This is my fourth cruise - same as my wife. Two with Carnival and two with Royal Caribbean. We decided to take a cruise to Hawaii primarily because of the number of days at sea.
Day 1 and Embarkation - We decided to fly via JetBlue to the Long Beach airport since it was closer to the pier than LAX. We prefer to fly JetBlue over most US airlines. When we got to the pier there was a very long line but it moved rather quick. We were checked in and on the ship within one hour.
We got to the room to drop off our luggage and immediately went to the gym & spa to signup for gym classes and spa treatments. Spin, Yoga, and Pilates classes cost an additional $10 each but there is a package discount offered as well. (more on the gym and spa later). We then took advantage of the lunch buffet before heading back to our stateroom for a little rest and unpacking.