This was my first cruise with Princess; I have sailed with Carnival and NCL in the past. We traveled from Las Vegas to Seattle on the morning of the cruise, we were on the Golden Princess 5/9/09 sailing for Alaska. I had arranged for Shuttle Express for the R/T to and from Pier 91 and found the service to be just fine and the price great, I would recommend them to anyone looking for reasonable transportation to and from the Pier. We did arrive around 930 am and did not have the return flight until 345 on the return leg so we allowed plenty of time and did not feel rushed.Embarkation:  I would say that when you travel that patience is a virtue, and if people would just relax things would go a lot smoother, the lines we not clearly defined when you were outside and when they took your baggage that was not done well, the lines for check in itself were fine, we did throw the agent a curve because we did not have our passports, since we were before the June 1st deadline, we decided to wait to get them at a later date, the agent did not know how to check us in, but she was very nice. We then waited to board the ship, but the lines again were not defined. The whole process took about 1 1/2 hours and I was still impressed that for the first day at that pier that Princess did so well, everyone was very courteous even though people were complaining, I look at this way, what's the hurry? The food and your cabin will be there when you get on board!!Cabin: we had a balcony cabin on the Caribe deck Forward Starboard side, and it was my first balcony and I don't think that I could ever go back to anything else now! I could not believe the storage space! More than you could use and I packed way too much!! We faxed in a request for an egg crate topper and extra pillows and both were there, however the bed had not been replaced and it was in a sad way, very hard and lumpy and sagging in the middle, we asked our cabin steward for another topper (The one that was on the bed was a thin piece of foam, not and egg crate) and some more pillows and robes, and everything was there when we returned a few hours later. The new flat panels TVs are very nice, you just need to learn the trick to the remote, hold at an angle and hold down the buttons, when you turned on the bridge cam channel they had beautiful relaxing music playing and we found that very nice sometimes to have on softly in the background. I can't really comment on the TV channels, sometimes we had a lot, sometimes we lost the signal, but there were always movies to watch, and who cares if you can't get the TV?Our air conditioning did not work well at all, and after we told the room steward and nothing was done the first day, we just left the balcony door open after that and enjoyed the cool ocean air and the sound of the waves against the ship, if we were in a hotter climate it would have been a problem. There was also loud gurgling rumbling sounds coming from the bathroom wall behind the toilet 24 hours a day, I think it must has been a huge water heater for the floor, or a main pipe that ran behind that wall, it was annoying and there was an occasional faint sewer smell that came from the bathroom, but I brought bath spray and again having the balcony door open the sound of the waves drowned out the gurgling pipes.At one point when the cabin steward was making up the room and we were out on the balcony and the wind vortex was so strong from having the cabin and balcony door open at the same time it pulled up our ceiling by the cabin door 3-4 inches- that was kind of scary, but one call to the pursers desk and the head housekeeper was there in ten minutes and she said she would call the carpenters. I wasn't sure what that meant, but when we came back from our shore excursions, the ceiling was fixed!!!

The fridge did a good job of keeping everything cold, and light switches by the bed were very convenient, also the dimmers on the bedside lamps were a nice touch. The bathroom amenities of Lotus Spa products were very nice if you enjoy eucalyptus scent, and our room steward refilled them with new ones anytime we used even a little bit of the products.

Activities and shows: we did not participate in a lot of these, we were more into the food, the relaxing on our balcony and the beauty of Alaska and the ports, and to be honest, when you live in Las Vegas, it really would not be fair for me to judge the shows since we have some of the best entertainment and shows in the world, but we did enjoy the Galley tour and our Meet and Greet with all the fellow members of this board. Also the Champagne waterfall was very nice and I did not expect to have appetizers and Champagne passed out during the first formal, which was very enjoyable.Service: I thought that Princess Service was fantastic; we had anytime dining and found that after a couple days we found a waiter we really enjoyed and asked for a table in his section every night, it was never a problem and we took care of him and his assistant at the end of the week. Most all of the employees were very courteous and treated us with respect and graciousness all week.I did have a problem when I lost my cruise card the second to the last day and had to wait in a 45 min line to get it replaced, I was very grateful that no one used it and that our cabin was fine, but I had also picked up a copy of our charges and found an inaccurate charge and they made me wait in that line all over again to have the charge removed, oh well, could have been much worse! Read more