Hi all, here's a little info on me. My Given name is Noel C Ridge Jr. I'm a Systems Engineer for Sikorsky Aircraft. I'm 37 a certified diver since 94 and single. My Father Passed on a little over a year and a half ago, I was traveling with my mom who really needed to get out of her house and relax. This was my first Cruse and certainly not my last! During the online check-in process I discovered I was upgraded from a deluxe balcony room in deck 6 (184sq ft) to a superior ocean view (206 sq ft) stateroom!

We flew in to Miami Saturday afternoon on American airlines our flight departed and arrived on time, but after watching the baggage handlers I wish I had purchased cheaper luggage. During its ride on the conveyors and/or watching the handlers throw the luggage onto the loading belt the bags were slightly damaged although all of the contents arrived in once peace. Once in Miami I made the mistake of going with one of the local shuttle services instead of SupperShuttles or one of the other large shuttle operators. The ride was comfortable and safe but the driver first stopped at the carnival dock area where I got off the bus and caught carnival offloading one of my bags in error. When I arrived at the navigators dock I discovered they had offloaded two of my bags! I and the shuttle service driver went back to the carnival dock where their porters and ship personnel were no of no help. When I explained what happened there security was rude would not let me look for my bags even escorted and kept insisting that there was no way one of their porters would take a bag that didn't have a Carnival tag on it. That they had no area for which to place such a bag in the event something like that happened. After about 30 min of calm but heated conversation with a loading Forman and security I proceeded to the carnival office to discuss the situation with an officer or manager on the way I discovered my bag sitting on the sidewalk near the office doors. Upset about the whole event I grabbed my bag and me and the shuttle driver went back to Royal Caribbean's much better organized and cleaner dock area. I will never sail on carnival after this little problem because of their apparent lack of concern over my bag or willingness to help resolve the problem!

The boarding process was well organized refreshments were provided while we waited. We quickly boarded and found our stateroom. It was made up as a single queen bed but the staff was more than happy to reconfigure the bed to two singles. The only problem was with ship security. I am a diver and brought my own gear aboard. I discovered security had left a message on the room phone concerning one of my bags. Apparently they had an issue with me having a small blunt knife called a dive tool its about the size of a medium stake knife and the only sharp part on the knife is a line cutter used incase a diver is tangled in fishing line or other debris. They would let me take it out in ports but my dives were booked for early morning and the process of retrieving and returning the knife upon to security may have resulted in missing my appointments so I risked diving without it. I did fill out a complaint on the comment card at the end of the cruse. Hopefully they will take safety devices into consideration in the future because you could do more damage with a stake or butter knife than with a dive tool. The room service and food onboard was fantastic! I didn't have a meal that I didn't like the selections in the dinning room were excellent and prepared expertly. All of the crew seemed cheerful and happy to serve. There were so many things to see and do on this ship form miniature golf to basketball! The pools were clean and well maintained and both room and pool towels were provided for use in our rooms! The shows were very good I did eat in Jonny Rockets for lunch on Friday the 3rd the shakes were fantastic, the burgers very very good and the fries and onion rings were average. Worth the 4.00 cover charge, maybe I still haven't decided yet, if the shakes were included yes but they weren't so I have to say maybe you'll have to decide on your own&I could go on and on but I won't, I will say that my stay on the navigator was well beyond my expectations and I will be sailing with royal Caribbean again! Read more