For this cruise we booked all of our accommodations through Royal Caribbean; flight, hotel, cruise etc. This made the planning process very easy and hassle free. We received all of our travel documents one month before sailing and we discovered that we were to arrive in Miami one day before our cruise. A hotel and all transfers were pre-arranged for us. Arriving one day before the cruise proved to be a blessing in disguise. We had a very tight connecting flight and our luggage did not make it onto our plane. The airport had our luggage delivered to us, and we received it the day of embarkation. Had we not booked our entire vacation through RC we might not have given ourselves an extra day. Without that extra day we might not have gotten our luggage until we arrived in Grand Cayman, day four of our cruise!
Embarkation was extremely smooth; the entire process took us no more than 15 minutes. We arrived at the ship at about 1:30 and there were very few lines, much of the crowd was already on the ship.
The ship was UNBELIEVABLE! We felt as if we were in a luxurious hotel. The Promenade satisfies every need from food, to jewelry, to clothes and even entertainment. The pool deck was incredible. The H2O zone was busy with young children, allowing for the other pools to be less crowded. Poolside drinks are plentiful, great music in the form of a steel drum band was heard on most days. There were an abundance of lounge chairs throughout the entire day. True you might not get a chair located next to the pool, but we didn't spend much time on our chairs as we were in the pool most of the time. Try and make your way to the helipad, as it makes for an incredible view of the ship cutting through the sea.