7 Night Alaska Inside Passage With Tracy Arm Fjord (Seattle Roundtrip)
Sail date: August 04, 2019
Ship:
Star Princess
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: B254
Traveled as: Large Group
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
A great time especially in port. A good mix of activity and relaxation.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation was incredibly smooth. We stayed in Seattle a couple days ahead of the cruise. Showed up a couple of minutes before our scheduled time, and really continuously moved until we arrived on the ship. Rooms were ready with luggage around 1:30. One of the smoothest embarkation times I have had. Oh and we caught a wedding before we left the dock!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Overall the food was good. A couple of nights the main dining room was exceptional but most others it was just ok. The buffet was varied enough for lunch and dinner and often had much of the same thing being served in the MDR. Dress code wasn’t super strict which was nice to me. Breakfast was lacking. Always the same items available in the buffet and on the early port times of an Alaskan Cruise the MDR for breakfast was almost never an option
Skywalkers Nightclub
5 out of 5
My 2nd favorite lounge. The views are great and it’s nice for people watching on the dance floor or to join in and be watched. Only real dancing on the ship was here.
Pizzeria
4 out of 5
The pizza was pretty good but limited selection and often they had no pizza ready.
Promenade Lounge And Bar
5 out of 5
Crooners on the ship had hands down one of the best old fashioned’s I’ve ever had. It was great. I had a few more around the ship but that was the best. Plus the sing along piano man was fantastic.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The onboard activities were ok. I had 2-3 a day that I wanted to attend but multiple times late dinner completely conflicted. It may be an age thing my group is early-mid 40s and the activities were not super engaging overall for us. We enjoyed the sing a long piano bar stuff a good deal and a couple of the audience interactive games. By comparison RC and Carnival seem to have 10+ things a day we wanted to do.
Jogging Track
1 out of 5
No jogging track really. Deck 7/8 can be used for one but it has weird turns and stairs that don’t make it great and it’s not dedicated to jogging. So I can’t really give it more than a single star.
Lotus Spa
3 out of 5
Ship spas are an interesting animal. The actual massage style treatments are always amazingly well done. The hard pushy up sells after are the really bad part. Stop trying to sling over priced products and more over priced services I say. I am already spending a lot on a massage or service being on a ship. Often 2-3x a shore facility price.
Aerobics
5 out of 5
The gym was great. Maybe a tiny bit smaller than I’d like considering the use, but probably perfect for ship size after the first day. Great mix of cable machines and weights with plenty of up to date cardio gear.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The production shows were pretty good. The dancers were amazing. The singers were ok at best. Only 1 comedian on board which was meh but the magician was both funnier and more entertaining to watch. As for music, the piano man was real fun but the DJ was terrible waiting for songs to completely run out before mixing to a new song with no beat match skill. Basically an iPod on shuffle. The string trio on board was really good as well.
Movies Under The Stars
4 out of 5
This was a really fun activity though cold on an Alaskan night. My only real complaint was sound was not audible unless you were central to the screen. In fact the sides all you could really hear were the ship speakers piping in KennyG style elevator music.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
I have to say this was the best service I’ve had on a cruise so far. One night in the MDR was rough but I think the assistant waiter was sick because our head waitress was all alone. So totally fine just a bit slow that night. Iryna the waitres even hustled to get us out fast one night for a show we wanted to see. We had a problem where our room door twice on the first night stopped responding to the room keys completely and had to be reprogrammed. They were super fast both times in helping us.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was very clean considering the age. They were frequently painting at port and fixing little issues throughout the ship. Never felt intrusive or in a state of bad condition just normal older ship stuff.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
I was concerned with closet space before going but was pleasantly surprised with how much space their actually is. We fit all our stuff for a week long trip to Alaska plus a couple of days in Seattle with no issues. Also princess has the TVs figured out. They were a good size for the room. Also the bed lamps had USB ports in them which I totally didn’t expect for an older ship.
Ship tip
The international cafe often has deserts and items found no were else on board. There is usually 0 wait and all the food was great from there.
Probably my least favorite port. It was good to wander around and the Lumberjack show is great to watch for sure. Nothing spectacular but this is for sure the port to buy authentic souvenirs. A lot less junk here than other ports so long as you go in the shops.
I loved Victoria. The only reason it’s not 5 is because we had a few short hours at night here. We took a pedicabs tour around the town and it was probably the best idea we had. Saw lots of Victoria in a short time and plenty of free attractions not on any brochure.
Juneau is really a quaint town. Very isolated but not too small. There is no better experience than hiking the glacier and it may be gone in the not too distant future so enjoy it while you can.
Skagway is great. A small town with not a ton to see but still enjoyable. We actually went to Haines via Ferry to visit the Kroschel Wildlife Refuge. This is a truly amazing experience and should not be missed. We still had time after to visit the town of Skagway
So much to do in Seattle. I’d recommend a couple days there ahead of the cruise if you can do it. Smith tower is much better than the space needle for views, especially after dark. And everyone should do the Underground Tour
Almost as smooth as embarkation. The updates for port valley and shuttle transfer were not great but it worked like a well oiled machine if you ask me.
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