We drove to Ft. Lauderdale the day before the cruise. Stayed at La Quinta in Hollywood. The hotel is well located, close to restaurants, etc. We could leave our car in the hotel lot for free for up to 30 days, plus they provide free shuttle to the ship.they also provided a nice continental breakfast. We got to the port around 11:45 and were sitting in the DR for lunch (we both had the chicken mango salad, very yummy!) around 12:30 pm. When we finished lunch around 1:30 the announcement came the cabins were ready. Our cabin was extremely well located and had a very nice verandah. We had been in this category before so knew what to expect. The cabins are nicely appointed. The ship is very nicely laid out and easy to find your way around. Some of the furniture seemed a little worn out, but I understand it is going in dry dock shortly, otherwise it looked great.We went to a couple of the culinary shows, which we found very interesting. Made a couple of shows and they were pretty good.The crew on this ship was exceptional, including the cabin stewards, DR servers, wine attendant, etc. Captain Timmers was very personable and visible, so was the hotel director and the cruise director Gene Young.We had been to all the ports before so we did not take any organized tours, just walked around the ports. We don't get tired in seeing the amazing Panama Canal! The mimosas and panama rolls were really good early in the AM!We found the food in the DR to be very, very good to excellent. We did dine at the Pinnacle once and it was also very good. For lunch we ate at the Terrace Grill and though the lines were longish, the hamburgers were worth the wait, Lido also for lunch and there was a lot of variety. We used room service for breakfast most everyday and the food arrived on time and we got what we ordered and at the right temp. Disembarkation was a breeze. The only bad thing about this cruise is that it ended too quickly!