Alaska Inside Passage on The Dawn Princess
Written: Sep 03 '05 (Updated Sep 03 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great food,awesome excursions,very relaxing 5 star treatment!!
Cons: None, As long as you exercise self control on your spending.
The Bottom Line: Highly recommended! Must do it least once! One of the things you will talk about for the rest of your life.
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| sydewynder033's Full Review: Dawn Princess |
This was our first vacation and my first cruise, We chose the Dawn Princess to go to Alaska, Northbound from Vancouver to Whittier, From Aug22nd through 28th, to escape from the AZ summer heat. We booked through a local travel agency, Cruise-N-Leisure Travel, who were spectacular at arranging everything, and Jane M., our agent, deserves special recognition. The ship boarded in Vancouver B.C., and we flew in the night before and stayed in the HOJO's in the gaslight district near the pier. The boarding process was fast and painless, but try to board early, 11am to 11:30am, as the 2pm listed time turns into a bit of a frenzy, as we observed from the upper decks. If you want drinks, get them while you are waiting for the cast off party to begin, as the staff gets very busy during this time and it could take awhile before they come around again.
As we began the cruise by sailing under the Lions gate bridge, and headed out to sea, everyone begins to check out the rooms and the ship, it gets a little chaotic around the elevators and stairways, and it could try your patience a little , just remember , your on vacation and you'll have plenty of time to explore, my advice is to eat a couple of hours before boarding, board early and take your carry-on stuff to your room, put your wallet/purse in your room safe(a small purse is perfect, my wife claims, just big enough for a disposable camera, small binoculars, credit cards and small brush),as you do not need anything but your keycard while on the ship. Grab your camera, sunglasses, light windbreaker, take your Dramamine, and then head to deck 14 and find a couple of lounge chairs and relax for a couple of hours. The reason I say this is the buffet is going to be a madhouse, everyone is tired, and hungry, and as the cast off party winds down, the buffet is very crowded, it is the only place to eat on the first afternoon. The rest of the dining venues open later that evening, and stay open throughout the cruise. So eat later that evening.
Activities are almost nonstop, and the ships daily news letter, "The Princess Patter" is your best bet in scheduling things, the shows are great, try to at least attend one of them. The crew's show "If I wasn't on this ship" was my favorite! Extremely funny. The food is awesome, it's hard to describe the variety of available cuisines, so do what I did and try it all!!!
The port days are the when the real fun begins, I had booked shore excursions for every stop, and recommend booking them as soon as you can before your trip, as they filled up very quickly, and trying to do them on the fly from the ship, may get you left out of what could be some of the most memorable moments of your life, so use the princess website to book as early as you can, before your cruise. Nobody we talked to was disappointed with their excursions so pick at least one per stop, some are kind of expensive, but you can still have a blast on the cheaper ones. We went on the jet boat tour in Ketchikan, and had a great time, if you go on this one, you will meet Charlie, who was a great guide!!
Shopping can get expensive real quick, I found that the town of Skagway was the best value for souvenirs and shirts, so try to go easy till then, stuff was half the price than the other stops earlier in the cruise, just for that reason, as it is near the end of the cruise and most people have done a lot of spending before even getting to Skagway, so they need to entice with lower prices. We filled up three huge shopping bags here for less than $200.00,and got something for everyone back home.(Note, either leave lots of room in your suitcases prior, or you will end up buying a suitcase, like we had to, in order to get it all home!:-)
The last day, in Whittier, we were faced with a dilemma, we wanted to ride the train to Anchorage, which is operated by Alaska RR, had been sold out for the Princess contracted ride, so I went to the Alaskarailroad.com web site and booked my own tickets, the drawback to this was, once we disembarked at 8:45am, we found ourselves in a tiny little town with nothing to do, and our train ride wasn’t until 6:45 pm, now you could go on a local charter to see the icebergs or whale watching, however we did not know this when planning prior, so we were basically sitting on the curb with our luggage, wondering what to do for 7 hrs in a town that had very little to offer in the way of killing time. We found out from the locals that the train actually ran 2 times that day, once for the contracted Princess tour, which was extremely crowded and sold out and then their was the other train which was local transportation between towns, I'm sure the Princess tour was nice, but seeing how crowded it was , we were glad we decided to not go on it. Instead we found out that our 6:45pm train was actually the last part of a daily run that came from Anchorage to Whittier, Whittier to Grandview, Grandview back to Whittier, then back to Anchorage, so we bought tickets from the conductor for 74 dollars each round trip for the Whittier to Grandview part, and HOLY SMOKES! WE HAD THE ENTIRE TRAIN TO OURSELVES FOR 4 HRS!!!! That round trip was absolutely the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen and, and it was personally narrated and guided by the conductor and engineers themselves. We even passed the other train at one point.
The ship was marvel in engineering and I was very impressed with the service and staff, the pampering you get is unbelievable, and the FOOD!! Wow! We were so impressed with Princess cruise lines that we even put down a deposit for our next vacation, this itself is a benefit not to be passed up, Princess offers a great incentive while onboard, instead of half down as a deposit on a specific cruise, you can put down 100 dollars each person, in a sort of escrow acct., towards any Princess cruise in the next 4 years, to be decided on at your convenience. It is 100 percent refundable if you decide not to go anywhere with them, but I can't imagine not wanting to do it again! We had such a great time that we are already talking about our next trip! Okay, Now some reality checks, this can potentially get expensive, they do kind of push the drinks and boutique's, especially the lotus spa products, my wife had a couple of massages and pedicures/facials onboard, and according to her, they try REALLY hard to sell their products, and it is hard to resist their persistence. They do seem kind of put out if you decline. But, don't let them pressure you, enjoy the services, and then just say no. It's just overpriced everyday Dept. store stuff. Save your money for shore excursions and shopping. I do however; recommend utilizing the duty free tobacco and liquor sales, if you're a smoker or drinker, that is. I got two cartons of cigs for what one would cost me at home, so needless to say, I stocked up.
The cabins are very nice, we tried to get a balcony room but even booking 4 months in advance, they were all booked up, so we ended up with an inside stateroom for $740 per person, I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable and roomy it was, and truth be told, we didn't spend a whole lot of time in it anyway. We would sleep and shower, get dressed and off again we went!The only drawback I found in our room was, the light switch for the bathroom was located outside the bathroom door,you ended going in the bathroom, realizing the switch was outside , going back out and turning on the light, then opening the door and going back in. so it was hard to not disturb my wife early in the morning. Perfectly acceptable accommodations in my opinion, and the cabin steward did a wonderful job of keeping us in amenities and tidying up after us. These people are what make the cruise life so relaxing; they take care of everything, and deserve a heartfelt thank you.
At the end of our cruise our bill came to $1200.00,for seven days, including our shore excursions, drinks, tips, and onboard shopping, ect., so kind of keep your budget in mind, so your not shocked when you get the bill at the end. Like I said, it's real easy to get carried away with the card they give you, it is with you all the time as it is your room key, your id, and dining preferences, and onboard charge card all in one. (DA! DA! DA! CHARGE IT!!)
The cruise itself was simply spectacular, the Capt. takes you into the glaciers so smoothly and effortlessly, it's simply awe inspiring.However, be sure to dress warmly if you plan to be up top and forward for the glacier viewing.
I ended up wearing a knit hat, gloves, a sweater and jacket, 2 pairs of socks, and a bandana across my face!The wind coming down from the ice is cold!! It does warm up a little by 10am or so but if you are like me and like to watch the sun come up, it can be rather chilly.The enclosed spaces don't require all the extra gear,just a medium jacket,but to be at the bow, and on the top deck as your approaching glacier bay, it's worth the extra prep.
The wildlife is abundant everywhere, we saw orcas, dolphins, whales, sea lions, otters, birds of every type, and The Bald eagles are one of the most majestic creatures to see in the wild!!
This was one of the most thrilling and memorable experiences of my life, and I would recommend everyone to at least go on this cruise once in your life! Us? We will be back on a Princess ship as soon as we possibly can, next time to an Australia or Hawaii destination, and I'll let you know how that goes!!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
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Epinions.com ID:
sydewynder033
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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