A Princess Vying for Attention in Alaska

Alaska, once considered a one-time-only destination among senior travelers, has turned into a hot spot for baby boomers, young families and even honeymooners.

Princess Cruises, the Los Angeles-based line that continues to send most of its brand-new ships north to the 49th state every summer, knows this well. This season Princess has introduced two three-day, add-on land packages for busy travelers who have limited sightseeing time. One, the Heart of Alaska package, provides one night in Anchorage with a free city tour, one night at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and one night in Fairbanks. The other, an Alaska Wilderness/Mt. McKinley tour, offers a free jet boat safari with plenty of wildlife viewing and a visit to a 1920s trapper’s cabin.

Both tours are available aboard the new 1,950-passenger Ocean Princess, with seven-day Gulf of Alaska sailings between Vancouver, Canada, and Seward, Alaska, through Sept. 9. It calls on Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway and cruises Glacier Bay and College Fiord.

The 77,000-ton Princess Cruises ship is fourth in a series that began with the Sun Princess in 1995. Although sizable, these ships are smaller than the 2,600-passenger Grand Princess, launched in 1998 and due to be replicated in four more vessels in the 110,000-ton range in the next four years; two 88,000-ton ships are also planned. By 2004, the Los Angeles-based line will have 16 ships with 30,920 berths in service.

We found the Ocean Princess, like its sister ships, easy to get around, with some appealingly intimate spaces despite the overall size. The charming little wine and caviar bar, the clubby Wheelhouse Bar, the library with its leather chairs structured to play CDs, and cozy sitting areas tucked away in corners on Promenade Deck all offer quiet getaways.

For kids, a Fun Zone center provides an outdoor enclosed pool area and an indoor playroom, with supervised baby-sitting for $4 an hour in the evenings. A nearby teen area called Off Limits has video games and a giant TV screen.

On the pool deck, a large lap pool is flanked by whirlpool spas and a second rectangular pool set up for water volleyball.

As usual on new Princess ships, the 24-hour Horizon Court food service is popular but so spread out that there’s never a queue for the buffet stations. Late-night casual dining goes on here until 4 a.m. Our favorite lunchtime venue was Fabio’s Pizzeria, where pizzas are cooked to order.

Standard inside and outside cabins measure 135 to 173 square feet and are comfortably furnished with two lower beds that convert to one queen-size; a TV; a mini-refrigerator; and bathroom with shower. Nineteen are wheelchair-accessible. There are 372 veranda cabins, measuring 178 square feet. All suites and mini-suites, ranging from 374 to 754 square feet, have whirlpool bathtubs and stall showers, sitting rooms with sofa, walk-in closets and two TV sets.

Brochure fares range from $1,549 to $5,699 per person, double occupancy. Early booking discounts are available with the Love Boat Savers program.

Ask your travel agent for details and a free brochure, or call (800) 774-6237 (PRINCESS), Internet https://www.princess.com.

Shirley Slater and Harry Basch travel as guests of the cruise lines. Cruise Views appears the first and third week of every month.