This was our second cruise, both with Royal Caribbean. Last year we sailed Alaska's inside passage on the Vision of the Seas. This year we stepped it up a bit, in ship size, stateroom size and tour length. We flew into Vancouver a day early so we wouldn't run into the same flight delay problems as last year. That will be our standard from this cruise on. We stayed at the Metropolitan Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Very nice hotel, on the chic side. The next day we casually made our way to the dock. Boarding was a breeze with our Set Sail pass filled out in advance. This year we actually got to walk around the ship before we left the dock.
I was able to get a good deal on a GS and we were amazed at the amount of storage space, the size of the bathroom, and the balcony space. We were eventually greeted by our stateroom attendant (Dexter) who took good care of us. With the GS we also received access to the Concierge Club. Hats off to Willie who also took real good care of us.
Our waiter (Ketutu "Darmah") and assistant waiter (Enrico) were great. We sat at a table of eight and had a good time getting to know each other. We were usually the last to leave the dining room because we kept talking.