlessinlasvegas.org (Marcia) wrote: >> >>> I'm not going to do a complete trip report, because most of you know >>> more about this cruise than I still do. ;-) >> >> Welcome back, Marcia. >> >> We're definitely not among those who know more about the cruise than you >> do. We've not been to Alaska yet, but are going in about 6 weeks on a >> different Princess ship, the Golden Princess. I'd love to read all your >> impressions of the trip. >> > > The short version is...Ketchikan was charming, but raining. > > Juneau was not charming and raining. We didn't do any shore excursions > there, but I'm not sure I would have wanted to in the rain. > > Tracy Arm was spectacular. I thought I'd be disappointed not to see > Glacier Bay, but all the pics and videos of Tracy Arm don't do it justice. > We sat on our balcony the entire time with the television on loud enough > to hear the talk about what we were passing. We got pretty close to > Sawyer Glacier at the end of the fjord before they turned the ship around. > > Skagway was fun. It didn't rain!!! The store fronts are made to look > like the olden times with bunting and some costumed players around the > town. It reminded me of Disneyland. The one excursion we did do was the > White Pass & Yukon Route railroad. Aside from the fact that the engine > broke down and we had to wait 20 minutes to get a new one attached, the > ride was wonderful. I don't do heights, so I was a little concerned how > I'd feel, but we weren't so close to the edge that it bothered me. The > train picks up right outside the ship, which was great. > > Princess seemed to dock the furthest away of all the other ships when we > were in port. My TA said it's partly the luck of the draw and who gets > there first, and partly the size of the ship. The smaller Holland America > ship that left Seattle with us seemed to always get the best parking > places in the middle of downtown. > > Please feel free to ask questions and I'll try to answer. > > Marcia Marcia, Thanks for this synopsis in reference to your Alaska cruise. Soon, we too will be venturing off to Alaska, much with the same ports that you saw. While rain was obviously a big factor on what you saw and did, we do have some pre-planned activities that we would like to do in at least three of our ports. However, as with anything else, plans sometimes change. We will just have to go with the flow I guess. It sounds like Tracy Arm was the highlight of your cruise. You said the other ports were fun and charming, but no-doubt the rain was a factor as well. We also want to do the White Pass Railroad. After all, I am a big train buff. As for the location of your ship while in port, we discovered bigger is not always better. We experienced this while on the Star Princess in Northern Europe and the Baltic's, mostly docking in the heavy industrial areas. The ship was just too big for some of the other, and closer ports to town. Oh well, we weren't complaining. Skagway is obviously one of our ports as well, but from the pictures I've seen, it does look very touristy - like Disneyland as you said. Yet, depending on what one wants to see and do, maybe that's not all bad. Usually if one expects to be disappointed, they normally are. As for the rain you mentioned; was it light or heavy? Did the cruise line have to cancel any of their shore excursions because of it? Likewise, because of the rain, was the weather extra cold; sweater or jacket weather? And the further north you want, did it stay lighter at night? We will be going up to Fairbanks for our cruise, using both the railroad and a bus. Even though we will spend some extra time in Fairbanks itself, I'm starting to hear that others were not that impressed at all with Fairbanks. Of course, that was from a former military person who was stationed there. So I don't know just how objective their assessment really is. All in all, what did you like best about your cruise? I would assume that Vancouver was your home port. Do anything exciting there? That's one of our favorite City's by the way. Smooth sailing to all... John Sisker
From: Tom K on 10 Jul 2010 18:55 On 7/10/10 6:15 PM, John Sisker wrote: > All in all, what did you like best about your cruise? I would assume > that Vancouver was your home port. Do anything exciting there? That's > one of our favorite City's by the way. > > Smooth sailing to all... > John Sisker > We have 3 days in Vancouver prior to the cruise. What things are "must see's" in Vancouver? --Tom
From: Ari Silverstein on 10 Jul 2010 19:03
On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 17:23:38 -0400, Surfer E2468 wrote: > we liked alaska a lot,but my husband will not go there again,stupido > booked a cruise to the eastern carribean in august,just what i need > after all the heat waves we have had here on the east coast. *Bwaha* Stupido, love it, Surfer! -- Ari Silverstein, C.T.A; C.T.A.S, FREE Cruise Travel Advisory Services Sign up for special email deals @ www.CruiseQuick.com - able to offer some of the lowest prices and best value added in the industry. (not affiliated) |