As a bit of background info, this was my 10th cruise overall (7th with RCI). I was Platinum at the beginning of the cruise and became Emerald midway through the cruise. I sailed with my roommate (her 3rd cruise) and we are in our mid 50s.

We flew into FL via PBI 3 days prior to the cruise. We rented a car and drove to MIA where we dropped off the car and then took a taxi to the Holiday Inn - Port of Miami Downtown across the street from Bayside Marketplace. Prior to the cruise we did the red HOHO Big Bus for two days enabling us to do 2 of the 3 bus routes along with a 2 hour boat tour. The night before our cruise began we had an informal CC M&M at Bubba Gumps.

On embarkation day we were at the port at 9 a.m. (we took a cab). We were 3rd and 4th in line. Doors opened at 10 a.m. and we whizzed up to the security area where we cooled our heels until about 10:45 (we watched people trickling out of the ship above us). Once through security we went straight to check in where there was a minor delay due to some computer issues then we were sent to the Platinum and Emerald waiting area directly to the right of the escalator leading up to the ship. We only sat there about 5 minutes before we were allowed to board NOS. We then headed up to the Windjammer where we again had to wait nearly 45 minutes before they opened the doors (health inspectors were checking things out and were delayed). Windjammer quickly became a zoo, but since we had our seats and food we were fine. Cabins were available around 1:30. Read more