We had an aft balcony on our Sapphire cruisetour (Kenai Explorer). It was a quiet room, even despite the fact it was located directly above Club Fusion.

Day one: We booked our cruise transfers directly through Princess according to our travel agent. However, once we arrived at the appropriate desk, we found that our names were not on the list and we had to go through Canadian customs, an extra 40-minute process. Throughout the airport, Princess Cruises personnel guided us through the twisting airport hallways and escalators to our bus transportation to the dock, which was nice and reassuring. At the bus, no one checked to see whether we had purchased our transfers or not. Is this included for all cruiselines?

When we boarded the ship, we found the stewards and the staff very courteous. No foam mattress topper was present even though I had faxed in my request one week prior. We also had to ask for robes, even though I had specified my preference already on the Cruise Personalizer online. And by the way, it's a memory foam mattress, about 1 1/2 inches thick, which is a higher quality than the egg crate kind. Read more