This was a first cruise for me (the 3 day Disney Big Red Boat to the Bahamas with the kids 20 years ago hardly counts!) and third one for my wife. She and several friends completed the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk in Seattle the weekend before the cruise, which the hubbies deemed a suitable reward for them after the 60 miler. None of the others had been on a cruise before.

We flew up to Vancouver the day before embarkation to spend time at Stanley Park walking and visiting the wonderful Aquarium. We stayed at the Blue Horizon Hotel in Vancouver which was well situated on Robson Street and close to the Park and the cruise ship terminal at Canada Place. The hotel had a very nice small restaurant and very large rooms, essentially suites, for reasonable rates. We got around town with taxi and trolley just fine. Vancouver is very busy getting ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics with lots of construction going on.

We booked Carnival Spirit as it was on a midweek departure cycle that fit best with our schedule for the Seattle walk. While it's quite long and fits 2600 passengers, we never felt crowded and only one of our party was occasionally lost. The public areas are spacious if glitzy and had a "Vegas on the Water" feeling, but hey it is a Fun Ship! We used a local travel agent to book the small group and were very happy with her efforts to group our rooms and have us sitting together at dinner. Read more