We booked our cruise 5 days before the cruise date of Dec 5th. Royal Caribbean had a terrific deal and we couldn't pass it up. We let them pick our cabin and within 2 days we had our cabin number, it was an ocean view cabin on deck 3, cabin 3538. This was our 4th Royal Caribbean cruise and we had a great time. The ship is in excellent shape and very easy to figure out where you are and where you wanted to go.

We stayed at the Radisson at the Port and used their Park and Cruise package. We caught their shuttle at 1115 and we were on board the ship by 1150. The embarkation was extremely smooth and we were surprised how quickly it went.

The cabins weren't ready till 1 PM so we went to the Schooner lounge on Deck 5 to relax and enjoy an adult libation or 3. We bought the drink package before we arrived, it was 20% cheaper than buying it on board. The cost of most cocktails was $11.00 so it only took 5 per day to make it worth while. 4 margaritas per day plus a couple of glasses of wine with dinner plus bottled water saved us money. For us it was worth it. Read more