A little background information on me. I am 50, DH is 55 and this was our 13th cruise together and my 14th overall. Previous cruises have been on Princess (9) and one each on HAL, RCCL, Carnival, and NCL.

After much debating we settle on this cruise because it was {A} Very budget friendly (We got a resident rate) {B} It sailed from Charleston, SC a city I had always wanted to go to, and {C} It went to Key West. I was ho hum about The Bahamas, but had never been there so I thought "What the heck." We flew from BWI non-stop to Charleston on Southwest a few days early so we could spend a couple of days exploring. Not crazy about Southwest's open seating, but it worked out okay, and the flight was only 1.25 hours each way. I had gotten both our hotel room and rental car via Hotwire, and feel I saved quite a bit of money by doing so. We ended up at a Best Western Plus near the airport, and saved $125+ per night in hotel by staying in North Charleston, rather than the city itself. If you do decided to spend some time in Charleston I highly recommend going to the visitors center downtown first. They sell tickets to many of the area attractions at a discounted rate. For example the plantations along the Ashley River are pricey; Drayton Hall was $19.50pp and Middleton Place was $23.50pp, but at the visitors center I paid a total of $69 for 2 admissions at each plantation. There are also several historic homes that are opened to the public in downtown Charleston; The Aiken-Rhett House, which is preserved rather than restored, and the Nathaniel Russell house which is restored and is jaw-dropping beautiful. The price to visit one was $10pp or $16pp to see both. Other things to do include a Harbor Tour (They have a AAA rate), and just walking around.

On the morning of the cruise portion of our trip we drove back to the airport to drop of the rental, and from there picked up a shuttle ($12pp) that ran into town to catch the ship. It does take passengers to other locations other than the cruise terminal so if pressed for time you might want to consider a cab which I was told would run about $30 for two. Read more