This was my second cruise -- the first was the identical itinerary on the Veendam 7 years ago. First time was with my husband; this time with a friend. I chose Princess over HAL for this trip because of the itinerary; I wanted a northbound trip and I most wanted to visit Glacier Bay, College Fjord and Hubbard Glacier. This was the only cruise that visited two out of those three.

I give the trip okay ratings with one serious, serious problem that I have not seen mentioned anywhere else. I had been telling my friend -- a first time cruiser -- about how wonderful the moment is when you sail away under the bridge in Vancouver. So we rushed up to the front of the ship (not enough time, really, because we began sailing before the safety drill was over) only to find great sheets of blue glass that obscured the entire view! A few people were trying to stick their cameras into the little space between the sheets of glass -- really sad. The most important thing to me on a cruise to Alaska is to SEE ALASKA. We did finally find two little spaces on decks 10 and 11 -- behind doors marked "emergency only" -- that gave an unobstructed view. But there was nowhere to get the wonderful views that we had on the Veendam where I could see such a wide area.

The second view-related problem was the dining room. I had been resolved not to keep comparing the Coral Princess with the Veendam but, my gosh, what a difference in the dining rooms! The Veendam's formal dining room was in the stern -- there were great curving windows with outer tables on the lower level and inside ones on the higher level so that everyone had a nearly 180 degree view of the water. The Princesses dining rooms were in the middle of the ship with low ceilings and as much wall space as window area. There were heavy curtains that covered some of the window space and sheers that covered it all. The dining room staff explained to me that when people think of "formal" dining they think of draperies. I was able to open the sheers most of the time but it gave a very limited view. This meant that on evenings when my dinner seating coincided with good viewing I had to either eat earlier in one of the other dining rooms or miss the view. Read more