My 3rd cruise, female 39, my aunt 65 and 6 year old son. My son and I live in San Diego and my aunt flew into town a couple of days early. We were dropped off at the cruise ship pier. Note to drop-offs: Enter cruise ship drop off from the back by coming down Broadway and then turning in left, a lot less traffic. Porters were right there to take baggage.

Embarkation: We arrived a half hour after scheduled check-in time. There was a wedding on board the ship and they wouldn't let anyone board until they were ready for the wedding party. It would have been o.k. if they had just said it will be a couple of hours and come back, but they told us 15mins, then 15 more mins, etc... Hard to keep an exited six year old from going stir crazy. Once they began boarding, it went smoothly and our cabin was made up and my luggage was at the door. My aunt's showed up a couple of hours later.

Cabin: We booked a 4a and the rates dropped, so I called for OBC, instead they gave us an upgrade to a 6a which was o.k. Room was clean, bathroom functioned well. I tipped our stewart when we first met him to empty the mini-bar so we could put the wine and cocktails we brought on board in. He had the mini-bar emptied within two hours and my champaign chilling on ice. We received excellent service and great towel animals my son loved every night. Read more