Background - Three Sorority sisters from College and one Husband along for the ride. We are in our mid 50s and all of use have cruised before. I am from GA, one sister from the FL Keys, and the sister and husband from CA. We have all cruised before, myself and my roommate over 12 times each.My roommate and I met up at the airport in Seattle on the day before the cruise as we were coming from different states. We met up with the other couple on the ship. We stayed at the the Seattle Ramada Suites as we wanted just to sleep and get back to the airport the next day for Quick Shuttle over to Vancouver. The Ramada was clean but shabby but for the money and the time we were staying, that was all that we needed. It has a very drab looking Asian place in the lobby but I had read many reviews that said that the food was wonderful and they were right on. I had a Thai dish and my friend a Chinese dish and both were excellent. The next morning we got the shuttle back to the airport. We took Quick Shuttle to Vancouver. The driver said about 4 hours and he was right. It was during the Swine Flu scare so customs was being very slow. They did not even let us come in to clear at the border for over 30 minutes as they were "in a meeting". But the bus was decent and I would use Quick Shuttle again as Customs is not their fault.The only bad thing and believe me it was a nightmare on this whole trip was embarkation. There were 3 cruise ships at Canada Place, us, an NCL ship, and a HAL ship. All 5500+ passengers were in ONE long line to go though the scanners. The line was out of the parking deck, up the street in front of the hotel, and down two blocks. It took us 2 1/2 hours just to get past the scanners then RCCL had issues and it took another 30 minutes to get on the ship even being in a suite and platinum level. But once on the ship, the bad things were behind us, other than very tired and throbbing feet. Let me state up front that we had sunshine the whole cruise except for the morning in Ketchikan. Remarkable and you are able to see Alaska at it's best with sunshine. Everyone in the ports told us about how rare this weather was but I was taking it with a smile on my face. That in itself made this cruise about the best that I have been on. The other couple and us had each booked a Grand Suite on either side of the ship so be able to see things from both sides. We really enjoyed this suite. I have been in all levels of suite on RCCL and other than the Royal, this is my favorite, especially for the money. It is square and the bath is on one side as you enter with the beds and vanity on the other side. The opposite side has the closets out to the hallway, a bar with drawers and a fridge under it, then there is a large L shaped sofa that would open out to a bed. There are also two chairs that can be moved around to sit right in front of the windows to watch the world go by. The bath has a deep tub good for soaking sore muscles and a nice shower head that lifts off. There are two sinks so each of us had one to ourselves. There are shelves behind the mirrors in the bath and behind the mirror at the vanity desk/table. On either side of the vanity were drawers and shelves. There was a double closet and a single closet with drawers in the bottom. More than enough storage space is tucked away in the cabin. We had a Chinese steward who was well educated and we had many great converstions about our respecitve homelands as we were in the room most mornings as he cleaned. The room was spotless at night when we would return and there were towel animals all but the first night. We went to find our table after we first got on the ship and even though there were 4 of us, we had requested a table of 8 - 10 to meet others. Well it was just inside the door so we would have been bumped and prodded the whole time. We were to be at early seating. They asked us if we would like My Time Dining as it was the first time that they were offering it on this ship. I only did this as I was able to sign up the first night for the large table of 10 every night AND get it at the same time of 6:30 every night. We ended up having a lot of people repeat at that table with us so it was fun and we did get to know the others. I was pleased to have Ginny and Chris that I had been chatting with on our M&M thread before the cruise several nights. The food was better than the last time that I was on RCCL. It is still not goumet but it was very good and served at the appropriate temperature. We had to sign up for the prepaid gratuities to participate in this but as I do that anyway, it was not a big deal to me. I only had one dealing with the front desk and it was nice. The young lady was from Liverpool so we talked Beatles while she was looking up what I had requested. I did not try to go when it was very busy. We went to one show and that was OK. I am not a big show person but it was doing songs from Barry Mannilow, Elton John, and Billy Joel so right up my alley. I liked the reserved seating for the suite guests so that we could just walk up and get great seats up until about 10 minutes before showtime. I played some in the casino and love that it is now smoke free but upping the lower limits from $5 to $6 at the BlackJack tables just set wrong with me. So therefore I did not play much. I know it is only a dollar but you cannot just bet a single chip so had all of these ones added to your stacks. Obviously I am not a big player as the odds are not in your favor on a cruise ship, even BlackJack which could be better with some things like surrenders and holding on a soft 17. Juneau - Went out with Captain Larry of Orca Enterprises and had a great time. There were only 16 of us besides the crew on the boat, which was nice too. Saw 5 humpbacks and even a mother and her calf. Got some great pictures. He kept us out longer than expected which was nice. The trip back by Mendenhall Glacier was nice too. Actually got to see a bear there.Skagway - Took Chilkoot Tours for the train ride up to Fraser and then the bus up into the Yukon. Remarkable scenery that is different than on the coast. We had a wonderful guide and there were only 5 of us so he really was able to give us some great background and history and answer questions. He stopped a lot for photos too. I would highly recommend this. It is 7 - 8 hours but well worth it. Tracy Arm Fjiord - All I can say is that it was the most beautiful area I have even been in. I had been to Glacier Bay twice so was not looking foward to this but it was wonderful. I am sure that pure sunshine helped but where both time to Glacier Bay there was a lot of mist, fog, and rain, this was just grander in the fact that it is closer to you and has steeper walls. Wow is all that I can say.Ketchikan - I just walked around after the morning of rain moved on and that was about it.I am not into totem poles or lumberjack shows. The last day at sea was the only day that the seas were over 6 inches high and you did read that right, 6 INCHES. It was about 3 - 5 feet that last day as we were out of the inside passage but that was nice and really made you feel like you were on a ship. We had felt nothing in movement before that. Embarkation was very nicely done. We were able to wait in the upstairs dining room as we were in a suite and then just walked off when we were called. Customs had done their thing in the fiasco getting through Canada Place so we just hande our form to the agent and kept on walking. We stayed at the Marriott Waterfront that night. We got to the hotel at 9;30 am and they gave us a room. Sweet. The bellhop set us up with a Town car for the ride to the airport the next day and it was only $2 more than a cab and much, much nicer and cleaner. We walked up to Pikes Market and did the tourist thing that day and visited the Seattle Aquarium that afternoon. After the Georgia Aqurium that I have visited 8 times, I would describet this one as "quaint". We had dinner at the Crab Pot that evening and had wonderful crab legs. All of these things were within walking distance of the Marriott. As I said at the first, the third time was the charm. It took me 8 years to go back to Alaska but I will not stay away that long next time. AND I will be going back in May as there were very few children and the weather was glorious.