Embarkation: The weather was BEAUTIFUL on the Saturday we left. It was already in the 70s and totally clear in the morning. (The unfortunate fact was that the great weather in Seattle pushed all the rotten weather up north to Alaska. Oh well!)

We were scheduled to depart Seattle at 4:00 pm, but wanted to start our vacation as early as possible. So, we got to the cruise terminal at 11:00 am - things were already in full swing! There were a lot of people milling about, but not a huge crowd. As soon as we stepped out of the cab an NCL person showed up to tell us exactly where to go. The whole check-in process (of our bags and ourselves) took about 30 minutes. Everything moved really fast. Once we checked in we found a seat and waited for our boarding call. They start feeding you immediately, btw. Cookies, cake, juice and coffee were available to us while waiting.

We waited another 30 minutes, or so, until they called our boarding number. We were number 6. Read more