We sailed on the Vision of the Seas Nov 9, 2008 - Nov 16, 2008 out of San Pedro (Los Angeles Harbor), CA. We live in NJ and this was our 13th cruise. This was a last minute cruise for us and this was the first time that we had not chosen a cruise because of the ship and itinerary. We planned to visit the grandchildren in Seattle. The weather in Seattle is not conducive for a vacation in November, so when I saw this cruise at a reasonable price I booked it. As it turned out this was not our favorite ship and certainly not our favorite itinerary.

We flew down from Seattle the night before arriving at 10:30 and stayed at a Marriott Springhill Suites hotel that was in Manhattan Beach. It was too far for free hotel pickup and the taxi ride was $20 with tip. The hotel had free breakfast and since we were too far from the airport to go back for the shuttle, we had the hotel call us a taxi to the ship. The fare + tip cost $50. For the convenience of taking taxis and not having to hassle with shuttles, throw in the free breakfast and the fact that we got a good leisure rate on the hotel this was an adequate choice. There was nothing to do in the area of the hotel, and I would not have chosen this hotel for an earlier arrival.

The next morning we arrived at the cruise terminal at 11:30 and the porter took us to get luggage tags. (I really would prefer preprinted luggage tags, even if they emailed the rest of the documents). We had no lines, and the entire check-in process with security and pictures might have taken half an hour. Since we were on deck 8 we had check in with the suites. But I didn't see anyone with lines. The cabins were not ready yet so we wandered around the ship and had some lunch. Read more