We traveled as a family of three -- myself, husband and 14 year old daughter. We arrived late on June 14 to Doubletree Seattle Airport. We were given a tower room (Hilton honors status helped here and vouchers for food/breakfast during our stay. Vouchers can be used in any restaurant or at the Starbuck's coffee cart.) The room was modern and nicely appointed with a terrific view of the mountains. This hotel has a free shuttle to/from the airport which is not only helpful when arriving or departing but also if you have time to sightsee in downtown Seattle. The following day we took the shuttle to the airport light rail station for our 40 minute or so ride to downtown. Fares are 2.75 one way for adults and 1.25 one way for youth.... Can't beat it! We did the usual downtown sights -- Pike's Place Market and the piers. The food in the Market is delicious -- fresh and reasonably priced. We took the light rail in reverse followed by the Doubletree shuttle.

The next morning we had arranged for a driver to take us to the Amtrak station for our Cascades train to Vancouver. Anthony at Seattle Celebrity Transportation (tel. 206-432-2605 and email seattlecelebritytransport@gmail.com) was reliable and punctual. Charge was $40 from Doubletree to Amtrak station downtown. At that time we also arranged for him to pick us up on Sunday, June 24th when we arrived in the evening from Vancouver. Amtrak does have baggage restrictions so just as with the airlines -- watch those weight limits! I had to do a bit of juggling to get my big bags down to 50 lbs. or less but was able to do so. Just as an aside -- I will NEVER travel with so much luggage again! We each had one large bag and one small carry on and it was very difficult to move around! I felt like a pack horse constantly! We traveled coach to Vancouver and business class on return so I can share my thoughts on both -- yes, lines were longer in coach than business class but if you are there early enough it really does not make a difference -- if you are at the front of the coach line you will still get a good seat -- just in the coach car instead of the business car. Coach rates are $34.20 and business class is $19 more at $53.20. The business class seats are a bit larger but IMHO not worth it for that. Well, I digress - Amtrak you wait in one line to check bags then go to another line to get your seat assignment. We sat on the left side of the train going to Vancouver which provides the best water view. There is one section where a lot of bald eagles nest and they were flying about in great numbers -- more than we even saw in Alaska! The view is really lovely and the train ride is worth it for this alone! The train arrived about noon in Vancouver to rain! By the time we got off our luggage had been sitting under partial cover (and one piece sat under an overhang where water poured off and onto our luggage) so it was a wet arrival! Now was my chance to say "I told you so" to all of my friends who laugh at me for packing in Ziploc bags. I pack outfits by day in bags -- well good thing this time or we would have had a wet mess of clothes! We cleared customs quickly and went to the front of the station. IF you had small luggage the light rail would be an excellent option from the Amtrak station but since we had a TON of luggage we waited in the rain for a cab. It was a short 2-3 minute wait and he took us (with our biggest bag loaded beside the driver in the passenger seat!) to the Hampton Inn and Suites on Robson St. Check in was a breeze as the bellhop had our luggage loaded off the taxi and on a cart and in our room before we had even left the front desk! We used Hilton points for this stay and found the accommodations comfortable and the staff helpful. All of the lodging in downtown Vancouver seemed expensive to me so not sure what I would say if I would have spent $250 USD per night! This hotel is in front of the soccer stadium so you can see all of the big video screens which is kind of neat. I was looking out and saw them passing out freebies down below so quickly put my shoes on and took the elevator down and ran across the street. They were giving out Home Depot goods in the form of a BBQ spatula and 2 BBQ mitts. My husband got a nice little gift (one day before Father's Day) with a neat story behind it! More to add to the luggage! We walked to Yale Town then to the Gas Light District, the Olympic Couldron and Canada Place. We are walkers and love to be out and about. It was probably a 10-15 min. walk to the Gas Light District from the hotel. We ended up at McDonald's for dinner since Vancouver prices were more than we wanted to spend knowing that we would have all the good food we wanted the next day! FYI the dollar menu in the U.S. is the 1.39 menu in Vancouver -- and that is Canadian!

June 17 -- Embarkation Day -- I was down in the lobby at 6:15 a.m. to sign up for the shuttle. The driver was to arrive and start taking sign-ups at 7:00 a.m. I was waiting for him! So we got our pick of times and I chose 10:00 a.m. figuring that would get us to the port just before 10:30 a.m. (It is relatively close but again allow time to on load and off load all of that luggage!) The Hampton Inn serves a breakfast which includes hot items. I got to watch the buffet at different times from the lobby and obviously earlier is less crowded though we never saw a time where a table could not be found. There was already a line at Canada Place when we arrived, which we soon found out was for security. There was mostly an older crowd in line but that disappeared pretty quickly when they called for all Holland America passengers to go in front of the Celebrity passengers. (The HAL ship was ready and the Century was not!) We probably waited 30 minutes or so before they let the Celebrity passengers begin to clear security. After security came the health form to complete and then on to check in... As reported here before, the line for regular check in seemed to move more quickly than the line for the suite passengers. They had one fellow attending all of the suite passengers. Once we checked in and were given our silver card (which we put on lanyards around our necks) we were directed to wait in the suite section. The only difference between this and the "regular" section was there was a divider between the sets of folding chairs. The difference came when it was time to board the ship. They came to escort 2 passengers (I am guessing from the penthouse suite) and then we were allowed to board. We were literally passenger # 3, 4, and 5 to board and the first to board after penthouse guests. That was pretty neat! They snap your picture and then welcome you with orange juice or champagne. You are greeted by many representatives from many different departments on board. Hats off to Jason, one of the asst. matre d's, who learned our names from that first introduction and called us by name ALL WEEK LONG -- even though he was not assigned to our section in the main dining room! I sure hope Celebrity reads these reviews -- even though I recognized him on my end of cruise evaluation -- this certainly shows an effort at an extra level of service which has disappeared on many cruise lines! My husband and daughter were anxious to try out the buffet but I was holding out for the Aqua Spa Cafe as I had read about it on Cruise Critic and was ready to try it out. The buffet was always fresh with a great variety during our cruise. Some of the buffet highlights would be the Caesar Salad which they make to your specifications, the eggs benedict in the mornings which were offered in several varieties and were always delicious, and of course the ice cream -- which my 14 year old daughter frequented often enough for them to learn exactly what she liked and how to place the toppings! The only disappointment from the buffet came from the Indian food as the curries seemed bland -- perhaps to serve the palate of the masses. The last evening in the main dining room our waiter had special ordered a chicken curry for us and it was one of the best dishes we had on the cruise. It did seem strange that Celebrity had so many Indian chefs and curries that disappointed -- so they redeemed themselves with our special order curry. By the way, according to our waiter you can special order any time as long as you do it the evening before you want the dish. That is a good little tidbit to know but we would never have done it on our own because we did not want to "miss out" on the good food already on the menu. Okay, so after they had their fill at the buffet we went to the Aqua Spa Cafe. I loved the little booths and intimate atmosphere. The breads are organic and delicious. They will grill salmon, tuna or chicken breasts for you -- one day I think they had pork loin as well. The salad was wonderful due to the bleu cheese on it. This was obviously a higher grade of bleu cheese -- maybe what is used in Murano since it shares a galley/chef? We went back other times but they change the choices daily so we did not find the cheese again. I had the grilled salmon and they wait until you order it so it comes out fresh and tasty! The desserts are not high in sugar but still satisfy the sweet tooth and of course look lovely! After lunch our stateroom was ready (just before 1:00) so we went to check out our Sky Suite cabin #1212. Read more