We enjoyed our cruise to Alaska very much but will probably not sail with Princess again. We flew into Seattle on Friday and stayed at the Doubletree Seattle Airport. I was able to get a very reasonable "pre-cruise" hotel rate that included transfers to the ship. Unfortunately there was much confusion about the transfer with lots of conflicting information. However it worked out ok and we were on our way. My traveling companion needed a wheelchair and our embarkation went very smoothly. We went to our cabin, our bags were delivered very quickly and we were able to unpack right away. Now for a description of our cabin. The two beds were under the window with a walkway between. We agreed at the end that even though it was a small cabin it felt large and was well designed. We never crashed into each other once! The closet space was large and the bathroom adequate. It could have used a dresser but we were able to make do easily. We were very low in the ship on Deck 5 (Plaza). This turned out to be a blessing and a curse. The first day the weather was rough and we experienced the least motion ever. Other people staying higher decks got much sicker.Also it was on the same level as the Grand Foyer, Bernini dining room Patisserie bar and library. The location was really great. Unfortunately, any time the ship was out to sea there was a gigantic groaning, gurgling noise from the waves hitting the ship. We didn't want to change cabins so we decided to live with it. It was fine when we were in the Inside Passage-only a problem when we were out to sea. Our cabin steward was good and cabin was kept very clean. After we unpacked we headed to the Horizon Grill for lunch. This was very disappointing. The food was very limited and amazingly unappealing. I had just sailed on the Dawn Princess in Aug 2007 and don't remember the buffet being so terrible. I returned for dinner one evening and couldn't find anything to eat except fresh fruit. I am not a picky eater! We had dinner in the Bernini dining room that evening and the food was mediocre. I will say that the Anytime Dining worked well on this ship (as opposed to the Dawn Princess). We never made reservations and mostly got right in. Twice we were given a pager and had to wait 10-20 minutes but it was fine. The table service was very mixed with some great waiters and some not so great. We enjoyed meeting the various people that we sat with and it was nice to move around and not sit with the same people all the time.

We really enjoyed the ship. It was very clean and has lots of nice public areas. The covered pool was nice for Alaska. I went to the spa several times and had good service. Only one person tried hard to sell me products-everyone else was very professional. I particularly enjoyed the hot stone massage with Chick. One trick is to wait until later in the cruise for "spa specials". You shouldn't have to pay full price for any treatments if you wait. We did not go to any of the shows but I enjoyed the live music around the atrium. The piano player on level 7 was particularly good. Now for the ports: Juneau was cold and rainy but we shopped anyway. I was so glad I had bought a raincoat. On this trip we were able to find lovely locally owned stores. In Juneau we loved Invisible World with gorgeous clothes and the Glacier Smoothie soap company. In Skagway there was a great yarn store and small local bookstore. Also a couple of the big souvenir stores are locally owned. I also loved the Bordello tour at the Red Onion.In the afternoon we took the Whitehorse Pass Train Excursion. It was phenomenal-the high point of our trip. Don't miss this! The scenery was gorgeous and the history interesting. You don't get off the train. It turns around at Whitehorse Pass. Tracy Arm: I had been here in August but enjoyed seeing it in more winterlike conditions. We could not go in as far and had to plow into the ice field to see what we did. But somehow the color of the glacier was more gorgeous. In general I loved how this trip had so much more snow than the one in August.It gave a much stronger Alaskan feel. If you want an more authentic Alaskan cruise early May is the time to go. Ketchikan was great. It is so pretty with snow on the mountains around it. We loved Mission Fiber Arts and the Yarn/Bead store in the Salmon Landing shopping store. The bookstore, Parnassus Books, on Creek Street has an amazing selection of Alaska/Yukon books. In general everyone was so friendly and helpful wherever we went. There are so many more locally owned stores now-its great! I enjoyed "Dolly's House" the Bordello at the end of Creek Street. It has the most amazing vintage kitchen I have seen! In Victoria we were only there from about 7:30pm to 11:30pm. I had wanted to go on the Ghost and Graveyard tour for a long time so now was my chance. I really enjoyed the tour-it was better at night! Back in Seattle Embarkation was quick but there were not enough porters and it was a zoo. Since our flight was not until the afternoon we did the "Boats Buildings and Billionaires" tour that included a boat trip on Lake Union and we got to see Bill Gates house. After that they took us to the airport and some people to Seattle hotels. It was a nice finish to our trip. In general our cruise was made decent by the beautiful ship and beauty of Alaska. The food was a serious weak spot so we probably will not return to Princess.