We live in Western NY (the Fingerlakes Region) and so had to fly to Fort Lauderdale, and stay at a a Hotel The Comfort Inn Air/SeaPort. We do not recommend it, it was crowded, noisy, shabby and costly considering what I just wrote. There was free transportation to the cruise port that did go smoothly.
This was our first cruise ever and although we were very prepared (we had our documents and a day bag packed with what we needed until our luggage arrived at our room) we still found that the bus drop off and checking in was not well coordinated. There was no one to let you know where to go or what to do and very frankly it seemed like mayhem to many.
Once we did get checked in people were quite helpful, we went to our room which was larger than we expected and quite nice ( champagne and fresh fruit on our table, nice fluffy robes, apair of binoculars for our use as well, and plenty of literature). We got a bite to eat, and wandered the ship for awhile and scheduled a massage for Christmas day (which was already almost booked!). By then it was time to get ready for dinner, but we opted out of the regular sit down and ate at the buffet, which was pretty minimal and disappointing, although we chalked it up to the "first day at sea".