Background: Mom / Daughter travel team. I, the DD, wanted to show my mom Alaska, before she gets too old to endure the trying travels of an Alaskan 9 day land package and 7 day cruise. Alaska is not an easy vacation...if you do the shore excursions! Worth the effort but far from just kicking back in the Caribbean!
We were booked in the Grand Suite, September 1, 2012, just for reference purposes.
Weather was basically horrible (rain, fog, wind) the entire 7 days. The very last day, debark day, was nice! Glacier Bay was socked in with fog...total disappointment. Visibility was about 3 feet, at best, most of the day. Boo hoo!
Grand Suite:
Location is at the very aft of this long ship. Nothing is convenient to it, so be prepared to walk, A LOT!
Shower has a foul, mildew odor that could not be corrected during our stay.
There is absolutely no side view from the balcony. Horrible design flaw. Also, very little protection from rain since the overhead cover is basically zero. No privacy from cabins above.
Sofabed was very comfortable. Room steward was happy to make the bed back into the sofa each day.
Too much storage! Be careful where you put things as it is easy to lose them in all of the cabinets!
Room service will bring you basically anything you want when staying in a full suite.
Sabatinis for breakfast is GREAT!