Princess Cruises
Sun Princess Cruise Review
Alaska

Jatheen

My Family and I sailed the Inside Passage on the Sun Princess and overall had a good experience. We had a total of ten people, Consisting of My Four Siblings (41, 39, 36, 33) My Mom and Dad, both in their 60's, My Niece and Nephew (12 and 13) and Myself, 25.

There were really only two negatives about the experience, and neither one was related to a lack of service etc, on Princess' part.

The weather we experienced was awful. It rained everyday of our cruise, and was very very foggy. In fact visibility was so poor, that we were forced to skip the scenic cruising through the Tracy Arm Fjord because it would be too unsafe. Although I am thankful that my safety was thought of, I was pretty bummed to miss what I have heard described as one of the most beautiful places on earth. The poor weather continued through our entire trip, resulting in all air excursions being cancelled at every port of call. Many passengers were upset over this (and I don't blame them) but, there really wasn't anything Princess could do other that try to schedule alternate excursions for those guests.

The second negative was the size of the staterooms. My family definitely went for the best bargain, and booked 3 inside staterooms, two with quadruple occupancy, and one with double occupancy. There simply is not enough room for four people in one standard room, from closet space to elbow room, It was just far too cramped. If you are planning on fitting four people into one standard room, I hope at least two of them are under 8 years of age!

The food onboard was very good, the pizza parlor being the highlight! You can call me unrefined, but it was just great. We had the anytime dining, and would recommend that for people who really want to get involved with all of the organized activities onboard. My family always read over the Princess Patter that was delivered the night before to your room, discussed what we wanted to do the next day, and called in the morning when we woke up to make reservations for that night, since we had such a large party, and never waited for our table. We had great waiters and assistants, and the food was very good. We did experience some entrees that we didn't care for, but it was quickly replaced with something else if we asked.

The Sun Princess is an older ship, and fairly small, so you did encounter the same people every day, which made it feel a little more personal that if there were a million and one people on board.

The Shows were terrible, but luckily short. Other than that, the magician and all of the things that the social staff put on were a riot. Julie, Ash, And Liam from the social staff were wonderful, and always kept things fun. The piano player in the Atrium was also very talented.

My brother and I did shore excursions in two ports, Ketchikan and Juneau. In Ketchikan we did the Zip Line Adventure, and it was nothing but awesome. I really felt like we got to see more of the landscape, and got some great thrills from it. When we were there, the salmon were spawning, and so we probably saw over 300 bald eagles thought the day. In Juneau, we did the sea Kayaking and loved that too, but the group running the excursion wasn't very good with time management, we waited for nearly an hour and a half before we could even put on our gear, and learn to paddle. we did get to see Mendenhall glacier from where we pushed off, but our guide led us off to an area where our view was then obstructed, while the other groups paddled straight towards the glacier.

I wouldn't say that Alaska is the destination for young people, most passengers on board were in their Late 40's to mid 60's, and there wasn't really a "party" atmosphere anywhere on board. Shooting Stars lounge seemed to be the big hangout, but was always hosting Karaoke during peak hours, and the talent on board was surely lacking, which forced my brother and I to avoid it most nights.

Formal nights were a good time, and it was always fun to see what everybody was wearing. It was also nice that the dress code was a little loose on the Alaskan Cruise. Many Women were wearing very basic slacks and nice sweaters, while some were wearing floor length gowns.

Overall, I would recommend Princess as a cruise line to someone who is in the older crowd, or someone who has children, solely for the age demographics on board this particular cruise. I am sailing with Princess Again, But this time I will be going to the Caribbean with friends, onboard one of the nicest ships in their fleet, the Caribbean Princess. I am hoping to find a younger crowd, with a more energetic vibe.