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Name: Ralph Flatt
Email: reflatt@concentric.net
Age: 53
Occupation: Court Administrator
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Princess-Sun
SailingDate: June 13, 1998
Itinerary: Alaska - Voyage of the Glaciers
FoodDiningRoom: 94
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 93
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 95
CabinAmenities: 96
FoodLidoDeck: 89
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 96
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 95
FoodVariety: 95
DeckService:
ShoreExcValue: 90
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 83
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 92
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 88
OverallPortsofCall: 96
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside:
CruiseActivities: 92
Casino:
AirSeaProgram: 96
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 99
EmbarkDisembark: 98
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 92
Stabilization: 90
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 92
OverallCruiseValue: 94
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 29 Jun 1998
Time: 19:43:07
Remote Name: 206.173.103.123
Remote User:
Comments
My wife and I had planned to take our first cruise years ago, but it never came about for
one reason or another. When the time came to actually plan our
cruise, we did it with the same diligent planning that goes into all of our vacations. We
began reading newspaper articles about cruise lines and bought a
couple of books on cruising. They were very helpful. By the time we got to the travel
agent, we knew exactly what we wanted and the agent had only to
book the cruise for us.
When I first heard of the arrival of the new Princess mega-ships (the Sun and Dawn), I
knew that I wanted to sail on one (or both) of them. We were
going to Alaska and we requested a northbound ‘Voyage of the Glaciers' cruise on the
Dawn Princess. We were scheduled to leave on May 23, 1998.
About four weeks before departure, our travel agent phoned to say that Princess wondered
if we would consider sailing on a later cruise date. It was
interesting because I had just read a newspaper article a couple of months earlier that
told how the cruise lines are now doing the same thing as the
airlines, namely: over-booking. My wife and I looked over our schedules and decided that
we could consider a few later dates. To sweeten the situation
for us, Princess offered to give us an eight category stateroom upgrade with a $200
shipboard credit. Well, it didn't take us long to cheerfully say ‘yes.'
Our new cruising date was to be June 13, 1998 on the Sun Princess. We ended up going from
an outside window room on the Dolphin deck to a room
with balcony on the Aloha deck. We had already received a two category upgrade for booking
early (October of 1997). So, we ended up with a grand
total of a TEN category upgrade. Not bad!
We purchased a Princess air/sea package with Loveboat Gold insurance and were glad we had.
Had we run into any airline delays along the way, they
would have helped us and accommodated us in any way necessary. We personally had no
problems but did speak with a couple who had missed the
ship due to airline delays. Princess put them up in a nice hotel and transported them to
Ketchikan where they stayed in a hotel atop a mountain with a
beautiful view of the area. They said Princess also gave them a sizeable refund on their
passage and they were very pleased with how things were
handled.
Having a balcony in Alaska was extremely helpful. For most of the trip the ship is sailing
past gorgeous wilderness/mountainous terrain. We were able to
sit just outside the comfort of our own stateroom and watch the beauty glide by. It
doesn't get much better than that.
There is no doubt about it. Princess really knows how to provide a seamless cruise
experience. Our plane landed slightly early in Vancouver. We arrived
at the ship's pier already by 12:15 p.m. It wasn't scheduled to sail until 5:30 p.m. No
problem. We quickly went through the check-in procedures and
were on board before we knew it. Crew members were everywhere offering to provide help and
directions.
When we opened our stateroom door, we were pleasantly surprised. The room was a bit larger
than we had envisioned and had lots of closet space.
There was even a small refrigerator in the room. Our cabin steward soon found us and
introduced himself.
Since we seemed to be some of the earliest to board the ship, we took the opportunity to
walk around it and see what was there. The ship is enormous
and impressive. It is completely clean, well decorated and beautifully furnished. There
seemed to be something on board to serve almost everyone's
interest. We knew it was going to be a wonderful week. And it was!
On day two, our first complete day of sailing, the ship was sailing north through the
British Columbia Inside Passage (a series of barrier islands off the
mainland). Unfortunately the weather was bad. It was rainy with wind and fog. The seas
were moderate (translation: four to eight foot waves) with a stiff
wind. There was a lot of forward/aft motion as well as side to side. Lots of people were
suffering from motion sickness and buying medication. Significant
ship movement again occurred during the evening of our last day at sea in the Gulf of
Alaska. Luckily my wife and I weren't affected by it. We managed to
enjoy ourselves no matter what the weather.
On day three we woke up to find ourselves in Ketchikan, Alaska. The clouds lifted and we
then had four straight days of beautiful sunshine and 70-ish
temperatures. Packing clothing for Alaska is always a puzzlement. We ended up with too
much cold weather clothing and not enough warm weather
clothing. There were very few times when heavier clothing was needed (mainly around the
glacier areas). Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway were delightful
towns. On the surface, they were obviously very touristy. My wife and I aren't big on
shopping so we didn't spend a lot of time walking around the towns.
We filled up most of our shore time with excursions that would take us closer to scenery,
historical/cultural places and Alaskan wildlife. We were glad that
we did. On a wildlife cruise from Juneau, we saw sea lions, humpback whales, and dolphins
fairly close-up. You just don't see much of that wildlife from the
big ship. It seems as if there were always eagles flying overhead or sitting around
everywhere you looked in Alaska. We were pleased with most of our
choices of excursions.
You could just overdose on the scenery in Glacier Bay and College Fjord. I am a camera nut
so I had three cameras and shot 27 rolls of film. We were
glad that we had taken this Alaskan cruise. It was the experience of a lifetime.
Back to the Sun Princess. We had originally asked for first seating for dinner but ended
up with second seating because of the change in the sailing
date. Second seating worked out great and we agreed that it would be our choice in the
future. Eating dinner at 8:15 p.m. gives you plenty of time to get
back to the ship, freshen-up, change clothes if necessary and slip into one of the ship's
many lounges for a sampling of the ‘drink of the day' before
dining. We sat at a tale for eight. Our dinner partners were friendly and we came to look
forward to dining with them at night. The food was tasty and
well-prepared. Portions weren't big, but they were very adequate and there were four to
five courses per meal. The waiters did an outstanding job. Our
table in the Regency Dining Room was by an outside picture window to the sea and scenery.
We used the Horizon Court buffet for breakfast and lunch
most days. We did eat breakfast and lunch in the main dining room a few times (days when
we were at sea). For those meals you don't sit with your
dinner partners, you are nevertheless seated by dining room staff at tables with others.
After a while, it became a bit tedious having to make small talk
and keep trying to relate to strangers through each of those meals...especially when
seated at a table for four with a couple whose English is difficult to
understand. But, everyone was very friendly and polite...and in same predicament as us.
That made it easier.
Entertainment was pretty good. The singers and dancers who perform ‘Pirates' and
‘Oddesea' are very talented and high energy young persons.
Because we had a tendency to linger over talk at dinner, we always ended up entering the
Princess Theater just before showtime and were seated near
the back. There is a bank of ceiling loudspeakers that absolutely blasts the sound at
those near the back. It was difficult to understand most of the sung
lyrics. It also made it especially difficult to follow the (extremely thin) plot of
‘Pirates.' Again, it was the performers, not the material, that made these
shows entertaining.
There are lots of shipboard activities to choose from. Anyone who is bored on this ship
must be a boring person. The activities that we participated in
were well run and satisfactory. The ship's crew were courteous and helpful throughout the
trip. Anytime we had a question about something, we called
the purser's office and received an accurate and satisfying answer.
The one thing that really impressed me by the end of the cruise was just how hard everyone
on the crew worked, from the stateroom stewards to the
dining room staff. It seemed as if they worked tirelessly from morning to night, all the
while managing to keep a smile on their faces. These hard-working
people deserved every penny (and more) of the tips they receive.
At the conclusion of the cruise we were booked into an Anchorage hotel for an extra day
and night of R&R before our flight home. If we had it to do over
again, we would have flown out the same day we disembarked the ship. The reason is that
our flight (back to Michigan) left Anchorage at 6:15 a.m. the
next morning. We had to get up at 3:30 a.m. to have our luggage ready for pick-up (at 4:00
a.m.) and for us to meet the Princess shuttle to the airport
at 4:45 a.m. Then we spent seven hours in the air and landed in our home town at 9:00 p.m.
that evening. Flying home the same day as disembarkation
couldn't have been any more exhausting.
All in all, I would take this cruise again in a second. The Sun Princess is indeed a
Princess of a ship and Alaska is nothing short of extraordinary. Enjoy!
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