There are many good and interesting itineraries. I choose a date to coinside with my work being closed. Also, I keep in mind that I am traveling with an aged parent and both of us are struggling with health issues. So the flight down to Los Angeles from Vancouver Canada is a short 2 and a half hours. With all of our cruises, we always fly the day before the cruise. this helps relieve the stress. It is winter, one never knows what the weather is going to be doing. Last year, mom and I did a short cruise to Cabo and back. This cruise would take us to two additional ports. Places that we have not seen before. We have sailed on the Ruby before. There are several of the ships we have sailed on a couple of times. This year we wanted to make sure that we were not rushed or stressed. One excelent option now is the Princess ez-air. Book everything with Princess. We chose to fly down the day before and return the day after the cruise ended. We spent a half day at Disneyland before and after the cruise. We stayed at one of the Marriott properties on the Friday and on the Saturday of our return we stayed at the Embassey Suites in Anaheim. We used Prime Time Shuttle to get us from the Airport to the hotels and to and from the hotels to the cruise ship terminal.

My mother had pre requested wheel chair assistance. In Los Angeles a princess representative takes you to check in and through security. Then to a holding area. There you wait for a member of the ships crew to take you on board. Yes it takes a little longer. But it is the safest way if a person has mobility problems. We had one of the rooms with a belcony. For two persons, there is plenty of room. But note, I am a former Princess employee, so I know the size of a crew cabin to compare. As I am a night supervisor for a Resort in Canada. I tend to notice maintenance issues. Not to bring anything against the ship or the hard working crew that take care of her. A few of the things were taken care of quickly, others were looked after over the week of our trip. Debbie who was our cabin stewart, is a supper star. she was a help. She worked around us. As mom was recovering from a medical problem. she opted not to get off the ship. So she spent more time in the room. Debbie was around to give help.

One of the things about a cruise, you choose to do as much or as little as you want to do. My favorit activities are the fruit and vegtable carving and the martine making demonstration. Watching events like ring toss or the trivia games. There is always more to do or see than can been done in 7 days. Dining was very good. I know that many will say the same about their wait staff. We choose traditional dining and the later seating. Our waiter Vangie is the best. Her choices as what was best to eat for any given night were very good. Oliver our Junior waiter, he worked so hard. carring those heavy trays of food. We had good table companions. It is always so sad to say good bye at the end. It is excelent staff, that make the cruise. We had some good weather and some not so good. We are on vacation. You can do nothing about the weather. Read more