Coral Princess Cruises Reviews

Hi, There were a few hiccups on the land tour which I will explain but please do not let this detract. We did the princess 6 day land tour and can definately recommenmd it. Alaska highways train to Mckinley lodge( Not as nice as Princess train cars ). Nice room, adequate food and we saw the mountain late on first day and in all its glory on 2nd day - awesome. Did the jet boat to the rapids. V. expensive but well worth it. Booked it in Talkeetna but same price as Princess but we wanted breakfast at Talkeetna roadhouse - some superb pancakes. Talkeetna is where you get off the train and its an hours transfer to lodge but you can spend some time in the small place. Check out the airfield - different. Also an ethnic souvenir shop just opened. Turn left when you get off the bus and well worth a visit. Trip to Denali by coach was O.K. Upgraded our free tour to full tour of park and saw some great wildlife ( well worth the $50 each ) Room was good , overlooking the river. Went rafting on the river and had a great morning. Book in the shop over the road -after 1800hrs sell off trips even cheaper - if space left. Only hang up at Denali was the 1530 departure - after having to clear room by 1100hrs. Princess train to Fairbanks was great with some lovely views. Fairbanks Lodge by 2100hrs so rather late. Next day did the second freetrip on SternWheeler. Another excellent tour. Flight on next day to Seattle was 0600hrs to Anchorage and change for Seattle but did pass Mt Mckinley close and saw the peaks - Again awesome !! Drawbacks - Some confusion over the free trips. The brochure intimated it but Princess U.K. said not so. Tried to book land tours in U.K. but confusion reigned supreme as it did when we got to Mckinley lodge. THere were 2 free trips included in the package. Did not detract from the tours which were wonderful - Less than 36hrs in Fairbanks which equated to one day really - Early flight from Fairbanks to Seattle with a change. Not necessary as we had no onward connection from Seattle. - On Alaska Airways its $20 for each bag when leaving Fairbanks - I missed this in small print On the plus side - The Princess way of looking after luggage was great and went without a hitch. We liked the lodges at Denali & McKinley. Good views and large rooms. A letter to Princess outlining complaints was answered after 3 weeks in good detail with $200 credit - Well done to Princess. We booked in Sept 09 for June 10 and got the last cruise before prices went up for the high season. Prices in Alaska are high anyway, pound is low but the experience was magic. The 3 days in Seattle were very good as well. Hope this helps. I cannot emphasise enough what a magical trip it was ( and I'm a seasoned traveller ) You just have to do it.

Having done Alaska in 2008, we started with the land tour, progressed to the cruise and finished with three days in Vancouver. The land tour was absolutely awesome. Incidentally we are embarking on our 5th Princess cruise on 29th December. Every year we get all the cruise brochures and compare everything and evey year we come back to Princess. Need I say more