I traveled with my stepmom and two stepsisters on this trip. Our cruise left on Monday, and we flew down the day before. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Downtown Port of Miami, across from Bayside Marketplace. They were great, location wise and price wise. I would totally recommend staying with them.

As I stated above, our cruise left on Monday at 5:00 p.m. We went to the Port at about 2 p.m. We went right through -- there were no lines at all. We arrived on the ship and went straight to our cabin. I was a little disappointed in the size of the cabin, as the pictures made it look bigger. A must for cabins: an over-the-door shoe holder and extra outlets (surge protector like). These were our life savers. There was absolutely not enough room for 4 women to get ready. After we got somewhat settled in our room, we set out exploring. We went upstairs for the sailaway and watched until we were all the way out of Miami. We really were sailing into the sunset!

We then went back to our room to see if our suitcases had arrived yet, and they had. We put all of our stuff away, and that helped with the size of the cabin. At least it wasn't as crowded! We then got ready for dinner. We had the second sitting. Dinner was pretty casual that night. Read more