Alaska CruiseTour - Connoisseur Escorted
WOW guys - Didn't realize it'd been so long! So sorry for making you all wait! To round out our Alaska cruise in May I wanted to talk a little bit about our cruise tour/land portion as well as the Connoisseur advantages & disadvantages.
When we were booking our Alaska cruise, we knew we wanted to do the land portion as well. In doing our research, we came across the Connoisseur option for our landtour. We Googled, and searched, and asked around didn't find but one other review of the Connoisseur land tour with Princess, so I want to spend some time on that for anyone else who maybe interested. We did the 12 Day Connoisseur Escorted CruiseTour - we did the cruise first, and then we went to the Denali Lodge, and then to Mt. McKinley Lodge.
I will say, since we were one of the first groups back at the two lodges, I was less than impressed. I expected rustic, but we had some issues with room keys not working, and the rooms weren't clean up to the normal Princess standard. They were definitely understaffed, but the staff they did have tried really hard. Some restaurants were closed as well - leaving you to eat all 3 meals at the same restaurants. Was it the end of the world - no, but definitely lacked variety! If I had to pick a favorite out of the two lodges, I'm not sure I could because they were really different with different experiences. Denali Lodge is more about the National Park. Mt. McKinley lodge is about the beauty of seeing Denali from afar, and is a more laid back and relaxing vibe.
As far as the Connoisseur option - Here are the high level differences that we experienced during our Connoisseur option:
1. Small Group with Assigned Tour Guide
2. Small Group transportation that was private - Less people on the bus to the McKinley lodge, and for the National Park Tundra Tour.
3. Meal vouchers were included for the majority of meals - (some people NOT on Connoisseur tours had purchased meal vouchers as well)
In our experience - our tour guide was amazing. She was experienced, she did her research to tell us as much as possible about the area. She gave us pros/cons, she helped facilitate tours/reservations etc.
With that said - we are planners in general, and we are experienced & self sufficient travelers. I wouldn't say we "needed" the tour guide - but she was excellent. I can say after watching others who were traveling - they should have booked the Connoisseur option, because they looked like lost puppies at times. The meal vouchers in my opinion - weren't a value add - as we would have just paid for our meals and wouldn't have had to run back to the room sometimes when we left our vouchers in the room.
In the end, if I booked another cruisetour to Alaska, I would probably NOT do the Connoisseur option. I could see the Connoisseur option being very handy in Asia, or someplace with a tough cultural or language barrier. I would also strongly recommend the Connoisseur option to 1st time cruisers, or new travelers as they need the help to understand all the little things that have to happen to make a trip successful.
I want to be very clear that thought our cruise tour was great ... just that in the future we don't need the extra services from the Connoisseur package.
Overall - what we learned with our Alaska cruise & Princess was the following:
1. Princess is still Princess - were things perfect no, but I didn't think it was horrible either!
2. Alaska is Gorgeous! - We will visit Alaska again and do more exploring.
3. People are TRYING! - The crew members both at sea and on the land are trying so hard to fill the gaps.
4. Patience - Cruising is fun and great, but if you don't love a ton of people - you have to have patience.
Our next blog posts will focus on a previous cruise location that was one of our favorites! Asia!
Happy Cruising -
Mrs. Cruise Navigator