This was our 6th cruise, 3rd on Princess, but our first to Alaska. Since we are from the Northwest, we've never wanted to spend vacation money to go further north than we already live. However, we had a very enjoyable first Alaskan cruise. The Star Princess was very nice and the staff was excellent. Our cruise was R/T from Seattle so I will start there with the Pros & Cons as they happened.

So, right off the get go, the boarding was awkward in Seattle. Last year my hubby and I did HAL from the same Pier 91, and the boarding was very different...better than Princess. Princess had us go into a large room (same as HAL) but HAL allowed us to sit where we wanted and spread out, until our number or letter (can't remember which) was called. Princess had us go into sectioned off seating areas where you were sitting shoulder to shoulder with the other passengers without any wiggle room, so to speak. Awkward! Then, when our section was told we could board, we were told we would be moving outside(where it was not the warmest)and possibly would be standing in line up to 30 minutes and if you couldn't stand that long, you were asked to stay in the section until later (I didn't wait to find out how long). So we went outside and continued to wait in line as we weaved in and out of a Disneyland-type zig-zag line. HAL only loaded as many people as they could take a picture of and get onto the ship. Pre-boarding photos this trip were taken on the ships walking deck with the lovely "cargo" port as the backdrop. They did try and add a fake tree to spruce it up....fail! Didn't purchase that one...duh!!

Once inside the staff was lovely! We found out that we were the second to last trip to Alaska for this ship that season, and I was a bit concerned we would encounter a tired staff. Quite the opposite. On every cruise, we've always encountered one or two staff members not "on their game" or be a bit grumpy... Until this trip...NOT ONE PERSON/STAFF member we came across was grumpy or not perfectly happy on this entire trip!! Kudos to the staff of the Star Princess!! That's impressive!! Read more