Our group of 3 families (11 persons total) cruised from Seattle to Juneau, Skagway, Tracy Arm Fjord (cruising), Ketchikan, and Victoria departing on June 30 and returning on July 7.

Embarkation at Pier 91 in Seattle was relatively painless given our Princess Platinum status. Despite cautions about staggered boarding times, no direction was ever given on this. We arrived at the pier at 11:30 and were aboard the ship as soon as it opened at noon. We went to our cabin, D523, a mini-suite on the Dolphin Deck.

This was our 11th Princess cruise, so the general layout and accommodations on Princess ships is very familiar to us. Perhaps too familiar -- we found little need to "explore" the ship this time. Golden Princess is now 11 years old and, frankly, it's starting to show its age in many respects. We found significant rusting around our balcony area, tile in the bathroom had been cracked and (poorly) patched. The mattresses on the beds sagged, the pillows had no stuffing, and the sofa bed had only a very thin mattress...but it didn't sag because it had no springs and rested on wooden slats. Talk about firm. Carpets in some of the common areas appeared to have been replaced fairly recently, but the cabin decor is looking quite tired after all these years. The ship was in good condition but didn't seem to show the standard of maintenance we've seen on other Princess ships. Read more