This review comes from a first time cruiser, so I didn't have anything in particular to compare this cruise or ship with.
Firstly embarkation in Los Angeles was simple and hassle free. We were at the pier at about 12pm and had no problems getting checked in and onto the ship.
We went straight to our rooms to drop off our carry onboard bags. We had an inside cabin on deck 4. There weren't any nasty surprises, the room was neat - size to be expected. The only issue we had was that we couldn't fit our suitcases under the bed. We had to just put them on the little lounge and live around them.