WestCoastCruise

This was our second cruise this year on Princess and we were not disappointed with a great cruise. The service was top notch, particularly the entertainment staff was very good. It was a ten day cruise, the first three days on sea from SF. There was many activities to choose from and we were never without something to do on board. We knew what to expect with our room (obstructed ocean view) which was well serviced many times a day with our steward, Herman. The food was always available, however it was not a highlight of the vacation. We started out with anytime dining and changed due to only two restaurants available for dining in the evening, making wait time very long for seating. We requested to change to traditional dining in order to get a reasonable time each night to eat dinner. By day four we ate dinner at 5:30pm and this worked out better. The meals had many choices but nothing outstanding. Lobster was served only once, as was Baked Alaska. Again, the entertainment was great and kept us busy every day. Our shore excursions interesting. Juneau, our helicopter tour was canceled due to weather, so we scrambled to get a bus tour to Mendenhall Glacier. In Skagway, we took the White Pass train ride. In Ketchikan we took the Duck Tour and show the Lumberjack Show (recommend). Our luded the Tracy Arm tour and that was excellent. We didn't know how far up the fjord our big cruise ship could go and it went within a half mile from the glacier. It was very exciting that day. We were in awe of the sites going up that fjord. In Victoria, since we only had a half day, we took the bus ride to Butchart Gardens. This was our second visit to Butchart Gardens and we were just as impressed as the first time (over 30 years ago). We arrived at every port on schedule and left each without incident. Overall, we really enjoyed our cruise to Alaska and would recommend it without hesitation.