This is my third cruise (Bahamas, Transatlantic and Pacific Northwest) and my partners first cruise. Embarkation was from Vancouver BC and disembarkation was in Los Angeles. The cruise line offered airfare for $700 p/p. After some internet searching I found airfare, a hotel and train tickets for the price of one fare offered by NCL
We rode on the morning AMTRAK Cascade directly into Vancouver, BC. After a four hour train ride and another five minutes to be greeted by Canadian customs and we were off to the pier. If you've got the time, AMTRAK is definitely the way to ride in luxury. There's so much space around each seat I thought I was flying international first class. After a 10-minute taxi ride we arrived at the NCL pier. Our luggage was collected and we proceeded to the security screen queue.
Having arrived around noon, or one hour before the published check in the line moved smoothly. The photographers taking the obligatory "welcome aboard" pictures were a little tenacious ... ugh, more on that later. Once on board we were required to disinfect our hands before proceeding, no big deal, the greeters also suggested we enjoy lunch on 12 deck. Decent buffet lunch, but I could have done without the waiters constantly hawking their "commemorative" $9 drinks.