We live in Oregon and really need more cruises departing from the west coast.
Flew to Vancouver BC via Horizon - Portland to Seattle, then Seattle to Vancouver day of cruise. Very cramped aircraft but it got us there safely. Hung out at the airport then caught limo to the Ballantyne pier.
We were among the first to arrive at Ballantyne so fact that there was no separate suite line didn't matter. We were checked in and escorted directly to Cagneys for a wonderful lunch. Dropped off our carryon bags in the stateroom, explored a little, did safety drill and went to Biergarten for our cruise critic sailaway party. NCL provided light refreshments and we enjoyed meeting our message board buddies. There was no rain and sailaway from Vancouver was beautiful.
12518 Great family suite location with wonderful window wall. Take a necktie or something to tie the center curtains together to clear more window space. We had four adults in the suite and although we over packed there was plenty of storage. With proper packing if necessary 6 compatible people could share this suite without a problem.