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This video tells the story of my recent Majestic Princess Alaska cruise, looking at the highlights, what went well and less well – including me coming back off the cruise with much more than memories......
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0:00
before the pandemic shutdown i booked a
0:02
north to south alaska cruise on princess
0:05
cruises from whittier near anchorage to
0:07
vancouver first because i thought the
0:10
itinerary would be better than the
0:12
inside passage i'd done previously and
0:14
princess claimed to be an alaska expert
0:18
i did finally do that trip this year and
0:20
neither of those assumptions turned out
0:23
as expected i knew it was a different
0:25
world when i booked and would be a
0:27
different experience but i didn't
0:29
appreciate
0:30
quite as many differences and surprises
0:34
one of which was coming back from alaska
0:37
with more than memories a souvenir
0:39
unique to this time covered
0:42
i am gary bembridge and i want to talk
0:44
about the good things and bad things
0:47
about cruising alaska and on princess
0:50
these days
0:51
the trip started with an unexpected
0:53
highlight thanks to embarking the ship
0:55
in whittier as a triple closer i thought
0:58
it was a really bad idea choosing this
1:00
itinerary as i discovered that whittier
1:02
was not easy to get to
1:04
but my travel agent sarah bolton
1:06
suggested the glacier discovery train
1:09
that runs from anchorage down to
1:11
whittier
1:12
it's about a two and a half hour train
1:14
ride through the most phenomenal scenery
1:17
it was a brilliant way of setting the
1:20
scene and seeing parts of alaska that i
1:23
wouldn't see on the cruise and the train
1:25
arrived right next to the ship in
1:28
whittier i checked my baggage into the
1:30
train station in anchorage and they told
1:32
me the next time i would see it would be
1:35
in my cabin however
1:37
what they didn't tell me is that it
1:39
doesn't travel with the train they hold
1:42
all of the bags there and it comes down
1:44
when the other cruise line trains run
1:47
late in the day i was actually getting
1:48
really stressed because by 6 30 pm
1:51
despite arriving at noon i had no bags i
1:54
finally got them just before seven
1:56
checking in at whittier though was an
1:59
absolute breeze so much better than my
2:01
last trip in barking vancouver i was on
2:04
the ship within a couple of minutes of
2:06
leaving the train
2:09
there were some unexpected upsides and
2:11
pluses also cruising alaska right now
2:15
first although ports were busy as most
2:18
ships like ours were selling below
2:20
capacity none of the ports were as
2:22
packed as on my last trip we had four
2:25
ships in skagway six ships in juneau and
2:28
five in ketchikan that should have meant
2:30
over fifteen thousand plus passengers on
2:33
those days but it was not crazy busy it
2:36
was noticeably less busy wandering
2:39
around and when i was out on excursions
2:41
though the even bigger plus for me was
2:44
the itinerary i chose i did find it much
2:47
better than my inside passage one i got
2:50
further north to see the hub iglesia it
2:52
was an incredible incredible experience
2:56
adding to that was i booked a cruise
2:58
line offered boat excursion off the ship
3:00
this boat met us as we sailed into
3:02
yakita bay and took 150 of us right up
3:06
close to the glacier we saw many
3:08
incredible carving events the people on
3:10
the ship didn't get that close and
3:11
didn't see what we saw
3:13
glacier bay was another big highlight as
3:16
i mentioned the margaery glacier itself
3:18
was worth it but i did see several other
3:20
glaciers it is the most beautiful
3:23
memorable experience and with all that
3:25
expertise from the ranges it really was
3:28
a phenomenal day
3:29
skagway for me was another massive
3:31
highlight i went again on the white pass
3:34
and yukon train this is a historical
3:35
train built for the gold rush it is an
3:38
incredible excursion right up into the
3:40
mountains about two and a half hours
3:42
there and back
3:44
in juneau i did a helicopter ride to
3:46
walk on the mendenhall glacier it was
3:49
worth the 360 dollars the time before
3:51
i'd gone dog sledding on the norris
3:53
glacier which wasn't off at this time
3:55
but doing the helicopter ride and
3:57
getting above glaciers was worth every
4:00
cent that i coughed up also in juneau i
4:03
went up the gold belt tramway up mount
4:06
roberts this is a thrilling experience
4:08
not very expensive to do and you get a
4:10
phenomenal view of the area and all of
4:12
those ships in port
4:14
in ketchikan i went again to the great
4:17
alaskan lumberjack show which is always
4:19
great fun i went to the famous creek
4:21
street which is fantastic although it
4:23
did feel a bit more tacky visiting it
4:25
again the town of course is very
4:27
commercial and a bit of a tourist trap
4:29
in reality throughout this trip i was
4:31
reminded that alaska though is still
4:34
magnificent
4:35
the sites are just as impressive and as
4:38
memorable although there were
4:39
unfortunately quite a few businesses
4:41
that were closed and shuttered up still
4:43
that hopefully will re-emerge i need to
4:46
talk about princess and the ship as it
4:49
was very much a mixed bag
4:51
between booking the trip years ago and
4:53
going i'd gone off princess a bit after
4:56
my regal and sky princess trips last
4:58
year where food and service were pretty
5:00
average i'd booked an itinerary on
5:02
majestic princess not clicking that the
5:05
ship had been designed for the asian
5:07
market and i'd had several people
5:09
messaging me saying i'm not sure you'll
5:11
like the ship to add to my princess
5:13
reticence i was not having much joy with
5:16
the much touted princess technology and
5:19
their app i kept getting messages before
5:21
the cruise saying i had to reserve my
5:23
check in time but the app wouldn't let
5:26
me it also kept changing from saying i'd
5:28
submitted everything required
5:31
to board to saying that i hadn't the app
5:34
never got much better it kept telling me
5:36
for example i hadn't paid fully for my
5:39
cruise once i was on the ship so i
5:41
couldn't book dining times which we were
5:43
supposed to do eventually i gave up on
5:45
the app and used the big interactive
5:47
screens dotted around the ship which
5:49
actually worked really well my cabin i
5:52
loved and the ship itself i was fine
5:54
with but there are a few things that did
5:56
strike me as not ideal
5:59
onboarding you did have one thing i
6:01
think is a pity across the princess
6:03
fleet and that's the sense of sameness
6:05
the ships basically all look the same
6:07
the decor the layout they don't each
6:10
have a unique character to them so while
6:12
there is a huge advantage that i knew my
6:14
way around and where everything was it
6:16
lacked the excitement for me anyway of
6:19
exploring a slightly different ship
6:22
one thing many love is the focus of a
6:24
princess ship is on that atrium across
6:27
three decks so if i wanted a buzz find
6:30
stuff going on and access to most things
6:32
it was here there was the international
6:34
cafe restaurants bars shops photo center
6:37
and so on but as great as the atrium is
6:40
i find it very inward looking they're no
6:42
big views out of the sea and the
6:44
landscapes this was a pity for alaska
6:47
which is all about the outdoors and
6:49
scenery another thing which was even
6:52
mentioned by one of the alaska
6:53
enrichment lecturers is majestic
6:55
princess is possibly not the very best
6:58
chip for scenic sailing and sightseeing
7:01
in alaska
7:02
unlike the holland america new amsterdam
7:04
on my last trip the ship layout means
7:07
they can't open the bow when scenic
7:09
cruising takes place in glacier bay or
7:12
places like that nor does it have a
7:14
fully wraparound and covered promenade
7:16
deck so if the weather's not great which
7:18
it often isn't in alaska there were few
7:21
covered spaces to do viewing now this
7:24
didn't affect my trip as we had no rain
7:26
and not too much wind on our scenic
7:28
cruising days i was able to have great
7:31
viewing on the open promenade spaces up
7:33
on deck 7 and high up on deck 17 above
7:36
the pool deck as we had fine weather but
7:39
if it had been raining it definitely
7:41
wouldn't have been ideal so in glacier
7:43
bay when the weather turned later in the
7:45
day many people headed up to the
7:47
hollywood conservatory an indoor space
7:50
with large glass windows because that
7:52
was the best and most protected
7:54
alternative now i booked a mini suite
7:56
balcony cabin which i found really comfy
7:59
and it also ended up being a great place
8:01
to do sightseeing because the captain
8:03
alternated which side of the ship faced
8:05
glaciers when we stopped for viewing
8:08
i didn't think any of the differences in
8:10
majestic princess being designed for the
8:12
asian market were an issue or actually
8:15
really stood out all the signs of course
8:18
had both english and chinese there was a
8:20
harmony restaurant instead of sabatini's
8:22
the italian which i was actually really
8:24
excited about because i love asian food
8:27
the food though i felt was pretty
8:28
average and i booked to go more than
8:30
once but cancelled my repeat trips
8:34
they had things like a noodle bar the
8:35
casino was huge they even had a vip
8:38
casino area which for us in the west and
8:41
on our trip was operating just as a
8:43
lounge the hollywood conservatory i
8:45
mentioned earlier on other princess
8:47
ships is the sanctuary
8:49
but it was more designed with seating
8:52
and for game playing than lying around
8:53
on lounges but importantly it was free
8:56
unlike the sanctuary which normally has
8:58
a fee to use
9:00
i found the food and the service fine
9:02
across the trip neither exceptional nor
9:05
bad certainly for the premium category
9:07
they operate in it's probably a tad less
9:10
than i had on recent trips on celebrity
9:12
holland america and even virgin voyages
9:14
which are the other bigger players in
9:16
the category the premium category anyway
9:19
one thing i felt is the menu choices
9:21
felt smaller than i remember and
9:22
certainly versus the other lines and
9:24
this was something other passengers i
9:26
spoke to also commented on there is
9:29
though a range of choice on the menus
9:31
there were some little touches that are
9:33
important to me missing versus the other
9:35
premium lines that you may think are
9:37
important but for example they didn't
9:39
have any diet and caffeine free drinks
9:41
on the ship now i don't drink alcohol
9:43
caffeine and sugary drinks but i love
9:45
sodas now unlike other premium lions
9:48
including holland america and celebrity
9:50
they didn't have for example a diet 7 or
9:53
sprite option for me a diet spread
9:55
option they didn't have caffeine free
9:56
diet coke and so on so my options were
9:59
just water and juices it's a smallish
10:01
point but as a premium line having such
10:04
a reduced and smaller choice and smaller
10:06
menu choices kind of stood out a little
10:08
bit to me
10:09
one thing though that really stood out
10:12
is the passenger mix
10:14
people go to alaska because they want to
10:16
go there and seem much less focused on
10:19
what any specific line offers or is
10:21
positioned as doing our majestic
10:24
princess there were 2 260 passengers on
10:27
the ship which is around about 60
10:29
percent capacity it was a very different
10:32
passenger mix to i normally find on
10:34
princess cruises there were many
10:36
multi-generational families traveling
10:38
together and lots of families on both
10:41
sides of my cabin were for example
10:43
families of four the mix difference
10:45
showed up in things like the fitness
10:47
center much busier than usual and
10:49
boisterous kids took over the indoor
10:51
hollywood pool most days the usual dress
10:54
code was also thrown out of the window
10:58
it was almost impossible to tell when it
11:00
was formal night versus the everyday
11:03
smart casual nights i would estimate
11:05
probably less than a quarter of people
11:08
optimistically dressed differently on
11:10
former night i literally saw one person
11:12
in a tux and they looked uncomfortable
11:15
because they were so dressed up versus
11:16
everybody else
11:18
one big plus i would say about princess
11:21
is they did try to immerse me into
11:23
alaska there were many touches on board
11:25
which i thought were really good they
11:28
had two naturalists and region experts
11:30
mark harris and rachel moreno
11:33
who spent five months of the season on
11:36
board and they gave excellent and really
11:38
entertaining talks throughout the trip
11:41
the entertainment team wore lumberjack
11:44
style shirts there was a lot of high
11:45
quality alaskan merchandise in both the
11:48
shops and out on the deck there were
11:50
several books on the region and a couple
11:52
of specific books including one about
11:54
the cruise that the captain would refer
11:56
to each day
11:58
we went into glacier bay which is a huge
12:00
plus as only two large cruise ships are
12:03
allowed in each day and only them
12:05
holland america and some norwegian ships
12:08
usually have access that is a big plus
12:11
on that particular day they brought
12:13
three glacier bay national park rangers
12:15
on board one called ethan gave a moving
12:18
talk about the indigenous community and
12:21
they then ran commentary all day they
12:23
ran an information and merchandise
12:24
counter all day too
12:26
now i was warned by the cruise line that
12:28
covert was an issue in the region and we
12:30
should take care although we did have
12:33
masks on board some distancing and none
12:35
of the big group events were held once
12:38
out about on land that of course was not
12:40
the case in alaska
12:43
so when i got back home i did a test
12:46
several people i'd spoken to coming back
12:48
from my cruise and other alaskan
12:49
cruisers had tested positive i tested
12:52
positive two now i assume i picked it up
12:55
and had it on the trip because it only
12:56
took about three or four days before i
12:59
started testing negative once i was home
13:01
and i felt fine surprisingly to all of
13:03
this the memories and experience made
13:06
this trip despite that one of my most
13:09
memorable ever i'm not sure if i would
13:11
go back on
13:12
princess to alaska
13:14
they did give me to the places sites
13:15
they offered the excursions i needed
13:17
they did great immersion so time will
13:19
tell who i decide to go back with if you
13:22
want detailed tips on visiting alaska
13:23
though watch this video with my tips on
13:26
how to plan and make the most of alaska
13:28
starting with the single most important
13:31
thing that determines whether you'll
13:33
have a great time there see you over
13:35
there
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