This was our first cruise, my bf and I travelled with my parents. The ship was very nice and they were able to accommodate our dinner seating by putting the 4 of us together.

I guess I'll start with the embarkation procedure. We flew into Miami and took at cab to Ft. Lauderdale (with 4 of us, it was the most cost effective, working out to be $20USD/pp). We took an early flight, landing in Miami around noon, with embarkation from Ft. Lauderdale at 7pm. There isn't alot to do at the port in Ft. Lauderdale, so we were pleased to find that we could board the ship early, and they started serving lunch! Embarkation was pretty quick, and seamless, they quickly outfitted us with our cruise ship cards, allowing us access to the ship and our rooms, our checked baggage arrived a few hours later (if you want to catch some sun, I'd pack swimwear in your carry on for this purpose). The lunch buffet was huge and somewhat overwhelming at first, but more about the food later.

After boarding and eating quickly - there was an orientation to talk about the ship and some excursions available to us. There were 4 ports of call: Key West, Ocho Rios, Georgetown, and Cozumel. Read more