Island Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,228 reviews

Amazing Alaska Land and Sea Tour via Princess and Island Princess

Review for Alaska Cruise on Island Princess
User Avatar
txbargaintraveler
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Service

Additional details

Sail Date: Jul 2016
Cabin: Oceanview

This is long, but I tried to subtitle each section to be helpful. This was our third Alaskan cruise in 5 years. We absolutely love the peacefulness and beauty of the mountains and forests that surround every passage of this cruise. We truly loved the Island Princess and can't understand the negative comments we have read. This was our 7th cruise and our 4th with Princess. The changes in the ships layout were refreshing to us! We usually are limited to taking vacation in July when the cruise ships are completely booked and when it is usually very crowded on board, hard to find seats in various venues, hard to find deck chair, and hard to get on the elevators without having to wait a long time. We didn't have any of those problems on the Island Princess even though the cruise was sold out. The typical public venues appear larger than the other ships we've been on (more seating) and there was more individual chairs/couches in front of large windows along the various decks. Also the Crooner's lounge, Churchhill lounge, La Patissiere (coffee/sandwhich/pastry bar), and Wheelhouse bar were all in the middle of the ship with large windows to look out from. There were several lounge chairs on the Promenade deck outside and plenty of available deck chairs near the outside pool or the large inside pool from which you could also see out.

We did the 3 day land tour vs. 4. We had heard that it is annoying having to put your luggage out so early in the morning, but we booked the AB3 Alaskan land tour and didn't really have to put our luggage out as early as we had been told by many others who had taken the tour before. We started in Anchorage at the Captain Cook hotel, then were taken by motor coach to the Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge which is the closest hotel to Denali (about 40 miles), and then we went by motorcoach the next day to the Denal Princess Wilderness Lodge. The last day we were taken to the train depot nearby and took the Direct-to-Wilderness train from Denali to Whittier directly across from the cruise terminal. It is very much worth the money to take the land tour. We saw the majority of the wildlife during this part: 8 grizzly/brown bear (including 4 cubs), 6 mouse, 1 grey wolf, numerous caribou, dahl sheep, swan, and I'm sure other animals that I've forgotten about. We saw most of this during the Tundra Wilderness Tour at Denali National Park. We learned that 93% of all wildlife sightings in the park are usually between park road mile marker 30 and 60, so take the 6-8 hour tour if you want to see wildlife. It is definitely worth it. Our 8 hour tour ended up being more like 6 hours, which we were fine with. You will be so busy looking for wildlife (if you bring good binoculars) that you won't even care you are on a bus.

Yes, we saw Denali. We were not only in the 30% of visitors that were lucky enough to get to see the mountain (no too many clouds), but we were told we were among the 1% of people who get to see the mountain from the very tip to the base without any cloud cover whatsoever. It was glorious! The best place to see the mountain is from Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge or the train. You can't actually see Denali from the Denali Princess Lodge or from the park except from one point during the bus ride closer to mile 62 if there happens not to be cloud cover or if you take the longer 12 hour tour.

Cabin Review

Oceanview

Cabin OE

We had booked a mid-ship, obstructed oceanview guarantee. We were upgraded to an unobstructed oceanview; however, our two cabins were assigned at the very rear of the ship F722 and F724. Honestly, the rooms were very nice. These were new rooms added during the 2015 ship remodeling. We usually have a hard time sleeping on the cruise ship mattresses and just on a cruise ship in general; however, our mattresses in this room were fantastic and very comfortable. We did have an egg crate added, but we always do. The gentle vibration of the ship at night actually helped put us to sleep and keep us asleep. I preferred the layout of these rear rooms in which you can pull your chair up to the window (other oceanviews have the bed under the window). The only draw back was that when we got to port on the 3 port days, there was quite a bit of noise as the ship uses its thrusters more and the crew pulls the large tie off robes from the deck below our cabins. Most of the time we had to get up early any way to have the opportunity for a good breakfast before going ashore for our excursions. Our cabin steward was phenomenal. He filled up the ice bucket and placed it in our refrigerator every day. He really did a great job of refreshing our room 3 times a day when we happened to be out of the room.

24 Helpful Votes
previous reviewnext review

Find an Island Princess Cruise from $628

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.