Let me begin by saying that everyone's experience on a ship is different because everyone's expectations are different. That said, you should know that my husband and I are already booked on Brilliance's 2/6/04 sailing (as well as another RCI cruise in November)!
Background: This was our fourth cruise but our first with RCI. We were loyal Princess passengers until the company decided to merge with Carnival. At that point, we decided we wanted to establish a cruising history with a different line (no offense to those who like Carnival), so we cancelled a Coral Princess sailing and switched to this one. I had read a lot of information on these boards about the ship, and there were conflicting opinions, as always. We were a bit concerned that the experience would not live up to our expectations.
Airfares were unreasonable in our opinion, mainly due to the Presidents' Day holiday, so we drove from New Jersey to Miami over the course of several days. Parking at the terminal was plentiful and reasonable, and we arrived at the very early hour of 9:30 a.m.