First let me say everything was flawless, including the airlines both ways. Left Rochester NY at 6:42 AM on Northwest (a week after the reported pilot sickouts) and were on time to Minneapolis with a brief layover and the on our way to Anchorage. Arrived in Anchorage around noon (gained 4 hours from the east coast) immediately were greeted by the Princess people and taken to the Captain Cook with rooms keys etc given to us at the door. Went out to find lunch at the Brew Haus with our party of 9. Even though we had separate checks there was an automatic 18% tip added to all our our bills which would explain the poor service given, no incentive when you know you get 18%. We all crossed off the tip and wrote in an apporpriate amount given the poor service and went back to relax and try to sleep. The sun was up until 11:30 that night but the heavy curtains were great. It was a sunny 70’s day and the room was a bit warm, but with no AC (why would you need it in Alaska) it was a bit muggy. Got up and had breakfast then off to explore in the rain. After lunch we were put on the Princess bus to get to the rail yard for our train ride down to the port in Whittier. We were last on the train and were told that our seats were given up to a large group so as not to split them up. I indicated that there were 9 of us and we were not going to be penalized since my Cruise Agent had gotten us seats all together and theirs did not. Once I finally and forcefully indicated this was to be my approach, they complied and seated us in our original seats in the same area.

The train ride was great, even in the light rain, nice scenery, tunnels, etc. Saw some doll sheep (actually saw some white dots on the mountains which they said were doll sheep). Arrived at the port to see our ship waiting, very cool sight coming in on the train. Had printed out our cruise boarding passes prior to leaving and went by the checkin desk thru security and right onto the boat where our luggage was already in our rooms and all sorts of reading material, etc. Immediately did our muster drill and off to dinner.
College Fijord was up for Tuesday with overcast skies and 50’s for a 3 hour scenic ride. Off to Glacier Bay Tues afternoon with brisk winds and rolling seas thru the night and into Wed. Glacier bay was cool scenic viewing for a few hours then off to Skagway. Thurs in Skagway was blanket fog, 40’s and raining the whole day. Did the White Pass rail tour and even with the fog it was very neat. Walked around town in the rain and say some Otters in the docks area. Off to Juneau for Thursday and overcast, mild and had a real treat on the Whale watch tour when we ran into about 12-18 Killer whales, a rare sighting according to the tour people. Left them after about an hour and saw a humpback with calf. Back to boat and off to ketchican for Saturday. Woke up to bright sun and 70’s, pretty amazing. Did the Lighthouse Totem tour and saw dozens of bald eagles and ½ dozen nests. Back to boat to head to Vancouver and home.

Princess was great except that they need to work on getting people on and off at ports better. They should giver preference to those who have excursions since they paid $$, maybe reserve the first hour or so to get those people off then “open” call. Service was excellent, food great and plentiful. A great option was to sign up for express airline checkin post cruise. $15/pp got your bags taken, checked and you did not see them until you got home with your airlines tickets printed and delivered then taken away on a “sealed” bus to airport and shuttled thru your own customs/immigration/security in Vancouver thus you did not need to clear again in the states. Well worth the cost!

This was a year in the making for 9 people. The first thing I learned was that you need Binnie B. at Cruise One. There are sooo many questions and things that need to be addressed and she was fantastic! Next thing is that let Princess arrange the air, I know you may be able to save some $$ arranging your own but with 9 people it was invaluable not having to deal with seating, transfers and timeing especially when you can then take advantage of the express checkin as explained above!

Link to pictures to follow in a couple of weeks, got 16 rolls of 24 exp as well as digital and it will take time to scan into webshots, well worth the wait!