The cruise was a celebration of my dad's 70th. This was the first cruise for my parents and brother and each of our first times to Alaska. I had cruised twice before with Carnival to the Caribbean.

We flew to Seattle on Saturday the 29th and took the quick shuttle bus to Vancouver. The bus was comfortable and overall okay but if we had to do it again, we would have rented a car or stayed over a night in Seattle and taken the train the next day. The bus makes a number of stops in Seattle and Vancouver and took over an hour to clear Canadian customs. It made for a very long traveling day.

Embarkation: Embarkation on the Island Princess was a breeze. We took a cab from our hotel and arrived at the port around 11:30 a.m. and got onboard in less than 15 minutes. Everyone at the port was friendly and helpful. Once we got onboard, we dropped off our carry-on bags and went off to explore the ship. My and bro's luggage showed up before we walked out the door. Parent's luggage came a bit later but well before dinner time. There were a lot of hard sells the first day after embarkation (soda card, coffee card, wine packages), but after we set sail, they eased up considerably. Read more