I thoroughly enjoyed the Cruise itself. There was ample time available to do your own thing or complete a pre booked land tour in each of the 3 towns visited. Ketchikan (my personal favourite) is a 1/2 day visit. Juneau is a full day and Skagway also a full day. Facilities on board are excellent. We had a cabin with balcony on the starboard side and travelling North we had land to look at most of the time. Waters in Inside Passage, Glacier Bay and College Fjords were like velvet. Roughest sea (if you can call it that) was between Skagway and Glacier Bay.

The Land segment of this trip was disappointing . Be prepared to loose your main luggage for 4 nights. It is taken from your cabin night before disembarkation and you will not see it until the night you reach Fairbanks! We landed in Whittier and were transported to Anchorage for a nights accommodation. We all had to sit around a transit centre for 4 hours before our rooms were ready! The next day we travelled to Princess Mt McKinley Lodge via train. I enjoyed the train with its clear dome seating.we arrived at Talkeetna and had a wander before getting the shuttle to the Lodge. The next morning we travelled to Princess Wilderness Lodge. Here the facilities are excellent.

In my opinion the land "tour" is a total waste of time and money. Princess would be far better sending passengers direct to Princess Wilderness Lodge from Whittier rather than have us up early to travel half a day and having to have bags ready to loose each day also. It seems this leg is more about Princess milking its passengers by putting them up in Princess owned facilities each leg of the way. Read more