Coral Princess Review
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This was our fourth cruise and our first since 2004, and our first on Princess (although two prior cruises were with its parent, Carnival).
TRANSFER TO SHIP
We opted for the transfer to the ship from downtown Anchorage, which was handled really well. We arrived at 10 AM for a noon transfer, and they were already open and checked us in and took our bags in no time flat. We could even leave our carry-on temporarily while we walked around Anchorage. The bus was clearly outsourced to a local company, as I suspect they all are. The bus was well-maintained and the driver was friendly and professional. The baggage handling was seamless, although it did not appear in our stateroom until quite late in the day, even though we boarded around 2:30 PM. Overall, I recommend the transfer, as Whittier itself is nothing to write home about, and the bus followed the train route exactly. The baggage handling made it so easy!
Cabin Review
Mini-Suite with Balcony
Our steward ("Virgilio") was AWESOME. Once the sofa-bed had been unfolded, my mid-20's daughter was (justifiably) horrified at the comfort level of the thin mattress, and he sprung into action and delivered a second mattress which strongly mitigated the problem (though she would have been much happier with a regular bed). Speaking of the bed....SUPER comfy! It was two twins joined to a King, but the joint was not noticeable, and the mattress was REALLY comfortable. Just GREAT.
The first (and most strongly) negative impression we had was the smell in the corridor leading to our room, and inside the stateroom itself. We had opted (thankfully) for a balcony "mini-suite" to accommodate my wife and I and our adult daughter, who was travelling with us. The smell remained present throughout all of the voyage, although it seemed to strengthen and weaken with no apparent pattern. The smell reminded me most strongly of a dead animal behind drywall in a building, though it had elements of mold and (in my daughter's opinion) garbage. In any case, we were very blessed to have a balcony door and no rain, so we could keep the sliding door to the balcony open day and night, which helped to dispel SOME of the odor.
This was on the Dolphin Deck, cabin D516.
We called guest services and they sent a total (over the first few days) of 5 people to 'investigate' the smell, and every one of them claimed they could smell NOTHING, which was clearly not true, because even if they were "nose-blind" to the stench, as we sometimes became, they had walked into the space from another part of the ship, and whenever we did that, we ALWAYS smelled the odor. They made it seem as though they thought we were making it up, when what was most clear was that they were LYING about the odor. And they kept emphasizing the corridor when referring to the smell, and never to the room itself.
The ship was completely sold out, so they clearly could offer us no other accommodations, and never offered, nor did we ask, because we had already inquired about a separate inside cabin for our daughter with the purser, only to be told about the sellout of the entire ship....not one cabin of any type available.
Two things strengthen my conclusion that they DID know about it:
1 - On day 5, upon our return from a shore excursion, the hallway had a large commercial dryer blowing air down the corridor outside of our room; it remained there for two days and the smell was somewhat reduced (though never entirely eliminated).
2 - On day 6, in the morning, the Guest Services manager called to offer us an upgraded dining experience at no charge, in recognition of our experience.
However, they never officially said anything about what they thought caused the problem. They clearly DID know and just wouldn't admit it. They seemed scared to do so, frankly.