This was not our first cruise. My husband and I last sailed on HAL in a Deluxe Verandah Suite. We spent a lot of time comparing the two cruises and found that in most cases we liked NCL better. We were not expecting that, we thought Hal would be hard to beat. We are both 40 and have done quite a bit of travelling.

We are from Central Florida and flew to Seattle a day early. We stayed at the Mayflower Park. We were very happy with the accommodations. The location is excellent. I would recommend a drink in the bar to anyone. It has two huge windows and the people watching is great. Locals actually hang out here. We were able to walk to all of the sights we wanted to see and do some shopping. Saturday morning we had breakfast at Lola. The food was delicious.

We arrived at the pier at about 1215. There was a long line leading to the building. Everyone had to wait. The line led to a large room where passports and cruise documents were inspected and luggage was taken and x-rayed. At this point the line that had already split in two like at a theme park and then the two split into about six lines. The joke was that they all led to the single x-ray machine for luggage scanning. This was the single worst experience all week. After dropping off the luggage we preceded back outside to the next door and another line. Here is where having a PH Suite started to pay off. We got in a different line and were expedited through security and were then escorted to the VIP Lounge. Check in was quick and painless. We met briefly with Simone our Concierge and were escorted to our suite by Leo, our butler. As we stepped on the ship the announcement of all rooms are now ready was made. Read more