Background I am 28 (2 previous cruises) and my DH is 26 (1 previous cruise). All previous cruises were 7 nights on Carnival and this was our first with RCL. I was lucky enough to find a one day sale that got us an amazing rate for the cruise. Neither one of us are big partiers/drinkers. We were both looking forward to a relaxing vacation full of afternoon naps, beachside lounging and generally taking it easy.

Pre-cruise Stay in New Orleans This was a repositioning cruise so we flew into New Orleans the day before the cruise. Our flight was uneventful and we checked into the Embassy Suites (right on Julia Street, down the road from the terminal) around 10PM. We missed the complementary happy hour early in the evening but enjoyed the free breakfast buffet the next morning. We were pleased with our room (11th floor regular hotel room) which was very clean and had a balcony with views of downtown. When we woke up in the morning, we went to the hall balcony and were able to see the Grandeur ready for us to come aboard. We decided to check out the ship by the Riverwalk mall early thinking we would not be able to board until 2:00 (according to our docs), but were pleasantly surprised when we ran into a crew member who said embarkation would start at 10:30/11:00.

Embarkation We took a cab from the Embassy to the terminal (somehow we were charged $15 to go 3 blocks- I think we were scammed) around 10:45. Porters took our luggage and we were quickly whisked into the terminal to get our set sail passes. There was no line and were processed in less than 5 minutes. We then had to wait about 15 minutes before they started letting passengers go through security and board the ship. We were on the ship and exploring by 11:15. Read more