This holiday was to celebrate my husbands 40th birthday. It was to be a once in a lifetime holiday, so we booked the Owners Suite - and so glad we did. Here is a review of our time on board the Diamond Princess ..........

Arriving in Vancouver, it was a lovely clean airport, and we had a quick walk through immigration, picked up our bags, walked outside and got in a taxi and half an hour later arrived at our hotel - The Pan Pacific at the Canada quay where our boat is due to arrive.

We had booked a standard city view room, but I had previously emailed the hotel and asked if there was any chance of an upgrade as we were off on a cruise to celebrate my husband's birthday and when we arrived we found we had been upgraded to a massive suite !!! Our day has been the most special ever!! Saturday 12th September We woke to a glorious hot day in Vancouver, had buffet breakfast and then walked about for a couple of hours before taking our luggage down in the lift and walking to the departure area to start the embarkation to Diamond Princess. We dropped our luggage, went through baggage security and then waited in line to go through immigration. We had our eyes photographed and also our fingerprints taken by immigration. We then checked in with the Diamond desk and walked up the gangplank to our ship. All in all, it took us an hour and a half from hotel to our room. A very easy experience. Our room is beautiful - it is a suite and at the very back of the boat (aft). We have a dining area, computer area, wet bar, tv and settee and arm chairs in the living area with patio doors out onto a balcony. Off of the lounge we have our bedroom with another tv, lots of closet space and again patio doors onto the balcony area where we have two lounge beds, four chairs and a table for outside dining. We have a lovely bathroom with vanity area, Jacuzzi bath and large massaging shower stall. A lovely lovely room and we feel so spoilt. We went off for lunch in the International Dining Room where we had chateaubriand and salmon, made our way back to our room where our luggage had been delivered. After unpacking, we met our steward Ed (Gilfred) and we kept getting gifts delivered - canapEs, fruit, champagne, mini bar set up etc. The ship was late leaving Vancouver and it eventually left about 6.45pm with police escorts either side of it. We stood in our balcony, drinking the complimentary champagne that Ed brought us just before leaving, waving to everyone and no-one, watching the sparkly lights of Vancouver disappearing in the distance. We got ourselves ready and went out for dinner about 8pm. I had pate and then crawfish and mussels in tomato sauce and my husband also had salmon pate and then pork loin. All lovely. For dessert I had flambE banana and he had cheesecake. By now, we both felt exhausted, so went back to our cabin, ordered some tea from room service and fell into bed by 11pm. (7am the next morning in UK). We have been up for over 24 hours with only 3 hours sleep on the plane. Read more