First a little background. This is my second cruise on Royal Caribbean and seventh overall. I have been trying to get my sister and brother-in-law and two nephews to go on a cruise for three years. This is their first Royal Caribbean cruise and third cruise overall. We were at my sister's neighbor's house and we were discussing the cruise. Next thing I know we have the eight neighbors and four of their relatives (the first cruise for all but one). Thanks to my travel agent, I was able to get one of the Royal Family Suites (there are only four on the ship and they were sold out in the first hour of the first day that booking opened). There are six of, as my brother-in-law's sister (her first cruise) joined us (the RFS sleeps up to eight).
Finally in early April we made the final travel arrangements (flights and hotel). Everything seemed to be going fine. Then Delta started changing the flight schedules. My sister and her family's connecting flight layover went from a little over one hour to a little over half an hour (which is a tight connection in Atlanta). They made it to the connecting flight with about ten minutes to spare.
When we landed in Miami (the day before the cruise) I had arranged for a surprise. With six of us plus luggage, I figured that we would need three taxies. So, I decided to surprise everyone with a limo instead. Everyone was quite surprised and it was a great way begin the cruise. We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel on the bay. Now we were all in for a surprise. Apparently, unknowingly, my sister booked us into special rooms with a special check in center and it included a free happy hour and breakfast. Naturally my sister figured I was at it again, but I knew nothing about this either. We all had port view rooms and when we woke up, there was the Freedom of the Seas, just waiting for us.