We arrived in Vancouver the afternoon before our cruise and stayed in the Hotel Le Soleil, a boutique hotel just 3 blocks to Canada Place. Getting to the hotel from the airport is a breeze now that the Sky Train is operating. It delivers you right to downtown/Canada Place. The fare in Canadian Dollars is $2.50 per person. Our hotel was comfortable, and the staff very attentive. For dinner, the concierge booked a table for us at Cardero's, which serves excellent seafood at their charming waterfront location. If you like beer, try the Russel Cream Ale.

The next day, after touring the Gaslight District and North Vancouver by ferry, we headed to the ship and began embarkation around 1:10pm. It was a snap. We were on the ship in minutes. We found our stateroom easily, and were pleased with the amenities and layout. Compared to other ships, we found that the shower on the Island is so teeny tiny that if you drop the soap, you would bend over out in to the bath area. It wasn't a problem for us, and made for some good jokes. We did ask for, and receive, an eggcrate. The mattress was not only firm, but had obviously seen some (ahem) heavy use.

We found our stateroom attendant to be one of the best we've had in years. After requesting ice from room service the first evening, we found fresh ice replaced in our refrigerator automatically every day. In the last few years, we've had to go out of our way to remind our room attendants to refresh the ice, so we were very happy to have this done for us without asking. Read more