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I’d never been attracted to the idea of going on a cruise, but as a freelance travel writer, I knew it was a gap in my résumé. I associated cruising with carousing: drunken people lurching from pool to hot tub to buffet. I also stereotypically thought they might be less adventurous travelers, willing to spend a single day in port to “check off” a city and say they’d been there, rather than spending time exploring for a less superficial experience. But when Princess Cruises offered my husband and me a free berth to Alaska with other journalists, I thought it was time to see what a cruise entails. I also said yes in part because the destination seemed science-based and nature-oriented—maybe everyone would be using binoculars more than beer goggles.
Our ship was the brand-new Star Princess, and this was its first foray into Alaska. We were passengers on the third-ever sailing of its 7-day Inside Passage cruise that begins and ends in Seattle and includes stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway, Alaska, and one in Victoria, B.C. (Princess has seven other cruise ships plying Alaska routes). Although we were hosted, I promise to give you the nitty-gritty, real info!
Alaska cruise pregame
It’s ideal to arrive at the embarkation city the day before to ensure airline delays don’t make you miss the boat, literally. We stayed at the Sheraton Grand Seattle, a perfect place to run around the nearby Pike Place (and their restaurant, Vivienne's Bistro, has fantastic dim sum). Before the cruise, I’d joined the Facebook group for the exact ship and was therefore able to see comments from people who had taken this voyage before us. I was able to learn details you can’t know until you’re actually on board a ship.
Two days before our cruise began, my sister learned that we’re relatives of a couple that survived the sinking of the Titanic. I’m already obsessed, so that was a huge revelation. Then, when we turned on the TV in our Seattle hotel room, James Cameron’s movie Titanic was playing and we watched it. I was hoping it was not an omen: Alaskan waters are colder than the Atlantic.
What to know about the boarding process
This was the most stressful part of the experience and made me worry that my fears about cruising were true: long lines, many people, the frightening echo of coughs throughout a warehouse-sized space. We surrendered our bags to a porter for delivery to our stateroom and walked across the gangplank to enter the ship directly into its piazza. This is an impressive three-story area aboard ship that operates as a performance space; it corresponds to the curved glass sphere bumps on the sides of the ship. It means the area is flooded with natural light and is the heart of activity: everything from Zumba to performances by the fabulous house band Asian Soul and “Puppies in the Piazza,” a chance to meet adorable puppies in training to be Iditarod sled dogs. As we entered, musicians were playing, we were offered champagne, and the atmosphere felt very celebratory. We were eager to see our stateroom, so we quickly found the elevators and headed up.
Book a balcony stateroom—it's a must
We loved our starboard stateroom, 10207. It was on Deck 10, a deluxe balcony stateroom of 235 square feet, including the balcony with two chairs and a small table. If you take this sailing, splurge for a balcony room if you can. After our ship docked on the return trip, I took the chance to peer into an abandoned room inside which had no window and seemed a little dismal, although for budget travelers, you could certainly take the approach that your room is just for sleeping and there are always plenty of spaces to relax in other parts of the ship. The best perk of the balcony happened on day four when we were docked in Juneau and watched as a harbor seal paddled around curiously. Throughout the week, we would often don hats and parkas and sit outside to watch the water. However, the one time we saw whales from the ship, they wouldn’t have been visible from our balcony—whales love the ship’s wake (the water that streams from behind), and so we saw humpbacks from the top deck aft.
As soon as you’re in your stateroom, you’re asked to watch a brief safety video (and yes, it does include instructions for how to abandon ship if necessary, either in a lifeboat or, with crossed arms and plugged nose, stepping off the deck) and then report to your muster station to prove that you know where you’d go in an emergency.
Entering the Endicott Arm and learning on the go
The scenery of Alaska is absolutely stunning. You will see snow-covered mountains, glaciers, ice floes and charming Alaskan ports. The ship provides breathtaking views, especially when it goes through the Endicott Arm, a narrow fjord that ends with a look at the Dawes glacier before you back up and go back down. Glaciers are formed when snow falls on unmelted snow, compacting it into very dense layers that eventually become so heavy they start pushing down the mountainside; I learned this from listening to excellent shipboard narration by the naturalist on board, Michelle Nussey. The Star Princess's architecture includes a glassed-in dome on the top deck, from which you can watch the scenery with some shelter from the weather.
The ship entered the Endicott Arm very early in the morning (I set my alarm for 5am), so there were pop-up coffee carts with a little pour of Baileys, Kahlua, or Jameson’s to help keep you toasty. I did wear a parka and hat that day while on deck, but there are also tons of blankets stowed everywhere for your use. Other days were warmer, but not really “jump in the pool warm.” I suspect cruises later in the summer may have different temperatures.
Don't skip the shore excursions
I also loved each shore excursion. My favorite was the Local Connections: Deadliest Catch Crab Fishermen's Tour, created by Captain David Lethin in Ketchikan. This takes you out on the Aleutian Ballad, the Bering Sea crab fishing ship from Season 2 of the Deadliest Catch, which was rolled by a rogue wave. This was so much fun—the crewmembers are laugh-out-loud funny, the insights into Alaskan fishing are fascinating, the experience includes a memorial to sailors lost to the sea, and the best part of all: seeing tons of American bald eagles swooping and soaring near Annette Island. It was honestly magical, and I teared up seeing these wild creatures dive for fish the crew threw into the water, fight each other for the privilege, and fly overhead with their enormous wingspans.
Another great excursion was out to see the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. It was sobering to learn how much of the glacier we are losing each year through climate change. That trip was paired with a whale watch out of Auke Bay, which garnered us multiple views of humpback whales (the tour operator guarantees sightings in June, July, and August or your money back).
Finally, for train lovers like my husband and me, the ride on the White Pass & Yukon Railroad was absolutely incredible as it threads through the steep landscapes above Skagway on historic cars. The weather outside can drop in certain months to 60 below zero, so there is a working stove in the corner of each car. This was paired with a trip to Liarsville, a recreation of a Gold Rush tent city in the woods, and to the Red Onion Saloon’s brief historic brothel tour, both awesome spots for history nerds like me.
Keeping busy on board the ship
Each day, you receive a schedule called the Patter (printed and available in the Princess app) that shows all the complimentary ship experiences. There are a ton! Each hour, there are four to six events happening simultaneously, like trivia games, line dance classes, shopping with perks, wine tastings, and movies. My favorite was “Plated,” a cooking presentation that looks like it’s being filmed for the Food Network, with aerial cameras capturing the chef’s hands doing what they’re doing (preparing Dover sole in this case), and ending with volunteers coming up to speed-decorate a cake with hilarious results.
Everything on Princess operates via a medallion, a chipped disk that comes on a lanyard. It keys you into your room, operates as your money and lets you track those in your party, a not insignificant benefit on a ship that is 1,133 feet long with 21 decks. Our generous Princess Premiere package included free specialty dining and free casual dining, wifi for four devices per guest, unlimited alcohol (for beverages up to $20 per), $300 in shore excursion credit and included gratuities. This package is valued at $100 per day. Without it or the lower-priced Princess Plus package, passengers eat at any of the complimentary dining spots on the boat (or pay for specialty meals), don’t have wifi (maybe that’s a good thing?), pay for each drink (there are, however, multiple complimentary experiences on board that will include, for instance, a glass of champagne), book each excursion separately and pay their own gratuities.
Admittedly, the Star Princess caters to an older population (I have to include myself in that description). O’Malley’s was rousing with Irish pub music each night, and there were always people dancing to the house bands around the ship, but when I ventured to the Dome’s After Party with some dance-friendly journalists, there were only a handful of folks (the DJ was awesome, though!). We had a funny night of going from place to place trying to keep the party going, and each time we’d be there for a brief time before it closed down. The Dome's After Party closed at 1am.
There are several new theater productions aboard ship in the Arena, which are entertaining.
The fitness center is a great place to try to combat overindulgence. The treadmills face a curved wall of windows overlooking the pools and an upper deck, which can include snow-countered mountain views if you happen to be up there during scenic cruising days. I ventured up to the highest point where you can walk or run the Sea Path, a curved path encircling that deck with seven circuits equalling a mile. I did this once; the snowy peaks I watched as I slowly loped my circuits made that mile feel like nothing. If I had it all to do again, I’d run the Sea Path each day.
Splurge on specialty dining, if you can
Food everywhere on board the ship is excellent; we were really impressed. Even from the scrum of the buffet called The Eatery, which is open to everyone, the food is tasty, though it can be frustrating to find a seat during prime eating hours. Our favorites of the specialty restaurants were, in order, Umai Teppanyaki, a collaborative, silly group meal with singing, wisecracking chefs serving Japanese fare; Love by Britto, an upscale artistic dining experience where every element is designed by Brazilian artist Romero Britto (down to the tiny hearts drilled inside each piece of silverware and the carpet design); and Butcher’s Block by Dario, a culinary ode to all things beef. Also, special props go to the International Café, open 24 hours, where coffee drinks are made to order, and an efficient team serves up café favorites like avocado toast and various types of croissants. Fun fact: there were 290 cooks on board for our sailing, cooking 75,000 meals per week for the 4,483 guests.
We also loved a special upcharged experience, Spellbound by The Magic Castle. This includes access to a speakeasy guarded by a ghostly ticket sales girl, decorated to the gills with Art Moderne meets Magic décor: hands emerging from the walls, golden framed posters for magicians, a piano that plays itself, a goblet of green absinthe, a Mucha-style mural, velvet curtains… sighhhhh it was such an amazing space. Two cocktails are included with your ticket, but for the sake of Instagram, you can splurge on $21 cocktails that include a theatrical presentation, a short story paired with lifting a bell, box, or top hat to reveal dry ice swirling, and under the cocktail, a coin for the Zoltar fortunetelling machine. After you spend time there, you enter a tiny theater where a special magic performance takes place. If you need to rush off to dinner, you can return to the speakeasy via the special exit door anytime for the rest of the evening.
Would this first-time cruiser do it all over again?
If you share some of my apprehensions about taking a cruise, then this Alaska sailing is just the ticket. The two afternoons of whale watching, waiting with strangers for the simple pleasure of watching a whale roll its body and lift its fluke for us, were a stunning experience of quietude and appreciation for nature. I didn't get a photo good enough to share here, but each time I felt connected with everyone there who was just happy to glimpse this wildlife in this striking Alaskan seascape.
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