It's a long trip for us (couple, late 30s) to go cruising in the Caribbean. We're from The Netherlands, so we had to fly transatlantic. However, given the freezing weather back home it was really good be in the warmth. Our main interest is scuba diving, and we chose this cruise mainly because of its itinerary (Grand Turk, Bahamas).
Day 1 - Embarkation.
We flew in a day early and had a pre-cruise stay in the Hyatt Summerfield Suites near MIA. Excellent hotel! There was a Publix supermarket around the corner so we could stock up on Diet Mountain Dew (our favorite drink while in the USA). Around 11:15, we took a taxi to the port ($32 incl. tip) and we were in line around 11:30 AM - both security and check-in were a breeze. We were on board at 12:10 PM. We went to Lido deck, got a Reuben from the Deli and hung out for an hour or so in the sun. Ahhh... life's great.
Location was excellent. Lido midship, close to atrium but no noise at all. Some creaking ceiling boards that were silenced with folded paper.
One minor issue: the vacuum toilet had to be repaired three times because it didn't flush properly. It was fixed quickly every time we called it in, but it seemed a structural problem because they had to do fix it several times.