Shelley m.
Yelp
Review for Princess Cruises - Alaska Inside Passage Northbound, Coral Princess
Five Thumbs Down
I have been on two other cruises, one to the Caribbean with Norwegian Cruise lines, which was incredible in all ways that you would imagine a cruise being. The other was a smaller ship holding 99 people and sailed in The Galapagos, it was fabulous and in a league of its own.
On Boarding
It was chaotic, unorganized and generally not a great experience. Norwegian, with its ship capacity of 7000 was organized, concise and easy to board. Princess had multiple lines to wait in and crammed too many people together. This ship only held 3000 with the crew.
Customer service was average.
The food was not just bad, in some cases inedible. The first night I tried the prime rib, it came out as a vacuume packed blob of meat that looked like it had been processed, no resemblance of a steak at all. The baked potato had to have been three days old and even smelled old. I let my friend try a bite, she agreed, it was really bad. I pushed my plate to the side and went for their rolls and then a cream brulee, both very good and the only thing that got us through the trip. My friend had the salmon, tasteless and dried out. We watched as the waiter came out with another prime rib plate delivering it to the lady sitting at the table next to ours, she took one bite and pushed the plate away. Unfortunately, the bad food continued for the duration of the trip including not just a dinner meals but the café on the top floor.
Entertainment
They had two comedians perform, both were good. They also had Naturalist speakers discuss all topics related to Alaska and the wildlife, that was informative. Other than that, there was bingo, learn how to play the harmonica and a few other very mediocre activities available.
Upgrades
Drink package. For an extra 400.00 per person, we took this package. Unless you are a big drinker, you will over pay. On average we had about 4-5 drinks per day. I would say we lost about 200.00 choosing this option. Norwegian had great white wine choices, Princess had one and it was average.
Pre-paid gratuities - This does not transfer over to the train ride or any other meals on land.
Beds - They were comfortable however, the bedding had stains on them, both the sheets and the comforter
Princess Train - Not worth the money and the 8/9 hour ride was extremely uncomfortable, drinks were pricey. It was a wasted day.
Princess Wilderness lodges - NOT RECOMMENDED. Their lodges are on par with Days Inn. The reception has a great view of Denali Mountain but the buildings where the guests stay were meager. We stayed in one of their lodges in Denali and that wasn't even in the Denali Park area. The only wine they serve is Sutter Home....
Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, after checking in to the " Princess Wilderness Lodge" we discovered the bedding in horrible shape. Fresh blood on the pillow case, bedding had not been changed, only the bed spread pulled up over the sheets. The toilet had not been cleaned, it wasn't pretty.
Weather
Freezing - not sure why they would advertise tours in the month of May. All of the bears wake up in June for the Salmon run.