I had dreamed of cruising since the third grade. I was fascinated with cruise ships growing up. I read nearly every cruise line's brochure cover to cover. I begged my parents to take me on a cruise, but at the time our family couldn't afford to go on one, so the closest I ever got was the pier in New York. Mom would always say "when you get your own job and start making your own money, then you can take your cruise." Fast forward fifteen years. I'm a year and some change out of college and into the working world. I now have time for my first post-college vacation. So of course a cruise came to mind!
I had originally planned on this as being a single-oriented vacation for myself. I booked a room on the Carnival Fascination for the sailing for Halloween 2007, not through any sort of "single's" group or anything, but just myself on a cruise that is known for having people my age on it. But alas, between booking and sailing, I began what has been a great relationship with my girlfriend, and when it seemed like we were going strong, I rebooked. As she's a schoolteacher, we rebooked for the week of her spring break.
Took Amtrak's "Silver Meteor" from the colder environs of the New York Metropolitan Area and got into Miami 45 minutes early. From there we got a cab to the Greenview South Beach hotel, where we got a good night's sleep (albeit at the expense of taking part in South Beach nightlife) for cruise morning. Cruise morning was spent on Miami Beach, walking around the beach and the city, taking in the sights. At check-out time we hailed another cab for the cruise terminal, and got to the port around 12:45.