The Alaskan Cruise will always be one of my favorites. It's a nice break from the typical summer weather, and the sights are amazing. Generally I like cruising with Princess. The food was good, and I love sailing out of SF, however the service was lacking, and the ship was nothing special. I will give them credit though for how they handled the relatively high amount of covid on board, and the medical emergency that occurred during the stop in Juneau.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
The app, as painful as it was, initially seemed like it would help with embarkation considering we had an assigned time. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. The lines were long, the documents we uploaded ahead of time weren't used, and the assigned time was pretty pointless. That being said, embarkation staff was pleasant, and it could've been a lot worse.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
For the most part the food was quite good. One day the scrambled eggs were quite runny, and another day the sausage was tougher than a shoe. However when you are making that much food, an occasional hiccup is bound to happen.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
One of the more boring cruises I've been on, and not a whole lot to do. While I enjoyed the karaoke, they just kept doing it night after night, as if they didn't have many other ideas.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Didn't attend any of the shows but those in my party said it was a mixed bag. Some nights were solid, other nights were disappointing.
Children's Programs
3 out of 5
Had some basic things for my nephew but nothing special.
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
This was one of the most disappointing parts. Our stateroom attendant was good, I have no complaints with him. However the service at the buffet and in the dining room was the worst I've had in my 15-20 cruises. There seemed to be ample staff, but they would just seem to forget about your order. Multiple times we would order a drink from staff, and it would never show up. Also some nights at dinner, the service was extremely slow. A nearby table with the same dining time as us would already be having desert, while we were still waiting for our main course.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
It was good to see staff frequently working on ship upkeep, however I wasn't a fan of the ship's layout. Access on some decks was very confusing and lacked flow. The "sports" area was the worse of any ship I've been on, with a tiny basketball court, and a completely useless miniature golf course that was nothing more than astroturf with some hills mixed in.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
One of the smallest balcony cabins I've ever been in, and there weren't very many outlets, but the beds were decent and we weren't in the cabin that often.
Ship tip
Take some time early on to explore the ship. Some of the decks aren't laid out very intuitively and can be kind of confusing.
My first time visiting here. Some won't like it due relatively to not that many excursions, but it's a charming little place with some history, and I felt like it was more of a true Alaska town.
Some great picture opportunities, but we had to be up quite early to experience it, and we weren't able to get that close to the glacier due to the size of the ship.
It is San Francisco, so traffic can be a struggle, but I love being only 25 miles away and not having to fly anywhere. It's also pretty awesome to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge.
Disembarkation was quick. Our bags were spread out a bit in the warehouse even though they were all the same tag color and number, but we were able to find them all.
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