HISTORY: We are in our late 40's. We have cruised with Princess twice before; once to the Western Caribbean (10/03) on the Grand Princess which we rated as "very good". The second time to the Mexican Riviera (10/04) on the Diamond Princess which we rated as "above average". We had a terrible time disembarking and missed our flight home. Princess would not help cover any of our additional costs and blamed the travel agency, but we and others felt it was clearly a Princess error.
TRIP: We wanted a different ship for the cruise to Alaska, but we found that the "ISLAND PRINCESS" had the north bound trip with recommended ports we wanted and most important to us had the "anytime" dining that we most enjoyed. So we booked the "Island Princess" out of Vancouver BC (5/29/06) to Whittier Alaska (6/5/06) for a 7 day cruise with an extra day (pre-cruise 5/28/06) in Vancouver @ the Fairmont hotel and (post cruise 6/6/06) Captain Cook hotel in Anchorage Alaska.
SHIP: The ship is in excellent condition, clean, well maintained and just a beautiful ship. The Universe lounge is poorly designed and many of the seats have no visibility to the stage and the upper deck with railing and glass make it impossible to see a show. The ship was caterer to senior citizens age 65 and above. The ship interior temperatures were on the warm side.