Coming home to this cold weather makes me wish I had a BB cruise booked. Our cruise started by driving from Maryland to Port Canaveral (906 miles)we took my father, step mom and 2 of her relatives with us on the drive. They did not go on the cruise with us, they stayed with family on the east coast. My sister, her hubby and 2 adult kids went with us. The first night we stayed at Country Inn and Suites which is about 5 minutes from the port. They have a terrific breakfast, nice rooms, and we choose their park and cruise package. We were assigned the 11:30 shuttle which was on time. Very friendly drivers, although they do let you know tips are appreciated.

From the time we got in line at the port it took 20 minutes until we were on the ship. This is our first cruise with Royal, so no special perks for faster boarding. Our room was ready at 1:30, I got busy wih all the normal things, unpacking and drinking :) We walked around the ship getting tons of pictures while everyone was in the Windjammer. There were 4200 guests on the ship but it never felt crowded, there are plenty of places to go to escape if you choose to.

Day 1 was at sea, we played trivia, got some sun and visited the casino (I won $500) Hubby and I went to the meet and greet and met some very nice people, some we saw again, others we didn't. This was also our first formal night. It was fun getting dressed up and scouting out various locations to get our picture taken. Pictures turned out great, the photographers do a really good job!!Day 2 Labadee, the water was cold, so we didn't stay in too long, but it was beautiful. I didn't go to the market area, as my niece said she got the typical hassle you find on some islands. It was extremely windy so they closed the zipline early. I'm too chicken to try the zipline, those who did it looked like they were having fun. I tried the roller coaster, it was fun and you can control how fast or slow you go. It cost $19 per person per ride, and was worth it for the view and experience. The buffet was ok, nothing special, they had ribs, chicken, burgers and hot dogs. As we were returning to the ship, we got stuck in a really long line. After about 10-15 minutes we noticed the line wasn't moving. We walked to the side of the building in time to see a helicopter land on the pier. There was a medical emergency on the ship involving a man, that's all the information we ever got. I hope and pray he is ok. Read more