Emerald Princess Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We never had been to Alaska and we figured Princess would be a good brand to take to Alaska. We chose this itinerary to keep the price down a little bit. We were in a group of six people total, all adults.
The ports we visited in Alaska - Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway - frankly are not really outstanding. Ketchikan and Skagway have old saloons that were known for their brothels in the gold rush days and still have "brothel tours", but we are not into that kind of thing. We did a whale watching tour in Juneau and that was pretty good. We took a train ride from Skagway up the White Pass into Canada and to a pedestrian suspension bridge, and that all was interesting. You learn a lot about the gold rush days on that tour. We poked around on our own in Ketchikan, and we decided we should have gone to the lumberjack show instead.
Cruising the Tracy Arm Fjord - the scenery was impressive but the weather was cold, windy, and rainy.
Cabin Review
Balcony
Adequate. Small bathroom and shower. Nice balcony, about 10 feet by 10 feet, which was good sized for the class of cabin. Our group had three adjacent cabins and the room stewards opened the balcony partition doors so we could visit each other's balconys.
Port Reviews
Seattle
We got to Seattle two nights early so we had about a day and a half to poke around. We saw Pike Market, Seattle Center, and a couple seafood places, just getting around with Uber when we wanted.
Tip - when you arrive at the airport and want to find an Uber you need to go to the parking building, Level 4. There is an Uber stand up there with a guy to summon a car for you. Level 4 parking garage is also where the other shuttles etc have their booking stands.
Ketchikan
There is a free city shuttle bus that makes a stop close to where the ship docks. But the stop is not marked very well. Save yourself some confusion if you are going around on your own as we were, and ask very explicit questions at guest services on the ship about the shuttle bus before you go out.
Creek Street is the main attraction. It used to be a bunch of brothels in the gold rush days, now it is a bunch of arts and crafts shops. Along Creek Street there is a funicular that goes up the hill to a hotel, $3 a person I think, you get a nice view at the top.
In the late summer the salmon swim up the creek. I was told there is a salmon ladder up the hill from creek street. But the salmon were not running when we were there - it was a little early in the season I guess. When the salmon swim upstream they attract bears and eagles, so go there when the salmon are running if you can figure out when that is.
Some of the people in our group went to the lumberjack show and had a very entertaining time. The ship provides a tour to the show. That sounds like what we should have done instead of Creek Street on our own.