My wife and I just returned from an 11 day cruise/tour on the Royal Princess. Our cruise/tour stated on land in Fairbanks and we stayed in the Princess Lodges during the land portion. We had hoped that going in July would have resulted in a cruise/tour with clear skies a warm days but that was not the case. For the most part it was cold and wet the majority of the time with temperatures in the 50's I will say that we enjoyed the riverboat tour in Fairbanks and the tour into Denali National park but when we left Denali things kind of went down hill as Mt. Denali was obscured by clouds and rain and we found out that Denali is usually obscured by clouds. When we left the Denali lodge it rained all the way to the Mckinley and the whole time we were there. We were supposed to go on a jet boat excursion but the vendor had to cut the tour short because the high water. The train down to Whittier was pretty enjoyable but it certainly would have been better on a clear day vs solid rain. That pretty much sums up the tour portion. A few good times but lots of cold rain.

Once we got to Whittier Princess had things pretty well organized but the temp was in the low 50's with strong winds and rain so it was a bit wet and cold from the time we got off the train until we got inside the terminal. Check in was pretty fast and we were on our way to our cabin in no time. The Royal Princess, in my opinion, is a great ship. Very clean, good amenities, great food and an excellent staff, especially our cabin steward Darryl. The thing I found amazing was how smooth the ship was as when we left Whittier we had 8 ft swells but with the stabilizers the ship barely rocked. We cruised down the coast but when we got to the Hubbard Glacier we couldn't get near it because of the weather. Glacier bay looked like it was going to be a bust too but at the last minute the sun came out and it was a great day. Next stop was Skagway and more rain and cold. Skagway is kind a a tourist trap with lots of shops but little to do and with the rain and cold we didn't do much. Juneau was wet and rainy also but we went to a salmon bake where the vendor had everything under huge tents with heaters. Loved the salmon cooked on an open pit with the glaze. Highly recommend this excursion. Victoria was next and it was sunny and warm. This is a very beautiful city. Very clean, very green and lots of flowers everywhere. The next day we stopped in Vancouver where the cruise ended and this is where our real headaches began.

In order that the ship could be made ready for the next cruise we had to be out of our cabin by 9:00 but we could not disembark until 11:30 and once we were off the ship we were on our way to the airport where we had nothing to do prior to our flight out at 10:30. I've been in a lot of airports but I can say that Vancouver is one of the worst for amenities. Airlines would not take our luggage early so we stored it with a vendor that cost us extra. A simple food court with Subway, A&W root beer and a couple of other fast foodies places outside of security but we were stuck until a few hours before flight time when we could finally check our bags and go though security. Read more