Hello All! My husband and I just returned from a week in the Caribbean with 4 other friends (two couples) and we had the time of our lives! It was our first cruise ever and we were not disappointed.
Embarkation (or leaving) was a snap. I timed it on my watch. From drop off at the pier to actually stepping on the ship was less than 20 minutes. We were on by 2:00pm even though we were told not to even arrive before 2:00pm. The parts of Miami we saw were awful. There was nothing we wanted to see or do in Miami. We flew into Fort Myers (beautiful) and stayed at Holiday Inn Express in Bonita Springs and were upgraded to a suite. (thank-you very much!) We drove our rental car to Thrifty in Miami ($54...which is just a good a deal as hotwire!) and took a free shuttle to the port of Miami ($20 per person to take the Royal Caribbean shuttle from the airport to the port of Miami).
The room we booked was a Large Ocean View room. Which means we were near the back corner of the ship and had a window that didn't open. We appreciated the extra space and there are lots of nooks and crannies to stick your stuff. The only thing that felt small was the shower and I got quite a lump on my head from dropping the soap and whacking my skull on the hot water nozzle when I came back up. That was the only unpleasant thing on the whole cruise! I think that a balcony is great if you are traveling by yourself or with a significant other, but completely unnecessary if you are with friends. We went to the 4th and 12th deck for spectacular views where we met our friends to drink and chat.