A bit about us:  I am in my mid 40's and have sailed on a majority of the other cruise lines over the last 10 years.  I was traveling with my son who is 22 who has sailed a few times as well.   We make the most of our vacations and don't mind paying more to make the cruise fabulous - after all it is a vacation.  

Arrival - VANCOUVER:

We flew in the day of departure (around 11:00 am) - Immigration was very smooth and quick.   We decided to catch a cab to the cruise pier.  We went outside the airport after picking up our luggage and there were CABS - TOWN CARS - LIMOS and VANS all waiting passengers (EXTREMELY ORGANIZED) - we took a limo and asked the driver if he could give us a quick tour of Vancouver and take us to a few shops so that we could purchase some souvenirs before boarding the ship.   He gladly took us around town and to some shops downtown for some quick shopping.   I was amazed that he only charged us $55 for all of this.  I would recommend taking a limo or town car to the pier as it was only $15 dollars more than a cab but the limo had some added perks (we did not have to wait in the extremely long line to enter the pier with all of the cabs) we bypassed this long line and were dropped right off at the front.   Our driver was amazing and so willing to take us where we wanted that we tipped him $25 - so for a total of $80 we had our own private limo - some sightseeing and some shopping and still plenty of time left to board the ship prior to departure.   Let me also say that we had TONS of luggage (4 bags) and 2 carryon's.  Again, I highly recommend if you are flying in the day of departure to use the town car or limo service as they really expedited everything.  Read more