We are myself 35, husband 37 and daughter 3 1/2. My husband and I have cruised 7 times previously (on Holland America, Crystal, Princess, Celebrity, Windstar and Radisson Seven Seas).

We arrived in Florida the day before sailing. I can't recommend this enough! Contrary to the airline's insistence that they do 100% bag matching, one of our bags didn't arrive until 12 hours after we did. Luckily they were able to get it to our hotel before we sailed. We stayed at the Hilton in Cocoa Beach. For $35 on hotwire.com it was hard to go wrong but the Hilton is a peculiar hotel. None of the rooms have balconies or allow you to open the windows. The pool deck is very small. It seems like it was built to be in an office park, not on the beach. The Resort on Cocoa Beach is right next door and looked wonderful. We rented a car from Hertz which worked out well. However, don't pay any attention to the people at the return desk when they tell you to wait until noon to go to the port. Go around 11 and you'll be fine. The shuttle driver was very nice and offered to stop to let us pick up drinks or groceries if we wanted.

We met up with an old friend the night before and had a very nice dinner at Cafe Margaux which is in old Cocoa Village. A really cute Victorian place to check out. Read more