This was our first cruise on RCI, after sailing twice before on Carnival. We arrived in Galveston on Saturday, August 26, 2006, around 1:00 p.m., and had no trouble with embarking. Saved time by presenting the pre-printed Seapass and got our Sea Pass cards quickly. We sailed with our youngest son, 24 yrs. old, his first cruise, and my brother-in-law and his wife, who we've sailed with twice before. We boarded, found our cabin, # 4591, and wish we had booked an ocean view as usual, as the inside cabin was somewhat confining feeling, especially with three adults.

The cabin did have a pullman style bunk that dropped from the ceiling for our son's use, and, I never did bang my head on it fortunately!! After finding our cabin, we proceeded to the pool deck as usual for our usual departure drinks to begin the cruise mood! (We had more than one departure drink as usual!! ;-) Went through the mandatory life boat drill, and found our way back to the pool deck for more drinks and pool side fun.

We were originally scheduled to hit Key West first, then Grand Cayman, but, due to Hurricane Ernesto, were diverted to Belize City, Belize, and Costa Maya instead. The first sea day passed as uneventful, some gambling at the casino, onboard shopping, etc. Read more