We had paid for "a window"... we got "a covered balcony"!

The room was simply one of the MANY great things that Royal Caribbean did to give us a great first impression of their cruise line.

And, you don't think that you'll spend much time in your room, since there's so much to do -- both on and off the ship.

But sitting on this balcony late at night, early in the morning, and several times in between gave us an incredible perspective of the ocean... the ports call, and even those little "dinghy's".

The dinghy's are used to "tender" up to 150 people at a time to shore. They're small motorized lifeboats that are used to rescue people in an emergency... or, as on our cruise, transport people from ship to shore -- when there's not a big enough port for a cruise ship. We watched some of that... the dinghy's were motorized vessels like those on a Disney ride.

We also caught a beautiful view of a rainbow out over the ocean from our balcony... what a sight!