About us - we are a couple in our forties and we were cruising with my husband's parents. My father-in- law was celebrating his 70th birthday. We have traveled all over the world and enjoy a casual, fun and active vacation.

0) Pre-cruise - stayed at the Embassy Suites in Miami. We were happy with the hotel. Spacious rooms and they include breakfast and a $10 shuttle to the port. We left the hotel around noon for the port.

1) Embarkation Day (Miami) - the process was much faster than the previous year - we were on the ship in about 20 minutes and our rooms were ready by 1:30 - right after we had lunch and welcome drinks. This time we decided to stay on the Lido deck towards the bow and were very pleased with this location. It was nice to be close to the elevators, very helpful when traveling with seniors. It is not a good area of the ship if you get seasick because you feel more of the "motion of the ocean" in this location, especially in November when the seas are a bit rough. If you don't get seasick, it is a very convenient place to be and worth the price of the upgraded room. We had flexible dining in the Lincoln dining room and had very good service on the first night. We did a pub crawl and ended up spending most of this night in the sports bar watching Sunday night football. I was happy, the Steelers won! Read more