My family--me, my husband and our 12-year-old son--are all platinum members in the Crown and Anchor club. We firmly believe that the best and most relaxing vacation is on a ship--for us, a RCCL ship.
Embarkation: We took a taxi from the airport. It was a short trip, and very easy. Upon arrival, we handed over our luggage. We went through the metal detectors and right up to an agent. This was about 3:00pm or so. We were on the ship within 30 minutes of arriving at the dock.
Room: Our room was the first one we've ever booked with a balcony. It was an aft balcony which was problematic in that we were not over the water, but instead in from the water about 20 feet. It was very nice, though, because it was probably twice as large of a balcony as they have on the sides of the ship. We even had a lounge chair on it where I did nap occasionally. One problem was that, as non-smokers, we did have to endure some smoke from the crew (there was a crew walkway just below our balcony) and from fellow passengers (on their balconies). The room was clean and our room steward was almost invisible.