We are a married couple in our early fifties. Both of us have demanding jobs and have a difficult time coordinating time off. One of my wife's colleagues had this week for vacation but didn't want it. I was able to get leave so we booked this cruise less than three weeks before sailing. It was a true, unexpected treat.

We rolled the dice with hurricane season and won. Hurricanes can certainly affect cruises but we are always more concerned about flights. Every flight we had was right on time. We flew in to Jacksonville the day before the flight and stayed at the Jacksonville Plaza and Suites hotel using their stay and sail program. For $77, we were picked up at the airport, brought to the hotel, transferred to the pier the next morning and returned to the airport at the conclusion of the cruise. The hotel was fine, the staff and drivers were very polite and helpful and there were restaurants in walking distance (we ate at Ruby Tuesday's). I recommend this program as an outstanding value.

Embarkation was fairly smooth. Our shuttle was actually about 20 minutes early and got us to the pier shortly after 10 am. Since we carried on our luggage on the plane, we did the same onto the ship. Although we were on board and at the poolside grill around 11 am, we couldn't get into our cabin until 2:30 pm so we were more or less stuck babysitting our rollaboards during that time. It was our choice, we could have tagged the bags and had them sent up. Read more