This was my 15th cruise, third on Holland America. There were 3 of us cruising, myself, my wife and adult son. We opted for Marriott Springhill Suites in Ft Lauderdale for the pre-cruise hotel. It turned out to be an excellent choice. We flew in from Las Vegas and landed at 9 PM at FLL the day before the cruise. We took a taxi to Springhill for about $18 including tip. There were several fast food restaurants across the street so that worked out for us arriving that late. The next day we stocked up on some sodas and water at K-Mart in the shopping center across the street. Yes, we're cheap or frugal, as we don't want to pay $1.95 for a soda on the ship. You can purchase a beverage card aboard for $18. One of the wine stewardesses aboard told us, you need to drink about 3 sodas a day to make it worthwhile. She said it is just the glass not the can.

Springhill is very organized regarding transport to the port. You sign up when you arrive. We went with the 12:30 PM shuttle. The next day they have several vans with a baggage trailers behind to transport you to the port. It's a contract company, KSA that will market the return transport from the ship back to Springhill or the airport. They charge $8 a head. We opted for it. They give you an orange badge to stick on your clothing to identify which cattle pen to herd you into when you depart the ship. Moo! But like the California cows, we could talk. It was probably cheaper to take a cab from the ship to airport, but I like the convenience and peace of mind of being herded. The KSA driver put our baggage on the curb outside the cruise terminal (26), and that's the last we had to deal with it until it arrived in our cabin. The KSA driver gave us short dissertation on leaving your cell phone on while aboard the ship. He went into great detail of how the charges would be roaming with the ships cell tower and even voice mail calls would cost at least $2 aboard the ship. That's one less soda. I don't remember this dissertation on my first cruise in 1989.

Embarkation was smooth, took about 20-30 minutes. If you were in a SC cabin or above, they had your cabin numbers listed on a board as you entered the embarkation hall. They wanted you to identify yourself to the staff. These folks got whisked away to some place behind a curtain. I'm not sure what happened to them as I never saw them again until some sightings on HMC. Not us, we were the K-Mart soda crowd. They don't push you for the embarkation photo. Which is a good thing, as my family is in the witness security program. Disembarkation was smooth too. We arrived on ship at 1:20 PM and were able to go our cabins at 1:30 PM. There is no sense in getting aboard any sooner, as you just have to wait in the Lido restaurant with your carryon luggage. Our cabin was a SY handicapped cabin, because that's all they had left when I booked in this category. It was a nice cabin at the front of the ship with a balcony. It's the first balcony cabin or suite we have booked . As a handicapped cabin, we had 2 showers. One tub shower, and one freestanding one with a pull down chair. The bed had a great mattress and 2000 thread count sheets. Who counts those threads, and when did this start? My son had a convertible bed sofa that was adequate with 50 thread count sheets. The balcony was nice for sitting out as you were leaving port and in port. But during the cruise it was too windy to step outside. The curtains closed with an electric switch. I thought it was very high tech. There was plenty of room for stowage. Read more