All in all, I had a very nice time on the Star Princess for the March 05, 2006 sailing to the Western Caribbean. I do have a few comments for the seafood lovers out there which I would pay close attention to if your goal is unlimited seafood and bountiful buffets (see below).

I have cruised 4 times previously (Norwegian M/S Leeward '98, Norwegian Sky '00/ Carnival Ecstasy '00/Caribbean Princess '05).

Travel to Port Everglades was great. I repeated the same scenario as I did last year by flying down to FLL a day early on JetBlue. Last year we stayed at the Embassy Suites 17th Street however, it was sold out this time around so we elected to stay at the Hampton Inn Fort Lauderdale Airport off Sterling Road. This particular Hampton Inn was absolutely lovely. Although your basic Hampton Inn, it was clean, inexpensive and very "cruise ship passenger" centric. Word of advice however for those of you who can spare an extra $50 bucks. Rent a car the night before from Thrifty and return it at the off-airport location. This saved me the hassle of waiting in line with 90 other guests for the shuttle to the cruise ship the morning of departure. We picked up the car the night before at the airport and returned it the following morning at the off-airport location. They have a courtesy van waiting at the location and will have you at the dock in less than 3 minutes. This also works for the return. Read more