BACKGROUND. I am a 66 year old, just retired and living in Central Ohio. My wife and I have been on cruises starting more than 30 years ago with Cunard in the Eastern Caribbean. Since then we have cruised in the Caribbean, Alaska, Northern Europe, the Mediterranean (East and West) and the Nile on Princess, Royal Caribbean, Epirotiki and Ausonia ships. A few months ago we decided to go on a cruise to celebrate our 40th anniversary. After a thorough examination of what was available and of Cruise Critic's boards and reviews on the subject we decided on Celebrity and - more specifically- on the 11 day Jan. 28 Caribbean cruise on Constellation.

TRAVEL AND STAY IN FORT LAUDERDALE. I made my own travel arrangements (using Delta miles) to fly from Columbus to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday Jan. 28. Flying these days is a pain especially with a lot of luggage, but the plane was on time. We had made reservations at the Candlewood Suites and after a 45 minute wait for the hotel's van (somewhat excusable due to the 7 cruise ships loading and unloading passengers that day) we were taken there - the minisuite was clean and well equipped. We took a cab to Riverwalk downtime and enjoyed the evening there.

EMBARKATION. The following morning at 11:00 we took a van to the boat. The whole embarkation process was flawless and we were eating lunch by noon at the Seaside Cafe. Our luggage was delivered to the stateroom at 4:30 - excellent. Read more