Embarkation: We arrived at the port at about 9:45 AM. We are a family of 5 adults: myself, husband and 3 adult kids ages 24, 22, and 19. 4 of us unloaded the luggage, and my husband went to park the car. We were dropped off at pier 90, took our luggage in to the terminal and were told that the ship was in pier 92 so we had to exit the terminal and walk with our luggage to pier 92. This was not difficult because there were 4 of us, but just be aware of which pier the ship is at and get dropped off there, to avoid this. (Cruiseclues.com has a great cruise schedule where you can find out which pier your ship is at).

It was really no big deal for us, and once in the correct terminal, we gave our luggage to the porter with a good tip and we were off to check in. We got in line and just as it was our turn my husband joined us to check in. This procedure was amazingly EASY and FAST. Our photos were taken, we received our ship cards and we were off upstairs to the Latitudes waiting area. We met up with 4 of our Beach Bum friends from Cruise Critic. We were on the ship before 12N.

We were told that our rooms would not be ready until 2 so we asked if we could drop off our carry-ons in our room, which they allowed us to do. We picked up a Freestyle and were off to a wonderful lunch with our family and 2 of our new cruise critic friends, Robb and Angela, (Bobar). We had a wonderful lunch, great table, #64 and great service. Read more