Because we live in Palm Springs, Ca. we decided to cool off for a couple of weeks in early September. So, we booked a trip on the Dawn Princess sailing from San Francisco for ten days and we stayed four more days in San Francisco after disembarkation. The temperature at home when we left on September 14th was 106 degrees. It was nice to arrive in chilly San Francisco!
We tried to log on to the Princess Cruises web-site to pre-register at least 15 times over a month, but each time they told us the site was busy and to try again tomorrow. We arrived early in the morning in San Fran and decided we might as well go to the terminal and register. But the registration desks didn't open until about 11 o'clock, so we sat around and waited. To wait in the terminals in San Francisco is not what you would call inspiring. As soon as we had registered, we went over to Scoma's for lunch. Having been on Princess a few times before, we knew what the buffet would be. After returning from lunch, we were told that we could go to our cabins. Remember not long ago when upon boarding you were greeted by neatly attired crew offering a glass of cold champagne and someone who escorted you to your cabin and made you feel welcome? No more. I would think that the crew members would miss the tips! We were assigned Cabin 6017 forward and a good location. The cabins are very small and uncomfortable especially the bathroom. In the cabin, in addition to the two beds and a desk, there is but one chair, so if there are two of you and you both want to watch TV, one has to lie down on the bed. I understand in building the ship, they suddenly decided to add verandas and so cut two feet off the end of the room and added the very narrow balconies. In fact, the whole ship looks as if it had been designed as it was being built.
After the life-boat drill and the beautiful sail-away, I went back to the cabin before dinner to rest a bit while my companion stayed on deck to absorb the cool breeze. We picked a wonderful time of the year to be going to Alaska. Except for one day of rain in Skagway, the weather was perfectfoggy some days at first, but smooth waters so the days at sea were perfect. There was a contingent of people from "Cruise Critic" on board, but we never met any of them. We did meet four other very nice people that we hung out with and had enjoyable times lunching in the few ports we made. However, the itinerary was great. Most of the other cruises are 7 days, which is too short, and the ten day itinerary was the main reason we chose the Dawn Princess.