My husband was attending a conference in Miami, so since it was his birthday and our anniversary while the conference was taking place we decided to travel down a few days early and take a mini- cruise to the Bahamas.

We had planned to take a cab form the airport, but since the Royal Caribbean coach transfer was about to leave as we collected our bags we took that instead. the cost for both of us was $35 all in, more than the cab cost, but they also took care of our bags - all we had to do was walk off the coach and into the terminal. Check in was a breeze, we were on the ship in about 15 minutes - our last cruise in February was out of San Juan where check in took well over an hour. We had chosen a deck 9 Oceanview cabin which gave us a little extra space, it was great for a 3 day cruise, but for longer cruises in the Caribbean we do like to have a balcony.

There was a little mix up with our seating assignment for dinner - but it was sorted out promptly - we had been seated at a table for 8 with only a Spanish speaking couple as tablemates, this couple had their two young sons and both of sets of grandparents seated across the dining room. We arranged with the Maitre D to have the whole family seated together at our table for 8 and we switched over to a table for 6 (but the other table mates chose not to use the dining room). Read more