We drove to Miami from South Carolina the day prior to sailing. Since our daughter was scheduled to take the SAT that day, we could not drive all the way to Miami and instead drove to Port St. Lucie. We stayed at Homewood Suites, which is about a two-hour drive from the port. It is a very nice, new hotel with an extensive breakfast buffet. We parked at the port parking lot, which was full. We were forced to park along the side, not in an actual parking spot. We were nervous about leaving our car there, but there was no one around to ask about other lots. The only direction we had was from the porter who took our luggage.

It took approximately one hour to board the ship, most of which was waiting on the ship itself to have our picture taken for our ship id. We immediately booked a shore excursion, then had lunch at the buffet, which was very good. Our teenage daughters went to the sail away parties with the teen clubs, Club 02 and Circle C. They didn't like it because most of the other kids had friends or family with them. My kids are not shy; they loved the kids clubs on previous cruises when they were younger, but I think they would have been more comfortable if they could have been in the same club together. My husband and I went to Scarlett's on the first night since they offered a free bottle of wine. It is now $35, but is well worth the money. Everything we tried was delicious and was by far the best meal we had. My husband was delighted that escargot was on the menu.We were in room 8296, which is very convenient to the Lido deck. We were concerned since we were a floor below the Lido deck and heard about noises from chairs being moved overnight. However, we never heard a thing. Our room was very quiet. This is the first cruise where we had a balcony, and I absolutely loved it. I found the layout of the ship difficult to manuever and never completely learned my way around the lower floors.

The ports we visited were Key West, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios. I have been to all of these before. In Key West, we rented bicycles from Paradise Rentals for $10 each. They are on Fitzpatrick St., near the pier, and service was great. It was very easy to get around and much easier than walking. Read more