I am glad we took this cruise, it was fun. But I must add that I was not "wow-ed" and would not give this experience a 10. First off, I will admit that my experience is colored somewhat by the LONG, long distance we had to come (from Seattle to Miami) for a very short (4-1/2 day) cruise. Bad weather in the East did delay a couple of our flights and made travel a very tiring, cumbersome experience.

This trip was made by me, my husband and our 14 yr. old son. We arrived in Miami the night before the cruise at 1am, and stayed at the Sheraton Miami Mart. Perfectly nice hotel, got a shuttle (5 min.) and had very nice service- Got a great rate there from Hot Wire ($80 a night for 3 of us!!). Next day took a cab ($30!!) to the cruise ship (we were on West Coast time, and getting up to get out of the room by 11am-- 8am Seattle time-- was difficult after our long day of travel the day before).

We have been on 3 previous cruises, but this was our first on Royal Caribbean. I must say that check-in seemed a little more cumbersome and lengthy compared to our other cruises, but went okay. We also did this one "on the cheap", getting a really low fare, a basic cabin, and did not pay for any of the ship's excursions-- just did activities on our own to save $$. Read more