My husband and I embarked on our 7th cruise, second with Holland America. Got a great deal, via an email offer and liked the itinerary, so said, let's do it!! 12 days from Vancouver Canada down to the Mexican Riviera.

Our cruise was to sail on a Monday from Canada Place so since we are from the east coast we decided to make the cross country trip worth it and arrived on Saturday for 2 days in Vancouver prior to sailing. Stayed at the Pan Pacific right where the ships dock.Loved Vancouver and the hotel. On Monday, the day of our departure, the bellman took our bags directly to the ship so we had a few extra hours to explore the city.

Embarkation went smoothly. We arrived at about 1 PM, were quickly processed and on the ship within a half an hour. We tried to get to our room, but our section of the ship was not ready, Navigation Deck, Floor 8, Aft. So, we went to the Lido buffet (we had an invitation to join the "Captain" in the Vista dining room for lunch since we were a returning Mariner, but never opened the invitation until later that evening). Chaos!! in the buffet. HAL has a program to not let passengers touch anything in the buffet line until after 48 hours to avoid spread of any virus, so everyone had to wait for everything including a glass of water. We gave up and went to the bar at the back of the ship. After a cocktail and the mandatory life saving drill, we were able to get into our rooms, had a bit more of a wait for our luggage. When they arrived, we unpacked and got ready for dinner. Read more