My husband and I have taken five cruises in the past ten years, prior to this Cruise. Three cruises were on Carnival (Hawaii, Bahamas, Southern Caribbean), one on Holland American (Alaska) and one on Norwegian (Western Caribbean). This was our first Royal Caribbean cruise. We enjoyed all of the cruises. I spent many hours on the Internet, researching the ports of call for this cruise. I knew just want I wanted to do at each port.
My husband, two friends and I took this cruise together. We live in Texas so we drove to Galveston. We arrived at the cruise ship terminal at 1:00. Normally, we were able to board the ship within 30 minutes but because of the extra security, we waited in lines for two hours. Better safe than sorry.
My husband, friends and I love to walk so we did a walking tour of Key West. Most of the neighborhoods were beautiful. We walked past a beautiful lighthouse, pretty coastal homes and an interesting old cemetery. The Hemingway home was closed but we looked at it from the sidewalk. The Hemingway home tours end at 4:00 so get there early. There were many cats on the property. Do not miss the sideshows and crafts on the boardwalk between 6:00 pm and dark. It is a couple blocks from the ship and very interesting.