This trip was a "Moms-and-kids" Trip. My son (7) and I flew into Ft. Lauderdale and met my friend and her three kids (daughters 13 & 10, son 6) who flew in from a different airport. We got picked up in a Chrysler 300 stretch limo by limosofmiami.com. They were okay..nothing special.

We stayed one night at the Holiday Inn - Port of Miami. I had requested a room on a high floor with a view of the port...got exactly what I wanted! We were on the 10th floor with a great view. We watched the ships sail out that night and when we woke in the morning, our ship was there! We ate lunch and dinner at the Bayside Marketplace and did a little shopping. We also walked to Walgreens to buy some things we forgot to pack. We had the breakfast buffet at the hotel since it was included in my price...it was good. Then we were off to the port. The doorman at the hotel was very helpful in getting everyone loaded up.

Embarkation: We arrived right around 11am. The cab driver told us we were way too early...he was a little grumpy that morning. Anyway, we were dropped off, passed our luggage to the porter, and walked in the doors. We were on the ship in less than an hour. We went to check out our rooms and drop off our carry-on bags. Both cabins were ready so we dropped stuff off and went to check out the ship. Read more