This was my first Princess Cruise and I did book another cruise, but unsure if I won’t go back to Celebrity. The crew on this ship was incredibly inconsistent. Some worked hard and were friendly, while others seemed to hate their job. The food in the main dining halls was just okay, but then sometimes the buffet delivered even though sometimes it didn’t. The cruise director’s team is a lot of fun and actually helped me enjoy the brand more. That said, here are some things they could work harder to make my trip better: 1) karaoke: having it in the Vista theater vs. a bar is a big mistake. It doesn’t bring the fun as the activity should be. It feels like auditioning for American Idol. Only for the brave. The point of karaoke is sounding awful with too many drinks for liquid courage. 2) enough with the old jokes by CD Matt O. I’m in my mid-40s and chose Princess because it cruises out of LA and isn’t full of kids. However, telling all these old jokes made me feel like the brand isn’t made for me. 3) Old Fashions do not need soda when you’re calling top shelf bourbon. ASK if I want club soda in it. I was rudely blamed for not proactively telling them. No bar I’ve ever been to in the US serves the cocktail with soda water. 4) I never saw our stateroom attendant. Never checked in with us. 5) Every spa on every ship tries to upsell you product. I get it. But NO MEANS NO! My sister and I were pressured and when we said no, we were each individually treated incredibly rude. Each time, we were met with passive aggressive and even just plain aggressive attitude. 6) Elevators are a huge challenge. I realize there is no way to fix this. But they’re the worst I’ve ever experienced on cruises in size and delays. 7) order now in the app is absolutely useless. I ordered drinks that never came. Sometimes the screen would lock for days (I have an iPhone Xs). 8) Sanctuary is great! However, understaffed and you’ll be stranded without drinks being served to your table despite advertising otherwise. 9) women bartenders seemed to be all business no chatter. I like talking to barstaff, regardless of gender, but I noticed the women bartenders seemingly unfriendly. 10) Future Cruises needs overhaul. Whomever I talked to there seemed to care less about selling me a future cruise. My sister and I got “go to the website” as an answer a lot. MISSED OPPORTUNITY! I could use some excitement and “insider” information about some of the cruises. Demographics, something special not in the brochure, etc. Celebrity does this incredibly well. Princess could learn a few things about retooling their Future Cruises office (open for two hours per day by ONE unsmiling staffer. 11) not a comment card available to fill out as of the fifth day. (I’m reviewing on our last day.) 12) Do more programming for the Gen X crowd. 13) the “library” had very few books and mostly stale reading. Fill it up! 14) bring silent disco! 15) keep the racist jokes by AJ Jamal off the ship. Horribly dated jokes against Asian Americans, uses accents like something out of 1950s. Awful and uncomfortable. He made the audience the butt of jokes and it was clear they were laughing in politeness. Just hearing people as they exited the theater would give the ship enough insight to ship this guy out. I don’t mind blue humor, but this guy didn’t have very good material and so when the audience wasn’t impressed, he just started picking on Asians in the crowd. He mentioned he has a wife from Thailand, but he should know better rather than use her as a license to offend. 16) LGBT mixer was unhosted while there were MANY gay staff on the ship. Would love to see the representation at the mixer by the staff. It’s sometimes easier to approach a staff member about LGBT questions and programming if we know who is who. Read Less

Nothing but great things to say about this experience. From the check in to disembarking it was flawless. The staff was wonderful and tried to get all involved. Inwas nervous if I would like it, being a first timer, but it was AMAZING! Had wonderful excursions and met a bunch of wonderful people. They had a great system for departing the boat for Cabo and plenty of tenders going back and forth. The food and wait staff was amazing for our scheduled dining. Great photographers and the cost was very reasonable to purchase our photos. Wonderful pools and hot tubs and very well staffed. They were always on task to make sure you had everything you needed; no matter how busy. The had a cake extravaganza and the cake were beautiful. The club's were great and well maintained and staffed. Overall wonderful experience. We just got home and already planning the next with Process. Thank you Princess Royal! Read Less

Our daughter and son-in-law chose this as their first cruise and asked us to join them. We've been to Mexico several times with Princess, but never sailed on the Royal before. I was impressed that we never felt crowded despite the number of people onboard. She's a huge ship, so walking from one end to the other was a workout. (We were glad our cabin was almost midship). Our mini-suite was excellent, as always, and the staff members were outstanding all across the ship. It was some of the best food we've had on a cruise ship and the entertainment was top notch. The highlight of the trip was snorkeling with wild sea lions in Loreto on a private excursion for 4 people with Sea and Land Tours. I highly recommend them as they were waiting for us at the port, customized the day for us, and even fed us the best tamales we've ever eaten. Manzanillo is a rather unexciting port, but Cabo and Puerto Vallarta are always fun with a plethora of activities to enjoy. Read Less

I organized this cruise with 18 of my clients who love to sail on Princess Cruises. We have been on this cruise before and enjoy the ports and the time at sea. Sailing on the larger ship was a little overwhelming in the beginning of the cruise but very shortly found our way and found that there was so much room especially the piazza area and the pool area and the entire ship. The food was outstanding in all the dining rooms and specialty dining restaurants. We also enjoyed the sushi bar and the piazza café. Loved having coffee in the piazza in the morning before breakfast. Also, loved the buffet area. So much more room and the food was delicious. I was very happy with our dining room and having 18 people in my group Generoso Mazzone arranged a great dining room and table location for my group. All of these people are Princess cruisers and were very impressed with the ship, the dining rooms, specialty dining and activities on the ship. The entire Princess staff were very helpful and pleasant and they are all a credit to Princess Cruises. Read Less

I chose the Royal for a new sailing experience, looking for exciting adventures and it was all this and more. The ship is absolutely stunning and has great offerings of food, entertainment and activities. Many events centered in the Piazza. However, with a larger passenger list, there is not enough crew. Longer than usual wait times for drinks and meals at dinner. At times we were unable to find waiters for a glass of ice tea, or coffee in Horizon Court. Our room attendant was unable to keep up with the demands of having 18 mini-suites to clean thru little fault of his own. Sadly, the Effy store had so many aggressive sales people I was turned off and refused to buy an anniversary ring. The Sanctuary service was fabulous! We tried the Sanctuary Cabana and were very pleased to not regret the $140 per afternoon cost... it was that great. Also, I got a world class hair makeover from Yureli in the Salon and I couldn't be happier. I wholeheartedly recommend the Royal... bear in mind to be flexible and in some ways lower your expectations. Who knows, may your cruise on the Royal Princess will be a 10. Read Less

I chose a Princess cruise because of how highly recommended Princess was by many friends. I knew I did not want to add the time or price of flights to or from another port, so I chose a round trip from my local Los Angeles port. The destination was really not much of a factor in my selection. I was so impressed with the service all over the ship. I've never experienced service like this anywhere else. Everyone was so friendly, helpful, attentive and welcoming. It was amazing! The ship itself is beautiful and the room was much larger than I expected. The food was really good too. I couldn't believe the speed of the service in the restaurants on a sold out cruise. It blows my mind how they can serve so many people so fast. Everything about the cruise was top notch. The bartenders in the Good Spirits at Sea bar were truly memorable. Agus, Don and Patricio were just amazing. Their service was the best and their sense of humor had us in stitches the whole cruise. Matt "O", our cruise director really made the whole cruise enjoyable. He was so nice, friendly, knowledgeable and full of energy day and night. I can't wait to cruise with him again! Amazing crew and ship!! Read Less

It promised a short getaway and definitely lived up to it ! We were able to relax in the Spa’s Enclave. The pool there is so therapeutic, the steam and sauna rooms are a must. Then top it off by lying on the warm stone bed. I also benefited from the seaweed detox treatment and massage. For anyone who needs to rejuvenate this is the place to be. Fasted embarkation and disembarkation ever!! It was very organized and everyone along the way was helpful and so friendly. The food was delicious and always fresh. We had two great dinners in the Symphony Dining room and the rest of the time we frequented the Horizon Buffet and enjoyed the convenience and variety there. And don’t forget the delicious pizza on Deck 16! We took advantage of room service in the morning and it was always on time and exactly what we had ordered. Read Less

Love Princess and wanted to travel somewhere different. The staff was absolutely phenomenal. The food was wonderful. Entertainment so-so. There really wasn't a whole lot on this cruise. Perhaps because it was only five days. We paid for transfer from the airport and that went well. Our arrival at the cruise terminal was a cluster. There were no designated areas for priority boarding at all. I had to track down someone to help. That took a while. Then once we did on board, we ended up having to take the stairs because there was no one handling access to the elevators. They were coming up from decks below and were over full. Our steward was fantastic. He was very courteous and attentive and very helpful. Our cabin is described below and was a total disappointment. Smaller than the pictures on line show and being in the absolute rear is terrible. Noisy and the rocking makes you sick. Service was great which is why I guess we keep going back to Princess! Read Less

The Royal is a beautiful ship and now that it is going out of LA, I am hoping to be able to go more often. First of all, there were 2 ships in port that day which made the traffic difficult. It took over 45 minutes to park. I thought Medallion would make check in easier, but really, it didn't make any difference. After we checked in we waited another half hour to board the ship. All in all, embarkation was just VERY busy and chaotic. I was glad that I had printed my boarding pass because the Medallion App kicked me out, erased my boarding pass then wouldn't let me back in for the rest of the cruise. This ship is large, and I think that the service in a couple of areas was lacking because of the amount of people. It seemed that if we had an issue, it always took at least two tries to get it right. We had everything from a toilet that didn't work to waiting over an hour for starter in the main dining room. We used the buffet a lot. The food there is fine, not great, but the good news is that we always found a table due to the good set up of the buffet. Tip: the desserts for the buffet are only available at the front buffet closest to the pool, not the back portion. We had a cabin in the back and the shaking back there was intense. So intense that when you laid down it felt like a message bed. If you like that, then this is a good tip for you. Book an aft stateroom. Things we loved: The cruise director Matt O was amazing and made the cruise so much fun. I'll cruise with him any day! The Bellini bar- the drinks are great and the tables are in a nice location if you want to watch the happenings of the Piazza. Alfredo's- a great option for lunch. The shows- we enjoyed the shows each evening, there was plenty of variety. Disembarkation was very easy. We chose to walk off. We were assigned a 9:45 walk off however as we were going towards the waiting location for walk off, they said that if we wanted to go now, we could. That made it nice. We were off the ship and thru customs before 8:30. Would I go again? Absolutely! I love to cruise and even though this one had a couple of hiccups, there was plenty on this cruise that I enjoyed. I think I will give them a little time to work out the kinks, but all in all, I'm glad they are going out of LA. Read Less

We chose this cruise due to multiple reccomendations. A wonderful experience and our first cruise! We will return! The dining room experience was awesome We used the buffet for breakfast and lunch. There were many healthy choices. We exercised each day and were pleased with the work out choices. The highlight of our cruise experience was the Balcony Dinner and th excursions in Cabo. We did the snorkeling and swim with the dolphins. The experience in Cabo felt save and relaxing We were glad we were able to stay 2 days. Getting on and off the ship in Cabo was easy and effortless. The return back to the U.S. port in San Pedro was just the right amount of time being on the ship Leaving the port, we took the airport transfer provided by Princess, the bus was reasonable and air conditioned All in all no negative incidences. This was my husband and my first cruise, we will be back! Read Less

The ship and class of service is what I expected from Princess. The ship was nice, staff was great and the entertainment was fun. This was a 5 day cruise with one 24 hour stop that is a bit different than any other cruises I have been on. There is plenty to do, the "Princess Patter" was packed with activities throughout the day. Dining room and Horizon Court food was good, plenty of variety. The variety of public spaces, music and bars was good. The Disco was not in a great place and the only place that was too crowded, tiny dance floor and slow bar service, I think that needs to be looked at. The "Medallion" class, use of the medallion for your cabin and purchases is innovative but is sort of creepy as they know where you are, all the time ... weird ... Princess is my favorite line and I will return. Read Less

Our short trip from LA to Cabo on the Royal Princess was very relaxing and refreshing. Just what the doctor ordered. We arrived a little before our scheduled embarkation time, but we just got in line and wound our way through. I had already received our Medallions, so we didn't have to show anything other than that! It really couldn't have been easier. Once on board, my husband, who was a first time cruiser, was amazed at the grandeur and beauty of the Piazza. Even though I had shown him pictures, seeing it in person is amazing. We dropped our luggage off at our room and then hit the buffet. Again, my husband was amazed at the selection and quantity! Our room was M535, a balcony room, just below Horizon Court. I was worried there would be noise from there, but it was insignificant compared to my husbands snoring. I brought earplugs for the later and apparently it blocked out the former :) Our cabin steward had our room looking great and kept it that way the whole trip. He really did a great job and was always friendly when we passed in the hallway. The wait staff in the traditional dining room, Allegro, was delightful. My husband enjoyed chatting with our waiter, Victor, so much, that he didn't want to miss a meal. We had a gift meal at Sabatini's (which was very nice) so we did miss one meal there, much to my husband's chagrin. I loved the food. I'm not hard to please, I will admit. If someone else makes it and cleans up, I'm fairly certain that I will be happy with any food that is not too adventurous. The very first night I had the prime rib. It was so good I wanted to cry happy tears! The next night was filet mignon, and another night was chicken and another night was salmon. I wish I could eat there every single night of my life! Again, I am not a foodie, far from it. But my husband and I both enjoyed the food. Horizon Court was great for lunch and breakfast. My husband loved the cookies! We watched the movies in the afternoon and napped. I got caught up on several movies that I didn't see during the summer. That was a bonus! The bed was comfy. I was very pleasantly surprised at how awesome the dancers and singers were for the big show performances. We saw "Soul" and "Encore" on this cruise. Both were wonderful and had my husband standing up and cheering at the end. I was cheering too, but that isn't remarkable :) Jeff the Juggler was super funny and very entertaining. Getting off the ship to go into Cabo was the only glitch, but it wasn't anyone's fault but the weather. We eventually got into Cabo and stayed about 30 minutes. It is true what people say about bartering. Decide what you are willing to pay for something, and you will probably get your price. We also had the free tea every day at 3:00pm. I loved that so much I want to continue it at home! Their scones are so delicious. The tea itself was only meh, but I like regular Lipton tea, so bear that in mind. Disembarkation was a little tedious (be prepared to wait for elevators), but since we were walking off with our luggage, we just left when we were ready. Typical lines to wait in, but honestly, when you are off-loading about 3,000 people, what do you expect? Overall, it was a wonderful time to relax and getaway from the daily grind. I honestly didn't want to come home and have to think about what to fix for dinner the next day! Read Less

The cruise had great service but the food was horrible almost everywhere we ate. Sabatini's was the best but even that could have been better. The shower curtain in the bathroom reeked and it smelled like pee. The cruise would have been fun if I was with my family or was older. Mostly everyone was 65+, which is fine, but the activities were not for a younger crowd and that made it boring. The "club" is a super small dance floor lodged in the corner of the lounge. This was my first cruise and I will probably never go on one again unless it's Richard Branson's... The ice cream they served on the fountain pool deck was not good, the pizza everywhere sucked - apparently Princess is known for their pizza but I think that that review came from someone who has never had pizza. Alfredo's Pizzeria was not that great either as far as the pizza goes. The bartenders and wait staff were all very friendly, however, not everyone was knowledgeable and we got different answers from anyone on any one topic. The comedy show was great and was the our favorite activity. The elevators run terribly and because almost everyone on the ship was super old and could not use the stairs, the elevators were always running slow. Not a big deal because I have legs and they work great but might be good to know for someone else. I don't know what I was expecting for my first cruise but I was disappointed and wished I had spent my money on a different vacation. Hopefully your experience is much better!! Read Less

The Good: Alfredo's Pizzeria - best food on the ship (and complimentary!) Afternoon Tea - we went every day and it was always the highlight. Loved watching the NFL games on the big screen. Exceptional steward/stateroom service (shoutout to Rashid!) Crew was friendly and attentive, particularly in food service. The Medallions are pretty slick. Good variety of entertainment. Not too many kids. Roundtrip from of San Pedro (convenient to where we live; no airplanes required). The Less-Good: Coffee tasted like dirty water. Other than the aforementioned, food was generally mediocre. Stateroom carpet and upholstery are in desperate need of updating and the shower curtain was pretty gross. The Library has no comfortable seating, no view and practically no books! There is very little room for weight lifting in the Fitness Center and it was always crowded. Promenade Deck does not go all the way around - you can't promenade on the Promenade! Read Less

Our cruise was almost 5 hours late leaving San Pedro (LA). Because of this our port time in both Ketchikan and Juneau was severely shortened. Our stop in Victoria, B.C. was skipped entirely! Very disappointed. Buffet foid was always cold! Even breakfast items like oatmeal, eggs and waffles were cold. Very minimal low carb or low sugar items available. Sabattinis extra cost restaurant was disappointing. Not worth the extra. Crown Grill extra cost restaurant was superb. Our cabin steward Jadeah was supern! Room was kept made up and very clean. Shore excursions were very goid even in limited by time in port in both Ketchikan and Juneau. Yukon Adventure and Whites Pass & Yukon Railway excursion in Skagway is not to be missed! We saw orcas on our whale watch from Juneau and bears eating salmon on our excursion from Ketchikan. Our ship did not allow us to go ashore in Victoria, BC as was advertised. Overall our cruise experience on the Royal Princess was positive. The extremely late departure from LA cause several very large disappointments later in the cruise. Read Less

DW and I choose this cruise due to no flying. LA round trip to Alaska. First kept getting delayed boarding notices. Was supposed to board around Noon but instead 6 PM. Then our traditional dining at Allegro which was booked and confirmed 1 1/2 years go was changed to Anytime. Had to take vacation time to change it to a not as good substitute set seating dining at Symphony. The room steward was perfect, he met all our needs and went beyond the call of duty, gave him the highest rating on the post cruise eval. Entertainment was uneven. The main production numbers were cut short. We had done the Royal last year October and we saw more versions of the Princess singers and dancers. Some of the guest entertainers were very good and some not. Jennifer Singer was terrific. Was disappointed in the Princess whale excursion out of Ketchican, saw none. The Juneau Tour and Whale Watch was great, saw many whales, saw 3 spouting next to each other, several flippers hitting the water, several diving with tails in the air, and several jumping out of the water and making very large splashes. Food was good or just OK in main dining, worse with few exceptions at Horizon, very good at International Café, very good at Alfredo's, excellent at Sabatini's. Balcony cabin was smaller than older Princess ships. Matt O, cruise director, was all over the ship and terrific, made the otherwise too many sea days in a row do-able. An on that note, Victoria was skipped due to the last portion of the new extended dock not being finished due to that part lost a sea during a storm. Princess should have substituted another port, say Vancouver. Read Less

wanted to add this cruise following a 7 day celebrity alaska cruise.We got off celebrity cruise in vancouver and stayed in hotel overnight downtown. hopped on this royal princess for a 3 nite cruise to LA. This ship is really nice. usually don't like big ships but there was no long lines anywhere, lots of room to park ourselves for food, entertainment and drinks. I did notice that the theatre wasn't,t all that big for such a large number of people. I liked the size of the stateroom and amount of storage. The internet was only about $9 a day and i got good connections. The staff was really helpful. The medallion experience was good.The tv in the stateroom was a nice size and had good reception for extra movies etc. I would certainly go on this ship again but for longer voyage, at least 10 days maybe. Thanks princess Read Less

im from vancouver and i read from newspaper the cost of this trip it is a good deal , we stuck late for 4 to 5 hours at vancouver port because of oil spill but not the royal princess cruise fault so we are very late on disebarkation please plan ahead your pick up shuttle bus ( only the pre pay passenger they accept) at the end of cruise spc. with no wifi i finally get one and buy it expensively on the spot because no way we will get out of that place how i feel sorry to those peoples mostly seniours walking in a circles and 3,000 peoples waiting to taxi cannot get in touch with uber or lift . i wished the entertainment will be a little more extravagant . we are in main small piazza every night with thousand peoples on it . any how it is a good cruise but nextime we will be more prepared. Read Less

never again on this cruse line. poor service, skunked beer, engine fire, staff dont speek english, ship leaving port early so no time to see port. rude waiters, problems not addressed, facilities broken and none working. food was cold and there was long waits because not enough cooks on board. tables dirty in buffey , drinks refills hard to get, everythink cost an extra amount. high pressure photo sales. elevators were very slow and stairs were crowded. coffee was instant unless you but extra package and there is only one place to get the good coffee on the ship. food order were mixed up and you got someone elses food but after a long wait you just ate what is set in front of you and move on. ask for cheese on spagetti and waiter refused and stated "other people on this ship want extra cheese too" really bad service. Never again on princes high cost rude cruse lines. Read Less

Repositioning from Vancouver to LA Sept 14th. I'm sure there are many people that were upset by circumstances about our departure which was delayed. This was well explained by the Captain, the tender for refuel had spilled causing the delay. That noted the staff and crew did everything to accommodate the passengers due to the delay getting into LA. We found all the activities available were excellent and enjoyed the cruise in it's entirety. Unlike the poor Holland cruise we had, Carnival cruise line does much better with Princess cruise line for attention to the customer. Onboard activities were plentiful. The food in the Buffet was excellent and we found it better than the Dinning room fare. Also the Pizza restaurant and International Cafe were wonderful to grab a nice snack or meal at. The ship was well maintained and almost everything was clean and spotless. The one thing that was difficult was getting used to the Deck layout's and the Dining rooms. Having to go to deck 4, up and down to get to the main dinning room was an odd situation. But once that was figured out it was much easier to work with. I would recommend Royal Princess over all the other cruises we have been on, with the exception of Disney. Read Less

*Hour wait to get on ship in Whittier, poorly organized *Rooms at McKinley & Denali were like camping or hunting *Hotel Captain Cook was excellent and restaurants were superb *Salmon Berry Tours is excellent in Anchorage *Train ride to Whittier was long, be prepared. No water for purchase *Excursion issues in two cities: Train in front of us derailed for the White Pass Scenic Railway. We had to go backwards to Canada (show passports) and have rescue buses pick us up. A 2h45m tour turned into 6 hours. Got refund but did not care to see the town after that. Juneau- paid for Mendenhall glacier and Whale Quest tour. Guaranteed to see whales! Our most exciting part of the trip was cancelled because the boats were not working. We got to the dock, full bus, just to turn around. Will never see whales. Still waiting for refund. *Engine caught fire on our way back to Vancouver. *Had good experience at Sabatini's, bad at Crown Grill. *Cabin steward (Teofilo) was excellent *Entertainment, especially,comedian AJ Jamal was great Read Less

We enjoyed the destination and staff, but there are any number of areas that need to be improved. Entertainment, food quality and the land cruise portion come to mind. However, the glaciers and landmass so spectacular its difficult not to be in awe - so definitely visit Alaska. The land portion was spectacular in terms of the natural beauty (and we hit the perfect time for fall leaf color). Unfortunately the staff were at the end of the season and it showed in terms of responsiveness and behavior (screams from the kitchen two night in a row). We understand these young adults have worked hard for the entire season, however, this was our vacation and this impacted our enjoyment. The Royal Princess cruise director was excellent and tried hard, however, the actual show content was kind of embarrassing at times. The talent tried hard but the actual productions were disjointed and do not compare to Norwegian. We also had the same comedian as the main entertainment two night - he was great - but two out of limited number of nights on board. The spa area has an area called 'the Enclave' and we were sold on the extra cost because it looked great. The problem is that it is need of a face lift and the number of passes sold is misrepresented (it varies by who you speak with!). I shared the feedback with the manager and she was engaged and grateful, however, nothing actually changed (there was still no hot water in locker room!). The dining hall service was very good, but the food was very much hit or miss. Read Less

We picked this cruise line because of what we had heard from others and that they are one of only two lines allowed into Glacier Bay which was a must see for us. The ship is beautiful, never felt crowded even with 3000 guests onboard. The staff is incredible and if you get a change to use the Spa you should splurge for it. The room was excellent and bigger than I thought it would be. The spa services are great! Great food and so many things to do you just don't have time to do them all :-( The Alaska scenery is unbelievable and the scale of everything is enormous. I would definitely do this cruise again so that I could partake in other excursions and shipboard activities that I did not have time to try. Definitely put this cruise on your bucket list. Everything was 1st class aboard ship. The only minus is the internet service. Very bad and not worth the price so don't bother buying the package. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we love the Royal Class ships and we knew who the maî·tre d'hô·tel was. On the Royal class ships the Enclave as part of the Spa is just such an incredible place to unwind, and it's only on the Royal class ships. We selected Club Class Mini-Suites because we loved the extra experience in club-class dining and were not disappointed. We have sailed to Alaska a few times and Princess has always been wonderful from start to finish. Our only blemish on the cruise was an excursion in Skagway, Photography, which was more time in the van than taking pictures. However, it was followed up with the glass blowing experience at the Jewell Gardens which was wonderful. We also purchased the photography package which allowed us to keep all the pictures taken on the ship and they are provided on a thumb drive too. This creates an excellent set of reminder memory for the cruise, and because they were on a thumb drive they were shareable immoderately Read Less

Alaska is a beautiful place and getting there is more than half of the fun. The Royal Princess is a beautiful ship with many things to do, see or enjoy from early morning to late at night. Always book a balcony stateroom. We loved seeing the world go by without having to get dressed. Balconies are private but you can hear your neighbors clearly when you’re all on your balconies. We enjoyed sleeping with the balcony door ajar or wide open. The Royal had “smart casual” and “formal” nights. Most women were in dressy slacks and something sparkly on formal nights in Anytime Dining and men wore dark slacks with nice long sleeved button up shirts. In Traditional Dining, it was tuxedos and ball gowns. Smart casual meant no jeans or shorts so khakis/ dress slacks with nice shirts or blouses/sweaters were common for both men and women. It is a floating global community so be aware that there can be curious cultural behaviors that are new to many passengers. English was the primary language on our ship. Hygiene signs translated into Chinese, German and French would have been helpful so all passengers would wash their hands before every meal when entering the buffets or dining rooms. We did catch colds near the end of the cruise and noticed that staff had stopped supervising dining room hygiene on the third day. We seldom saw other passengers at the handwash stations after that third day. We walked around Ketchikan on our own. We visited Mendenhall Glacier National Park and Mt Roberts Tramway in Juneau. 90 minutes at Mendenhall is not enough time to walk to Nugget Falls for a closer glacier view and see the visitors’ center. Stay longer. The Tramway is amazing with a good restaurant at the top and fun hiking trails where we saw bears in the distance. In Skagway, we took a motorcoach to the Yukon Territory then rode the Skagway-Yukon Railroad back to Juneau from Fraser. Getting acquainted with the sled dogs in CarCrossing was a highlight. Skagway was a ghost town by 7:00 pm and that’s why the ship leaves by 8:00pm. From the ship, we took the Princess train from Wittier to Denali, stayed in Denali Princess Lodge then went by motorcoach to Fairbanks from which we flew home. The train was a wonderful day of travel but the highlight was the next day on a flightseeing tour which was 200 miles though the National Park including coming within 1/2 mile of Mt Denali/McKinley. Denali Lodge was tired, dark and dank. Food choices were limited at the resort. Traveling near the end of season means places are emptying their inventories so several menu items were not available in different restaurants near the Denali Lodge. Stay at the Princess Mt. McKinley Lodge instead of the Denali Lodge unless it gets renovated. Skip Fairbanks completely (tourist trap) and return to Anchorage for your flight. Read Less