planning on an alskan inside passage cruise, either with Sapphire or Diamond
Please advise.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .
this is our first cuise
is all meals free
do we have to pay for beverages

You will love the ship! Coffee, tea, ice tea free. You can buy an unlimited soda card on board. Alcohol you pay.

There are a few alternative restaurants where you pay. All other dining rooms, buffets, grills, pizza, room service, etc is free.

You will have a great time

Juice you pay. Ice cream you pay (unless it is a dessert menu item). . "Specialty coffee" e.g. Latte Expresso you pay $2.75/cup. All you can drink soda $4/day plus the mug. Service is not exactly free, $10 pp is added to your ship board account as gratuity that is supposed to be shared amongst all staff. If you choose any Time Dinning, be prepared to wait for a table unless you are prepared to share with someone you do not know. Reservation is accepted for 6:30PM or 8:00PM seating only. If you do not want rabbit food, better be prepared to pay ($15~20 pp) at the alternative restaurant. Lobster surf and turf only served on formal nights. If you think that you're on vacation and prefer to dispense away with suit and tie and go to the buffet restaurant instead, too bad. Bottled water $1.95 500ml size. Budget for the shore excursion tours too.

We have been back from our Alaska cruise on the Sapphire Princess for a few weeks (went June 12-19). . Loved our cruise!!! There are a few things about Princess that I didn't like. While we chose Anytime dining, we did make reservations for most nights at the beginning of the cruise. We were quite disappointed in the Sterling Steakhouse (an additional $15 fee) they now put you in a segrated section of the buffet part, give you bad steaks and charge you.. .. .. .. . stay away from this restaurant! The rest of the restaurants were pretty good. We also tried the specialty Italian for an extra $25 - good to experience - don't know if I'd do it again. Also stay away from Lizzie at the customer service desk (what a grump!!). . Be aware that this ship does not get to go close to a glacier, you only see one from far away - so forget about seeing a galcier calve! Try the Narrow Gauge Railroad train in Skagway - lots of fun!
All in all a pretty good time was had by all. Hope your cruise is fun and memorable!

We just returned from a Coral northbound cruise and land tour. We had a wonderful time. It was our third and best cruise on Princess. I have been on 4 other lines and I think they all nickel and dime the passengers. We just ignore it and enjoy our vacation. I particularly liked the Coral though. It got so close to the glaciers that my pictures are incredible. The land tour portion was incredible.