June 2019 on the Grand to Alaska
Grand Princess Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 77
10 Night Alaska Inside Passage With Glacier Bay (San Francisco Roundtrip)
Sail date: June 25, 2019
Ship: Grand Princess
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: E708
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 4 years ago
Review summary
Cruising on the Grand is always a delight. Of course it's the destination - Alaska - that you're there for. It was a delightful trip with really good weather, mild temperatures and no rain. I find I can't really complain about much...Embarkation
We arrived at security at 12:12pm. We stepped foot on th ship at 12:26. That's an incredibly fast security check and checkin!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Didn't hit the specialty restaurants; we've been on the Grand before and always had a great dining experience in the MDR. The buffet is somewhat small but has a good selection. Don't really have any complaints on food. Our last time on the Grand, service in the MDR for dinner (traditional early seating) was incredibly slow for some reason. But it was great this time around.
Onboard Activities
Yes, it's often geared towards an older crowd (I'm 44). But I enjoyed going to the naturalist talks. They have photography seminars which are quite interesting if you're trying to "up your game" in that area. Played bingo once; it was fun but I never win lol. Typical shopping acitivities and art auctions and such as you'd expect to see. I noted that the main pool was not even filled until the third day of our trip. It was a little windy out of S.F., but not sure why it took so long. Biggest downside - the putting area was closed for refurbishment, and that was my son's favorite thing to do previously.
Entertainment
They put on good stage shows, though they are older shows which many have seen before. But the British Invasion and Born to Dance in particular are always a delight to experience. I appreciate that Princess still offers a variety of live music in various public locations. The comedians were good - quite PG - but the comic offerings pale in comparison to what I've seen on Carnival.
Children's Programs
They had great programs for my 5 year old, including a junior ranger program where they got a certificate and badge. Quite a nice touch. My only issue with the kids club is the hours compared to Carnival - Princess closes from 12-2 and 5-7. On Carnival you at least had the option of leaving your child for lunch, and they provided a buffet in a secluded area. This is particularly important to have on port days, as on Princess you can't do an excursion without your child if it runs past 11:30am.
Service and Staff
Service was great as always; sometimes it was sluggish in Crooners, but the general friendliness and helpfulness of the staff makes up for it.
Ship Quality
The ship was recently renovated a bit, with new flooring and public area furniture and new TV's an lamps in the staterooms that have USB chargers. They were getting to implement Medallion technology, but it was not quite here. Crew works hard at keeping the ship in good shape. My parent had a bad plumbing leak in the wall outside their cabin which required them to move rooms for one night, but they got the same room type and actually had access to the other room for the remainder of the trip (not that they really needed or used it).
Cabin / Stateroom
I had an obstructed ocean view, but it was quite nice and spacious (for a Princess cabin). The bed was oriented sideways compared to the window, which seemed to make the room feel more open. My parents who always have balcony or mini suite thought it was quite nice. The new bedside lamps with USB chargers are nice, as is the new big flat screen TV - which is mounted to the wall, leaving some extra storage area on the shelf that used to house the old TV.
Ports of call
The port itself was fantastic, as usual. We don't book excursions in advance; on this trip we just bought tickets to the Tram and explored the top of the mountain a bit, then walked around town for shopping and to hit the Red Dog Saloon. There was an incredibly long line to get off the ship here; so much so that I actually waited 30 minutes longer before getting in line as it stretched all the way around the atrium and down the length of the ship to the Vista Lounge.
Thumbs Up
3
Small town but lots to see, even if you don't do an excursion. Took my son to the Days of 98 show, enjoyed walking up and down mainstreet and looking at the shops. Then did a little hike along the coastline up north of the pier; some really nice hiking trails and fantastic water views.
Glacier Bay is always excellent. It was warmer and sunnier on this trip than my previous one a couple years ago. Our TA had a private party for their group in the One-Five lounge which was nice and included free food and drink.
Don't always get to go to Sitka, but our TA group had free passes to the Raptor Center and a private party for a release of two bald eagles back into the wild. That was an amazing experience! The center itself is really nicely put together, with many types of birds on display inside and outdoors. It's a wonderful there from downtown as well, passing through one of my favorite totem pole parks in SE Alaska. Didn't have much time to explore the downtown, as it's a short day there (7am-2pm). They dock in Sitka now (used to tender), it's about a 12-15 bus ride from where they dock to town. The bus is free. We got back in line at 12:44pm to take the bus to the ship; the line was several hundred deep at that point. But as they has several large busses loading at a time, the wait was only 12 minutes to get on board.
My kid was being fussy here and so it kind of hampered my experience. Last time here we booked a horse drawn carriage tour in town which was really nice. This time we walked to downtown, which is a nice walk along the waterfront, and looked around a little bit, but because of the kid we ended up going back to the ship a bit early. Unfortunately there's not much time in port here either (7am-2pm)
Disembarkation
Gettign off the ship is never fun. But we waited in the Vista lounge and had complimentary drinks and snacks. They began with walk-offs at 7:55am, and the first color group was called at 8:25am, which was on-time according to the schedule. Our group was called at 9:50am, and we got off at 9:57am, and then just breezed through security. We were boarding the bus for home after picking up our luggage, by 10:04am.
Traveler Photos
