This will probably be the greatest most real cruise post you will ever read!!! We arrived in Miami 4 days early and stayed at the Port of Miami Holiday Inn. Great location because it is so close to the port and we had great views from our rooms. That is where the love fest ends. If you are into clean spacious rooms then this is not the place for you. After our 7 day cruise we stayed at the Crown Plaza in Hollywood close to Hallandale Beach and the place was everything Holiday Inn was not!! We recommend the Crown Plaza for passengers arriving a few days early. It had a great pool, servers serving drinks at the pool, room service, spacious rooms. It was actually like what you would get on the cruise, on land. A trolley takes you for $1 a person to Hollywood Beach which you will love!! Hollywood Beach is located on the Broadwalk facing the Atlantic Ocean and the restaurants are cheap with amazing views!! The restuarants at Bayside at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami are tourist traps!!

We used to live in South Florida and it has changed so much!! Downtown Miami is like a giant homeless shelter!! If you are arriving a day early to cruise then it does not matter where you stay because you are just resting your head before the big day.

Our 1st day at embarkation was great!! It was fast like it always is with Carnival. We were on the ship at 11:15 am. . Half Moon Cay was awesome and Carnival provided lunch and waiters walked around and took drink orders and you could use your sail and sign card to order drinks on the island. St Thomas was spectactular as always with great shopping and great private beaches. Old San Juan is a beautiful city however, has much room for improvement. Considering the amount of tourist that arrive and spend money in Old San Juan you would expect more cleanliness and appealing surroundings like the other islands. What I foud there were dirty streets, closed shops, dumpsters on the plazas, and flies and birds everywhere. The fort was beautiful and is a must see for picture takers. The free trolleys are also a plus!! Grand Turk had amazing beaches. Margaritaville is in walking distance of the beaches and has music and a walk up bar which was great!! Prices are high, but you pay for the convenience. We bought enough drinks to get a nice buzz, but we had lunch on the ship. On our 3rd cruise day we ate at Harry's Steakhouse. We paid $60 for my wife and I and the experience was a food orgasm!!!!! We started with Lobster Bisque which was amazing and then we ate Beefsteake tomatoes with Gorgonzola cheese. We followed with filet mignot and lobster tails and ended with a 4 prong dessert . Pay the extra money for this totally enjoyable evening!! Guys burgers were great!! I had the Reuben at the deli and it was lean and very tasty. The shows from past experience were okay, not great. The past guest reception was great. Here is a tip for past guest. You have 45 minutes for the past guest reception and I brought tips and the waitress stuck to me like glue so I had about 6 free drinks in that span. Great tip if you are looking to save on drinks!! We bought $300 of bar credits and $200 worth of photo coupons months before we sailed and we saved so much money when purchasing bar drinks and pictures on the cruise. You can make these purchases at Carnival.com on the bon voyage packages. Also we are veteran cruisers. We are not uptight and we have a blast when cruising. Every day on your tv hit menu and check your daily folio to see how much you spent. Read more