My husband and I and our 2 girls (age 22 & 20) booked our cruise through RCI. Painless. We flew out of Baltimore the day before and stayed at the Ramada Air/Cruise Port. They picked us up at Ft. Lauderdale airport. They have courtesy phone in baggage claim. Took about 15 minutes. We checked in and also signed up for the courtesy shuttle to the pier. The rooms were about $88. Well worth the price. They also have a complimentary hot breakfast. We left the hotel about 11:40 a.m. Pier is 1.5 miles from hotel.

Day 1 -Sign in and security was very smooth. TIP - do online check-in. We were on the ship at 12:15. They said rooms would be ready at 1:00. We went to the windjammer for lunch and then explored a bit. Got to the room around 1:30. TIP #2 - pack your swimsuit in your carry -on and head to the pool or solarium. Our luggage arrived around 5:30 p.m.

We had the early dinner seating. Manuel (Peru) and Adrian (Romania) were our waiters. They were awesome. Went to the show afterwards and did some more exploring. Manuel was our stateroom attendant. He introduced himself and said to call anytime we needed anything. Read more