Cruise Virgin. Main Purpose for this was a pre-cruise to a Hawaii cruise on NCL in June 2016. Secondary purpose was the brief opportunity to see cousins in LA and SF. Third purpose was to scout Victoria and Vancouver. This trip was a fly-cruise-train trip.

We are PNW people so the ability to see other west coast cities via a different route is different. We used Spirit Air from PDX to LAX-inexpensive and resvn made just 9 days before departure. Spirit Air is OK since the flight is only 2.5hrs and we had just one carry-on plus personal. We had a nice time visiting cousins, although all too brief. We did not use any excursions. We did do walk around in Victoria and Vancouver plus a HopOn-HopOff purchased off ship. From VAC we Amtrak Cascade train #508 to SEA where we stay with son on his birthday. The 508 hugged Puget Sound's coastline and we got some nice views and is much better for comfort than either BoltBus or Amtrak bus service from VAC to SEA. The next day we took the #507 from SEA to PDX. We left PDX in the drizzle and arrived home in 80deg.

Cruise: NCL Pearl. Repositioning from Miami via Panama Canal. About 500 passengers had started in Miami or Caribbean and continuing on to VAC or Alaska. A number were VAC residents. The ship holds 2300 but was 1300 passengers. The crew members were pleasant and had the time to converse. The crew that we spoke to, had extensive hotel/cruise experience and apparently moved to NCL/cruise service as a way to move up the career ladder. All genuinely liked NCL but this is of course subjective. Read more