Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge

We stayed at the Princess Fairbanks River Lodge during the land portion of our Princess Alaska cruise and land tour. Rather than a 5-star hotel, it felt more like a 3-star, even though the price was very steep. There were issues with the room conditions and the service. The room lacked basic amenities that you'd expect at this price. No safe or mini-fridge was provided (I had medication that needed to be refrigerated), and the bathroom was outdated, with old tiles and no amenities beyond soap and shampoo dispensers. The slow drains and brown spots in the toilets added to the unpleasant experience. In addition, the Wi-Fi internet connection was quite poor. Even simple things like a pencil and notepad were not provided. The front desk staff was incredibly unhelpful. Despite paying for the previous night and having been assigned a room already (in other words, reserving the room starting from the previous day's check-in time), we were told upon our arrival at 11 AM to wait until 3 PM for our room and that we could not have our bags delivered until then. The front desk staff said multiple times there was nothing they could do to assist us; they were happy to just let us sit in the lobby and to not deliver our bags into our paid-extra room -- until we insisted strongly. It was frustrating and unprofessional. On the plus side, the staff at the Bar & Grill restaurant stood out as a bright spot. They were cheerful, attentive, and made lunch very enjoyable. The shuttle to town was an unexpected $10 per person extra each time; at this price point, it should have been complimentary. I would recommend staying at a smaller, more intimate hotel that offers a more personalized experience and better attention to guests, without the overwhelming crowds and impersonal service.

4 months ago

This is where the money you spent on your cruise finally runs out. I think every major hotel chain, including bed and breakfasts have complimentary coffee. Not princess. You have to buy their $3-5 coffees when you need one. Our flight was at 9pm and they booted us from our hotel rooms at 11am. If you do not have anything scheduled until your shuttle to the airport, the amenities at the hotel are not sufficient. It would be nice if there was a bigger place for people to congregate than their small hospitality room. They could improve this experience by providing a quiet room with some couches or bunk beds if people want to catch a nap. My encounter with the bag check attendant was enough to put the icing on the cake. When I went to the front desk to get my bag checked. There was only one person working the desk so I had to follow them around to the bag check. They waved their key card to get in the dutch door without saying anything to me. The door did not have any writing or signs in the door saying “keep out” or “employees only”. The door about closed on me so I held it open and walked in. The employee put their hand on me to hold me back from coming in any further and told me I couldn’t be in that room. At no point in this interaction did the person say I could not come in, there was just no communication with me at all until they put their hands on me. I would have not came in the room if there was a sign or they had said not to follow them in. When they have a full hotel of people, they need to keep the buffet and breakfast area open longer than 10am. It should be open until at least 11 or 12. Especially when most people do not have vehicles here and are getting off buses. There is no restaurants around the area within walking distance, so that’s why I feel they need to extend the hours. I will say, the women at the visitors desk are fantastic. Heidi C. was great. She was so helpful with me figuring out the bus schedule to get to to the different museums I wanted to see.

5 months ago

Nice stay at the Fairbanks Lodge. Definitely a hotel style lodge. Not like the Kenai cabin style rooms. Staff was friendly and helpful. For hotel style rooms, they were very spacious. Easy access to elevators and food. Buses for excursions pick you up right in front of the main entrance.

3 months ago

This was our last stop before going home and our third Princess lodge on the tour. It was my least favorite. The lobby is small, crowded with not enough seating. The restaurant is dark with a menu that had grown tiresome and didn’t change. The room was OK. Front desk not very helpful. Best part was the outside. Deck was great. You could have drinks, food or just enjoy the views. The walk around the hotel was also really nice. There are beautiful gardens. The hotel is really not located close to anything but it was a short Uber ride to Museum of the North at University of Alaska Fairbanks which was very cool!

5 months ago

The room was very large and comfortable. Lobby areas were very inviting to sit and watch people or wait for your excursion. Restaurants were a lot to be desired. We walked to a nearby restaurant, Pikes Landing. The food was reasonably and delicious.

6 months ago

Showed up and they took forever to get our bags to the room. The room was not clean, stains on the walls. Staff doesn’t seem to care much for the needs of the guests. The food on site was awful, all 6 people in our party were unhappy with every one of our meals, but they don’t care because you are a captive audience. Contracted COViD-19 while on property and later figured out why. While we were leaving, a housekeeping staff member was mentioning that several rooms had positive COViD cases in the rooms, a supervisor replied by telling them, “we are 100% booked tonight, we don’t have time to deep clean any of the rooms.” Major health code violation! Knowingly putting others at risk with no notification to the guests. Never doing any of the princess land stays again and seriously looking into cancelling any future cruises.

5 months ago

1st night accomodation on Princess land sea concierge cruise.|Comfortable, clean, |Common areas need upgrading, carpets, etc|Nice gift shop|Unfortunately the welcome dinner for the group was an inedible buffet. The food was terrible so we left prior to dessert.|Grateful the remainding lodges and dining accomodations were excellent!|Rough start.

5 months ago

One of the better operated Princess Lodges. The place is clean, the rooms well appointed. The staff were for the most part more seasoned than in the other Princess lodges and it showed in more consistent service all round. ||A bit disappointing that they have no place to get ice cream in the hotel. We had to walk a half mile to the next hotel to satisfy our craving. So be aware if you have kids or want ice cream. Also, unless you have your own transport, you are limited to their on site cafe and restaurants which are not bad at all.

6 months ago