Sun. Feb 22nd...Finally the day to cruise has come! Looking forward to the heat of the Western Caribbean, we were on the road to the Port of Miami early.

We arrived at the parking facility I had found online. $9/day cheaper than Port of Miami's $20/day rate. Unmarked building, hmmm. Signed some papers and threw them my keys, stuffed all our luggage into their van and were at the terminal within minutes.

First guy with his hand out was the driver, second right after him, was the porter...looked like it was going to be a long, expensive week.

We got through Customs & Homeland Security, had our pictures taken for the cruise ship, and were on board by 12:30 pm. Watched people play the 2-story tall wii game, browsed a couple of the duty-free shops on board, and were allowed into our room at 2 pm. Nice, but two separate beds? Pushed them together and housekeeping made it up like that for the rest of the cruise.

*I must say right here that it was so great to have our room cleaned and bed made not once, but twice a day. Housekeeping memorized your name and in the evening when they turned your bed down, they would leave an animal made from a towel or wash cloth on the bed (how-to CD sold on board)- we will miss that service when we get home.

Went up to the Garden Cafe which was the main buffet-style dining room. This was the only dining area that allowed shorts after 5 pm. Great world cuisine menu, changes daily. Had to try a little bit of everything. And all the ice cream you can eat? Eight flavors, changing daily that they scooped into a cone or dish and topped it however you liked, or the self-serve soft ice cream was also available. Was this Heaven?