We left on our great Alaskan Adventure on May 14th. Flying in from Los Angeles and one of us driving up from Portland, Oregon. Stayed at the Embassy Suite, which worked out great - they allowed my friend to leave her car at the Hotel for the term of the cruise. This was included in the price of the room. Woot, saved some money.
Boarding was a breeze, we were on within 10 minutes and having a bite to eat on the Lido Deck. My husband and I are experienced cruisers but one of my girlfriends had never been on a cruise and neither one had been to Alaska. So we had two Alaskan Virgins with us.
The ship was smaller, but we loved every minute of our cruise experience. The staff was wonderful, food was great (if you can't find anything good to eat you really have a problem). The cabins we had were bigger then on other ships. We had Ocean-view on the 1st Deck - plenty of storage for the two of us, and my two friends had no complained either.