Our group consisted of me and wife (DW), son 16 (DS16), daughter 11 (DD11), and my wife's parents (DMIL and DFIL). Wife and I are in our 40's. In-laws are 70ish.

We stayed one night before at the cruise at the SpringHill Suites Fort Lauderdale Airport in Dania Beach. We found this to be a very nice place. Reviews on the home port page were mixed, and indicated that Marriott had only renamed this in 1/07 and that the hotel had not been very nice before that. However, we had an overall positive impression of the hotel. The groups were a nice size, with 2 queen beds and a sleeper sofa that pulled out to a twin bed. Staff were pleasant and the rooms were quiet, even on the highway side of the building. The morning breakfast was good, although pretty crowded. There is also a Burger King within walking distance. We had dinner close by at Las Vegas Cuban restaurant. This was disappointing - the food was mostly boring and the prices too high. Since my family had driven to Fort Lauderdale, we all drove to the port in our minivan - hotel is very close to port.

This was the second cruise for me, the wife, and kids (first on Princess). Our only other cruise was on the Disney Magic last year. The in-laws have cruised many times on many lines. We liked the CB overall, but felt the Disney ship exceed it on most points. Read more