Alaska was great! Seriously. Except for our choice of excursion in Skagway, all of the off ship activities were amazing. The ship was nice too, for what it was. The entertainment, food and activities were not very good, but spending a lot of time in our room and by our balcony, we really enjoyed ourselves.
We cannot fly for health reasons, so cruising is how we can travel. So we enjoyed our time on the ship by spending time with each other, reading, and enjoying the extra fee dinners.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
simple, easy, but SF cruise port was in the middle of the most insane traffic.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
The included food was gross. Besides Alfredo's Pizza, the complimentary food was not good. I'm not sure if its because I am a Bay Area snob, but the included food was not good. We ended up eating at Sabaltinis or the crown grill every night we were on the ship (no excursions). When we docked. We made sure to eat off the ship.
Breakfast was redeemed by them having cereal. LOL
Also, my food snobbery led me to buy the coffee package, which I was glad I did since the regular coffee was not great.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The sauna was included (no extra fee), so I loved that! Also, the ship has lots of places where you can sit with a book or a drink and enjoy the view, so that was lovely.
Most of the activities were geared towards older folks, but the pomp of the formal night, the availability of the gym, and the balcony were great!
Alaska cruise is too cold for most outdoor things (pool, sanctuary, etc)
Entertainment
3 out of 5
We weren't a fan of most of the shows in the princess theater, and since it is at the very front of the ship, sitting in there can make you queasy on rough seas. Also bingo is lame. seriously
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The people were great. I would hope that they could get paid more.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The ship was nice and clean until we hit some rough seas and the ship got a lot of water in it and got moldy.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
We had a balcony mini suite. It was great. Probably bigger than we needed.
We visited mendnehall glacier (great short 1 mile hike) and did whale watching. Glacier tip: just take a cab, you do not need to do an excursion to the glacier. It saved us a lot of money. Whale watching was awesome. Although since the whales are feeding, they are not jumping around like we hoped. But we saw one breach about 50-100 feet from our boat, which was insane.
We did a hike that is accessible right from the port and that was great. We also did a wildlife tour that was very lame, just drive along a highway and look at bald eagles. The eagles were great, but it was sold as a trip that you could see all sorts of wildlife on, and it was basically "lets go to this spot you can see an eagle's nest." We saw a bunch of eagles the day before in Juneau flying around, so it was not that special
It was pretty, but quick. If you can, get a glacier bay cruise. I had no idea there was a difference when I bought the cruise, but afterwards regretted
Love this place. I would totally live here. Beautiful city.
Again. GET A CAB!!!
We got a cab and went to Bouchard Gardens before it opened, and spent an hour in the park by ourselves. It was amazing, As we were leaving, we saw the busses pull in and the hordes of people.
Also, you can just buy tickets at the Gate, no need to preorder through a travel agency.
We also went to the Butterfly Garden (awesome, especially if you have kids), and had tea at the Princess hotel (great!!!)
It was easy to get off, but traffic meant our uber had to wait about 30 min to pick us up, even though he was right down the street. Next time we will walk a block or two away with our luggage.
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