Island (Princess)
Trip Summary
In 2015, my husband and I took our first Princess cruise via the Regal Princess, but the trip was disappointing due to excessive overcrowding issues (I have a trip summary here). However, we knew that Princess was an upper-class cruise line and was one of the main companies that offered cruises to Alaska, so we decided to give it another try.
My in-laws are also big fans of the Princess cruise line, and we were all doing a family trip, so after much researching and planning, we booked the one-way cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver onboard the Island Princess. This would be the first time we would actually splurge for a balcony on a ship (usually, we book interior rooms), but after hearing stories of just how beautiful Alaska was, we didn’t want to miss a single bit of it!
After flying into Anchorage, we took the Princess transfer to Whittier. When we arrived, our ship, the Island Princess waited. Boarding was easy, the staff was welcoming, and the ship looked beautiful. Princess always has nicely decorated ships, and this one was no different.
Our room was clean and the balcony spacious enough to hold several chairs and accommodate my husband and I (and his family) when we all watched the glaciers and beautiful shoreline together.
While exploring the ship, we were pleased that the ship did not seem to have the same overcrowding issues as our previous Princess ship (the Island Princess had only half the passenger capacity as our previous ship, the Regal Princess). The common areas didn’t seem as overwhelmingly overrun, so that was a nice surprise…but unfortunately, a lot of new faults showed themselves this time around.
The crowd that sails Princess is an older one, so it felt like the ship pretty much shut down at night, and there was very little to do. I noticed this a little bit on our previous ship, but on the Island Princess especially as many of the eateries were closed in the evening, so if you wanted anything in the later evening, you were very limited in food options and would often have to depend on room service (with a several hour wait, because everyone else was doing the same thing).
Their specialty restaurants (that charge a cover charge on top of your cruise fare) are open at night, so one night my husband and I (and his family) scheduled a dinner, and we found that they had lost our reservation (even after we showed them the reservation receipt). There were no other reservations available as every night had been booked up. So that was very frustrating. Many nights, we even went to the buffet area and pizza place on the top deck but only found people cleaning or the station dark and empty.
When the restaurants and buffet were actually open, I felt the food quality was not especially good and lacked in variety. Food seemed not fresh and often tasted cold.
Worse yet were the beds in the cabins. They felt old and the mattresses seemed to swoop badly in the middle which led to sore necks and backs. My husband even considered sleeping on the floor–it was so uncomfortable…
At night, the entertainment shows are night were okay, but not anything different than what you would see on cheaper cruise lines like Royal Caribbean or Carnival. We did like the cruise director and found him funny, so we went to the game shows which were fun. Most of the other time, we spent the evenings on our balcony watching the land pass by–it was far more entertaining!
However, for the price, I did not feel that Princess offered a better cruise than its competitors. This itinerary is an expensive one (and we did see some amazing places and are grateful to Princess for taking us to those places safely), but other cruise lines tour the same places for far cheaper, so we decided that this was very likely our last Princess cruise.
So for its itinerary, funny cruise director, friendly staff, and pretty ship, the Island Princess gets good marks. The ship also takes you to Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay National Park (gorgeous sites), but some other cruise lines visit here, too. Also, what I feel are a the lack of dining options at night, lackluster food and entertainment, terrible beds, and high prices bring the score down considerably.
Island Princess Ship (Alaska Itinerary): B-
However, I know that some people love Princess, and we were disappointed that we did not feel the same way even after two cruises. I think having experienced better ships/service/trips for much for much more reasonable prices has just spoiled us, but who knows, maybe we’ll try it again.
Favorite Experiences
Having booked interior rooms on all of our previous cruises, this was the first time we spent the money for a balcony, and I am glad that we did, because Alaska is a place that you want to admire the entire time you are on the cruise. The weather was nice enough that we could sit on our balcony every day (and most of the night as the sun set very late!). I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I had ever seen while sitting out on that balcony, and it was one of the best experiences, because just when I thought the scene couldn’t get any more beautiful, it did.
What I Wish I Knew
Having cruised before, some of the things I wish I knew are just going to be new tips to add in the repertoire. If you didn’t already know, one of the nice things about Princess is that they are generous about their military benefit program. Depending on the length of your cruise, you can get $50-$250 on onboard credit per service member (including veterans). My husband is prior military, and we discovered this benefit during our first cruise with Princess, so we were happy to use it again. The process is painless, and they are pretty quick in issuing your onboard credit.
Also, if you cruise (Princess or otherwise), selecting My Time Dining is always the best bet, because you are free to eat meals at your own schedule. If we wanted to see shows, we would have to get there super early which meant early dining times, too, so this was the easiest option for that.
Cruises also offer a lot of extra add-ons like drink plans, but we never buy those as they tend to be cost-prohibitive. There are some free drinks on board like water, juices, coffee, and tea. You can also bring up to 12 cans of non-alcoholic beverages onboard as well as two bottles of wine (though, if you enjoy it anywhere other than your room, you have to pay a corkage fee). If you bring water bottles, there are stations in the buffet area where you can refill them (which I recommend especially before excursions as the bottles of water that they sell right before you get off the ship are outrageously expensive).
Occasionally, the ship will have tastings (some free, some not) and sometimes, there is something like a Captain’s Party or a welcome aboard event where they serve champaign. You can also order drinks individually, and that is what we typically do as even though they are expensive, the drink plans are far more so, and you have to each buy one (many cruise lines are enforcing this rule now as too many people were sharing drinks with their friends and family off of one drink card). Some cruise lines offer varying drink plans among members of the same cabin, but you have to call, and in some cases provide a doctor’s note that you do not drink alcohol and they will allow you to have a soda plan while your partner has the premium drink plan. However, we have never bothered with this as it just sounds like a hassle and would still cost more money than we wanted to spend. Remember, I am a teacher after all, ha!
Also, we rarely buy the internet plans. Unless you are working on board or have an emergency, free wifi is readily available in a lot of ports. Restaurants and shops will usually have their wifi password printed on the front register, so if you need to check your email or whatever, that is an easy (and free) way to do so.
There are also paid things you can enjoy on the ship like spa services, exercise and dance lessons, casino games, and various activities, but there are a lot of free things, too. All the shows including the game shows (which are a lot of fun–especially the Love and Marriage show) are free, activities like the climbing wall are (usually) free, and the various activities like towel-making demonstrations, product demonstrations (like make-up and such), and drawings are free. You can make a cruise cheaper or more expensive depending on a lot of factors, so just something to keep in mind.
To cut down on expenses, we’ll carry our own water bottles and snacks to excursions and pack a lot of the essentials we think we’ll need on the ship (see Travel Tips). Things like suntan lotion, eye drops, and aspirin are marked up in price on the ship, so it is good to have stuff like this already handy.
You can also lessen a lot of your worry by arriving to your debarkation port the day before the ship leaves. We do this for all of our international cruises, and it has definitely helped, because you never know what is going to happen–being delayed, losing a bag, forgetting an important item, getting over jet lag. An extra day is always good, and this way, you aren’t rushing to the ship before it leaves.
All tips aside, I’ve been on some truly great cruises, so if you want to read about some of my favorites, check out the Cruise Ship page!
