I cruised with my mother (72), daughter, niece, and nephew (13,14,15) on the Freedom of the Seas to the Western Caribbean on Presidents Week. All but one of us had cruised before. We had a great time but a few items, both positive and negative, stood out.

The trip started on a memorable, though unpleasant, note. We flew into Miami the night before departure. In the interest of saving a few dollars I had booked us into the affordable and convenient Days Inn Miami Airport North. This proved to be a terrible mistake.

After gathering our luggage we walked out to the sidewalk to take advantage of our selected hostelry's free shuttle. After a long wait I called the hotel to check on the shuttle's arrival time. Perhaps we were suppose to wait somewhere else or call to let them know we had arrived. The conversation was a bit disconcerting. The front desk clerk seemed annoyed that I would disturb him with such a question. I was informed the shuttle would be there in fifteen minutes. Indeed it was. It blew past at 30 mph completely full and the driver did all he could to not see my windmilling arm. Back to the cell phone. The same paragon of cheerfulness grunted that the next shuttle should be there in fifteen minutes. We headed for the taxi line. Read more