We sailed from Vancouver to Whittier at the end of August on Island Princess. This is my first experience with Princess Cruise line, and it was generally very positive. We arrived early to board, and waited until their posted boarding time. We were in the first 100 or so people on the ship, and boarding was generally a positive experience. They had waiting areas for us to sit and wait, and they managed the que well. Having no status with this line, we boarded after the experienced cruisers but there couldn’t have been more than 60 or so of them ahead of us.
Princess gives different colored room key cards depending on your status. Our first-time cruiser cards were blue. My mother’s card was purple, since she’s been on a few cruises with Princess.
At boarding we were given a small paper saying our room wouldn’t be ready until after 1pm, but we could drop our carry-on stuff off before going to the buffet. We did that and it was very nice not to have to carry it with us to the buffet. Princess has this over RC. We had to wait last year and haul our carry-on around with us.
Standard balcony room. Comfortable bed, two chairs, Viewsonic TV. The remote was awful, buttons didn't work, but I suspected that would be the case and so, brought my own universal remote. Cabin had a clean smell, was well maintained, and everything worked. We asked for an extra pillow, and the steward brought it happily. Nice little refrigerator, small desk with an electrical outlet, plus there's an electrical outlet in the bathroom. The hair drier is outside the bathroom mounted to the wall by the desk, which seemed a little strange. Balcony was great. Good place for watching glaciers. We saw whales from the balcony.