Hi everyone,

Well I arrived home a couple of hours ago and am waiting for the pizza delivery so we can eat. Unpacking will wait till tomorrow till I'm less tired.
I'm not sure how I should write, so I'll start with the plane flights going and coming. My ears popped and I must say ear planes work well. Actually were better going to Vancouver than coming home, but they are not blocked so I'm happy. I did feel them, but the ear planes helped a lot and hubby feels the same way. First class was fine, had a slightly bigger plane coming home.

Vancouver - is a beautiful city. one night pre-cruise and I didn't do much except stay at the hotel since it was raining.

Post cruise stayed two nights, all 3 nights at the Pan Pacific, and this is wonderful right on top of the cruise ship terminal, bellman carried luggage to the drop off place for Radisson and we had a beautiful very large corner room. Service and food at the hotel and the bar is great. Enjoyed touring and shopping in Vancouver post cruise. We took a trolly the first day (arrival day) which hubby didn't like but we got an overview and the next day the hotel booked a private tour for us which hubby requested which was great. Anyone visiting, if you like animals, I highly recommend the Aquarium in Vancouver.

Now for the ship. The spa was fine, and the staff at the spa great except for the hairdresser didn't like her.

The staff of the ship was great, Social Hostess Lindsey is a truely lovely young lady and her husband who works on the ship also. Gary the Asst tour director is wonderful.

We were invited to sit at the Captains Table and he is a very nice man. Captain Philippe and we conversed a bit in frech as well when we went to his quarters for drinks.

The night we were in his quarters it was very rough sailing and he was surprised that we were ok.

I didn't interact with many staff much. The Maitre D' at Signatures was happy that we could speak to him in french and the lady server as well although she wanted to practice english so she was happy that we spoke to her in french and she could reply in english for practice.

The caviar bar was wonderful. We went up there 3 or 4 nights and enjoyed the caviar (not complimentary but very resonably priced) and the guy in charge was swell.

As I say the staff was really nice and I had little interaction with most of them other than the necessities.

Room service breakfast every day and it was fine, a bit on the cold side but fine. All room service was fine.

We did not care for Compass Rose for several reasons, dinner took way too long for us, the food was ok, I was not overly impressed with the food. I rarely ate desert but hubby said most of the deserts were good. Signatures, same thing, food was ok, but I didn't find it outstanding, except hubby said his desert was really good.

Had the "high tea" scones once and they were good.

Did not bother eating at Lattitudes at all.

Hubby liked the one stir fry lunch on the ship, we had a total of 6 suppers, 4 lunches and 7 breakfasts. Lunch was ok, don't like buffets. One high tea, the best part was the caviar bar before dinner with cockatils in the Observation Lounge.
Ate at La Verandah for supper the last night which was actually better than Compass Rose in my opinion.

On to the fellow passengers. I met a lovely couple (2 men) and they were just fantastic. They chatted briefly but did not invade your space or whine. They were one of the nicest people I met. They agreed that dinner was way to long and took most of their meals in their suite.

Another lovely coupe was from Arizona. Husband is going through chemo for the 5th time with cancer, but they were so nice, just the sweetest people.

Another couple who we ate with at the Captain's table was very nice that we met that one evening. He was so sea sick that he had to get off in Sitka with his wife and fly home as he had heart surgery and from his vomiting his stiches were opening up and they had to leave. The wife's mother stayed on the ship and she told me the story as she ate with us on the Captain's table as well, she was very nice as well.

After that I met a few nice people, but basically I thought a lot of the people were down right rude and very whiny to me. I seemed to be a magnet for the whinners. One woman could not stop complaing that she coud not eat at Signatures and Lattidudes more than once. They asked to join us for dinner the first night and she sent almost all her food back including the ice cream saying it was either not hot, not cooked properly and that the ice cream was not good.

Between the two of them that night we basically hubby and I ate the same things as they did and we saw nothing wrong with the food, that actually was one of the better meals I had on the ship.

We did not get sea sick even thought the weather was quite rough on a few nights, but I occasionally still feel like I'm on the ship.
We also were able to get a galley tour and hubby took the bridge tour.

We went to almost no shipboard entertainment except for the pre dinner music in the caivar bar and one the last night we saw the Krew Kapers which was great, they all put on a great show and then after dinner we went to listen to the duo that was signing so we could have a dance.

Overall I give it the following ratings on a scale of 1 - 10 (10 being the top).

Spa Staff (except for hairdresser) 10
manucurist wasn't the best, but she did her best so I still give her a 10
Senior officers 10
All other crew personenl 10
Food 5
wine served with meals 10
cheese and baguette 10
breads 10
deserts (according to hubby I only had 2) 9
Drinks in bars - 10(we drank very little in the room and I gave all my booze to the stewardess)
Room service 8

I doubt I would rush for a cruise again. As I said, I had very little expectations and while the ship was fantastic, hubby and I are not big on cruise life.
I'm probably the only one who got off the ship with pants looser than when I got on.

Overall the trip was fantastic, Alaska is beautiful and amazing. Terry Breen (sp?) did a fantastic job narrating, absolutely fantastic.

What I was most disappoitned with was the behavior of some of the fellow passengers, came as a surprise to me and the length of the dinner meals, hubby really was not happy with 2 - 3 hours for dinners.

I had my dream trip of my life.

Thanks to everyone here for all your help and support and advice. It really is most appreciated.

I wrote an honest review from our point of view. I need to clarify that, I am not complaining about the food or anything, just wrote an honest opinion on stuff.

TO anyone leaving on vacation I wish you safe, happy and healthy travels.
Jean