Pre-cruise -- Through Priceline, we spent one night at the Miami Doubletree Grand Hotel Biscayne Bay. Arrived early, before noon, and were allowed to check in. The rooms were large, clean and well appointed. The hotel staff was extremely nice and accommodating. From our room, we could see three ships in port, which added to our anticipation of the upcoming week.

Day 1 - Embarkation -- This was the end of daylight savings time and I thought that when I woke up, I turned my watch back. It was our intention to get to the pier around noon, however with my watch "malfunction" we arrived at the pier, by taxi, around 11:15 a.m. We had to wait about 5 or 10 minutes before we were allowed to enter the check-in area. Check in took less than 15 minutes, and we were on board. We were told the rooms would not be available until 1:00 p.m., but that we were allowed to go to our rooms to drop off our things and change clothes. As it turned out, our room was ready and our cabin Steward, Enoch, greeted us almost immediately to introduce himself and see if we had any special requests. We had two cabins - my husband and I were in a balcony and across the hall, in an inside cabin, was our 12 year old son and his best friend. Both cabins were laid out well with plenty of storage space and I just love having a balcony.

We pre-tipped Enoch $20, asked for ice and for the beds in the kid's cabin to be separated. We changed clothes and headed for lunch and the pool area. When we returned to our cabins a couple of hours later, we had a very large ice bucket filled with ice and the kid's beds were in their new configuration. This was a (good) sign of things to come. We spent the rest of the afternoon getting familiar with the ship. The kids (yeah, right - just the kids!) were so excited about this cruise and the amazing ship. There was so much to do, it's impossible to get bored - even for two very jaded 12 year olds!! Read more