Pre-Cruise -- We drove down to Miami from Jacksonville on Friday, we arrived in Miami around 2:30 PM and checked into the Radisson downtown that I had booked on Priceline. The hotel was clean and the room was satisfactory for a nights stay. One warning though, you have to pay to park at the hotel either by valet ($25 a day) or the parking garage which charges by the hour up to a maximum of $20 for a day. However if you leave the garage you pay each time you come and go and your time starts over each time you leave. We used the valet parking since you could come and go as you please for the one price and drove down to the Bayside Market for dinner. We ate at Bubba Gumps, my recommendation here is DONT! My daughter and I both ordered fried shrimp and the shrimp were only partially peeled and very greasy.

Embarkation -- We arose early and ate breakfast across the street from the hotel at Burger King (I know not exciting). We arrived at the port around 10:00 AM and were parked and in line by 10:30. The embarkation process went very smoothly and after a brief wait in what I call the holding pen we were on our way. We were onboard by 11:30 and after dropping our carryon luggage at our cabin (8331) and meeting Ketut our room steward we were on our way aft to the Lido Deck New World Pool and Bar. This is where the Pizzeria and Grill are located also and we had lunch here and our first DOD. This is a great place for a meet and greet since it is not that large of an area and this is where we met Melre and JLCGA from our roll call. This is also where our DD met her first friend and these two stuck together the rest of the week.

We were assigned 6:15 dining in the London Upper Dining Room where we met our table mates for the week. We were hoping for another family with a child around our DDs age (10) but it was not to be. However we enjoyed the company each night and our waiter Inonyan from Indonesia was absolutely wonderful and doted on our DD. We ate every night in the dining room with the exception of one. Read more