Flew into Fort Lauderdale the night before. There were 8 of us (two families), so we tried to do this on a budget. Took the tri-rail,metro rail and metro mover from Fort Lauderdale airport to downtown Miami-Holiday Inn. We thought we would be able to view the city from the tri-rail as we could not check into our hotel until 4:00. I will never do that again. I found the train to be filthy. We were able to check in our bags at the Holiday Inn downtown Miami-good for a one night stay for the money. Walked across the street to the Biscayne Market-I was expecting a mall. It was kind of neat. Right at the marina, lots of music, people and little stores-very loud though. They have a food court upstairs that we ate at. Had some drinks on the dock at night. It was beautiful. Watched all of the big ships come and go. Cab ride was only $10.00 plus we tipped him. Brought the allowable limit for wine (1 per adult). We had pre-ordered some alcohol from the Bon Voyage Department-They do not advertise this online-you must phone them. $40 for a liter of Absolute Vodka, and $38 for 1 liter Canadian Club Rye. Husbands decided-no no, we need more alcohol, so they went to the liquor store and bought more. Packed them well, and then checked them with no problems. Needless to say, they were the bartenders with the friends we had made on the cruise.

We were at the port for 11:30-checked in absolutely no problems. Seemed to have the entire ship to ourselves to explore. Had lunch on the Lido deck and then the feasting began.Food was out of this world-non stop. Rooms were very comfortable considering there were 2 adults and 2 teens. The beds were pushed together to make a king and I had the best sleep. The bunks folded down from the wall. It wasn't too congested at night. Make sure you are organized-bring ziplock bags, both medium and small. I had sewn together an over the door closet organizer with pouches in it. My husband thought I was nuts-but it really came in handy. We just threw it away when the cruise was over. Also brought a shoe organizing that hangs on the curtain rod. I would bring a dollar store mesh hamper the next time. I wasn't planning on doing laundry-but I did. I had never seen my husband do laundry so this also was a highlight of my trip-I brought my own laundry soap and fabric softener. They sell theirs for $2.00 each. Get your quarters at the pursers desk. Yes, make sure you bring an extension cord, but NOT with three prongs on it. Washrooms were small but incredibly efficient. Bring your own shampoo and conditioner and soap. They have shampoo and gel-but I prefer my own. Our room steward was Anand. He was so sweet. We had prepaid our gratuities, but gave him an extra $20 at the beginning. He was great. ice bucket full, extra towels. Make sure you read the ships layout ahead of time-you will NOT regret it. It does get confusing. Ports of calls were Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios. You can take Carnival's blue towels ashore. I just brought hand towels as they not as bulky or heavy. Trust me you are not shivering when you come out of the water. Booked shore excursions with Moby Dick Tours for $35pp. They took us snorkeling at the reef and swimming with the stingrays. I was so sad when the day ended. It was an incredible experience. I bought water shoes at home from Wal-Mart for $6.95 per pair. We brought our own snorkels and masks and used their flippers. The ship sells just the masks for $5.00. I didn't see any shoe rental places. make sure you bring an underwater camera. I bought 2 from Wal-Mart at $9.00 each for disposable. But the ship sells reusable water cameras for around $10.00-just put your own film in it. Moby Dick sells them for $20.00-the tour was great and I would definitely recommend them. They allowed us to play with the stingrays. Friends that we had met were so disappointed with Carnivals excursions. Carnival's tour guides kept yelling at the people, there were too many people - so not everyone seemed to be able to play with the stingrays. People had said how expensive it was in Cayman. A can of pop was $2.00-just have a large breakfast in the morning-you should be fine for the rest of the day. Too much to do to think about food. In Ocho Rios we went to Dunns River Falls and River Tubing. Booked with Phil Lafayette Tours. $55pp and totally worth every penny. Phil's daughter Tammy was our guide. She told us everything about the island, sand some local songs to us-answered any of our questions. When we went to the falls-we were told to wear our watershoes, just our bathing suits, money to get in ($15 pp) and money if you wanted to tip your guide. We kept our bags on their locked bus and never had any problem. I had a waterproof container. You can buy one on the ship for $6.00-well worth the money-I kept our sail and sign cards, money and my small regular camera in it along with copies of our passports. You DO need photo ID. You can bring your driver's license. We felt foolish in our bathing suits while everyone else was in their regular clothes and had their bags-BUT they ended up having to rent lockers for $15.00. The falls were amazing-again bring your water camera. You can ask your tour guide to take pictures. Our tour guide was Colonial Saunders-he was fabulous. The was was freezing cold, but half way up you got used to it. It was lots of fun-make sure to bring watershoes or they can rent them to your for $5.00-Again, friends of ours who had booked with Carnival said they were not given any talks by their guide on the history of Jamaica. They paid an arm and a leg and felt the entire time they were being yelled at and forced to have their photos taken. We tipped our guide $10. Once you got to the top of the falls-trust me, you didn't need a towel. The market was their with the vendors-don't give them your name-or they will make jewelry with your name and you may feel obligated to buy. Also, don't take anything in your hand or they will say SOLD. Our tour guide did what ever we wanted. They took us to Fern Gully. She took us to some inexpensive local artisans but we wanted to go to a tourist type mall. So she took us to one of the two main ones (not the Taj Mahal but the other one). River tubing was fun as well. Don't bring any money or towels. Just your watershoes, water camera and bathing suit.

The last night the Gallery gift store beside the dynasty lounge has a blow out sale-some pretty good deals, but not the stuff in the gift shop. They had some pretty good deals. 2 t shirts for $10. The photos seemed pricey. $7.99 or $8.99 for one. On my comment card, I told them they would probably sell more if they didn't cost so much. I couldn't justify spending that kind of money. We did our own self assist disembarkation and were off in no time. This time we paid for a shuttle to our Hotel in fort lauderdale-Ocean Sky Resort-it was good for one night stay. We had paid $160 plus tip as driver was great. The beaches in fort lauderdale were breathtaking. Our total said and sign bill was $384.00. Oh, and in Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios, our husbands bought beer and took them on with no problems. The 4 beer in the bucket cost about $23 (this was for the bigger cans-it seemed reasonable). My extra money that surprisingly made it home with, will go into my cruise account for the next one. Enjoy every second of it from the minute it starts until the end.