Just returned from our first ever cruise. First week of May to Alaska. We had nothing to compare to, so it was all a big adventure for my husband and me.
We chose Vancouver as our port because we are Canadian and it was easy to fly there direct. We also spent several days after the cruise visiting with family in the area. When we got to Canada Place we were happy to hand over our luggage to be stored until it could be loaded onto the ship. We were too early for embarkation at this time, so we wandered around the area and enjoyed the sunshine. Upon our return, we faced several hours of long line-ups. First through immigration, then through the check in with HAL, and then to register the two bottles of wine we were bringing with us. We later discovered that some people were given the opportunity to sit for part of this process, but we weren't. We were quite exhausted by the time we got on board the ship. Luckily our stateroom was ready for us.
The stateroom was great. We had a verandah, which we enjoyed despite some cigar smoke wafting down on to it. HAL really should not allow smoking on the verandahs. The bed was very comfortable and the storage was plentiful and efficient. We enjoyed our room very much. Our stewards were great too. Only complaint was the brown bananas that were deposited in our fruit basket one morning.