Having traveled on 3 Carnival Funships prior, we (wife and 2 teen girls) decided to try a different cruise line to compare. This was our first RCI cruise. We set sail on 12/19 on a 3 nite cruise. Lets start at the start..

Flew in the nite before and stayed at the Embassy Suites at the MIA airport. This was our third time employing this strategy and it worked great! Arrived at hotel with enough time to enjoy 90 minutes of their free happy hour. If you like a couple drinks you will love the hotel. Left for the ship around 10:30 am debarkation day...$24 cab ride with no hassles.

Embarkation was WAY easier and smoother than Carnival! We had 2 outside cabins one cabin apart with port hole views (we booked last minute deal and took the assignment at check in). Our request for a fridge was ignored and not noted on our reservation...also, the request for one room to be set up as twin beds was ignored...both requests were fulfilled by our cabin steward within 5 hours of check in. The whole check in to on the ship process took less than 30 minutes! A much better than our experience with Carnival back in March. Read more