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We really enjoyed this cruise. Having heard so much about the cold and rain in Alaska we were prepared but ended up with beautiful warm sunny weather for almost all of the cruise.
The ship was lovely. There were certainly spots that were showing its age (i.e. rust near the windows in the dining room, stains on the grout in the bathroom of our mini suite, rust on our balcony that they actually fixed while we were there) but nothing that detracted from the cruise. With a passenger capacity of approx. 2,300 - it never felt crowded (except when leaving the Princess Theatre after a show since there are only 2 aisles in the whole theatre!) and we seemed to make several friends who we saw repeatedly everywhere we went.
The staff was lovely - you would be hard pressed to find a staff member on this ship who was not friendly. Walking in Juneau we saw one of the shopping experts (Jay) and he chatted with us as we walked to town as though we had been friends for years. We loved our room steward Erwin. The room was always perfect and he always greeted us by name and with a smile. Whenever we asked for anything from him - it was there in a flash.
We had anytime dining and in the past we found a waiter we liked and then requested him every night. It was different this time - we felt like they were not as attentive as they had been in the past. Some nights it seemed like they didn't care - just wanted to get the food out on the table and then get you out of the dining room. No big deal. The food was good and we certainly ate plenty of it. We never had to wait for a table but it seemed like everytime we were leaving dinner there was a huge crowd waiting to be seated. Since we were early eaters (no later than 6:30) - it would seem that going early is the key to not having to wait. One of my favorite moments of the cruise happened in the dining room...on our sea day on the way to Vancouver, we were sitting by the window and saw loads of orca. It was incredible. The best was when one came up right outside the window - so close I felt like I could have touched it.
Entertainment - We were disappointed that they do the same shows as they do on other Princess ships. We saw the production show "Do You Wanna Dance" on the Caribbean Princess and it was the same exact show here just with different performers. Sort of boring the second time around. We saw both of the comics, Scott Wyler and Cary Long - both were good. We also loved the "Cooking" show done by several members of the dining room staff - very cute! We participated in the various trivia games, Jeopardy games, watched the Not So Newlywed Game, etc. - plenty of options for entertainment.
Disembarkation was a little slow but not terrible. Our assigned time to go off was 8:30 am and our group was called at 8:50 am. After that gathering our luggage and going through customs was a breeze.
It was a wonderful trip and Princess does a nice job. I am already planning our next trip!
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