First Cruise on Princess

My husband & I have cruised with Costa (Mediterranean & Baltic Seas), Thompson (Red Sea Egypt & Jordan), Carnival (Bahamas) & Royal Caribbean (Caribbean fm San Juan PR). Princess was highly recommended for Alaskan cruise. Boarding was pretty smooth. Pros:  Our balcony stateroom was larger than the balcony stateroom we had on Royal Caribbean.  Cabin Steward was spot on in cleaning, refreshing room.  We prepaid gratuities. Cruise highlight was day spent in Glacier Bay. Captain rotated the ship at north end so all passengers could get close-up view from their stateroom. Loved classical music played on ship TV channel between narration by Park Rangers.  Room service was excellent.  Buffet was usual but we ate in dining room each night and service, selection, presentation & portions were superb.  Way more than a small woman like myself could eat.  Desserts were outstanding.  Ship had nice tee shirts 2 for $20 (we bought 4) & costume rings 2 for $34.99 (bought 4). We took shore excursions at each port & enjoyed them very much.  Tour bus drivers were very knowledgeable and explained sights in a clear distinct voice. One complaint about tour in Skagway to Klondike (White) Pass.  Driver took us to Pass but did not stop & did not let us know he was not going to stop.  I was busy putting on my coat to get out of bus & missed getting a photo.  He instead came back to the Welcome to Alaska sign & stopped there.  All drivers were willing to take a photo of me & my husband together & we tipped them.  Musical entertainment in Crown Theater was good.  Loved Derrick the comedian.  His act was family friendly, PG & super funny.  Liked the Chef'’s demonstration & tour of massive kitchen. Cons: Cruise appeared to be too focused on shopping - onboard & in port.  Passengers receive coupon books with tickets for raffles but must go to each store to get them punched before entering.  We didn’t do it. We went to a presentation in theater that included a raffle but it was actually just a marketing presentation that lasted too long.  The ship has an employee who led this session.  His job is to push sales of jewelry & other items. Passengers received coupons for free bracelet & a free charm in each port to get passengers into jewelry stores.  Free jewelry is very low quality - not worth the effort.  Mass confusion first morning passengers disembarked for tours. Maybe because our cruise was only 2nd of season.  Didn’t always know which deck to disembark from but always found it even though it was different from day before.  Overall, it was a great cruise & I would recommend Princess to others.