Emerald Princess Review

Overall, good cruise

Review for Alaska Cruise on Emerald Princess
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Jaysee25
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Sep 2018
Seafood on an excursion at Ketchikan. We had five people at our table.
Ketchikan.
Glacier in Juneau.
A bear in Juneau.
A whale during the whale watching tour.
On a train in Skagway.
The Sunken Gardens (a garden in the Butchart Gardens) at night.

I would give this cruise 3.5 stars rather than 4. The embarkation was a breeze and didn't take long at all. It was very efficient. We boarded the ship in Seattle. The cruise ship could use some updates and remodeling. Overall, the cruise ship was okay. Our first stop was in Ketchikan. I don't remember the exact name of the shore excursions, but the one in Ketchikan involved a scenic tour and a seafood feast. We got very lucky with the weather and the tour was beautiful. The feast needs to include more seafood for the money you are paying for that excursion and the fact that you have to share with other people. There were a lot of potatoes and corn though that nobody was interested in. Our next destination was Juneau. Beautiful weather there as well. I was really looking to whale watching. However, when we got on shore from the ship, we learned that the whale watching portion was cancelled. We had to make a spontaneous decision on what to do. I did not appreciate it. If you cancel something, notify people in advance, so, they have time to research their options. This was very poorly handled. We ended up getting on another whale watching tour, but it was not worth it. The guides were good, but I just wasn't educated enough about whales. I have nobody but myself to blame. We saw three backs of whales slightly out of the water and a few tales. That's it! If I could go back, I would never had selected this tour because I saw more whales from the balcony of our cabin. For those of you considering the balcony, definitely get the cabin with the balcony. It is so worth it! What I didn't know was that the whales fully come out of the water only when they are frightened or irritated. Luckily or sadly, none of the whaled during our cruise were either of those. The next destination was Skagway. There, we took a train and also did a tour of the city. Ok, the city can be covered in 30 minutes on your own. The cruise ship docks and there's the city. You can buy your own ticket to the train which is totally worth it and it would be much cheaper than booking an excursion through the cruise like. The train station is probably a 10 minute walk. Longer if you are elderly. We then sailed to Victoria arriving at Victoria at 7 pm. The itinerary can easily be modified. We did not have much time in beautiful Victoria at all, and by the time we got on a tour bus it was dark. Such a waste. We went to the gorgeous Butchart Gardens, but were very limited on time. Only 1.5 hours. At night! The gardens are lit up, but we had to rush through them and it was very hard to see at night, so, some gardens got visited twice solely because of the challenge of navigating at night. If you walk slow or require assistance, you will not be able to cover the gardens in the time frame provided. It would be nice if the cruise line revamped the itinerary and arrived in Victoria in the morning with plenty of time for people to tour the gardens and the city. By the way, our originally planned excursion in Victoria, also got cancelled. A note the was left in our room indicated that it was due to the fact that not enough people had booked the tour. When my husband and I went to book a different tour, we noticed that our original one was sold out. Clearly enough people had booked it. So, I didn't appreciate the dishonesty. It also seems that cruises these days try to push more sales on people: jewelry, art, ridiculously overpriced pictures, and more jewelry sales daily. This one was no exception. Overall, it was a really nice cruise. We got lucky with the weather and all destinations were sunny with no rain. Gorgeous weather. Food was decent. We dined at SHARE as well, and it was great. Service was good and prompt everywhere. Ship was clean but outdated. Entertainment was good but targeted towards people in the age group of 60 and above. There was a fantastic Irish duo on the ship and a naturalist. We enjoyed them a lot. I will definitely consider Princess cruise lines for my future cruises, but will do a better research about the excursions we select. If you wonder what to wear, layering is key! It's chilly in the mornings but gets nice and warm around noon. In the evening you may want to add a sweater and a wind/rain jacket. I brought my hiking boots, but didn't need them. Tennis shoes did a beautiful job. If your jacket doesn't have a hood, I recommend bringing a hat to protect you from winds especially when you are at sea an decide to spend some time outside on the ship.

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