We flew in from Edmonton Alberta, the day before our cruise. We stayed at the Long Beach Marriott which was very nice, and visited the Aquarium of the Pacific with our free afternoon before the cruise.

When we arrived at the port, the line up just to hand luggage to the porters was horrendous! My husband has muscular dystrophy, and while he is mobile to a point, standing in line for over an hour would have been impossible. The head guy of the porters told us there was nothing he could do (seriously, the guy was a jerk) and told us to line up. A very nice porter took pity on us and took our luggage from us as soon as the boss jerk turned away.

Once inside the terminal, we were told our ship itinerary had changed - no problem for us, and it does say in the small print that they reserve the right to do this. We were told to take a number and a seat...thankfully we were able to get into the special assistance line up as soon as our number was called. It took about another hour to get on board the ship after this. This was (I am told) an awful embarkation and not the norm - but it's all in the attitude, go with the flow, you can't change it so smile :O) Read more