Just a brief trip report.<br><br>Our first cruise, and we didn't know quite what to expect. The occasion was a surprise party for a close family friend, who was joined by her daughter (friend knew her daughter was taking her on a cruise for her birthday) and 8 other families (who she didn't know about in advance!). <br><br>Executive summary: We had a terrific time and highly recommend the trip on the Dawn Princess or any of her sister ships in the Princess Lines.<br><br>Strong points: <br><br>1. The geography is magnificent. Seeing glaciers up close and personal, as well as the side trips with jeeps, flightseeing, fishing and so on make for a very diverse experience.<br><br>2. The staff of the ship. We cannot recall being in a more service-oriented environment. Every staff member--and we mean every staff person we encountered--was eager to please and could not possibly have been more accomodating. For a sit-back-and-let-someone-else-do-it trip, this is unparalleled in our experience.<br><br>3. The ship itself. This is a true floating resort. It is impossible to become bored on a 7 day cruise such as this. We sampled perhaps 30% of the available activities. Our 16 year old daughter (whose initial response was "Cruise-Yuk-Old People Playing Shuffleboard") found that they had a marvelous teen program for the 30-or-so teens that were on board, and promptly disappeared into the no-adults-allowed (but supervised!) teen center for the majority of the trip and activities.<br><br>Weak Points:<br><br>1. "Stop me before I eat again!" Food is provided nonstop on these cruises. Self-control is a must. The quality of the food was generally excellent, and on occasion, outstanding. Part of the perceived quality was the service and presentation. Absent the service and presentation, the food was good-to-excellent. <br><br>2. The side trips (all operated by independent operators) were of varying quality. I really liked the flightseeing in Juneau and the "Yukon Jeep Adventure" from Skagway up to Carcross. The horse trip to the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau was a yawner, according to my wife and daughter. <br><br>3. Post-trip Seward-to-Anchorage. The end of any vacation is always a bit of a "downer". However, there was little planned or offered in Anchorage post-trip. We arrived in Anchorage 11 am and had a midnight flight out. Technically, this domain is not the responsibility of the cruise operator. However, this is an area for plannning either by individuals or by the cruise operator.<br><br>The weak points are so minor compared to the strong points that we wholeheartedly recommend the trip to others.<br><br>
