We boarded the Mariner at Los Angeles. The boarding process was extremely smooth, even though we arrived an hour and a half before the "official" boarding time. A porter whisked our bags away and we waited no more than 2 minutes to be checked in. (There were at least 8 lines open).
We were handed the traditional glass of champagne as we went on board and informed that our suite would be ready at 2.30pm. I went to make reservations at Signatures (we were celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary on board) and my husband went to settle down in the Observation Lounge to wait! I was delighted to learn that our table had already been reserved for us by RSSC since I had mentioned this as something I would like on my information form. The suites were indeed ready at 2.30 and when we went to ours, our luggage was already there.
I unpacked and headed for the laundry on deck 10 since we had been travelling for a week en route from Switzerland to LA. To my delight the laundry was empty and I got my things done in record time.