ABOUT US We are a married couple in our late twenties (no kids), and we were on the Emerald Princess for a 10-day Caribbean cruise over the New Year. We traveled with a large family group, ranging in age from one year to late fifties. This was my 7th cruise and my husband's 15th, and we have previously sailed on Princess and Royal Caribbean.

PRE-CRUISE My husband and I flew in to Fort Lauderdale 3 days prior to the cruise and stayed at the Gallery One Hotel, which was great. It's a Doubletree suite hotel, and there are one and two-bedroom units with balconies, granite counters, stainless steel appliances, and upscale bathrooms. It's right next to the huge Galleria mall, which houses our new favorite restaurant, Seasons 52. Go there if you get a chance. Everything on the menu is less than 475 calories, and the food is delicious and satisfying. The hotel is a bit far from the main Fort Lauderdale attractions (Las Olas Blvd, etc.), but you can take the water taxi everywhere, and the price makes up for the location. We didn't have a car, and we did just fine.

EMBARKATION After a leisurely morning at the hotel and lunch at Seasons 52, we took a cab to the cruise port. We deliberately arrived after 2:00 so that the lines would be shorter, but we found that embarkation had been delayed for a couple of hours due to norovirus outbreaks on the previous cruises. The crew was performing extra cleaning measures in order to try to stop the spread of the virus, and the CDC also apparently boarded the ship. There was a long line because of the cleaning delay, but it only took us an hour to board the ship. Read more