First Cruise, it was good and an experience, but

We signed up directly with Princess for the Alaskan trip and found it easy and the Portal and email communications . . . on point.  When we got on the Princess Emerald the room was great (mini-suite) and had lots of room for all three person's belongings.  I thought this might be a problem when reviewing other's who had written reviews but not on the Emerald Princess.

Things we Loved and Liked:

1}The Room and the Steward who took care of us during the trip.  I read on many reviews that they never saw their Steward except when they got on the boat . . . not the case for us .. she really took great care in making our trip enjoyable.

2)Some of the excursions were amazing; Deadliest Catch for Crabs, Dog Shedding, and Best in Juneau.  We took the train, went to totem pole village and saw the glacier and they were informational and good, but not like the other three experiences.  Note: the excursions are in order from excellent to good.

3} Activities, shows, entertainment, etc. were well worth going too.  We did go to two outdoor movies under the stars that were excellent too.

4) Regular Coffee was really good . . . we had bought Specialty Coffee/Tea Cards but really did not use them due to the regular coffee being so good.

5) Desserts during most of the meals and at the International Café we also well done.

Things we did not care for as much.

1) Specialty Dining was not even close to what we were expecting, the level of service was the same or worse than the normal restaurants you already paid for.  We ate at the Crown Grill which was an additional $29 per person and the service was terrible, the meal was good but actually got a better similar meal at the Di Vinci.

We also ate at SHARE, again service was not close tot he level on would expect, but the food was much better . . . but I question the additional $39 per person experience.

2) Too much effort by Princess to up sell you on everything.  This started prior to the trip in email . . .. but we were surprised at the level of the up sell push on the boat itself.

3) Drinks . . . any kind of drinks is a big thing on the boat.  If you are not a big alcohol drinker, you get a glass of water and very few times will be asked if you want ice tea, lemon aid, etc. . . . in most cases you will have to ask for refills for paying attention to you as a customer is not apart of the Princess dining procedures.  Making sure that your napkin is on your lap and that you have new silverware for each course and that your plates are picked up quickly (done eating or not) seems to be the priority in their training program.  There are exceptions, we did find two waiters that were interested in the parties eating at their tables and took care of them as customers versus just following a procedure.

The question is will we go on another Princess cruise again?  The answer for us is NO for the following reasons; we have now experienced a cruise, for the cost versus the rewards was not as high as we expected nor experienced, and the meals were OK, to Good which is a big part of a cruise experience.  We are very experienced travelers and do so in and out of the country at least 4 to 5 times a year and will continue to travel in the years to come without taking a normal cruise again.