This was the first cruise for my husband and I. We are in our late 20s, with no children yet.

Pre-Cruise: We stayed at America's Best Inn, between the airport and cruiseport. It was tolerable for one night- the room was very small and not nearly dark enough to sleep- but the owner was extremely friendly, which made the stay pleasant.

Embarkation: We arrived very early at the port- around 10:30 AM. We were put into the "holding" area very quickly (within 5 minutes) and waited about 40 minutes or so until we were allowed through customs and onto the ship. It went very smoothly. We were slightly disappointed that we did not qualify for VIP status. It was because we were upgraded to our suite and didn't purchase it, I guess. We were there early enough that priority boarding didn't matter and we really didn't book with the expectation that we'd receive such an upgrade. I'm adding that tidbit for those of you who get a Cat. 11 upgrade and think you might get VIP boarding. We were on the ship by 11:30 and by 11:35, we each had a drink-of-the-day and a plate of food in our hands. Read more