Zaandam 12/27/03 - 1/3/04 (new year's cruise) Cat BB (cabin 6101 - first cabin near the bow on Verandah deck)
I sailed on Zaandam with a group of 14 friends and family for New Years eve. We flew into Jacksonville, saving $200 per person over fares to Orlando, and stayed the night at a hotel near Universal Studios (the Radisson Universal Studios, booked through Hotwire for $49 per room for the night). The hotel was clean and quiet, much better than the Super 8 our friends stayed at in Cocoa Beach - they actually slept on towels in their clothes after finding bugs under the pillow in one of their rooms. We drove to Port Canaveral the next day, dropping our rental car at Avis and taking the shuttle to the pier. This wasn't a problem going, but the Avis shuttle situation was a mess when we returned. More on that later.
EMBARKATION We got to the pier around 2:30 pm. There were no lines (I don't consider three people in front of me a line), and although my sister had to pick up her documents dockside, we got through quickly. We ran past the photo people (one of many quick get-aways!) and were led to our cabin by a white-gloved steward - nice touch! Chocolate covered strawberries from our fantastic travel agent, Jacqui, made our embarkation even sweeter.