NIGHT BEFORE: Stayed at the Airport Regency in Miami. They have a 24 hour shuttle, which was important to us as we did not arrive until 11:00 p.m. the night before our cruise. Shuttle also took us to port in the morning. Older, but clean hotel - paid $100.00 for the night. Breakfast was an extra $10.00 and not worth it.

EMBARKATION: Very organized, got on the ship at 11:30, ate lunch at the buffet, cabin was ready by 2:00 p.m.

SHIP: While the Pearl was clean and relatively easy to get around, it was not what I would call beautiful. No large 10 story atrium, no fresh flowers in public areas (except for a sprig in vases on the dining tables), sort of tired looking colors. They jammed in a few smaller restaurants in what should have been open spaces. They were the pay extra type restaurants. One of them, the Italian place, was basically a walk through area and if you dined there, people were walking past you all of the time. Our cabin was roomy and had lots of storage. Beds were not very comfortable and pillows were well used. Also, the dated TV had bad sound and not many stations compared to other ships we have been on. The pool area was divided into adult and children, but only in name. The kids were in both places. Huge water slide added lots of noise to the whole area. Again, not a pretty pool area. No bronze dolphins, etc. and the pools were small. Read more