 |
 |
|
Name: David Walker
Email: walkerhome@webtv.net
Age: 39
Occupation: Travel Agent
NumberOfCruises: 9
TravelAgent: Yes
Ship: Princess-Dawn
SailingDate: August 29, 1998
Itinerary: Alaska (Northbound Glacier)
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector:
CabinComfort: 100
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 100
FoodLidoDeck: 80
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 95
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 100
FoodVariety: 95
DeckService:
ShoreExcValue: 100
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 95
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService:
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges:
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge:
OverallPortsofCall: 95
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside:
CruiseActivities:
Casino: 90
AirSeaProgram: 100
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 100
EmbarkDisembark: 100
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 95
Stabilization: 100
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 95
OverallCruiseValue: 100
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 07 Sep 1998
Time: 04:58:26
Remote Name: 192.216.128.23
Remote User:
Comments
I have just returned from the Northbound "Voyage of the
Glaciers" aboard the DAWN PRINCESS departing out Saturday
August 29, 1998 from Ballantyne
Pier, Vancouver, BC, and ending in Seward, AK. I purchased the
Princess Air/Sea Program and a night prior stay at The Sutton
Place Hotel in Vancouver.
I am 39 years old, always travel as a single guarantee, had a
Category BB Balcony Cabin aboard the ship, ate all my dinners in
the Venetian Dining
Room, all breakfasts in the Lido Buffet, and all but 1 of my
lunches at La Scala Pizzaria. This was my 2nd cruise with
Princess within 10 months and have
another booked with them for October aboard the ROYAL PRINCESS.
Pre-cruise Day. The trip started out on Friday August 28th with a
Northwest Airlines flight from Charlotte, NC to Minneapolis, MN,
then connecting directly
to Vancouver, BC. I got lucky with this air schedule as I did not
put in an air deviation, but highly recommend doing so if you
require specific air carriers or
flight times. The flight went without a hitch. I had been
informed by Princess that even though I was doing a night-prior
hotel stay, all my tagged,
checked-in luggage would be stored and then sent directly to the
ship at embarkation. Not so. After passing through the Customs
Area on the Ground
Level of the beautiful Vancouver International Airport, I went to
the Princess desk and gave them my name, which appeared on their
hotel transfer
manifest. I was then informed that all my luggage was to have
been picked up from the baggage carousel and brought with me.
Needless to say, I had to
be escorted back through Customs and retrieve my luggage, a
process that took nearly an hour.
After finally securing my luggage it was off to The Sutton Place
Hotel. My advice is, no matter what your circumstance, always do
a night-prior in
Vancouver for these reasons: (1) it will give you a chance to see
this incredibly beautiful world-class city and explore her
numerous offerings, (2) it will
give you a chance to catch your breath and recover from the
flight, the airport madness, the transfer hassles, and the time
zone changes, (3) it sets a
relaxing pace for the rest of your vacation. The Sutton Place is
itself a magnificent hotel with the most elegant appointments I
have ever seen. Do yourself
a favor, and no matter what hotel, do fly in and do a 1-night
prior hotel stay.
I ate dinner at a beautiful restaurant at the end of the Canada
Place cruiseship terminal overlooking the harbor, watched dozens
of float planes take off
and land, and then watched the GALAXY and the NOORDAM pull out on
this perfectly cloudless evening. I walked around the downtown
Granville Mall
area for a little while and then headed back to the hotel.
Day 1. Through the Princess Representative at the hotel I had
signed up for a Half-day City Tour the day of the DAWN PRINCESS's
departure. The GRAY
LINE bus tour was nice and took us through Gastown, Chinatown,
Stanley Park, English Bay and Queen Elizabeth Park overlooking
the city. It was
enjoyable and a good value for the money, as most of the places
it went to I would not have been able to see in one day by
myself. The bus deposited
me at Balantyne Pier around 1:30pm; The Sutton Place Hotel had
made arrangements with Princess to transfer ALL my luggage to the
ship. Check in
was extemely fast and efficient (as always with Princess) and
within 5 minutes I was standing on my balcony. Cabin B546 was a
nice sized stateroom
(approximately 160 square feet not including balcony which is
another 35 square feet) with 2 twin-beds already pushed together
to make a king-sized
bed, TV, hairdryer, plenty of wall mirrors, writing desk,
electronic wall safe, and a sliding glass door out to the
balcony, which itself held 2 plastic lawn
chairs and a round table. I had orderd a flower arrangement to
the room 2 weeks before and it made a very nice touch to a well
appointed cabin.
The DAWN PRINCESS is absolutely incredible, and a near duplicate
(with the exception of the art work) of her sister-ship the SUN
PRINCESS (see my
review on her for more in depth in-sights and tips for both
vessels). Our depature from Vancouver was delayed by 45 minutes
as we waited for late
arriving flights (if only THEY had done a 1-night prior hotel
stay...), and then we sailed passed the beautiful downtown
skyline, Stanley Park, and under
the Lions Gate Bridge. As the ships passage through the infamous
Seymour Narrows is very dependant on the daily tides, we had
missed the midnigt
time-slot and headed for Howe Sound, an incredible side-trek if
your ship gets the chance. And as I watched the sunset, my first
wonderful day was over
and I headed down for dinner.
Day 2. Today almost started off with a passenger war outside the
Vista Lounge. Let me explain. The shore excursions are broken
into TWO categories:
(1) Low demand City Tours and Sightseeing Excursions, AND (2)
High demand Air and Helicopter Tours, Bear Watching, and Fishing
Excursions. The first
group you can pre-book and deposit your sign-up form in the
Drop-Box outside the Shore Excursions Desk on Plaza Deck 5. The
2nd group you have to
be there IN PERSON to sign up for. As the Vista Lounge Tours Desk
opens at 7:30am, the line was already well formed when I got
there at 6AM!!! Since
most people are lazy, they send ONE representative out of their
group to hold a place in line for THEM. When THEY finally get up
and eat breakfast and
have their coffee, THEN they drift down and take their held spot
in line. Several people rightfully got VERY UPSET. I was number
14 in line at 6AM, and
when the tour office opened at 7:30AM, somehow I became number
27!!!! I did get the tours I wanted but I do advise NOT TO HOLD
PLACES IN LINE and
to book as early as possible; several tours were SOLD OUT before
the end of the very first day.
The rest of this day the DAWN PRINCESS spent transitting the
Seymour Narrows, past Alert Bay (we actually slowed down to avoid
sending the ships
wake into their harbor and saw the worlds tallest totem pole),
then past Johnstone Strait (famous for Orca Whales), Queen
Charlotte Strait, and out into
the Inside Passage areas of Hecate Strait. UNFORTUNATELY the fog
was so thick we could barely see the bow of the ship, and as the
fog horn blasted,
we sailed into the end of our 2nd day.
Day 3. As a matter of habit, I was up almost every day of this
cruise by 5:15am to shower and then watch us enter the harbors,
and luckily so as we
spotted our first humpback whale of the cruise. We moored in
Ketchikan at 7am greeted by overcast skies and moderate drizzle.
I had signed up for the
City and Totem Tour out to Totem Bight State Park. Since the ship
leaves at 2pm, there is a lot to do and see in this very short
time. The tour was very nice
and a good value for the money, and although you can definitely
do this independently or by one of the many sales booths on the
pier, I felt more secure
doing it with the ship. Totem Bight State Park is extremely
cultural in aspect, and I highly recommend this if you want to
see what some of the Alaska
heritage is all about. Creek Street was very touristy, difficult
to navigate the narrow walkways with SO MANY PEOPLE, and very
photogenic. The rivers
were clogged with spawning salmon, an incredible sight in itself.
The main street in front of where the ship dock has many shops if
you are hunting
souveneirs. The Carnival cruiseship JUBILEE joined us around 10am
after a reportedly brutal crossing of the Gulf of Alaska. We left
at 2pm sharp and
headed for Juneau sailing up the scenic Clarence Strait and
around Pt. Baker, also famous for humpback whale sightings,
although we saw none here
ourselves. The overcast skies brough no sunset, just a gradual
darkening, and so marked the end of Day 3.
Day 4. The entrance to Juneau is very dramatic, marked by the
narrow Gastineau Channel and high mountains on either side. Low
clouds and a cold, light
drizzle greeted us as we moored behind the REGAL PRINCESS around
7am. The skies cleared nicely around noon. I had signed up for 2
tours today;
Juneau By Land And Sea in the morning and the Glacier Expedition
By Helicopter in mid-afternoon. The first tour was aboard the
small catamaran St
Michaels which met us alongside and we boarded from Deck 3 of the
DAWN PRINCESS. There was hot coffee, salmon sandwiches, blankets,
and
binoculars for all, although I had brough my own for this cruise
for later use in the glacier areas. She took us around Douglas
Island, up along Admiralty
Island (where we saw an old ship wreck, a dozen bald eagles,
several grazing Sitka Black-tailed deer, a tiny island covered
with dozens of seals, and
several humpback whales) and ended at Auke Bay, where we boarded
a Princess bus to the majestic Mendenhall Glacier where we stayed
for 40
minutes. This tour was an incredible value for the money and is
highly recommended. In the afternoon my Glacier Flighseeing Tour
took of from Juneau
and down the Gastineau Channel giving great views of both. We
then crossed over the mountains and landed on Norris Glacier for
a 20 minute walk. This
part was an unbelievable experience, quiet, and quite
breathtaking. We then took off again, flew over the Taku and the
Hole-in-the-Wall Glaciers, back
over the Norris Glacier, over the Dead Branch Glacier and made
our way back to the heliport. This whole day was the best
adventure in my life, full of
rewarding experiences and vistas beyond my wildest imagination. I
spent the remaining part of the day looking through the MANY
shops in Juneau and
headed back to the ship for dinner. The ship departed at 11:15pm
for Skagway with the REGAL PRINCESS ahead of us.
Day 5. A cold rain and heavy, low clouds greeted the ship as we
sailed up the Lynn Canal followed by the LEGEND OF THE SEAS. We
docked at 6:45am
behind the REGAL PRINCESS, but the inclimate weather kept very
few on the ship. My first of two tours was cancelled 10 minutes
before we were
supposed to be picked up at the dock. It was for another Glacier
Flightseeing Tour so I was not so dissapointed as the others who
had not done the
Juneau trip. A bit of advice: If you are going to sign up for a
helicopter flightseeing tour, sign up for one in each place. If
the Juneau trip goes OK, cancel
the other one. If the Juneau trip doesn't, you have a backup. I
stayed on the ship until 11am, toured the REGAL PRINCESS, and ate
lunch. My 1:00pm
White Pass and Yukon Rail Tour was incredible and very
scenic...full of history and very relaxing, but for 85$ a little
steep for a train ride. Our train had
13 cars, was SOLD OUT and was one of three trips the train made
that day. Each car carried about 45 people, so I figured they
made over $145,000 that
one day. The day went fairly well despite the weather and I
walked through Skagway taking pictures with a camera I had loaded
with b/w film. The ship
departed at 8pm, followed by the REGAL PRINCESS bound for Glacier
Bay National Park.
Day 6. The ship entered Glacier Bay National Park at 6am and
picked up our National Park Representatives and Guides. Since
there was really not much
to see until about 8:30am I actually slept in today until 7am. We
cruised passed the Reid Glacier, the incredibly BLUE Lamplugh
Glacier, and then up the
beautiful fjord-like inlet to the Johns Hopkins Glacier, were we
hovered for around 30 minutes about 1 mile off of its face. The
ship pivotted and headed for
the absolutely enormous yet dirty Grand Pacific Glacier and the
beautiful Margerie Glacier, where we spent one full hour less
than 1/4 mile from the face.
The weather was mostly overcast, a little drizzly, and very cold
yet perfect for viewing glaciers. We then turned to head out of
Glacier Bay, retracing our
steps past Lamplugh and Reid Glaciers. We exited Glacier Bay and
to our delighted surprise headed across Icy Strait to Pt Adolphus
where numerous
humpback whales had been reported. We spent about 30 minutes
cruising very, very slowly past Pt Adolphus and witnessed nearly
a dozen humpbacks;
a pod of 5, a scattered area of 4-6, and one humpback by himself
that continuosly breached himself all around a small whale
sightseeing boat in the
area. Another absolutely incredible day closed with the ship
sailing across the Gulf of Alaska.
Day 7. We entered College Fjord around 3:30pm after cruising
through Prince William Sound in the late morning and early
afternoon. The mostly overcast
clouds, 50 degree temperature, 15 knot relative headwinds, and
light cold rain made the approach to Harvard Glacier the very
coldest experience of the
cruise. And yet the approach to Harvard Glacier is the most
incredibly beautiful and wonderous experience of the cruise.
Numerous glaciers actually
appear to pour over the mountain tops and end at the fjords tree
lined waters. Here we spent a over an hour witnessing the glacier
calve off several
times with a crack that sounded like a cherry bomb exploding
followed by a thunderous roar as the ice entered the water. We
exited College Fjord and
headed for Seward. All my luggage that is to be transferred
directly to the airport must be outside my stateroom before I go
to dinner. Luckily I had
packed that morning as we cruised Prince William Sound so I had
nothing to worry about. I left the tip for my cabin steward on my
bed as I left for dinner.
Tips were rendered to the restaurant staff at the end of dinner.
Early to bed for a long day tomorrow.
Day 8. We arrived in Seward at 1:30am, so by time I got up the
transfer buses were waiting for us. A full breakfast starts at
5:30am, and you must clear
your stateroom by 8:30am. The night prior you were issued colored
luggage tags depending on your flight time and air carrier. The
buses leave at 10-15
minute intervals starting at around 6:30am as they call out the
different colored luggage tags. My shuttle bus departed at 7:45am
sharp for the 3+ hour
ride to Anchorage. To my surprise we had a funny and energetic
bus driver who was full of informative stories and corny jokes,
that stopped at a scenic
mountain lake overlook and sang the Alaska State Song with his
accordian, and then along with all the other Princess Transfer
Buses, stopped at a
Nature Wildlife Reserve Park for about 40 minutes. This park
takes care of injured wildlife brought to it, and is full of
bison, elk, turkey, owl, deer, moose,
and caribou. We arrived at the Anchorage Airport (with Mount
McKinley in clear view, over 150 miles to the north) around
11:45am to find all of our
luggage arranged by color in an unused airport check-in terminal.
I claimed my three suitcases and they placed them on another
caoch that dropped us
off at the United Airlines Terminal. If you fly out of Anchorage
heading southbound ask for a seat on the left hand side of the
plane; we had clear weather
and flew right over College Fjord and the surrounding snow
covered mountains with numerous other glaciers clearly visible
form the plane.
OVERALL this was the most incredible journey of my life (just
above my 12-day trip to Egypt and Kenya, and my 30-day trip to
India which are tied at 2nd
place). IF YOU ARE DOING AN ALASKA CRUISE WIH NO ALASKA LAND
PACKAGE I do recommend a Northbound over a Southbound or
Vancouver
roundtrip for these reasons: (1) you can do a Vancouver
pre-cruise package and set your pace for the rest of the cruise,
(2) you save the best stuff for
last, Glacier Bay AND College Fjord, (3) College Fjord, which you
cannot get on a Vancouver roundtrip, (4) on a Southbound you are
more likely to spend
your first several hours in College Fjord (6am-9am) in the Shore
Excursions Line to sign up for other trips, (5) the outbound
flight over Alaskas mountains
and fjords back home was the final icing on the cake.
If you have any questions please feel free to email me and I will
be more than glad to answer them for you.
To all . . . safe and happy cruising!!!!!!!
Want to book your cruise at a great rate?
Click here.
Questions or comments? Mail to webmaster@cruiseopinion.com.
Copyright ©1996-2001 CruiseOpinion.com. Last modified: March 23, 2000.