Background: My wife and I are mid 30's, have been on 4 RCCL's and 1 DCL cruise. (We are hooked!!) My wife's parents are in their mid 60's, this was their 1st cruise. (They are now hooked!!)

Pre Cruise: Flew into Miami late Friday night and stayed at the Hyatt Place Miami. We got up late Saturday morning, picked-up some last minute items at the store, and drove to FLL. I dropped the luggage and everyone at the port and returned the rent car to FLL airport. There is a free rental car shuttle bus that takes you back to the port from the FLL airport. It took less than 15 minutes to go thought security, check-in, and step on the ship. It was 1:00 PM so we went directly to our cabins to drop off our carry-on's. (WOW it was a great start!!)

Staterooms: We were both in ocean view balcony cabins (12718 & 12722) located starboard aft. The beds in both cabins were located near the closet, which made it difficult to get into and made the room appear smaller. The plugs were located under the desk but we brought a short extension cord (problem solved). Yes there was some basic toiletries like shampoo, hand lotion, soap, shower cap, etc.. Our Stateroom Attendant, Joseph, was excellent. He keep the room spotless, we had towel animals every night, and even folded any clothes left out. There are public aft balconies at the end of hall on floors 11 and 12. However it felt like it was our own "private suite balcony" to look down onto the boardwalk, watch the aqua shows and movies on the big screen, or just a quiet spot to take a nap. NOTE: the ship docked on starboard side every time. Read more