We notice a gradual decline in the "luxurious" cruising feel that we first experienced while sailing with Seabourn in 2017 to Antarctica. Many positives still exist: all inclusive price, small ship with fewer people, excellent expedition crew and like-minded cruisers who appreciate the bespoke experience. The extra touches, however, seem to have dwindled. Like with all cruise ships post-COVID corners are being cut and some of us have noticed.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
We were kept waiting for 25 minutes after the published check-in time of 12:30 p.m.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
1. Earth & Ocean: Innovative menus, delicious food, great service--the best offering on the ship.
2. Colonnade: Lunches offered an interesting variety of dishes; the salad ingredients (lettuce; slaw; broccoli) seemed a little stale; the dressings were not to my taste. Breakfast choices were a little sparse compared to other cruises I've been on. Dinner meals were nice and quick; vegetarian offerings were limited however. The service during all meals was excellent: pleasant, efficient, hard working waiters.
3. Restaurant: Mostly good food, interesting food choices. The only fail we experienced was the halibut on the "special menu" evening which was seriously overcooked. Service could be a little slow, but they definitely had a lot of people to serve at the same time.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
My wife used the spa. The services were fine but there was the usual "upselling" of various products/treatments.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
I was not impressed with the singers on board.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
The service was fine for the most part. The room stewards were attentive although our spa suite located aft, Deck 9 was a bit of an after thought as far as timeliness of daily service goes. However, our stewards did make a real effort to do our rooms earlier when they became attuned to our schedule (on the early side). To be fair, they really seemed to be short staffed in all areas--room stewards and waiters--and they all seemed to be working very hard to keep up. Initally in the bars we had trouble getting service; once again staffing seemed to be a problem. After talking to the bar manager, however, things improved significantly.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship was a worn, but reasonably kept up. There were some maintenance issues in our suite (doors wouldn't stay closed; sink stoppers didn't work) and these were addressed promptly.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
We liked the layout and appointments of the suite and we had a super large balcony--a real plus for an Alaska cruise. What we didn't like was having to access the suite via a narrow, treacherous, winding staircase. No elevator went to the aft area of our floor.
Ship tip
Consider carefully if you can maneuver a winding staircase before booking a Spa Suite.
We loved this port. Our excursion, Sea Otter and Wildlife Quest was pleasant enough but we only saw otters from a distance which was disappointing. We also walked around the pleasant town and to the National Park.
Nice town. We did the "Spaski River Wildlife and Bear Search" which consisted of an easy walk to a lovely spot by the river where we could take in the beauty of Alaska in a calm setting.
Our excursion, Moose Meadows Coastal Hike, is why we rated this port so poorly. And the poor rating is not for the guides; they were excellent. The negative rating is because the excursion was rated as a moderate hike with less than a 100 feet rise in elevation. In reality it was a difficult hike, with many rocky/tree root laden sections with a lot of up and down walking required. In fact, walking poles (provided when we got to the trail) were strongly recommended. One of the participants couldn't cut her trip short due to the difficulty and my wife, who is fairly fit, had a bad ball (despite using a hike pole) and has ghastly bruise on her hip seven days later as a souvenir of the excursion. Once again, we are not blaming the guides; they were beyond helpful, guiding us through the rough sections. As they explained it, however, the cruise lines change the descriptions of their hikes to attract more participants, therefore underestimating trail difficulty to attract more cruisers,
Disappointing as far as sights go. Mendenhall Glacier was a worthy sight. The cable car was interesting but it was very crowded with many cruise ships in port.
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