There was a group of 7 women on this cruise (5 were first time cruisers and 2 had done a prior cruise). Our ages ranged from 44-76. Our objective was to get away from the winter months of PA and to forget our stresses. In addition, my father had passed away a couple of years ago and I thought it would be good to get my Mom away for a week and have something to look forward to. Not to pat myself on the back, but what a wonderful idea this was. My mother totally enjoyed herself and I can honestly say that I have not seen her laugh and enjoy herself like she did on this week's cruise since my dad passed away.
We stayed at the Comfort Inn/CruisePort Inn in Fort Lauderdale. This was a very nice hotel that picked us up from the airport and took us to the cruise. They also included a free breakfast in the price. We would definitely stay there again, but there was at least a 30 minute wait to get picked up the airport...the only negative that was not really that big of a deal since it was such a beautiful day when we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale.
We arrived at the ship around 1 p.m. and the line looked quite long, however, we were on the ship in about one half hour time incredibly organized. We all got our luggage delivered in the next couple of hours and got organized before the wonderful sail away party. This party was so full of energy! They had such great music and the atmosphere was just so "fun and adventuresome". It was just so neat to be around everyone that was so happy and knowing that we would be on this awesome ship for 7 full glorious days!