Princess knows how to do Alaska! We booked a 50th birthday land & cruise tour with Princess including a Penthouse suite (C408). Normally we would only have a balcony room, but thought this was a special enough occasion to splurge on a suite. It was worth it! I'll only mention the land portion briefly. We flew into Anchorage and were met by the Princess Rep and transferred to our Hotel. (Captain Cook) We transferred the next morning by bus to Princess McKinley Lodge for 1 night. We then went by rail to the Princess Denali Lodge for 2 nights. Finally we went by bus to Whittier to catch the ship. Everything was seamless and smooth. You send one bag to the ship so it never travels with you while on the land portion just meets you at the ship on cruise day. If you want more info on the land portion send me an email, mikemgt58@gmail.com.

Alaska is such a scenic cruise words and pictures don't do it justice. Standing on your balcony seeing humpback whales breaching is an amazing site. Glaciers, fjords, wildlife etc was just as advertised. Be sure to bring good binoculars and a camera. I rented a nice long range lens for my trip and it was worth it. The weather was supposed to be rainy and in the 50's & 60's in Alaska during June. Well we must have won the weather lottery because it was mid to high 70's and low 80's our entire trip. They say only 30% of the visitors ever see the full Mt McKinley (Denali). We saw it, cloudless, all 4 days of our trip and no rain the entire 11 days. The ports we visited were Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, two days cruising in Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier.

We were in suite C408 and it was great. The room itself was at least twice the size of a regular balcony room. The balcony had a table w 4 chairs, plus 2 lounge chairs and a small table. The bathroom had a jacuzzi tub and a separate shower. There were 2 TV's in the suite with DVD player and a DVD library with lots of movies. Our Steward Arlon was great. The mini bar comes filled and is complementary the first time if you want it restocked then you pay for it. The full room service menu was great as well. They come to your room and will set it up inside or on your balcony your choice. You also get a free dinner the first or second night of your cruise in one of the specialty restaurants. Every morning you can go to Sabatini's for breakfast and a free mimosa for suite members only. We went there 3 times and really enjoyed it. There were never more than 10 or 12 people there and the staff was super attentive to our needs always. We used the complimentary laundry and dry cleaning service as well. My wife did visit the lotus spa and the complimentary use of the Thermal suite and really raved about it. Read more