We are just off the Island Princess to Alaska and found her to be gracious, but with a few kinks... Our group of seven included two 70'somethings, four 50'somethings, and our 23 year old daughter. My DH and I are one of the 50'somethings and this cruise was a birthday celebration for us both. We have sailed 15 times previously and this cruise was our 4th with Princess. Embarkation couldn't have been easier from the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver as we strolled out of our beautiful hotel room, headed down the elevator to check in, and walked onto the ship. This was the easiest embarkation we have ever had! On first appearance, the Island Princess is lovely and in very good condition. We saw very few instances of wear and tear in the public areas throughout the ship. The staff was warm and welcoming and our cabin steward was pleasant and extremely helpful. The seas were gently rolling out of Vancouver and into the Inside Passage the first day, but after that we felt very little movement aboard this ship. Glacier Bay was terrific and the commentary was perfect. We took on a couple of park service rangers who were wonderful and all week enjoyed the onboard naturalist and his commentary. Pick up the accompanying book if you can as it has many details about Alaska and the area you are cruising. Food was an interesting mix of hits and misses. We found many tasty treats at the buffet and also in the main dining room. However... many of the desserts were dry and uninspiring. All of our meals at dinner were taken in the Main Dining Room and we felt our waiter to be very efficient, yet without a great deal of exuberance. Unfortunately, the ship was in the College Fjords during the Baked Alaska parade of the last evening and though passengers all around us were enjoying Baked Alaska, we were told we could not have any unless we stayed for the parade. We felt there may have been a small language issue there but can't be sure. There were two different lunch buffets on the last two sea days. One was the "Taste of Alaska" with several varieties of salmon and delicious sushi and shrimp. The other buffet was a "Chili-Chowder" buffet with good food and wonderful desserts. You have to head to the very back of the buffet area to find the good stuff! We also enjoyed the free Pub Lunch held two separate days in one of the alternative restaurants, The Bayou Cafe. Yum! Of course with all this eating we had to work out and we truly enjoyed the stretch class and the abs classes every morning. We also spent an hour each day walking the promenade. It's a great one that goes all the way around the ship - very nice. We spent our evenings in Crooners with an extremely delightful group of servers and felt their service to be exemplary. The piano music was provided by Tom Franek and was highly entertaining. The casino has gone to a completely $$$-free system and you use only your cruise card. Some may enjoy this ... others may not. Bingo is a "back-to-basics" style and I very much appreciated the ease of playing with either a Bingo Bopper or pencil rather than other lines computer-style sets. Didn't win any money here but had a very fun time. The evening entertainment in the Princess Theatre consists of "Piano Man" and "Motor City" singing and dancing shows, along with two comedians. We felt that passengers onboard this sailing were a bit sedate as the public areas were not crowded at all and several of the servers commented that people "just weren't buying anything" this week. That could be the luck of the draw, or possibly an early sailing and some people just not ready for their summer getaway. Oddly enough, with all the running around we did we never saw the Cruise Director or the Captain in any of the public areas or at any of the events. Interesting.... We would definitely cruise Princess again but have a RCCL cruise planned in one month and are looking forward to making some comparisons.  Happy Cruising Everybody!!