This was our fifth cruise, although our first on RCCL, and without a doubt it was the best cruise vacation we've ever had! The ship was beautiful, the service superb, and the itinerary for the most part was very interesting. I'd rate it 4+ stars on a scale of 5.

Pre-cruise: Made our own flight arrangements to Fort Lauderdale as the airfare was much more reasonable than flying into Miami. Transferred via private shuttle to Miami ($18 per person) and stayed at the Miami Radisson the night before the cruise. We booked our room at the Radisson thru Priceline for $85, vs. the rack rate of $204, and had a lovely corner room on the 12th floor that overlooked the Port of Miami where we could see the cruise ships come and go. The Radisson is within a block of the local elevated tram that serves the entire downtown area, so it was very convenient to go to the Bayside Marketplace for dinner.

Embarkation: Got to the pier via shuttle at around 12:00 noon and moved quickly thru the process, having pre-printed our Sea Pass documents before leaving home. We were on the ship by 12:45 pm. After a quick lunch in the Windjammer, we were able to enter our cabin right after 1 pm. Our luggage arrived around 4 pm. Read more