I want to thank all of you for all you help. I learned so much from this site!!! Our trip started with a one night stay in Vancouver. We drove and parked our car at the Coast Plaza Hotel. It was an older hotel, but very clean and the cheapest way for us to go since we needed parking for 14 days in Vancouver. But if the cruise is 7 days and one is parking in Vancouver, there are cheaper hotels to stay at.

We took this cruise with our two children, ages 12 and 10, and my recently widowed father in law, and my brother in law. My children shared our cabin, while my father in law and brother in law shared a cabin on a different deck. Even though our ticket said to arrive after 1:00, I wanted to get to the ship as soon as possible. We got there at 11. Boarding went very smoothly and we were on by noon.

We loved the children's program. Our 10 year old son spent most of his time during the cruise in the "Fun Zone." The staff were were well trained. He did pottery, stained glass art, tee shirt art, bingo, glow in the dark disco, and many more activities. It got to a point where we had to tell our son that he had to spend a couple a hours a day with the family. : ) Read more