This was our first cruise ever for my husband and myself (we are in our early thirties, no kids), and we booked by calling RCCL. Note that when we first booked, our room was more pricey. I checked their website about two months before we left and noticed the price had dropped, called them, and they gave me a $100 credit!

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale one night in advance and stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Ft. Lauderdale Airport. Very nice hotel. They pick you up from the airport, and the hotel is right across a large shopping area with a movie theater, lots of restaurants, and a Dave and Busters. Hotel van will take you over there and pick you up! So we ate at Sweet Tomatoes (highly recommend if they do not have these where you live - it's an all you can eat soup, salad, and pasta and dessert buffet) and went to the movies. Breakfast at the hotel is great too, and, they will take you to Port Everglades. Painless drop off and we got right on the ship around noon.

The night before we left I checked our itinerary on-line and saw that it had changed - we were going to Key West first instead of Belize, and having our last day at sea instead of our first day at sea. We didn't care, we were too excited. Read more