My boyfriend (25) and I (26) just got back from our first cruise and had a great time. We left out of the Port of Miami. We flew into Ft. Lauderdale, the day before we cruised, and rented a car to get into Miami. It was cheaper for us to rent a car then for us to take a cab or other transportation service. We stayed at the Radisson in downtown Miami. We paid $70 and got exactly what we paid for. I was not at all impressed with this hotel. I found it to be not well maintained. However it was okay for what we paid for. In the afternoon we went to Bayside Marketplace for lunch. We ate at a really neat Cuban restaurant right on the pier. We drove the rental car the mile and a half to get there and spent about thirty minutes looking for a parking spot. We finally decided to pay the $10 to park in the parking garage. Later in the evening we returned to Bayside Marketplace for dinner. This time we decided to take the People Movers. This was actually pretty fun and I am glad that we experienced that. Bayside Marketplace was great and we really enjoyed spending time there. For dinner we ate at Hard Rock, we just couldn't decide where to go so that was a safe decision. Bayside Marketplace had live entertainment and many other things going on to look at. On the way back to the hotel we decided to take a cab instead of the people mover just because the neighborhood was not the greatest. We went to the line of cabs outside Bayside and told the first driver that we needed to go to the Radisson. He told us to go tell this other driver who was about 50 feet away on his cell phone. We go and tell this driver that we would like to go to the Radisson. He put us in the back of a cab, then went and got in the cab behind ours and took off, with us sitting in an empty cab. We decided just to walk back to the room. I guess they didn't want to take us to our hotel because they would give up their spot in the line and not make very much money. Oh well, the walk back was a bit scary but we made it back.

First day: We arrived to the Port around 11am and were on the ship by noon. It was a very quick and easy process. Once onboard we walked around the ship to get familiar with it. The ship was very nice and clean. I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the gold and dated dEcor, however it was still nice. After looking around the ship it was time for the Muster Drill. This also was very quick and easy. The first evening we hung out by the pool drinking way to many of the "Fun Ship" drink. We ended the night at the disco.

Second day: We were both very tired and spent most of the morning in bed and the afternoon lying out by the pool. This was our formal night. This was also the first night we ate dinner in the dinning room. The dinning room staff was wonderful and really added to our experience. Read more