This was my wife's 10th cruise and my 6th cruise. We have sailed previously on Princess, Holland, Celebrity, and Royal. I am 31 while my wife is 28, and looking much younger than that. We arrived a day early and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on Se 17th Street. We chose to take the free shuttle from the airport only to find out there were more than one Holiday Inn Express in the area. After taking the shuttle to the wrong hotel we were taken back to the airport to wait for the other shuttle. After about an hour and a half we finally made it to our hotel. In the morning the hotel offered transport to the port for 8 dollars plus tax. We elected to call a cab instead after dealing with the hotels transportation. It was a short ride to the port and only cost 10 dollars - definetly a better deal.

We arrived at the port a little bit after 10am. We never came this early before but were excited to get on the ship. We were assigned a number and waited to board the ship. Around 11:45 we were allowed to check in. Being the first group it took no time to get our ship cards. We jogged up the gangway to the entrance where we met a member of the crew who jokingly stated "No Room". My wife replied "There will be when we throw you off"

After boarding we went to lunch at the Da Vinci dining room. We prefer to have lunch there as the buffet area is usually pretty crowded on the first day. We took a trip around the ship and got our cards stamped at each location. We ended just throwing them out because you have to be at the sailaway party to win a prize - sorry not going in that crowd. Read more