We chose this cruise because we were looking for a great itinerary to Alaska, and this was a good fit for us. We flew to Seattle for a few days prior to embarking, and explored the city first - would definitely recommend doing so if you've never been there! Embarkation was one of the easiest experiences I've ever had with a cruise line - it was amazingly fast and we were seriously on the ship within 15-20 minutes of first handing over our luggage at the pier. This ship is beautiful. Several restaurants were open for lunch but we chose to explore the ship first, and then had no problem finding a seat in the Garden Cafe for the lunch buffet.

We traveled with 2 of our teenage children, and while they've done the kid/teen programs on previous cruises, after the first night checking this program out, they chose to "go it on their own" - they just didn't feel it met their needs. (I think an age 13-17 range is tough, as my 17 year old hs senior didn't necessarily want to hang out with 13 year olds all week.).

The food was very good on the ship, and the buffet was particularly good - better than most that we've experienced. It was hot, and fresh, and constantly refilled. The Local is really nice as well, open 24 hours and a great place to grab a burger, sandwich, or some wings. We ate there twice for breakfast as well, on the 2 days at sea when we didn't feel like getting up super early; it's open until 11 am for breakfast which was great. We tried Q's (a little disappointing, the chicken was pretty dry, which was sad because we had heard such great things!), and La Cucina which was excellent, and eating outside was such a plus! The main dining rooms were all very good, and although we booked reservations, the one night we ended up switching our plans around, we had no problems getting into Taste. The whole process was very easy and the hosts at each dining room are very friendly. Read more