Wonderful Vacation

We cruised on the Coral Princess from Vancouver, BC to Whittier, AK in June of 2017.  My husband and I had an unobstructed view room (P542) and my folks were in one of the balcony suites (D702). 

The ship was easy to navigate, and in good repair, however perhaps a little dated (brass hardware was on all the things!).  The staff we interacted with was always friendly and approachable, and hard working. 

Food was good, but not great.  TONS of fresh fruit, vegetables, and salad... but most of the cooked dishes were overly salted.  We adhere to a none-to-low sodium diet, so while it may taste fine to those with a habit of adding a dash of salt to things, to us it was overly sodium flavored.  Also, ALL fish was WAY overcooked, even the lobster at the Bayou Café.  Put the salmon on the grill, count to 10 and call it good.  Any longer and it is rubbery. 

We only booked one excursion through Princess, a zip line in Ketchikan.  When you get off the boat you have to find a person with a number for the tour group you are booked with.  Well, when the cruise ship does not give you that number ahead of time it becomes a bit chaotic (think unorganized carpool lane at an elementary school where the kids don't recognize their parents and vice versa).  We ended up finding a little hut with the name of the zip line park and they directed us to the numbered agent with the waiver forms. 

The alcohol package was not a good fit for my husband and me as a combined $104 per day was more than we would be consuming in drink-by-drink prices, but the selection was decent.  They listed Alaskan IPA on the menu, but it was never in stock.  Disappointing as that was the only IPA on the menu.  And if you have a desire to drink something other than beer flavored water, avoid the beer buckets.  Dos Equis, Heineken, Miller Lite, Coors Light and Bud Light were all that was offered at five for the price of four.  Boooo.  Margaritas were always on point though! 

Our captain made an effort to always notify the ship when whales were spotted by us, or other ships around us, which was great.  He would meander around the ship, even performing a couple magic tricks in the card room for some kids.