My husband and I are in our 40's and this is our 8th cruise. We have been on RCI, Carnival, and Disney. Our group consisted of us, my brother in-law, sister in-law, Mother in-law, and four kids: two 19, one 11, and one 10. Two of the kids have cruised before as has my Mother in-law. The others were new to the cruise experience. We booked through our TA as part of a group she had going.

Day before:

We flew down on NWA the day before the cruise. We stayed at Holiday Inn Bayside in Miami. This hotel has had good reviews by others on CC and I was excited to check it out. I did not think it was all it was cracked up to be. Yes, the view from some of the rooms is great but others had ones that overlooked a parking lot for the same price. We had rooms 508 and 509 that had great views but the other family was in 420 or something like that. The rooms were also various sizes and the group with four to a room had a very small room...not much different than the ship. We had damages in our room that were minimal but for the price paid seemed unreasonable. I would not stay there again because I have had better or the same rooms on the ocean in Miami for a greatly reduced price than was at this hotel. It seemed wrong to have people walking through the hotel restaurant to get to the pool. I wouldn't want to eat there with people dripping wet from the pool walking next to my table. I am not crazy about people doing that on the ship either when I am in the buffet. When eating on deck, it is expected. Read more