My husband and I have been on many cruises, maybe over 12, on various cruise lines. We booked this cruise only 4 days before sailing after my friend and I had to cancel a planned 3-week Europe trip. We flew directly to Seattle from San Diego, and went straight to the ship by taxi. Embarkation was a breeze because we were Platinum so we got to go right in ahead of everyone else. Best benefit to being Platinum status!

Ship and cabin were nice, but starting to show some age. Loved our balcony on the Glacier Bay day and every morning and evening. In the public area, she days of lots of big flower arrangements, creative veg and fruit carvings, ice carvings, towel animals..they seem to be long gone now on Princess. Even the baked Alaska parade was cut short and not very fun. Princess must be losing money, because the cost cutting is obvious almost everywhere. This is one of those weird big ships where you get off the elevator and "you can't get there (forward or to the stern) from here." Or, the elevator does not go to all the floors. Confusing and frustrating at times. Finding the special "Platinum" photo studio on 15 aft was a real adventure. We had to go out in the cold and wind to get there. Ditto for the bar/disco area on deck 17. Our cabin had hard mattresses. I hope they replace those soon! OK for a week, but barely. There was a strong mildew smell in our bathroom all week, and a little bit of black mold in the shower area that I tried to clean up myself. Our room steward seemed overworked and harried, although polite and friendly.

We had anytime dining, and that worked well for us. We were able to get a table for 2 on most nights. The first night, we shared a table with a huge man who kept his baseball cap on the entire meal and used his phone to text almost the entire meal and ate in huge bites and burped. His poor wife seemed so embarrassed. Most un-appetizing! We only ate at the dining room or at the International Cafe (loved that!). The buffet area was too small and crowded, so we took one look at that and fled! Room service for a few of our breakfasts went OK, too. But not much selection. I only tried the ice cream bar once, and it was a disappointment for me. Some of the wait staff were obviously new and messed up or forgot our order requests, but most were very good. Food was generally good, occasionally great (especially the crab appetizer the first night and the specialty deserts on a few nights). Sabatini's was excellent, and worth the extra cost. Good wine list too. Nice that my favorite bottle of Bordeaux wine followed me to various dining rooms for 3 nights. Read more