Hi folks....I am not much on writing trip reports but will just post some observations in each catagory and if anyone has questions let me know. Our group included 8 adult family members and friends and one 4 year old neice Emily. We had a great trip which our family needed desperately after two unexpected illnesses and funerals for my father and brother in law (over the last 3 months)who were both to go on this trip!! Other than some expected tears from time to time everyone on our trip managed to
have a wonderful time and I would recommend cruising to Alaska to everyone.
Cruise line- Princess-we thought they treated us fairly and were
accomodating when we needed something. Would definitely
cruise Princess again.
Ship- Island Princess- Beautiful ship and only 1 year old with
fabulous spa facilities.
Pre and post cruise days- Vancouver (terrific way to spend a couple days pre cruise) and Anchorage for one day and night so we could fly out early in AM to east coast)
Airlines- Air Canada(good trip and non-stop!!) to Vancouver
United from Anchorage back to Dulles(thru Chicago with an hour and a half delay but ok other than that)
Berths on Island Princess-all our rooms were mini-suites which were very nice, plenty of room with balconies. We are now spoiled and would always want this type berth.
Service on IP-very accomodating. Automatic tips($10.pp pday) put on bill which was fine with us. Several in our group left extra tips as they felt their service was above and beyond.
Food-though we did hear a few other people say they didn't care for it our entire group thought the food was very good and were amazed at the quality of such huge quantities of food!!
Weather- Vancouver was perfect sunny and 74, Ketchikan was sunny and about 73, Juneau was sunny and about 75 Skagway was cloudy and rain off and on and about 60 but not too bad. Glacier Bay and College Fijord were cloudy with showers and haze and chilly on decks maybe 50 but still able to take good pictures.
Alaska- words cannot describe how beautiful, amazing, enormous
and wonderful this last frontier destination is. It truly must be seen
and experienced to understand and cruising is a great way to do it.
Excursions-included helicopter/glacier flights which everyone said
were the most amazing experience they ever had, float plane trips to see bears(they did)and loved these too, wildlife/whale watching were great excursions and we saw plenty of whales, White Pass Yukon train ride which is terrific, white water rafting in Mendenhall lake/glacier area which was very exciting(though we are novice white water rafters) and horseback trail riding which was too short but a very nice trip. Everyone felt their excursion were worth the money(expensive) except possibly the horseback trips were pretty high for what you were getting.
Spa- our group(6 women) included various facials, massages and hair care. All of which were pretty expensive but very enjoyable. We felt a fair amount of sales pressure was put on to buy products and while this was noticable to all, several were allowed to return unopened products after realizing they might not need $75 hand cream..... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />
Group travel arraingements were made thru Bonnie Buchanan a sponsor on this board. I would strongly recommend using a cruise agent for cruises generally and especially for a large group booking. And I cannot say enough about how great she was to work with. Our arraingements as a group were difficult, but she had answers, information and recommendations(all good)for our every question, and got us a good group package, and when my father died and then 3 months later(and one month before the cruise)my brother in law passed she was wonderful emotional support to me and my family, for people she had never met. And then she was our voice, advocate and counsellor thru the maze of decisions and changes we had to make in our cruise reservations. I would recommend her to anyone who needs a cruise agent and thank my lucky stars we had her to help us with ours!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/thanks.gif" alt="" />
Sorry to go on so long with this report. We had the trip of a lifetime in spite of the terrible events leading up to the trip. Maybe because of what we had been thru we realized how important it is to enjoy the time we had together, love each other and live every day in the moment. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />
Corinne