We primarily chose Princess because of the ease of sailing with them and the knowledge that we would at least have decent food. Last year we sailed on a competitor's line and my bed was hard and the food was not good. We came back to Princess knowing it might not be one of those huge ships with all the activities but maybe we didn't need all that. It turns out good food and a comfortable bed made me very happy.
The Star is not a new ship by any means but the crew on her is just amazing. We just had such a nice time. I can't express how well they took care of us this time. It was above and beyond.
We splurged and got a mini-suite and it was such a treat!!! I would highly recommend it if you have the opportunity. It was very, very comfortable.
This was a great central location with our kids right below us on deck 8. The bed was very comfortable. This was our first mini-suite and it definitely has now spoiled us. Our teen slept on the sleeper couch. It was not very comfortable. I would not recommend it for paying adults. The bathroom has a tub which worked out great for my granddaughter to use. The balcony was spacious and we spent a lot of time out there looking at whales. It was awesome!!!!
We rented a car and drove out to Mendenhall Glacier. It's an easy drive. We hiked out to the waterfall in the rain. It was beautiful.
We had not been up the Space Needle since 2002. It was really cool!!!!
We got off the ship and visited the gift shop in port. We were only in the city for a short amount of time.