We were on the Star April 17-24, 2005. I cruised with my husband and 9 y/o daughter. Our only other cruise experience is 3 times with Disney. We didn't do any of the shows or clubs as we are early to bed, early to rise people. We used an internet TA who was prompt at answering my questions and got me what I requested. I booked about 10 months ahead.
Day before: We flew from Hartford to Ft. Lauderdale via Cincinnati. This wasn't too bad of a combination. Cincinnati was a nice airport with plenty to happenings to watch during the short layover. We did just miss out on being bumped in Hartford. I saw the flight was overbooked so I offered our three seats for a non stop that left later in the day. However, one person with 4 seats was ahead of me and he took the bump.
We arrived in FLL on schedule and the baggage took a good 20 minutes before it started coming out. Once we collected our luggage we went outside to the taxi queue (clearly marked) and got a taxi. No one else was in line. The taxi ride was $14.75 (not including tip) to the Radisson Bahia Mar which I got via Priceline for $65. We had a first floor marina view room. It was hard to get to though. From the main lobby we had to go back out with our luggage, cross a very busy driveway to the marina building. We didn't arrive until after 8, so we missed the deli and ended up getting room service, which was actually quite good and delivered quickly (salad, hot wings, pizza, philly steak grinder--$41) Soda's were $1.25 from the machine in the hall. After some walking around, we found the entrance to the walkway to the beach. Coming back we followed the walkway and found the pool. From the pool area you can see the ship docked at the port.