First, we booked online. We flew to Fort Lauderdale via US Airways. We were informed that we should arrive noon or later and that we should plan our departure again noon or later. Our flight down was scheduled to arrive slightly before noon, however there was a hydraulic leak in an engine causing the airline to change planes. This took a while and we finally arrived in Ft Lauderdale around 12:30. We were advised to just take a taxi to the ship and this was good advice. We arrived before noon and were pleasantly surprised to find that the embarkation experience was well coordinated and took far less time that our last cruise experience. We went to the Lido deck for lunch and to await our room being ready and available. The dining area was extremely crowded and we had to join another couple for lunch as there were no free tables available. It was a good way to start the cruise experience. NOTE - I would probably plan to arrive around 2:00 pm when the rooms are ready. The Lido deck cleared out as soon as this happened. We got underway right on time. Our room was an oceanview. It was at the front of the ship overlooking the bow. We were very pleased with this room - loved the view and perspective. My wife and I love the at sea days and the first full day was one of those. It enabled us to get familiar with the ship and to get to know a few people. We had requested an early dinner seating, but we were scheduled for an 8:30 dinner seating which was the latest they had. At first we were not happy with this seating, but in hind sight it worked out well as the entertainment would continue on after the second seating. It also gave us more time for some of the daily activities especially when we were in port. The first and second nights we sat at a table for six, but no one else arrived to eat with us. I guess that they just couldn't deal with the late seating and went to the Lido deck for a buffet. On the third night our head steward invited us to join another table that only had two people at as well. I was very pleased that our head steward took the initiative to make this adjustment. Our new table partners were a delight. We really looked forward to dinner each night to compare notes on our days' experiences.
For the ports that we visited. Grand Turk Island is very primitive with little to do on the island. It is early in development. I was told that it is in the process of development and will be seeing hotels being developed. It is supposedly a great place for diving with a large coral reef around the island and over 1,000 shipwrecks in the area.
Our next Island was Tortola British Virgin Islands. This island is very mountainous. We took an excursion tour around the island. It took us over the mountain range to the north side. It as very windy and steep. The views were fantastic! The island appears to be very poor in terms of the local economy.