First and foremost my friends (3 of us) and myself were 1st time cruisers so we had no clue what to expect. We booked a mini suite for a 10 night cruise to Alaska/Glacier Bay.
Embarkation went very well. We caught the Airport Express "Cruise" bus at Sonoma county airport- about 2 hours drive from where we live. Got our luggage on and away we went, nonstop to the ship terminal where we were dropped at the door and our luggage went on to unload. We didn't see it until it was at our stateroom a few hours later. We got through the boarding process in maybe 1/2 hour and were hanging out on the balcony of our suite.
We finally started our cruise under glorious skies. We went to the buffet for a somewhat disappointing lunch. I don't recall what was offered. I can say it was bland and not a great selection to choose from. But it did fill our bellies.