When I sat down to write this entry, I had a hard time getting started but I couldn’t figure out why. It’s because we had pastries at Cafe al Bacio. I had an Earl Grey tea with a blueberry streusel danish, carrot muffin, and Nutella croissant. This isn’t anything like what I would normally eat for breakfast, but it was an enjoyable change.

After many months of anticipation, and subsequent to Carnival Corporations' approval for Fathom, Royal Caribbean International, Azamara Club Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Oceania, and Regent Seven Seas have gained approval from the Cuban authorities to travel to Cuba.

I started Day 3 with a trip to the Oceanview Cafe for some melon and sausage. The friends I’m on the trip with tried the Opus Dining Room for breakfast. They reported that the menu was about the same as what’s available in the buffet, but brought to you. They said they will probably stick to the buffet for breakfast from here out.

Our first full cruise day was a Sea Day on our way to Cozumel. I should clarify that the itinerary I posted earlier was backwards, so the order for this cruise is: Sea Day, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Falmouth, Labadee, Sea Day.

I started the day with breakfast in the Oceanview Cafe. I was just before they opened the full buffet. Still plenty of options, but more to come. The last cruise ship I was on was Royal Caribbean’s Empress of the Seas, the smallest ship in the fleet, so when I see the amount of food put out for the much larger number of guests, it’s pretty impressive. I had a typical cruise breakfast for me of melon and a couple of sausage links. I also had some roasted potatoes and a brioche bun. I don't usually eat bread in the morning, but this roll looked interesting.

My 7-night cruise began today as my friends picked me up to drive to Port of Miami. The drive went easy enough and upon arriving around 12:30pm, my group dropped our bags off with the porter and we went to check in. The Port of Miami had five lines for comparing IDs to cruise documents and five lines for baggage screening, so everything moved very quickly there. My friends and I were able to upgrade to a Concierge Class, which provides a priority check-in line. We were taken to the next available agent and checked-in for our cruise. Another benefit of Concierge Class is the fancy gold keycard we get for our rooms.

What's the main thing keeping you from taking more cruises?  Clearly it's not vacation time or money, it's a lack of beach gear!  Well your ship has come in because this time we're giving away a brand new set of canvas Royal Caribbean bags and a new Royal Caribbean towel (no, I did not steal this from the pool or my stateroom).

Hey there CruiseHabit.com readers,

Ric Ross here, long time reader, first time author. Inspired by Matt and Michael’s live blogs, and in spite of Billy’s, I’ll be live-blogging my upcoming cruise December 3rd through 10th on the Celebrity Reflection. This cruise will leave from Miami and stop at Labadee, Haiti; Falmouth, Jamaica; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and Cozumel, Mexico. I’ve sailed Celebrity once before on the Constellation. This will be my sixth cruise overall; two of those have been with Billy and his lovely wife, Larissa.

Just a reminder that we're on Independence of the Seas for the next few days.  Follow long on Twitter, Periscope, and Facebook for live broadcasts and updates.  Importantly, follow our daily summaries on the live blog we're posting to www.RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com, your resource for all information Royal Caribbean.  Have a question about Independence or cruising in general?  Tweet out and we'll find answers!

Packing has become pretty automatic for us, but as we prepare for a sailing on Independence of the Seas we figured we should slow down and take a look at just how we pack for a short Caribbean cruise...

Starting Thursday I'll be Periscoping, Tweeting, Instagraming, Facebooking, and Zlerping (I made that last one up) from Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas.  Importantly, I'll also be live-blogging, sharing a daily summary in words and pictures, on RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com.  One of my favorite sites on the interwho, RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com has a plethora of information on all things Royal Caribbean as well as helpful and friendly message boards - but starting today, they also have the sometimes-incoherent ramblings of yours truly.