this was our first cruise with NCL and I was very impressed, so was The group that travelled with us. We arrived in Seattle on Saturday May 26th and stayed at a wonderful hotel, The Silver Cloud Hotel it was across the street from the baseball and football fields. We were only 5-6 minutes from the pier so this was a good location.

On Embarkation day we got up early as usual because we were travelling with a one-year old. I got breakfast for him and my wife and I just a little because we were going to eat when we got on board. We checked out the hotel at 12noon and I reserved a hotel shuttle to bring us to the pier for 12:30. When we arrive at about 12:45 there were a lot of people there and it was unexpected since we thought we were going to beat the crowd. But, the check-in process went very well and it was quicker than I thought. Since there was a group of us we all waited and boarded at the same time. the anticipation was very high for me because I had been reading reviews and getting information about the ship for about 3-4 months. When we boarded we were able to go straight to our room which was a balcony room. The room was very nice albeit a little small but it was enough for us. We met our room steward (Frank) when we arrived and he and his partner (can't remember his name) were very nice and courteous. We dropped our carry on bags in the room and proceeded to deck 12 and the Garden Cafe. There were a lot of people there at this time, but that is to be expected. The food was very good and I ate there pretty much every day. There was no need to go to any of the pay restaurants for me because the garden cafe always had something I wanted, and I am a picky eater.

After eating we went to our room and grabbed our life vest for the muster drill in the restaurant on deck 7 (one of the main dining rooms). After the drill we went back to our room and just chilled until shortly after departing. Read more