We drove 2 hours to Indianapolis, stayed overnight at a Comfort Inn that had a park and stay program, then flew into Fort Lauderdale early Sat. morning. We took a cab to the Holiday Inn on Miami Beach, and ended up having about 24 hours to enjoy the warm Florida weather and a beautiful beach before our cruise began. We saved a lot of money flying into Fort Lauderdale, but found the cabs to cost more than expected.

We arrived at the ship about 1:00, found the lines to be reasonable and embarkment to be easy. Ate our first meal at the garden cafe, which was good but crowded. Seemed like many people who had already ate were still sitting at their tables while waiting to get into their rooms.

Our balcony stateroom was small but well designed and there was plenty of room for the 3 of us to store our belongings. The shower had good water pressure and we always had plenty of hot water. We enjoyed sitting on he balcony and looking at the mountains of Cuba as well as the islands of Roatan and Cozumel as we floated by them. The room stewards were very friendly and we were very pleased with their service. The beds were very comfortable as well. The only problem was that it was difficult (but not possible) to get out onto the balcony when my son's bed was pulled out for the night. Our deck was very quiet and we have no complaints about noise. Read more