We are back from a Princess Alaska Cruise. Is this really the best cruise line in Alaska? Well, we give you our honest take on this Princess Alaska Cruise review.
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WE JUST RETURNED FROM A PRINCESS ALASKA CRUISE
0:00 Introduction
1:00 Main Dining Room
2:50 Specialty Restaurants
5:00 North to Alaska Enrichment
6:00 Onboard Activities
7:17 Nighttime Entertainment
9:30 Outdoor Decks
11:08 Service
12:45 Staterooms
14:52 Casual Eats
16:40 Bars and Lounges
19:02 Glacier Viewing
19:47 Icy Strait Point
20:42 Juneau
21:34 Ketchikan
PRINCESS CRUISES TO ALASKA
Princess Cruises is routinely rated as one of the top cruise lines in Alaska. Several ships in the region offer various itineraries, so we wanted to see if the cruise line holds up to this reputation.
We first sailed with Princess Cruises back in 2021. As the first sailing back from the cruise restart, we were not impressed with the ship’s food quality. Happily, the MDR menus and food quality had improved for this Princess Cruises review. We particularly liked the new Alaska offerings, like fresh salmon every night.
While they are an up-charge, the specialty restaurants on Princess Cruises Majestic Princess were also fantastic, especially considering they are a fraction of the cost of competitor offerings. Among them is the new seafood-centric restaurant, The Catch by Rudi. This venue was a perfect fit for our Alaska itinerary.
Although, Princess Cruises does lack a variety of casual eats. Heidi and I are fans of the International Café and the pizza. But, the buffet and other quick service options lack in comparison to other cruise lines like Holland America Line or Carnival Cruise Line.
The same is true when it comes to the bars and lounges. There is not much variety, with many of the venues offering the same menus. Plus, many lack theming. Our favorite go-to bars were the Good Spirits bar with its signature cocktails and the Crown Grill bar for some espresso martinis in the evenings.
The North to Alaska programming is another benefit of taking an Alaska cruise with Princess Cruises. Princess Cruises offers some of the best enrichment at sea, especially in Alaska. These talks are fun and informative, with guest speakers and resident naturalists.
Besides the enrichment though, we were disappointed in the onboard activities and entertainment for this Princess Alaska cruise review. The cruise line hosted events like trivia, game shows, and live music, along with signature productions in the main theater. While we enjoyed the shows in Princess Live, the theater entertainment does not live up to the likes of brands like Celebrity Cruises or Royal Caribbean.
While we can’t speak for other Princess Cruises’ ships, we can confirm that Majestic Princess offers plenty of outdoor space. There was ample space for glacier viewing and wildlife sightings, along with pools and whirlpools. So, don’t forget to pack your bathing suit. Plus, the ship has an indoor solarium and a thermal suite to help you unwind after a long day ashore.
For this Princess Cruises review, we sailed on the Voyage of the Glaciers itinerary. This 7 night one-way trip left Whittier, Alaska bound for Vancouver, BC. Along the way, we stopped at the Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay National Park. The ship also spent a full day in Juneau and Ketchikan, as well as Icy Strait point. This itinerary and time spent in port were some of the biggest draws for us!
With more time in port, visits to Glacier Bay National Park, and the cruise line’s extensive Alaska programming, we now realize how Princess Cruises has earned this reputation as best in Alaska. Just don’t expect too much in terms of activities or nightly entertainment.
READ OUR PRINCESS CRUISES ALASKA CRUISE REVIEW ON THE BLOG:
——TRENDING VIDEOS FROM EAT SLEEP CRUISE——
Our Top 25 Alaska Cruise Tips and Tricks: https://youtu.be/wsQggXltN90
What’s Included on Princess Cruises: https://youtu.be/sQOZ5DidxSM
Princess Cruises Medallion Class Guide: https://youtu.be/ReGQVKyDG0U
Our Picks for Best Alaska Cruises in 2023: https://youtu.be/0zvGMdNfCmI
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Have you cruised to Alaska? Do you think Princess Cruises is really the best in the region?
When we cruised Princess to Alaska about ten years ago, they were excellent. In 2022 it was another story altogether. Itinerary changes due to “propulsion problems”. Service was poor to fair – they were obviously understaffed. Food was mediocre. The entertainment was not entertaining. The cruise was so bad the whole cruise gave us a 50 percent future cruise credit, only good for 2023; since we plan cruises over a year in advance it did us no good. It will take me a while to go back to Princess, despite Platinum level loyalty.
Please elaborate/provide details (ie. company, costs, times, etc.) on the "dog sled mushing" excursion. Thank you in advance 😃
We were on the Crown Princess last year from Seattle, the inside passage. We were actually pretty disappointed in the food on Princess. This was our first time on Princess. We have previously cruised with Holland America and Carnival. We found the MDR to be better on both Holland America and Carnival versus Princesses , the buffet on Princess was also not that great. However the worst part about the cruise was that technology, the Princess app was a source of major frustration for a lot of the people on my cruise. It was a standard topic of conversation of how bad the app was. To Princesses credit, the enrichment lectures given on that cruise were some of the best we have ever see.
Nope it’s Uncruise.
Been watching your awesome cruise videos for a long time and am finally ready to book an Alaskan cruise (balcony & Glacier Bay being my "musts"). I too like big, new ships (live in Florida with the biggest ones), but I want to Alaska cruise tight up next to the shore as much as possible. The bigger ships don't show the 'tight to the shore' itineraries the smaller ships show. For Princess, I see Grand and Sapphire for 2024. Do you have any added insight about these ships vs. Majestic/Discovery? Thanks in advance!
We sailed on Discovery Princess to Alaska last week of June 2023 and it was AMAZING! You easily could've been reviewing our own experiences with the exception of our shore excursion on Ketchikan (UTV off-road adventure) which was the BEST excursion we did in Alaska. I completely agree that Princess is SERIOUSLY lacking in the entertainment area as far as shows are concerned. VERY mediocre review shows at best. Our dining experience on Discovery was a 10 out of 10 with the 360 experience and the Crown Grill be head and shoulders above any other venues on any other cruise line we have been on so far. Alfredos(Gigi's) pizza is fantastic as well. Great video! We absolutely LOVED Alaska and will definitely return there and will sail with Princess again
Wonderful! Hopefully one day I too will be on an Alaska cruise. Bruce and Otis
What cruise line is recommended for first time cruiser and destination Alaska?? Round trip or one way? Seattle or Vancouver??Should I use a travel agent?
Great Review DB
As always- great review! We are sailing discovery princess in June and found your insight very helpful!
We were on this cruise with you & had a great time. They do a fantastic job once you are on the ship.
We came back from 7 days round trip from Seattle the first week on June. It was our first time on Cruise and we were on Royal Princess! Royal Princess, she is a gorgeous ship and all the service are awesome! The ship was clean and buffet was good too. I will sail with Cruise again! We love Princess Live as well. It was fun and we laughed all night.
I’m planing for an Alaska crisis with family (including a 8 yr old) and initially set my mind for Norwegian, but my cousin and family just came back from majestic princess to Alaska and highly recommend it. So now I am torn between the two cruise lines. Do you have any experience in comparing them?
Very informative video thanks. Been watching Alaska cruise video definitely going in 2024,our first cruise was this year on Norwegian Escapes to Caribbean great ship and crew but food was very disappointing and we are not picky eaters. Can’t decide between NCL and Princess any input would be appreciated. Thanks
I have never been on a princess cruise. It does look very nice. However I have to say that your balcony cabin, which I believe you said was a premiere cabin or something similar to that description, doesn't look any bigger than a regular veranda cabin on Holland America. Can you comment on that? Thanks
I found this review to be extremely thorough and accurate, except that we had excellent weather throughout our 10-day cruise at the end of June 2023. We cruised roundtrip to Alaska on the Ruby Princess out of San Francisco (the trip that ended by hitting the pier in San Francisco, if you heard about that), which also included Glacier Bay. As Don mentions, the Alaska enrichment was a highlight. For glacier enthusiasts, I strongly recommend taking a helicopter out of Juneau to do a walk on the glacier. I stopped down to drink from one of the streams running through the glacier to see what real glacier water tastes like. We also did a tour of an oyster farm, which included a sampling of oysters. Our group was only four people, so it wound up being like a private tour. Cole, our New Zealand-based cruise director, was very personable and very visible. As Don said, the weak links in the trip were the buffet, which ranked between bad and terrible, and the evening entertainment — although the show I had most looked forward to was cancelled due to one of the performers being injured.