We were a group of three, 2 daughters and their mother. This was my 8th cruise, my mother's second and my sister's first. None of us had ever been to Alaska before.
We stayed one night pre-cruise at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver, which we booked throught HAL. It was such a convenient location and a really nice hotel. One nice thing about it was that the hotel takes care of transferring your luggage to the ship, making it so much easier for us.
We decided to treat ourselves to a Neptune suite and we loved everything about it. There was tons of space, lots of storage, a large balcony, wonderful cabin stewards and all the perks of a Neptune Suite including the Neptune Lounge. Our concierges were welcoming and friendly and took good care of us.