Background: This was my husband and mine third cruise and second with the kids. Two boys ages 15 and 17. We also travelled with friends with three boys 14, 18 and 18 who had never cruised before. We flew into Miami the day before from Detroit Metro and stayed at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami. This is an excellent choice for those looking to be close to the port. The hotel accommodations were fine and we received a room overlooking the port so we could see "our" ship in the morning! Bayside Marketplace was fun to browse through with many places to eat. We also did the Island Queen boat tour around the bay which was fun.

Embarkation: We were up and about early and ended up at the port about 10:30am. We were one of the first to check-in and were given a zone 1 entry number! Yea! I really wanted to be on board early to grab one of those cabanas at Half Moon Cay. We waited about 2 hours but the time was passed watching the last stragglers getting off our ship. About 12:30pm we were able to board the ship. I went right to the excursion desk to book said cabana and boy was I glad I did. There was already a couple of people in line and soon there was an extended line behind me. After booking the cabana I joined the DH and DS's on the Lido deck for my first of MANY DOD's and a wonderful hot pastrami sandwich from the deli. Rooms were ready about 1:30pm and soon we were all settled in for the week. Totally zoned on our meet and greet for the cruise critic group and was bummed I never got to meet any of them.

Cabin/Ship: We had a balcony cabin on the upper level (forward) with the boys across the hall in an interior room. The cabins were very nice and we were close to the "secret door" which we took advantage of often. The only drawback to these rooms is that they are directly over the Rome Lounge and if you are an early to bed kind of person (which we weren't) the noise from below may bother you. The ship was in excellent shape in my opinion. I had read so much about it being "tired and ready for drydock" but unless you were REALLY looking for something wrong I can't imagine finding anything. The crew was constantly working on the ship. We even saw one crew member painting the outside of the ship while we were in the middle of the ocean. He was standing on the one of the lifeboats and was tethered to the ship somehow....it was windy and the ship was moving a lot...couldn't believe he was out there painting! Read more