First off, let me begin by saying that this is my 7th cruise, 5th with Royal Caribbean. (I love Royal Caribbean!) I am only 19 years old, so a lot of my time was spent in Adventure Ocean, but this was my first cruise where I was able to participate in the adult activities. My boyfriend and I (21) decided to take a trip of our own!

We sailed out of Galveston, TX and we stayed in the Hilton hotel on the beach. It was very expensive ($287 a night) but just about worth it. We flew in from Colorado and wanted a beach hotel. The hotel provided transfers to the ship (and back if you wanted it) and the staff was nothing but friendly. We really enjoyed ourselves here.

Embarkation was very rocky. When we got into check-in, it was really nice to be able to basically walk right up to the counter to get my Sea Pass card. (I'm a platinum member, so check-in went really quickly.) If you are Gold level or below, plan on standing in line for awhile. Read more