We flew from LAS to FLL via Southwest Airlines, leaving LAS late morning, with one stop in Tampa and onto FLL arriving in the early evening. All went very smoothly except that for a smallish airport it seemed to take them a long time to get our luggage on the carousel. There were lots of full sized taxis available and within in 15 minutes we were at the Sheraton Yankee Clipper, fare $24 including tip. We had bid the Yankee Clipper on Priceline for $160 per night and while it is becoming a bit dated and threadbare it is in a terrific location right on the Fort Lauderdale beach. We had phoned the hotel in advance requesting an accessible room as DW has MS, they were most accommodating giving us a beautiful corner room on the top floor overlooking the beach.

The next morning we took the Jungle Queen cruise which lasts about 3 hours touring the inland waterways of the city where you pass many beautiful homes and estates; it excellent value for the $15.50 per person (advanced booking). We had intended to take the Sun Trolley around the city but were disappointed to learn that it only operated on Fridays and weekends. So we enjoyed a late lunch at a funky waterfront cafe, Bahia Cabana, and then took a cab over to Total Wine where we stocked up on the essentials of life and made use of our Rum Runners. For dinner we went to the 15th Street Fishery where we had a terrific seafood meal on their covered patio overlooking the waterway. We ate on the "casual dining" level and a meal for two ran about $40 before wine and gratuity.

On the morning of embarkation DW elected to stay in our room and I went for a most enjoyable walk on the beach and around the neighborhood. We then took a cab from our hotel to the cruise terminal, the fare was $12 including tip, arriving at the terminal at noon. One observation is that we didn't find that Fort Lauderdale cab drivers particularly knowledgeable as to where things were and seemed loath to help pax in and out of their cabs or with their luggage. Read more