I love Priceline! I received the Galvez Hotel for $75 three weeks before the cruise. Nice rooms, partially obstructed view, decent breakfast buffet. We were traveling with my sister and her new husband. They were on their honeymoon.

The hotel shuttle left the Galvez at 12:00 and we were at the pier in 10 minutes. There were plenty of people ahead of us. As we had a cat 12 cabin we were able to use Skipper's Club and they let our traveling companions register right along with us. This was wonderful. No lines! A minor problem was that when we skipped the long lines we skipped our boarding picture. But we made up for it. Went right to our cabins, just across from one another. Dropped off our carry-on and headed to the Lido Deck for a great lunch at Tiffany's. We explored the ship and managed to secure a table for four when we went to the dining room to check on our table assignment. Actually, it was a booth for six with only us assigned to it. Sail-away was fun and the muster drill was the best I ever experienced. No crowding out on a hot deck. It all took place inside the showroom.

Our cabin was very nice, a luggage mat on the bed helped protect the new bedding everyone is talking about. The bed was too hard for us, so the second night our wonderful cabin stewards Stefka and Oksana put another duvet under the sheets and it softened the bed a bit. The entertainment center consisted of a TV in the top portion, a nicely stocked, mirrored shelf of various bar glasses in the middle section and a small refrigerator in the bottom section. The air conditioner controls were located on the ceiling and we were able to set it them to cool the room the way we liked. The balcony had room for four plus a small plastic table. We used the balcony a lot: Coffee in the mornings, drinks and snacks in the afternoons, watching sunrises and sunsets. So much fun. We were never bothered by noise from our neighbors or noise from the hallways. Read more