Let me preface this by saying this is my second cruise. My wife and I sailed on the Carnival Fascination in April of last year. It was our first cruise and we had an absolute blast. The food was amazing, the service was amazing, and the trip was amazing. It was the best vacation we have ever been on, which is why, in less than a week we had started making plans for our a second cruise, this time, having my in-laws come with us for the ride, making it their first cruise.

Our adventure began as soon as I got home from work Friday afternoon a little after 4. My wife and in-laws were just arriving as well, and we immediately packed up the Jeep and began our trip to Florida. We were leaving 40 degree weather, and we seemed to bring it with us for the majority of the trip.

Around midnight we arrived at our stop for the night in Orlando at the International Palms Resort. We just wanted an ok inexpensive hotel to sleep in for a few hours that didn't have bed bugs and wasn't that far away for us to drive to Port Canaveral the next day. While the hotel was nice, it had a lot of flaws. The biggest being that they didn't honor our reservation price, marking it up nearly $15 for both of our rooms. When we argued, they said we could always try another hotel in the area. At midnight, after driving all night, we didn't feel like arguing and just paid the extra money. Read more