Hello All, We just returned from 8-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the IOS. This was a cruise that my mother and I decided to take on our own leaving husband and kids at home. Mom is a diamond member and I am platinum. We had a great time on a beautiful ship and didn't want to get off the ship. Embarking: I flew in to FLL the day before, stayed at the La Quinta. They have a shuttle so it brought me to the hotel. I called them as soon as I landed. They told me to walk to hotel pick-up and they were there within 10 minutes. I did hear others on the shuttle saying that they had been waiting for more than 40 minutes and had called twice. I guess I lucked out. The place was very clean and about a 10 minute walk to all kinds of restaurants, and 15-20 minute walk to all kinds of other shopping. It was a very pretty day so I walked around for a couple of hours. The shuttle brought me to the pier the next morning. Depending on your ship, you are given a different time to get on the shuttle and you will have to tell them you need a shuttle when you check in. I was at the pier by 11:30, checked in and on the ship by 12:00. My mother on the other hand, got off the Grandeur, and drove to FLL and got on around 3:00. She didn't wait in line at all. Cabin: Cabins were not available to get in until 1:00 pm. I went down to Sorrento's and had a couple of slices of pizza until our cabin was ready. We had a wonderful cabin on the hump on deck 6 close to everything. Our attendant Haviar was outstanding always cheerful, got us whatever we needed without asking and was very efficient. We used the tea kettle in the mornings to have cup of tea on the balcony every morning. They have regular tea but we like Earl Grey so we brought that up from the Cafe to our cabin along with Splenda.

Entertainment: The center shows especially the ice show on this ship were terrific. We didn't care for the comic that much so we didn't go see his midnight show. There was another show with a comic midweek that we didn't. The street dancing, 70's dancing and the Beatles nights on the promenade were a lot of fun. I had been to the 80's night and 20's under the stars on the Freedom so didn't go this time.

Food: The food in the dining room was excellent. They did have lobster Friday night. I didn't try any of the Indian dishes but they seem to have an Indian curry dish almost every night. Our waiter and his assistant were very good we had a great time with them. We were sitting with a couple who had been married for 50 years and a newlywed couple. We didn't eat at the Windjammer except to take some fresh fruit to pool side so I can't say anything about that. We did eat breakfast in the MDR every morning - the menu is the same but everything is fresh. We didn't go to any of the specialty restaurants this time but ate at JR's twice. Their onion rings weren't as crisp as they always are, the burgers were cold the first time but the second time was good service and hot food. The newlywed couple went to Portofino's and found it odd that they were recommended the filet mignon in an Italian restaurant but said the food was very good. Read more