The Alaskan cruise was awesome. The ports were even better
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We had a 1:30 checks in slot and got there about 1:15. The line was already super long but moved steadily. The lady who I received my bag tag’s from said if you come early they aren’t turning people away. The excitement of seeing the ship and knowing you would be on there soon helped pass the time.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
We had the deluxe drink package and had a blast trying different drinks. Highly recommend it.
Pizza place was delicious and a good change of pace from the other cruise food.
We enjoyed the dog house but they are all not open a couple hours a day.
Windjammer for breakfast was very tasty with a lot of options to pick from. We enjoyed eating there.
Windjammer for lunch and dinner was mediocre.
Main dining entree food was hit or miss. Appetizers were ok depending on what you got. French onion soup, Ceaser salad, minestrone soup, and shrimp cocktail were good.
For entrees we enjoyed the lobster tail, beef tenderloin, pesto pasta were decent. The rest were mediocre.
For desserts…we all very good, even the suger free desserts
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We paid $19 (times five)to ride the North Star. Totally NOT worth it. Save your money or book a free slot as soon as you board the ship. Not sure why RCI would charge for that.
Rock wall and Flo rider were fun
Bumper cars was a blast. But be prepared to wait in a long line for a 5 minute ride.
My older kids played ping pong and had a good time.
We only hung out in the Solarium. With 4 hot tubs and a cascading pool it was enjoyable. Plus it is for 16 years and older, so we enjoyed the quietness. Plus you have a great view out the front of the ship.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We watch the Elton John tribute, the ventriloquist and 2 different shows by the comedian. Each of the shows were excellent. We especially like the ventriloquist since we’ve never seen that in person before.
Also listened to the piano players in the Schooner bar as well as musician in the Tap an Harp (spelling) bar…each was excellent.
The music hall also had some good bands playing that we enjoyed.
The only person we didn’t really enjoy was Andy Elton. His singing voice was excellent but when he did bingo and a few other intros, some of his jokes and comments didn’t make sense and weren’t funny.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our room steward was fine. We only got the animal towels 3 times. That was one of the highlights from previous cruises, so was a little disappointed not to get one each day.
The bar tenders were all great and introduced me to a couple new drinks.
Our favorite were our main dining servers:
Percival -our main Waiter
Sherwin - Assistant Waiter
Yitzhak - Head Waiter
They knew our names and by the 3rd dinner started knowing our preferences. Perci suggested some of his favorites, which were usually really good. Anybody who gets them will enjoy going to dinner, even if the food is mediocre. Yea What
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
It’s a big ship and it took us a few days to get familiar with where all the venues and restaurants were at. But after that we got used to the layout and had no issues.
The ship was clean and there were constantly workers cleaning up different areas.
We spent most of our time in the solarium and the pool, hot tubs, bar and bistro were well-kept
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Great view from the balcony.
Clean
Roomy
Ship tip
Don’t get too obsessed and depressed looking at the weather forecast for each port. We did that and the rain chances at each port was 50% or higher. However at Ketchikan, Sitka and Victoria there was no rain while we were off the ship. At Juneau it only drizzled after our excursion was over. So rain was never a factor for us.
We had an orca whale watching tour booked but the water was really really rough and likely would’ve gotten seasick. So we were able to cancel it and get our money back.
We didn’t enjoy getting to Victoria so late in the day and missing out on the full experience. Although the port was still very nice, it was nothing like the previous stops. In order to get to town they offer a $15 per person bus ride or a $10 cab ride, my family found that walking to town not only provided many more beautiful sights but was also much cheaper.
Beacon Park was a very pretty area to walk around in. We saw lots of ducks, green herring in their nest, peacocks, and black squirrels.
We ate at the Sticky Wicket, which was tasty local restaurant to eat at.
We did a helicopter excursion to Mendenhall glacier. The glacier was dirty and full of large granite boulders and not what I was expecting. I thought it would be white like snow. 😀 I enjoyed drinking the water from the glacier. I am glad we did this excursion but not something I would need to do again.
For a capital city, it wasn’t what I was expecting. Not sure if this is true or not but the bus driver told us that the Juneau capital was ranked 50th most beautiful capital building in the U.S.
We ate lunch at the Red Dog Saloon and saw Wyatt Earp’s pistol. Food wasn’t bad although my wife’s salmon burger took twice as long to come out then the rest of our food. Since we had to leave they gave her the sandwich for free and boxed it up for her. There was an older man playing the guitar and entertaining us while we ate.
My families favorite port. It was so beautiful and provided many great views. We went on the adventure carts and everyone in the family loved it, especially great for teenagers as it’s essentially 4-wheeling on a mountain but it still gave you an experience you couldn’t get anywhere else. There wasn’t many great places to eat which was okay, we ended up going to 108 Tap house and Burger Bar- a very tiny, alley-like burger place- It was a bit pricey ($20 per burger) and had a long wait but was very good.
We stayed in a condo about half a mile from pikes market and even less to the space needle. We walked to the pikes market and down to the wharf. We saw bubblegum wall and we saw the men throwing the fish within the market. (I understand they’re all over social media) We tried lots of food from the market… it was all delicious.
When we rented e-bikes, that you see all over town. We rode to see the rainbow crosswalks in capital city. Then up to Kerry Park to see an awesome view of Seattle.
We did walk by the space needle but did not go inside.
Sitka is on a beautiful island. We went whale watching and saw multiple humpback whales, sea lions and sea otters. Some of the sea otters were floating on their back with their baby on their stomach.
We ate a sea food for lunch from a white food truck, next to the port ,also have reindeer meat hotdogs. Both were very tasty.
We also took a walk through Totum Park and over to the Eagle sanctuary. A Very beautiful walk.
We chose to do the self-assist, which means we carried our own bags off the ship, because we had to catch a shuttle to the airport for an 11:45 flight.
Getting off the cruise and to our shuttle was extremely smooth. Very little delays.
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