Let me just start by saying that when I was younger, my parents took me on the Big Red Boat one time on a three night sailing. At the time of five years old, I remember not being very impressed with the old, dirty ship. The characters provided by Warner Brothers probably made up for it at the time, but whatever.

My parents have always been frequent cruisers, but often times without my sister and I. When they would tell us how great the cruise ships truly are on the inside (everything you can't see on the outside), we would kind of just nod and go along with it. That is, until my sister and I ventured on the Millennium with my parents in the Spring of '02.

From the second we arrived on the ship in Fort Lauderdale and were served champagne by the man who led us to our cabin, we started to realize why our parents would rave so much about cruises. I shared an oceanview stateroom with my sister, and it wasn't too small, it was perfect sized. I don't remember ever feeling cramped, even while sharing one bathroom with a 16 year old sister. Read more