My DW and I flew in separately. She flew to Ft. Lauderdale, and I flew to Miami 2 days before embarking. We stayed at the Doral Resort. Absolutely beautiful. Played the Blue Monster in 5:30 hours. No marshal until I finally called someone. Had dinner at the champions restaurant. Took 1:30 hours to get our meal, they lost our ticket and our waiter was lost for a while. Otherwise, a good experience.

Took a cab to the port via liquor store to pick up our 2 bottles of wine. Embarkation was a breeze and nobody would take the bottles of wine from me, so I took them to the lido deck and then to the room. Had a blast from the great service to the wonderful weather. The room was a little warm for my taste, but I love cold rooms. It was bigger than I expected, since it was my first cruise. We decided not to book any excursions, as they are too expensive and structured for our taste. We decided to walk around Key West and shop. Our son got a henna tattoo that he thought was too cool. I woke up at 4 am before porting in Key West, I wanted to watch the process. I was fascinated, no pun intended. Enjoyed coffee and conversation with a gentleman from Kentucky while waiting for port.

After leaving Key West, I went to the pool with wife and kid in tow. We had a good time. I went down the slide and made the kids laugh at the big splash that I made. We had formal night that night and our son went to Camp Carnival. He was not thrilled, but he is 10. We had a wonderful experience with our waiter Shetty. He was as good a waiter as I have ever had. I brought one of the bottles of wine from the stateroom. We enjoyed the atmosphere and the food, although not the quality I was expecting. Read more