Ally

Golden Princess will make its Alaska debut in 2007 as part of Princess Cruises’ Inside Passage program. Golden Princess, along with Sun Princess, will sail from Seattle, while Dawn Princess will operate from San Francisco.

Altogether, the three ships will offer 53 departures on three roundtrip itineraries.

The 2,600-passenger Golden Princess (replacing the smaller Dawn Princess) and the 1,950-passenger Sun Princess will call at Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Victoria, with scenic cruising of Tracy Arm and the twin Sawyer Glaciers. Golden Princess will sail Saturdays from Seattle and Sun Princess will sail Sundays.

From San Francisco, the 1,950-passenger Dawn Princess will assume the line's 10-day roundtrips (operated this year by the smaller Regal Princess) with calls at Juneau and Victoria and two additional ports that rotate among Ketchikan, Skagway, Sitka and Icy Strait Point, with scenic cruising of Tracy Arm. Two departures, on May 11 and Sept. 8, feature Glacier Bay National Park in place of Tracy Arm.

The Inside Passage program complements Princess’s recently announced 2007 Gulf of Alaska voyages on five ships.

cruisin' chick

I'm glad that one of the larger ships will be going back to the Inside Passage cruise. Not everyone wants to go on cruisetours or spend the extra money on two one-way plane tickets. My family went on a round trip out of Seattle on the Sapphire Princess a couple of years ago and this ship appealed to us because it was brand new (it was in its third month of sailing) and big.