This is my second time on the Pacific Princess--a couple of years ago I caught it on the Amazon at Manaus for a 14 day cruise down the Amazon, Devil's Island and on to Ft. Lauderdale. I have been on a variety of cruise lines and am an elite member of the Captain's Circle on Princess. I love the small size of the Pacific - it holds only about 630 passangers if full but less if you count singles like me. It has an old world look and feel about it. If you are looking for a shopping mall this is definitely not the ship for you. They do not push the diamonds and the art...I have yet to figure out why most ships do except for the extreme profit on these items. Most of the passangers I have met over the years are not the type to buy diamonds or original art at home! Perhaps they become bored and will buy anything as a captive audience.

In any case my disappointment was not with the ship - I had a balcony cabin. Rather it was with the Inside Passage of Alaska. I have been in other areas of the State and they are beautiful. My departure point Vancouver was beautiful and so were the Canadian waters and views we had on the first and last days. However the rest of the trip has little to recommend it: the three stop were at tiny towns - Ketichan, Juneau, and Skaway and I took a tour at each. We saw the Tracey Arm Glacier, more specifically the Sawayer Glacier. I toured the Mendenhall Glacier. I took the narrrow gage train in Skaway. All were disappointments. For the Tracey Arm area we cruised from 6am until 9am, saw a glacier, and some small chuncks of ice floating in the water This area of Alaska is known for being in a temperate rainforest and it certainly lived up to its reputation. One town on the passage has 14 feet of rain a year and more than 280 rainy days. Strangely enough it was the only place we experienced a nice sunny day in mid-July. The State Capitol and Skaway were bleak, rainy and foggy. I realize that this is really a nature lovers cruise and many were interested in seeing whales, bears, and glaciers which most of us did. However at least as far as glaciers go Southern Chile and Norway are by far superior. I am quite happy with sea days and because of this the cruise was too short for me even given the negatives mentioned on land. It was the shortest cruise I have ever taken (7 days). It seemed like we just got on and it was time to disembark.

A staff member mentioned that the majority of passangers were first time cruisers (at least with Princess) and they may have enjoyed it greatly. However, I definitely would not recommend this route for anyone who has traveled very much. There are so many more interesting things and places to see in the world. The Captain mentioned at the cockail party that it was a challenge to find new routes now that so many have cruised so much. How true it is. The highlight for me was the ship itself and Juneau rounded off to 50 the State capitols that I have visited. I noticed that a good number were sailing to celebrate an anniversary or a graduation -- it seemed more so than on other cruises.