This cruise departed from Vancouver and my daughter had gone a day early so we could have a day to sight-see.  I had booked at the Fairmont Hotel by the waterfront so our luggage would be sent over to Canada Place and we would not have to deal with this and would not need a taxi.  The accommodations were very luxurious and we enjoyed our small say in Vancouver and enjoyed very much the Trolley Tour that we did and then walked around quite a bit.  May18 we began to embark around 1 p.m. and there were no lines and we just breezed through customs and got right on the ship with no problems.My first visit to Alaska was a cruise given to me by my oldest daughter through Princess lines.  We sailed on the Sapphire in 2006 and did the inside passage.  This ship was just beautiful and pure quality from stern to stern. We were catered to and felt like royalty. This time I decided I had to go back and would take my younger daughter.  I allowed a travel agent (who booked the first one) to do the honors.  I told her I wanted a cabin on a higher level and centrally located.  She suggested I book an Ocean view balcony stateroom and would more than likely be upgraded since it was a return cruise as we had been upgraded the first time also.  This cruise was supposed to be a "two for the price of one" but that is definitely misleading because it really isn't as the prices go to the standard prices not the sale ones.  However, figuring it to be a pretty good deal I decided to go ahead. The agent called three weeks before sailing and asked if there would be an upgrade and was told probably not-but-how much was I willing to pay for one?  So-I decided to just wait until we checked in.  I  noticed  the cabin we were assigned was at the far front of the ship and on E deck which was lower and not on a higher level.  ......maybe I would get lucky when we checked in. Alas-no such luck-we were stuck in E212. We decided to locate our cabin first before going up for the sailing .  On the way to our room we had to go through two hallways and the musty smell and at times, foul odor was quite strong.  Upon entering our cabin, the odor was very noticeable.  We were very uncomfortable with this.  Two of the drawers on the nightstand smelled so rank that we could not place any of our personal items in it.  I sprayed some room spray in it and it just made it worse, I Decided to go to the main desk area and ask if we could perhaps be changed-the young man was so rude and condescending and said he could not give us another cabinbut if he couldhow much was I willing to pay?  I asked him how much he wanted and he said again-well how much will you pay to be moved?  Needless to say-being on a retired teacher's income,since this cruise was all ready taking most of my budget there was no way I could pay more as we still had the excursions to pay for which was all done through Princess.  Sowe were stuck with the cabin.However, all the ports were just s I had remembered and we did as much as we could do in each one.We signed up for anytime dining and sometimes we would get with a group who would ignore us until I would say hello-and try to make conversation.  Most of the dining we did have some nice people at the table.  The first formal night we had made reservations and one of the personnel told us that my daughter's slacks were not "formal" attire and skirts and dresses were required.  My daughter was so embarrassed and I told the head waiter to cancel our reservation as my daughter was told she was NOT dressed formal enough.  He asked who said that to her and to please wait and he would take care of things.  But my daughter just wanted to go to the cabin.  So-he told us to come to the next formal night and see him and he would assure us we would have the best table -and when we did he seated us at a window table and were catered to royally.  This made my daughter feel better.The dining food was very nice and we also enjoyed the grill and pizza and spent a lot of time in the Horizon Court.  Food was not a problem.  However-it was announced by the captain that the NORO virus had been blamed on a buffet on one of the decks during the Glacier Bay cruise. This virus broke out so fast and all food practices were changing and we were told to use our cabin facilities and to wash our hands very thoroughly.  I had packed lots of "wipes" and liquid germicides and we carried them everywhereI must admit we were a little paranoid.  The ship was being sanitized all over.  Of course, tales were being spread but we simply took care of ourselves the best we could and we survived.The ship naturalists were wonderful (although they did push their books a little) and seemed very knowledgeable.The ship's speaker system for the decks did not work well during the Glacier Bay part of the cruise but we followed the map let quite well.  College Fjord was beautiful cruising also. We could not have hoped for any better weather than we had all through the trip-not very cold and sometimes actually warm for Alaska.My daughter and I didn't do any ship activities except for Bingo and the Princess Theater productions.  They are always first class and lots of fun. Getting off in Whittier was absolutely no problem at all and we used a private transfer to Anchorage where we were staying for 6 days.All in allthe trip was great except for the accommodations.  I will probably not book through Princess again.