Back From Alaska
in [Cruise Ship]
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From: Marcia on 9 Jul 2010 13:41 I'm not going to do a complete trip report, because most of you know more about this cruise than I still do. ;-) However, I do want to make some points relative to my pre-cruise questions. I don't know what other cruise lines are like, but when we first boarded the Sapphire Princess in Seattle, it was sell, sell, sell. They also gave us a card to have stamped in each of the stores to be entered into a drawing. While we didn't bother with it, all we heard as we were leaving port were muffled announcements calling out the numbers of the winning cards. That was a major step down from my only other cruise, when they played the Love Boat theme as we were leaving port. I think the first moments of a cruise should be special, but that's just me. Our room was in a perfect location. It was steps away from the center elevators on the Baja deck, and our balcony was way more private than the ones we could look down on. The last time I was on a cruise, I had the room to myself. It did take a while to get used to only 2 outlets in the room for hairdryers and phone and camera battery chargers. 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. We had anytime dining, which worked out well. However, some rooms were better than others. We never had any problems getting a table for 2. The Pacific Moon wasn't much, the Savoy was a little better...although the waiter we had didn't have much personality. We ate in the Santa Fe room 3 times, because we loved Michael, the best waiter. The few times we had breakfast or lunch in the big traditional dining room, the Maitre D' there always seemed annoyed, so I don't know if traditional dining would have been any better. I also don't quite get what the Vivaldi dining room is all about. It seemed to be a combination of traditional dining and some reservations. We did get to eat there the second to last night, which turned out to be lobster and Baked Alaska night. They do have Baked Alaska in the anytime rooms. We asked Michael about it on our last night in the Santa Fe, and he said they did the parade at least in that room. My travel agent told me when I got back that the reason we were in Victoria such a short time was that the ship needs to make a stop in an international port. We just about had time to take the shuttle downtown, take a look at the Empress Hotel and walk through some of the shops and then wait in a very long line to take the shuttle back to the ship. We did get our passports stamped when we got back by some very funny customs guys...or whatever they were. We took our own luggage off the ship, because my niece had an early flight. We discovered a shuttle service that took us to the ship from the airport Doubletree where we stayed the night before the cruise and from the ship back to the airport...both trips were $12 per person each way. Marcia
From: Jeff Gersten on 9 Jul 2010 14:25 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.
From: Marcia on 9 Jul 2010 15:12 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
From: Tom K on 9 Jul 2010 15:13 On 7/9/10 1:41 PM, 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. ;-) However, I do want to make > some points relative to my pre-cruise questions. > > I don't know what other cruise lines are like, but when we first boarded > the Sapphire Princess in Seattle, it was sell, sell, sell. They also > gave us a card to have stamped in each of the stores to be entered into > a drawing. While we didn't bother with it, all we heard as we were > leaving port were muffled announcements calling out the numbers of the > winning cards. That was a major step down from my only other cruise, > when they played the Love Boat theme as we were leaving port. I think > the first moments of a cruise should be special, but that's just me. > > Our room was in a perfect location. It was steps away from the center > elevators on the Baja deck, and our balcony was way more private than > the ones we could look down on. The last time I was on a cruise, I had > the room to myself. It did take a while to get used to only 2 outlets in > the room for hairdryers and phone and camera battery chargers. 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. > > We had anytime dining, which worked out well. However, some rooms were > better than others. We never had any problems getting a table for 2. The > Pacific Moon wasn't much, the Savoy was a little better...although the > waiter we had didn't have much personality. We ate in the Santa Fe room > 3 times, because we loved Michael, the best waiter. The few times we had > breakfast or lunch in the big traditional dining room, the Maitre D' > there always seemed annoyed, so I don't know if traditional dining would > have been any better. I also don't quite get what the Vivaldi dining > room is all about. It seemed to be a combination of traditional dining > and some reservations. We did get to eat there the second to last night, > which turned out to be lobster and Baked Alaska night. They do have > Baked Alaska in the anytime rooms. We asked Michael about it on our last > night in the Santa Fe, and he said they did the parade at least in that > room. > > My travel agent told me when I got back that the reason we were in > Victoria such a short time was that the ship needs to make a stop in an > international port. We just about had time to take the shuttle downtown, > take a look at the Empress Hotel and walk through some of the shops and > then wait in a very long line to take the shuttle back to the ship. We > did get our passports stamped when we got back by some very funny > customs guys...or whatever they were. > > We took our own luggage off the ship, because my niece had an early > flight. We discovered a shuttle service that took us to the ship from > the airport Doubletree where we stayed the night before the cruise and > from the ship back to the airport...both trips were $12 per person each > way. > > Marcia Marcia, thanks for the comments. How was the inside passage? What did you do in the different ports? We're going to Alaska the first time in about 6 weeks. --Tom
From: Jeff Gersten on 9 Jul 2010 16:18
Too bad you had so much rain. I hope we have better luck with the weather, especially in Juneau where we have a Mendenhall Glacier hike excursion booked. Having the cruise include Glacier Bay was a must for my wife. I'm glad you found Tracy Arms a worthy substitute. Was there a naturalist aboard? If so, how were his or her talks? Were they repeated on one of the television stations? |