I traveled with my husband and 16 other people. We flew into Miami the day before and stayed at the Sheraton Miami international airport. Hotel was nice and had no complaints other than it was not around any local shops. We had to take a shuttle or taxi for any type of shopping that we wanted to do.
Embarkation:
We arrived to the pier around 12:30..big mistake. The line wrapped around the building and only got longer the longer we waited. It took us about an hour to get into the building and to go through security. Security in the port was very strict as they pulled many people aside and checked water bottles and soda bottles for alcohol. We waited in line to check in for about another half hour/45 minutes and once we were checked in (which took 5 minutes) we headed up to wait in line and get our photo taken together. After getting the picture taken we were directed through the gangway onto the ship. Our travel companions who were about a half hour ahead of us were still waiting on the ship to get in. The line stretched from the deck 4 boarding doors to the very end of the ship and went both directions (left and right). There had to be HUNDREDS of people waiting to get their boarding picture taken and to get on the ship. We waited in this line for about another hour. This was by far the WORST boarding experience that I have EVER encountered! Our luggage arrived to our rooms before we did.