Thread: Island Princess Alaska 8/7/2006

Hi CLF-er's!

Anyone going on this cruise? I'd love to hear from you. My husband and I will be celebrating our anniversary on this cruise. I still haven't booked excursions. I'm searching people here for good ideas.

Margie

Hi!

Welcome to CLF!!!

Glad you joined us.

I am not going on your cruise, but I have been to Alaska 3 times!

I absolutely love it and would love to move there one day.

I have tons of pictures of Alaska in the cruise gallery

http://www.cruiselineforums.com/gall...ry.php/cat/676

Also, if you have specific questions, just post them and I would be happy to give you a few suggestions.

Also in the Alaska forum itself, there are already a lot of questions about Alaska and some suggestions regarding excursions

Click here

However, whatever you choose, you'll love Alaska. Its a place of beauty, majesty and mystery!

If you have any questions about the Island Princess, maybe I can answer them. We were on it for the holidays last Dec/Jan.

I let you know about the trip when I return fron my 5/15 NB Alaska.

Thank you Cruisin' Chick & Flacruiser for responding. Flacruiser, unless you are reading this forum on the cruise ship, you won't read this until you return. I can't wait to hear what you thought, what you did, what you wore, and any advice! Cruisin' Chick, What did you do in Alaska? What did you like the best, what did you wear?
Thanks for any info!
Margie

We're not really big on shore excursions, even though we did three ship excursions on our Hawaiian cruise. Our little one (7 on our Alaskan cruise) had enough sightseeing on our train trip up to Seattle and I'm not really outsy-doorsy.

We did the Inside Passage, RT to Seattle and here's what we did:
Ketchikan -- booked a tour at the pier (incl. the Saxman Totems). Hubby didn't think the trolley wasn't too comfy. The last stop was Dolly's House (she was a famous madam in the pioneer days). Each person had a choice of staying on for the short drive back to the pier or getting off, seeing the house and returning on their own. We did the latter, including stopping to buy some jewelry. Even in the rain, it was an easy walk.

Juneau -- we just walked around and hit some souvenir shops. Earlier in the day, the ship cruised thru the Tracey Strait. Princess has a naturalist aboard, narrating. Everyone, but everyone, gets up and hangs out, either on the balcony or up on the deck. It looks like you do another glacier viewing but it probably is similar.

Skagway -- this was our favorite of the Alaskan ports. In the morning we walked around...it's not that far from the pier. We ran into a tour group and listened in (it was connected with the Moore House, whose owner founded the town). We followed them back to the museum which gives an idea about the history of the town. In the afternoon we took a ship's excursion, a motorbus drive up the Whitepass (parallels the railway but takes a shorter amount of time, and looks more comfy than the train).

We also went to Victoria but your cruise goes to Vancouver.

As for the weather, it's hard to predict. We ran into some people coming off the Amsterdam the day we were headed to board the Sapphire. They said they were wearing shorts all week. The weather turned within a day of starting our cruise. It was in the 60s and mostly raining or overcast during the week.

Definitely, plan to wear layers. The nice thing about the Island is that there's a covered swimming pool. And if you don't want to pack a lot, there's self-service coin-operated washing machines on every deck with cabins.

We are not on this trip but we did the same ship to the Panama Canal on our anniversary and we did the renewal of vows package which was absolutely wonderful, highly recommend it. We did an Alaskan cruise last year and I would recommend the helicopter tours of the glaciers it is absolutely beautiful.