Let’s begin the review with the fact that we are reasonably seasoned cruisers, having cruised Hawaii three times on two different cruise lines. Our 10 day Caribbean experience was on Norwegian Dawn. We did one wonderful cruise of Eastern Canada on Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas and our three trips to Alaska were on Serenade of the Seas, and, most recently, Norwegian Sun.

A direct flight on Air Canada was arranged without a great deal of difficulty through Air Miles. Both flights, going and coming were comfortable.

We stayed two nights at the Granville Island Hotel in Vancouver prior to boarding for the price of just over $900. Warning, this is the most we have ever paid to stay at this property and although the room was nice, the view over the garbage pickup area and park was not impressive. The elevator mechanism was just outside our room and kept us awake most of the night. On the good side, the facility was clean and well equipped with mini frig and coffee maker in the room. The experience of staying on, and wandering about, Granville Island, is most enjoyable with a huge market place, water taxis that can take you to other parts of Vancouver and a few restaurants including Starbucks and a Keg. Read more