I booked this cruise, the first one for both my wife and me, in October, then discovered this site. After reading some of the reviews, I was appalled, wondering what I was getting into. However, within a very short time of boarding, I came to the conclusion that some people have nothing better to do than complain. Check in went quite quickly.

We showed up early, about 3:30 for a 7:00 departure. Our luggage reached our room before we did. From the start, all the crew members were very friendly and attentive to our every need. We were greeted almost every time we passed a crew member, it got to the point where I felt slighted on the rare occasions a crew member didn't greet me. The housekeeper introduced himself the first day, and always greeted us by name. Our room was small, but we knew that going in. It was adequate for two of us, though having a pull down bed and a roll away bed under the queen size bed, I really can't imagine having more than two people in the room. For cheapskates like me, do yourself a favor and spend the extra to get an outside room, the view out the window is worth the small extra expense. The fourth deck looked like the portholes were rather small, but our room on the fifth deck had a decent size window, well worth the extra money. The room included a small refrigerator, with an ice bucket that was filled daily; a desk and TV. The TV, however, only received the ship's stations, CNN, and the Cartoon Network. I didn't come on the cruise to watch TV anyway, and I can catch The Simpsons in summer reruns.

I read somewhere, I think it was here on Cruise Critic, to take a power strip. Since there is only one outlet in the room, it's a must have. I live within driving distance of the port of Los Angeles, so can't comment on the airport pickup. Also, we spent the night at the end of the cruise in Vancouver, and arranged our own transportation home. We also didn't use any of the shore excursions, planning all of our own. Read more