I have never cruised before so Cruise Critic was a great resource. In fact,I spent the last 8 months reading people's reviews and was able to decide on how to schedule our cruise with good success.

There were 7 of us (all women). We decided to leave husbands and kids at home which was a plus because everyone had more freedom and more adult fun. We left from Port Canaveral because it seemed most reviews talked about this being a less hectic port to travel from -- and this proved true.

We were flying from Chicago so we arrived on Saturday since the ship was leaving on Sunday. We flew into Orlando and decided to rent a car from Avis since the Avis agency is located right in the airport not far the from baggage claim area. Read more