My wife and I are in our mid 50's, retired (I am disabled due to Multiple Myloma), and we spend half our year in our hometown of Clayton NY in the Thousand Islands and half in Winter Haven, Fl. We therefore drove to Miami for the cruise from Winter Haven, an easy trip down route 27, and free parking with my disabled sticker. I booked the cruise one week prior to sailing, got a great price on an ocean view cabin which became even better with an instant upgrade to a balcony concierge room!! No who could complain about a cruise after that?

Embarkation was a breeze, we were on board by noon (perhaps 20 minutes after parking the car). The rooms were closed until one so we had lunch at the buffet (the dining room was not open) and toured the ship while waiting. After dropping our stuff in the room we toured the ship some more and after the dreaded life boat drill (not as bad as some we've had to do) we met a cruise critic group in the bar topside aft. It was a small group but we had a nice chat and met some of them on board latter. In fact we were pleasantly surprised when one of the couples ended up being at our Dinner table!!!!

The room was great, maybe a tad small, but the amenities for the concierge class were nice and our first balcony was very nice. The steward did a terrific job, no issues what so ever. The dining room staff as well were a wonderful team, we ate all of our dinners in the dining room. Read more