What do you call college friends getting together 40 years after graduation to travel together? A “Friendscation!” Our latest Travelers’ Tale is the story of eight NC State grads who reconnected on a Princess Cruisetour of Alaska.

Back in the late 70s on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, a group of young students became friends. After graduation, the friends scattered to different cities and launched diverse careers, but they stayed in touch as their lives moved on past college. Although they see each other several times a year since their children have grown up, they had never taken a long trip together.

No one takes sole credit for the idea of a group vacation, but as they talked they realized they were all interested in visiting Alaska and the idea of a Friendscation was born. They narrowed the timeframe down to mid-August because of work schedules and contacted Barbi at Covington for help organizing their trip. One of the friends, Debbie, shared the group’s Travelers’ Tale.

The Logistics of Planning a Friends Group

Barbi was phenomenal to deal with. She was very detail-oriented, great about giving advice, and wonderful to everyone. To keep us all on the same page, when anyone had a question for Barbi they copied the email to all the others, and Barbi replied the same way. That worked very well.

Guided by Barbi’s recommendations, we chose a Princess Cruisetour of Alaska with a four-day land tour first, then a seven-night Inside Passage cruise. The five-hour dome train from Denali to Whittier was a gorgeous way to see the vast countryside. All the guides were so knowledgeable and fun. We had an opportunity to talk to local people and see how differently they live from us. We got to see and experience things that we wouldn’t have seen by cruise only.

Princess Cruisetour Offers Individual Choice

One nice thing was that even though eight of us were traveling together – three couples and two singles – we could still customize our trips. We didn’t have to all make the same choices. Six of us opted to add the food plan on the land portion and we were very happy with that choice. It included breakfast and dinner at various restaurants. We could order an appetizer, entrée, and dessert off the menu and we felt it was a very good value.

When we boarded the cruise ship in Whittier, several of us chose different excursions. During the week, one spent a half-day salmon fishing, two learned how to mush a dog sled, and several took a scenic train excursion in Skagway to see where the gold rushers panned for gold. All eight of us did a private whale watching tour together that was a highlight of the whole trip!

During cruising days, we all did our own thing, some together, some independently. Princess offers plenty of enrichment classes and various things to do onboard.

Togetherness

Three of our four cabins were balcony cabins (another individual choice) and Barbi made sure they were adjacent, so we opened the barriers between the balconies to create a private observation deck. For the two days we cruised Hubbard and Glacier Bays, all of us hung out on the balcony ogling the magnificent scenery.

Each evening our group ate together at a table for eight. We chose Anytime Dining but were a little concerned that we might get split up if we arrived at a busy time. But this Princess ship has a whole dining room reserved for Anytime Dining, so we never had a problem getting a table just for us, even at the peak of the dinner hour. We were very pleased with the dining arrangements and the food was excellent.

The shows were very good and we all went every night. One fun thing we attempted together was an Escape Room. We failed to find the solution and escape in the allotted 30 minutes, but we had fun trying.

Impressions of our Princess Cruisetour Friendscation

We were all very impressed with Princess Cruisetour’s transportation, baggage handling, hotels, and ship. Everything went very smoothly and that was a huge plus for us as a group. None of us live close together so the opportunity to spend time together and create new memories was great. Would we do another Friendscation? Absolutely!

If you have a small group of friends or family who want to travel together, talk to a Covington vacation advisor about your options.