This was my first cruise, and thankfully, I found this site shortly after booking my cruise. I was well prepared and had a great time due to all of the advice from this site.

Those on the trip were my friend from college, my 10 year old daughter and her 10 year old friend. We flew in the night before in order to avoid any delays in getting there on a flight the same day as the cruise. Since we flew into Orlando, we rented a car and spent the night in Boca Raton, which is about 50 minutes from Miami (we got airline tickets for $71). The day of the cruise we decided to drive to the port, drop off our luggage then return the car to the Miami Airport. This worked out great, as we didn't have to deal with all of the luggage, just the carry-ons we had. We got back to the port around 10:50 and decided to see if we could get in. This was great. We were on the ship by 11:15. Ate at the Windjammer, but we (adults) were not impressed. Food was ok.

By this time, we were able to go to our rooms. I had studied the layout of the ship and knew exactly which elevators took you where. This saved a bunch of time fumbling around trying to figure out how to get to certain places. The rooms were small, but adequate. We got connecting rooms so the girls could stay in one and we could stay in the other. This worked well as we felt it was just 1 big room. The beds were super comfortable. My friend went down to ask for an extension cord for my CPAP and fridge for her medicine. We had both by the time she got back to the room. We also met our room steward. I forgot his name, but he was wonderful. Always cheerful and treated the girls good (gave them plenty of mints during turn-down service and switched the towel animal from bed to bed so minimize the fights). Read more