Wow. I am surprised to see that some reviewers did not like this short cruise. Clearly it is short, three nights onboard, so things do seem to go by quickly, but we liked it. We used this cruise to get closer to home after visiting family in Seattle. As you may know, a pesky 19th century law requires a non-US flagged ship that is not on a round trip, to originate or end in a foreign port, no US port to a different US port trips allowed. So we took a train to Vancouver, stayed one night and then boarded the ship. The first cruise we took that was not majority US citizens. In fact many guests were Chinese Canadian. Like taking a cruise in the Orient without having to travel so far! Great. Irregardless, the menu in the dining room was typical Princess fare, very good but US-continental. The buffet did offer Asian menu choices, so guess were a lot of guests ate their meals. That might account for the complaints about lines for dining. We went Club Class this time and found the main dining room experience excellent. In Club Class you can always get a private table without delay if you like. On a longer trip I might slip over to the main dining room for some table sharing which we often find fun.

The showroom entertainment was a bit low key. The dance and singing troop did a few short numbers both in the showroom and the Piazza. The two bands in the lounges were great so we spent the nights dancing to the music. All staff were very friendly and helpful.

As December can be, for the first two days and nights it was cloudy and cold with some rain. That limited the outdoor activities but it was an interesting experience to be out on deck around midnight with a cold rain and wind blowing with darkness all around. Fun for a few minutes then back inside which was no different then any other cruise. That made us appreciate our sailors guarding the North Atlantic in the winter. Read more