travel cruising the world saphire princess alaska
We took advantage of a good sale price on a Spring Princess cruise to Alaska.
We planned to sail from Vancouver, BC, Canada, to Whittier, Alaska, and fly back.
After investigating the price of air flights from Anchorage (Whittier), we realized we could add the return cruise for only a few dollars more.
We booked the return cruise from Whittier, Alaska, back to Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Doing this, we got to re-investigate the ports of Skagway, Juneau, and Katchikan a little more... this time at our leisure.
We also added a day cruising the College Fjord instead of Glacier Bay which was covered in the first leg.
Living in Oregon and having often traveled the BC coast, I didn't expect to see much of anything new, just relax a bit and see some new towns.
The towns we visited were very tourist oriented with many of the businesses owned by the cruise lines.
However, I was pleasantly surprized by the grandeur and scale of Alaska as a whole, especially Glacier Bay.
We had very good weather for most of the trip and, as usual, the food was very good.
Although there was pleanty to see, there was none of the intelligence-stimulating excitement of visiting a truely exotic culture.
All-in-all, a surprisingly good cruise... good enough that we took my son Ryan's family back for another cruise in 2017.
TRAVEL: 2012 - June
PORTS:
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada -
Juneau, Alaska -
Skagway, Alaska -
Glacier Bay, Alaska -
Ketchikan, Alaska -
College Fjord, Alaska -
This cruise has earned an over-all four star (very good) rating from
Travel Fanatics Unlimited
****
unless noted otherwise all images copyright d. holmes chamberlin jr architect llc
Saphire Princess, Alaska, 2012.
Saphire Princess, Alaska, 2012.
Main pool deck, Saphire Princess, Alaska, 2012.
Rear pool deck for adults, Saphire Princess, Alaska, 2012.
International Cafe, Saphire Princess, Alaska, 2012.
Music in the main plazza, Saphire Princess, Alaska, 2012.
Lynn, enjoying pizza at a specialty cafe, Saphire Princess, Alaska, 2012.
Our trivia group, Saphire Princess, Alaska, 2012.
There are usaully at least one or two chances to play trivia each day on the boat.
There always seems to be two or three groups that take these trivai matches seriously.
This day, we won... a huge prize is given... a Princess caribeaner.
Princess Pop Star, Saphire Princess, Alaska, 2012.
One of the families we met on the ship included Jennie who got to the Princess Pop Star finals held near the end of the cruise.
Lynn and I on deck enjoying Glacier Bay, Saphire Princess, Alaska, 2012.
copyright d. holmes chamberlin jr architect llc
page last revised march 2020