The night before our cruise out of Port Canaveral we stayed at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Port Canaveral. This is a great place to stay the night before the cruise. They offer a free shuttle to the cruise dock and also free cruise parking. They also offer free wi-fi. We had a problem with our rental car from the airport. We rented from National because we were told they offered a shuttle to and from the car rental office to the cruise. When we called the local office of National we were told they do not pick up at the cruise terminal or offer any kind of shuttle. Luckily the Radisson offers a free shuttle to local area places so they took us to National to return the car. Luckily we were able to book a car through Avis that does pick up at the pier and offers a free shuttle.

Embarkation at port canaveral was very smooth and we were on the ship by 1:00. We went straight to our cabin and met our cabin steward Jose. The cabin was nice and we had a balcony room with a bunk for my son and daughter. We had lunch at the red sail and everything was good. We had late seating dinner in the golden dining room at 8:30. Our server was Saman from Sri Lanka and his assistant was Benj. They were a great team and did whatever they could to make our dinners special. We mostly ate lunch at the deli, and my daughter loved the french fries at the hamburger and hot dog place. Of course we had to stop for an ice cream cone at the 24 hour ice cream place daily.

We didn't book an excursion for the Bahamas because we weren't there that long and we had been there before. My daughter got her hair braided at the licensed braiders right by the ship dock. Very expensive, it cost $120.00 and she only got the front part of her head braided. Went to the straw market and did a little shopping, then went back on the ship. Read more