Kyle and I drove to Miami from Rochester, NY, which was a long trip but saved us hundreds of dollars as airline tickets were inflated due to spring break. We left Thursday at 4:30 and traveled to Richmond, Virginia where we stayed over night at a Fairfield Inn. We drove all day Friday and made it to Daytona Beach by ten pm. The next morning it was a comparably short four hour trip to the Port of Miami.

Dropping our luggage off was fairly painless once I got a porter's attention with a few dollars in my hand, but parking the car was painfully slow and kind of confusing. We ended up parking in Parking Garage 3 for 140 dollars a week. They must make a killing off that.

Embarkation was very quick and easy. When we stepped into the lobby on deck three we were completely in awe of how stunning the lobby area was. The glass chandelier, tile work, and marble floors are beautiful and made it look very classy. We rode the glass elevators whenever we could. We immediately went to our inside cabin on deck six, where I was impressed by the size of the bathroom, the wonderfully comfortable beds, and the original artwork. Our steward, Elena was very pleasant throughout the cruise and left special touches in our room that we really appreciated. Read more