Background information: My background- this was my first time cruising as an adult. I traveled with my children (3 and 5), parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousin (9.) We spend most of our vacations in Disney World, and honestly, I wasn't thrilled about cruising so I went in pretty skeptical. The cruise was a Christmas gift from my parents.
Hotel information (if any): Embassy Suites on S. Florida (several blocks from the port.) Nice accommodations, spacious room, package for parking and shuttle, and complimentary drinks and breakfast. The room was noisy.
Embarkation: Quick and easy. The porter took our bags from the shuttle. We went through customs quickly, checked in without any line, and were in group 4. I believe we arrived around 11am and were on the ship not long after 12.
Small, but I liked the layout compared to the sideways layout that some others in our group had. The window was a good size and my 3 year old loved sitting in it and looking out. There was plenty of storage space for the 3 of us. One pro was it's closeness to the Stardust Theater. It was VERY noisy! I'm not sure what was under/around us, but I'm guessing something related to the anchor because when they anchored the ship at each port, it was very loud for about 30 minutes at a time. When we hit rough waters, there were loud noises around us from that, too- something clanging on the side of the boat. And, minor, but you could hear the Stardust Theater shows sometimes, too.