Traveled to Jacksonville, Florida the night before and stayed at the Crown Plaza Hotel. This hotel was clean and had excellent service. Upon arrival, I was upgraded to the Executive Floor at no additional expense. The hotel offers a shuttle to and from the cruise terminal and picks customers up from the airport for free.

Day 1: We departed the hotel around 11:30 on the first shuttle. The port of JAX is very easy as far as embarkation. Immediately upon arrival, they escorted me to the front of the line (Platinum) and to the ship. The process took less that 10 minutes and the fun began. Once I boarded the ship, I went up to the Lido deck to meet some fellow cruise group members and have the drink of the day. The DJ on this ship was great and played to the crowd. A little R&B, country, pop, and rap and of course all the popular line dance songs. What I enjoyed the most is that his music was not too loud and we could hear each other talk. The set sail party was nice and people seemed to be enjoying themselves. Around 3:30 we had the muster drill which was well-organized and set sail at four. The most of day one was spent during karaoke and the karaoke host had minimal song selection as he is not a real karaoke host but just a member of the entertainment team. Later in the evening around 6pm the casino opened and I spent most of the night in the casino. The casino staff and host Gen was very nice.

Day 2: Sea day and elegant night. On day 2 they held a slot tournament. I usually play this but did not like the fact that you can not see how many points you have on most of the machines until the five minutes is up. I had late dining so I explored the ship and went to dinner at 8pm. I ordered the lobster and shrimp and this night it was hot and good; but,the good stopped there as far as the Imagination dining room went. Read more