I will try to condense the past week as much as I can. We sailed Star Princess to Alaska because when we booked (three mos ago) our agent told us Royal Carib. was about $300 more dollars and he could upgrade us on Star Princess. We weren't disappointed. We knew to have one room with balcony and the other was an interior room for my twenty yr old daughter and my great friend (for past 30 years or so)--they shared that room for the week. We were right across the hall from each other on the Baja deck so it was easy enough for them to come across to our room to see the view.

We did not pay attention to the staggered boarding time of 12:30 given to us. We left our hotel (Courtyard Marriott in Seattle) at 11:00, arrived to Terminal 91, handed over our luggage (all of it--even carry ons), and were in the first line at 11:35. The next line we got into to get on the ship was at 12:00 (this is once we have been handed our Princess cards). We were in our room at 12:45.(Glad we left hotel when we did, since we were pretty much right on with our staggered time.) Went pretty quickly, although we were excited and that 45 minute line seemed to take all day! I was hoping to eat lunch in a dining room but we were directed to Horizons. We then toured the ship, toured the spa (didn't go back for any services and I noted that again, they put specials out at the week goes on so hold out for them). We had our Muster drill in the Vista Lounge and I liked that we didn't have to then walk from the lounge to the actual boat we would get into like I have had to do in the past. We stayed in the lounge, practiced putting on our life vests, took those crazy pictures of ourselves and we were done. We watched Mt Rainier from the balcony (yes, it did come out for us that sunny day!) and sailed off at four pm. We played cards, had dinner (anytime dining for us and NO formal nights for us--by the way, some dressed really formal and others in dress pants or simple skirts and Sunday dresses). Plan on dinner in the dining room taking about ninety minutes. We ate with four others and shared stories of the day. We went to hear Alan, the Naturalist, speak in the Princess lounge (could have skipped this) and picked up popcorn from outside by the movie screen.

The next day was day at sea. I listened to Jimmy talk about shopping (my group played trivia and we did that anytime it was an available time--fun game and we realized we know a little more than we think or sometimes very little but we also met people this way and shared more stories). I realized every port would have the same shops, he wasn't giving away all the prizes that were on the table (they were just items you could by in stores), and overall, I was let down by this presentation (watch it on tv instead). Read more