A little background- This is the 3rd cruise for me (29) and the 2nd for my husband (30). The last cruise we did was the Eastern Caribbean on the Carnival Triumph.

Day 1 Arrival We had a 5:50 flight out of Minneapolis/St. Paul to Miami. It was early but that was OK since we didn't fly in a day earlier. We did not arrange for transfers through Royal Caribbean-the taxis are only about $24 and this way we didn't have to wait for a whole group to get their luggage. We were able to get to the pier around 11:00 am. A porter rushed up and grabbed our luggage (we gave him a really nice tip because we wanted to make sure our luggage made it onto the ship) and we went inside the terminal. We went right to the desk and showed our passports and we received our Sea Passes. We stood in line to get on the ship and we went straight to the Windjammer (they give you a map when you arrive) for lunch since the rooms weren't ready. It was 12:00 noon when we were sitting down to eat so it was a pretty painless process. My husband also got the soda package with the cup. With the tax, tip and cup, it was about $53 total. After lunch, our room was ready so we went to put our carryons down and look around the ship. We had room 8607, a Promenade facing room. We walked around and took some pictures for awhile. I think the Muster drill was at 4:30 pm. It didn't take a long time and it was really organized. I watched us sail away and then it was time for dinner. We were in the Coppelia for the main seating and were disappointed to see that no one else joined us that night. We really wanted to sit with some other people. Dinner was good and I think we just walked around after and went to bed early-it had been a long day.

Day 2 At Sea I was up at about 7 and I went to the gym and the Windjammer. I went back to the room and then I headed out to the pool for a long day in the sun. My husband slept in and went to the gym and joined me at about 1pm. I had a really nice chair right by the pool. I had planned on being in the solarium all day but there wasn't any sun in there when I first got outside. They had the Men's Sexy Legs contest and belly flop contest. It was really busy but there was never a problem with hogging chairs or anything. For a seat by the pool you need to get there before 9am. I ran to the Windjammer and grabbed a plate and brought it back to the pool with me. We had a Meet and Mingle at 11:30 and realized we had missed it. It was such a nice day, it would have been hard to go inside! Afterwards, we went back to the room and found out that we were put at a different table. The note said Better location and by the window. It was the 1st formal night so we got ready and went to dinner. We were thrilled to discover we had 4 tablemates from the UK. After being with your spouse all day, sometimes it's nice to have other people to talk to when dinner comes around. We couldn't have asked for better people to sit with, they were wonderful and we looked forward to going to dinner. Read more