HOUSTON PRE-CRUISE: We arrived at in Houston on Saturday afternoon and took the hotel shuttle to Hyatt Place which was about 5 minutes from the airport. A funny thing happened when they picked us up; the driver locked the keys in the shuttle so we had to wait for another hotel staff to come and unlock it. We were all standing in the driveway with our luggage locked inside. It was a minor hiccup but a good story. The Hyatt Place was a fairly new building and very nice. They offered free shuttle to area restaurants and stores as well as to the airport. They had free continental breakfast which we enjoyed with some fellow CruiseCritic.com roll call members prior to departing for the cruise ship Sunday morning. TO THE SHIP: One thing that we didn't like was the distance (and cost) of the transfer to Galveston from Houston. It is very unfortunate that there was no way to rent a car for the day and had we known that prior to booking...we would have booked a different cruise. Luckily, a roll call member rented a shuttle to the port and we paid to share the ride. That saved us lots of money and made for a more enjoyable hour+ ride to port as we all got to know eachother and shared the anticipation. When we arrived at port, it was quick and painless to get onboard. Smooth as butter as they say. I think it may have taken 15 minutes altogether. The ship itself was fabulous! Very much like the Navigator and Adventure that we have previously cruised on. People had complained that the ship was in much need of repair but we didn't notice. We've been on new ships and old ships and this one was very good. THE STATEROOM: Our balcony room was near the front of the ship and a very good size for the 3 of us. We wanted a room that would be convenient to get to the pizza and cookies in the Promenade cafe'. Shon eats many, many, many, many cookies every day on the cruises so this was most important. Anyway, the couch pulled out to a queen sized bed and it was not nearly as cramped as I had imagined it would be. Since this was the first time that we'd cruised with more than 2 in a cabin, we were worried. The decor was nice, the storage good, the bed a bit hard but the blanket great. I was unhappy with the balcony, I must say. There were serious rust stains on the floor and in some of the corners. Also, because of where the balcony is, there is a strange grill looking thing(step-plate I guess??) above the balcony. This wasn't a huge issue but I wouldn't have booked this particular balcony if I had known about it. ACTIVITIES: We like cruise ship activities. Some people think they are corny but we really have fun with them. With that in mind, we had tons to do on this cruise. Shon was even our team leader in "Quest" (which was a first). Our roll call group for this sailing was awesome. We had a meet and mingle on the first sea day and had a huge turn out. Because of that we had "friends" all over the place. We are Michigan State alumni and MSU was in the final four during the cruise. RC showed it on the big screen in the promenade. It was so fun (even if we did suck) to watch with "everyone". We saw the ice skating show for the first time (not sure why we never made it to it before). That was great. Definitely something we're sad we missed before. Our cruise director Mike was "the man". We saw him everywhere and felt like we really got to know him during the cruise. (Especially when our 18 year old's team beat him nd his team during dodge ball...) FOOD: What can I say here...we are greedy people. We love food. We found lots of it. Was it better or worse than other cruises. Maybe yes maybe no but we always found things that we loved. I was most impressed with the lunch salad bar in the Main Dining room. WOW! I had the biggest salads in the world there! I am sure there is no way anyone can eat a whole one. They had various greens, various cheeses and meats, shrimp, lots of vegetables..and even as I try to describe it, it becomes clear that I cannot do it justice so you should just try it yourself, for real. I used room service as my "alarm clock" each morning. They have the form that you can put out the night before choosing items and the time that you'd like them delivered. Everyday my coffee came at exactly 7:00 a.m.. AMAZING. On previous cruises, they are always off a bit, this was perfect because I cannot get out of bed without my coffee. Nope, I can't get up and go down or up to anywhere to get some. I need it in bed. Thanks RC for making this happen!! Altogether, this was a great cruise. We think the fun roll call group made it even better!