This was my third Alaska cruise but my first cruise with Royal Caribbean. My daughter was with me this time as she was on the other two cruises. She is a travel agent so I have the luxury of having very few snags and hitches when I travel. Our first night in Vancouver was spent at the Sheraton Wall Center. A nice hotel but nothing spectacular. We did find a neat restaurant that evening about 6 blocks away called the Kettle of Fish. The meal was very good and the atmosphere inviting. This time we chose to take a short pre-cruise trip to Whistler, BC which began on Thursday morning with a train ride from Vancouver to Whistler. There were spectacular views and a nice meal. I am so glad we did. It was a wonderful place, very beautiful and all of the people there were so friendly. Whistler is a very walk friendly place and boy did we walk. We ate at several restaurants and tried types of food that we had no previous experience with and were pleased with all but the fondue. I think it was just not what we were expecting. On Saturday morning we boarded a bus for the ride back to Vancouver to board the ship. It was raining for most of the ride but this was the only rain that I remember during the whole vacation. Boarding the ship was easy and Ballantyne Pier was a pleasant surprise. I love Art Deco buildings and this was a perfect example. The cruise was wonderful and the ship was great. I was impressed with the attention to cleanliness and the professionalism of the staff in encouraging all cruisers to use the hand sanitizer without fail. (Did I mention that I am a nurse and fanatical about infection control?) While on the ship we ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch and the dining room for dinner. We did the Mystery Dinner Theater at Portofino's one night. It was a blast. The breakfast and lunch buffets were good but a little predictable. My daughter and I opted to sign up for a week pass to the Thermal Suite. What a bargain! Those heated stone couches are to die for after a day of whale watching or rafting. And as one other reviewer mentioned the pool at the spa was never crowded. The hot tubs were always available too. For shore excursions, we chose rafting in Juneau, whale watching in Icy Strait Point and Glass Blowing in Skagway. All were wonderful. The rafting was not what I would have chosen left to my own devices as I am not a youngster anymore but I am glad we did it. It was really fun! The crew was informative and very understanding of those of us not as agile as we used to be. The whale watching was great too and we saw lots of whales. We also enjoyed the rest of the day at Hoonah, had a great lunch and bought lots of souvenirs. But I think the highlight of the excursions for me was the glass blowing at Skagway. It is something I have always been in awe of and enjoyed watching. Now I have done it myself and have a beautiful ornament to prove it. They shipped it to me. My daughter has one too. We chose to use the Luggage Valet program that RCL has instituted and it worked very well. We didn't see our check bags again until we got off the plane at BWI. Very smooth process. All in all this was one of the best vacations I have had.