This was our seventh cruise on HAL. We are a couple in our late 60's, and we always have a great time, but this time there were a few "not so great moments".
We began our vacation by driving from Green Valley AZ to San Diego two days before our cruise. We stayed at the San Diego Hilton Airport/Harbor Island, where we also left our car. This Hilton has a park and cruise package, and Hilton is always our hotel of choice.
The hotel shuttle took us to the terminal just before 11:30 am. Check-in and security were fairly painless. We each had a bottle of wine in our carry-on's and declared them to the gentleman sitting at a desk before we boarded.