We cruised together as a family -- my brother and sister-in-law, my two year old niece, and my parents. My parents were originally in a mini-suite on Dolphin, but were upgraded to a full suite on Caribe, which was very nice all around. We "kids" were in two adjacent rooms on Aloha, midship side of the aft lifts, port side. I really liked this location -- it was close to the pool and the Horizon Court, and we were on the proper side to reach our assigned dining room, yet we still weren't too far from midship.

We arrived at the port around 12:45. The embarkation process was reasonably smooth. We had a ton of luggage (in my father's terms, it looked like "we were moving to Australia"). But we found a porter easily and got squared away. The check-in and security lines weren't too bad. My mom, who has some trouble walking distances, was given assistance without asking. My parents were only told at check in that their room assignment had been changed, so they didn't know they'd been upgraded until they arrived at their suite. A few minutes of uncertainty was well worth it, as the suite and its amenities were very nice.

We separated from my parents to find our own cabins. I'd requested an egg crate and it was on the bed when I arrived, and most of my luggage was already there, too. We had lunch at the buffet before the muster drill, which was fairly quick and easy. Read more