Island Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,228 reviews

A Whole New World

Review for Alaska Cruise on Island Princess
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kgoley
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Jun 2014

Alaska had been on our bucket list for years, but we were always overloaded with information when trying to decide the best way to see this vast state. Fortunately, our travel agent recommended a Cruisetour and since she had been on several Alaska cruises, I took her advice to book Princess without question. First, a bit about the Cruisetour, because I know most people making the trek to Alaska will at least look at this option. We did a 3 day land tour prior to the cruise, again at our agent's recommendation, and I'm so glad we did. The land tour requires lots of activity - on and off buses, hiking through parks, and early mornings. I'm so glad we did this part of the trip first so that we could relax on the cruise! Our tour started in Anchorage overnight with an early morning bus ride to the Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge the next morning. The next day, we boarded another bus to the Denali Princess Lodge and a day in Denali National Park. The next day, and a highlight of the trip, a 9-hour train ride through the wilderness and on to the ship. I won't go into detail on the lodges and excursions we did there - you can find those reviews on Trip Advisor. Also, while Princess does all that they can to make travel easier for the mobility impaired, this part of the trip did require lots of walking and stair-climbing.

A must for an Alaska cruise is a balcony. Fortunately, the Island Princess has a lot of balcony rooms. As a matter of fact, it looked to us like Princess in general had more balcony rooms than any other ship we saw in port. We chose a mini-suite and were so glad we did. The room was spacious, and the bathroom was huge by cruise ship standards, with a full bathtub/shower combination. Our room was C722, port side aft. There is very little motion felt on an Alaska cruise since the waters are calm and we could barely tell we were moving.

The food was fantastic. We decided on the "Dine Any Time" option. This is a little deceiving - you can't usually just walk in like any restaurant and expect to be seated. You really should make reservations as soon as you get on the ship if possible. Make them for every night! We had two upgraded meals, one in Sabatini's (fantastic!!), and one in Bayou (not worth the upgrade). I enjoy sharing tables with other people and met so many nice people on the ship. However, you can request a table for just your party if you wish. Our dining room was Bordeaux (the one for Dine Any Time) but because we couldn't always get in there for dinner, we were sometimes sent to Provence (the one for timed dining). They have identical menus so that was fine. The meals in the sit-down restaurants were infinitely better than the buffet. It did in a pinch when we wanted to sleep in on sea days.

Cabin Review

A must for an Alaska cruise is a balcony. Fortunately, the Island Princess has a lot of balcony rooms. As a matter of fact, it looked to us like Princess in general had more balcony rooms than any other ship we saw in port. We chose a mini-suite and were so glad we did. The room was spacious, and the bathroom was huge by cruise ship standards, with a full bathtub/shower combination. Our room was C722, port side aft. There is very little motion felt on an Alaska cruise since the waters are calm and we could barely tell we were moving.

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