We sailed from Miami on Sunday, having decided to arrive in Miami from Newark the day before. This was our 15th cruise with Royal Caribbean but our parents were accompanying us on their first. We were a bit nervous about their experience since they are elderly and very demanding and fussy about food, people, etc.
Our arrival at the pier was at 11:30 am. We learned from Cruise Critic website that boarding could begin early, but the shuttle from the hotel had specific times of arrival so we were locked into that time. The boarding process went fairly easy. My mother is in a wheelchair and received excellent consideration from the staff.
The only word I can think of to use for this ship is MAGNIFICENT! Every inch of her is sparkling and new and the staff works every minute to keep her that way. We were concerned that being so large, the service would suffer and would be impersonal. We did not find that to be the case. The staff could not have been more friendly or helpful. We never saw a "sourpuss".