This was my very first Holland America Cruise, and first cruise to Alaska. I've been to 3 cruises before this, all of which were with Royal Caribbean and were in the Caribbean as well, most recently on the Oasis of the Seas. We arrived in Vancouver on Friday and then headed to Canada Place (Vancouver Port) on Saturday morning.

Embarkation: I found embarkation quite smooth overall and quick but we arrived quite early and thus had to wait about an hour in the waiting room as they did not begin embarking until 11:30am. Once we were let in, our room was already ready and lunch was already being served at Lido, the main buffet restaurant.

Cabin: The cabin was very nice, clean and spacious. I was in a Verandah style room (a balcony) and found it was perfect for this type of cruise. I highly recommend a balcony if you are travelling to Alaska as the scenery is beautiful and is different every day, especially Glacier Bay. We were lucky as our neighbours were rarely outside and so we had no problems with smokers. Our stateroom attendants, Matt & Hawas, were excellent and we had no problems with our room. Read more