This was my seventh cruise, my DH's sixth and our second sailing from Miami. There was a total of 15 of us, seven of whom had never sailed before. We flew into FLL, rented three mini-vans and drove to Miami where we stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott Coconut Grove. The hotel was nice, they had a great pool area and the bar, while not fully stocked, met our needs. They also sell Starbucks, which provided a light breakfast for us prior to leaving for the pier. The nearest supermarket was a Publix and was not within walking distance and some of our group found a liquor store but again, it was not close to the hotel. The CocoWalk outdoor mall was within walking distance where we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and a few drinks at Fat Tuesdays. On embarkation day, we drove to the port, dropped everyone off, took the vans back to the airport and a taxi back to the pier. Our group waited outside the terminal for everyone to return, which took about an hour.

This year, we purchased the Faster to the Fun program, which I highly recommend. We were able to get on the ship immediately, drop our carry-ons in our cabins and head to the Lido for lunch. We carried water and wine on board with no issues but one of our friend’s power strips was confiscated and we heard this happened to other passengers as well. We were never able to find out why but we had no problems with ours. It also got us off the ship in group 1, which was a huge help at the end of the trip.

Faster to the Fun also offers you priority assistance in several areas and at Guest Services. However, I had a bad experience where I stood in line and was ignored for quite some time. When I inquired if I was in the incorrect line, one of the guest services employees took the person behind me. When I said, "Excuse me but I was here first", she got nasty with me and said I was talking to someone else. I told her that I was merely asking if I was in the correct line and that person had just told me that one of her colleagues would be assisting me so I would appreciate it if she would help me first. She started arguing with me in front of several guests and told another guest that she was sorry she couldn’t assist him as she had to assist me because I absolutely needed her to assist me right this minute. I apologized to both guests for her and said, "I’m sorry but I have been waiting here for about 10 minutes" and to her I said that these comments were uncalled for. She resolved my issue, with another argument (this was about missing stickers for Faster to the Fun on our Sign & Sail cards) because she didn’t understand that one person in the cabin paid and it covered all the occupants of the cabin. Unfortunately, I was unable to get her name and never got back to find out who she was due to an injury I sustained in Cozumel. I really wish I had as her behavior as a Guest Services rep was terrible. Read more