1. Check In: Very smooth, I live in Sydney, so i dropped in when ship was leaving for previous cruise, and got luggage tags, immigration form & health form. We (our group was 13 pax) got at the terminal around 11.30 am and the luggage handler took our bags and we proceed to the "actual" check in it took us probably 20 minutes to get inside the ship, very easy and well organised. It would be great for Royal Caribbean to provide luggage tags with set sail pass docs (to speed up the process for those who can't get the tags before the day)
2.Once inside we went to the restaurant to have lunch (we were advised that rooms would be ready by 1.00 pm) so we had lunch and about 1.00pm went to our rooms that were ready, bags were delivered soon after (around 3pm) so I was able to unpack before sailing away (last time I unpack during sailing and got a bit sea sick, so it was perfect to have bags before sailing time).
3. Rooms were on the small side,but with lots of storage, I don't regret choosing this category, didn't spend much time in it, as the social areas are so nice, not packed and many venues to hang around.
cabins 8569, 8565 & 8563: All inside (M) very quiet location, good access to lift, and a "short cut" to gym and spa towards the end of the ship. good storage.