We booked our cruise about two months out and we were very excited about being first time cruisers and leaving the cold (- 27) of Illinois and heading south to Miami for our first cruise!

We flew down on the Saturday before the cruise and stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn by the Ft. Lauderdale Airport - probably not the best choice with us leaving from the Port of Miami (this was a bit of a trade-off when choosing airlines and airports). It cost us $35 apiece to grab a private car service transfer to the port on Sunday from Fort Lauderdale. Flying into the Miami Airport and staying downtown may have been closer to the port but would have cost more in flight and hotel stay - so we end up paying a little more to get back and forth from the port.

As we arrived at the port, the porters were there to greet us and took our bags (which were attached with our room tags that NCL sent weeks before). After giving our Porter a tip for handling our bags, he pointed us in the direction towards Building B were we needed to go for check in. The line outside moved along steadily and our line wait time was maybe 5 to 10 minutes and soon enough we were through the check in procedure and on our way up to the ship! Total check in time was no longer than a half hour tops! Read more