So you want all the details, or maybe you want to go yourself?
Here is what you may want to know.
The Most important Things
The most important things to know- The weather will be variable. Do not expect that you will see everything because you will get rained or fogged out on a bunch of days. You will only get one shot at everything. Because of this the normal recommendations of taking some rest days is a bad idea.
- Just because it's rainy or foggy does not mean the day is a waste. A dollar for a rain poncho was all it took to see the Mendenhall glacier and I just love that picture.
- On Days were you view the glacier. When your balcony is not on the side that sees the glacier go to the top of the ship. The lighting changes so fast that by the time you can see them from your balcony, it may not be that good. Heck, just go to the top for some time because the view is different and wonderful.
As a last note If you have any thoughts about an Alaskan Cruise and are not aware that about half of your days will look like this, you need to reconsider. Really, this place is the end all and be all of variable weather. For this particular picture the weather was bright and sunny just 3 hours earlier. You will see a lot, but you have to be comfortable with not seeing everything because weather will not be your friend every day. But hey, sometimes the rainy foggy weather makes for an incredible vibe (see the Mendenhall Glacier Pic), so if you go in with an open mind, you will see plenty of great sights. You just aren't going to know which until the last moment.
Details on The What and Where
Ok, Let's dive into the where a bit. This is the standard Cruise + Land Package from Princess. Multiple cruise lines have similar itineraries but all are just slightly different. Personally I find this one the most appealing as you are going north so every day you get that "adventure forward" feeling which can only add to the excitement of a trip. It is also very good at stringing the components together. The bus drops off at the cruise ship which drops you off at a train which eventually takes you all the way to Denali National Park. Pretty sweet.
| Date | August | Day | Port/Lodge | Excursions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri | 11 | 1 | Fly from RDU to Seattle (5.5 hours) | |
| Sat | 12 | 2 | Bus to Port of Vancouver (3.5 hours) | |
| Sun | 13 | 3 | At Sea | |
| Mon | 14 | 4 | Ketchikan | Ketchikan Pub Walk |
| Tue | 15 | 5 | Juneau | Mendenhall Glacier |
| Wed | 16 | 6 | Skagway | White Pass Rail Road |
| Thu | 17 | 7 | Glacier Bay National Park | (Scenic Cruising) |
| Fri | 18 | 8 | College Fjord | (Scenic Cruising) |
| Sat | 19 | 9 | Whitter, AK Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge | Train Ride (10 hours) |
| Sun | 20 | 10 | Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge | Denali Natural History Tour |
| Mon | 21 | 11 | Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge | Bus Ride (2 hours) |
| Tue | 22 | 12 | Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge | Chulitna Gorge (Jet Boat Tour) |
| Wed | 23 | 13 | Bus Ride to Anchorage (2.5 hours) Anchorage Hotel Captain Cook | Deluxe City Tour Via Trolley |
| Thu | 24 | 14 | Fly from Anchorage to Seattle (3.5 hours) | |
| Fri | 25 | 15 | Fly from Seattle to RDU (5 hours) |
Cost:
Who wants to hear about a trip if it's to expensive to go yourself? I've always hated travel shows that show you an incredible location and never mention the price, or the price mentioned doesn't include taxes or fees which can be up to 25% in some areas. The prices below are after all taxes.
Just to be clear, this is not an inexpensive trip. You might be able to save money on flights, but that also might just be the new costs post covid. Lodging in Seattle is just stupid expensive for what you get. So maybe you could cut the Drinks and Wifi package if you are not a drinker or really pay attention to meals and drinks to cut the Misc Food and Bar, but that doesn't sound like a very fun trip.
2 People, 14 Nights, Includes Taxes| Item | Cost |
| Cruise + Land + Gratuity + Drinks + Wifi | $9,067 |
| Flights (2 rd trip + 1 one way) | $2,092 |
| Excursions | $1,006 |
| Seattle Lodging (2 nights) | $538 |
| Misc Food and Bar | $2,000 |
| Total | $14,703 |
I don't have all of the details, but here is a rough comparison with the 2009 Trip.
| Item | 2009 | 2023 |
| Cruise + Land | $4,000 | $6,400 |
Rants
I'm just going to move all of this down to the bottom because it was getting to feel like an old man yelling at clouds.
Princess (and likely the other cruise lines) still has a lot of work to do. My largest disappointments were technology related, but some basic issues like not being able to understand the announcements are problems they have had for decades but simply refuse to fix which is pretty sad.
In no particular order
The Technology
- All of the technology (The Website, the mobile app, the emails, the stateroom TV) is average to simply bad.
- The mobile app is the worst offender since they keep moving more and more critical information to it. Every single person seemed to have issues getting the new "mobile muster" working. It either doesn't work, or crashes repeatedly. A horrible experience as you first experience when you board. The app lacks such basic functionality as a pause button on the video, any way to repeat the video, or simply clear everything and start from scratch. There is no way this passed QA, so the only answer is that it's been shoved out the door half baked. Since this is a procedure you HAVE to complete, this is below poor.
- Yes, different computer systems that don't talk to each other is a common problem, Princess takes this to a new low. They have four systems, the Website, the mobile app, the emails, and the stateroom TV. Each have some critical information that is not available on the others. The mobile app and stateroom TV crash if you look at them sideways, and what the hell is the issue of getting some random emails about charges that I can't see on the webpage?
- And finally the webpage. Sorry Princess but webpages have been around for over 20 years now and yours is poor. Specifically, signing up for excursions. Excursions are a large part of the trip, but the website provides the absolute minimum amount of information. It's like they wrote 3 to 4 lines of description, grabbed some clip art from 2000 and said "good enough". Sad.
The Food. Set your expectations for Food
- Service 5/5, Presentation 5/5, Quality 3/5, Taste 3/5.
- Nothing was bad, but if you like seasonings you will be disappointed.
- We got the Alcohol package so wine was free. And by "Free Wine" expect your choice to be red wine or white wine. Yes there are ten or so wines to choose from but you would never know they were different.