Despite being the boat that followed Hurricane Dean through the Western Caribbean, we had a wonderful time on our cruise - with our three girls 16, 15, and 8. This was our second cruise. We chose RCI because of the amount of activities for kids. We booked it through RCI timeshares.
Hotels: We arrived late and had Pizza Hut room service for dinner at the Marriott Biscayne Bay - very nice hotel. We were on the backside; nevertheless, the views were stunning (but also a bit scary) of Miami and the Bay at night from the 23rd floor. The place had a nice gym, pool, hammocks, and $1 dollar coke machines. Self-parking was $24.
On the way back we stayed at the Intercon (also a nice hotel) in a guaranteed room with a view and watched the Freedom and Valor leave port from a room with a straight bay window view of the port. Then Monday we saw two of Carnival's ships (Imagination and Majesty?) at port. Parking (valet only) is $34 dollars. Soft drinks are almost $3 in the lobby. And the not so great gym costs $5. There was also some jack hammer noise on Sunday for the construction of their new gym.