We sailed on the Dawn Princess out of San Francisco to Alaska, and then back to San Francisco; the cruise started on Sept 18, 2007 and ended on the 29th. This was our 2nd time on the Dawn, and our fourth cruise with Princess. Embarkation could not have been smoother; we arrived early and were on the ship in less than 1/2 hour.

There were several areas where Princess Cruises has slipped in the last few years, but overall it was a good cruise. We had a mini-suite (#B409), and overall the cabin was in very good shape, especially considering that this is an older ship that was launched in 1997. One of our main complaints about our cabin was that the mattresses were very poor. We had them set in a queen configuration, and they looked like twin canoes with a very hard center piece. It was very hard to get a good nights sleep, and this same sentiment was shared by everyone at our dinner table. Another problem is that the balcony was very narrow - only four feet deep. There were very comfortable chairs on the balcony, but you had to sit facing sideways as there was not enough depth to face the sea. In addition, the bathroom sink had no room to set anything larger than a tube of toothpaste on. A shelf under the sink would have been very helpful. Our room steward, Leo, was excellent, and he kept the room sparkling.

Another area of concern was with the room service. Of the ten cruises we have been on spread out over four different lines, this was the worst. If we put a note on our door asking for coffee between 7:00-7:30 AM, it arrived at 6:15 AM and lukewarm. The first day, the male that delivered it to our cabin asked my wife for a cash tip, explaining that if she put an additional tip on the bill, it would go into a pot to be shared by all, but if she gave him cash, then he could keep it all. We gave him nothing, and he seemed a little put out. I have never seen or heard of this on any other cruise. Read more