We sailed with a group of 8 friends. One of which is handicapped and had rented an electric scooter chair to use for the trip. This cruise has been planned for over a year. We flew in the day before and stayed at the Homewood Suites in Ft. Lauderdale. I would HIGHLY recommend this hotel! New hotel with great staff, great breakfast, and beautiful rooms!
We paid for the shuttle to come pick us up at the hotel. The hotel has a shuttle service and we liked it because they took just our party of 8 at 10am when we requested. We didn't like the HOARD of people waiting for free shuttles at other hotels. SO, we booked the shuttle when we arrived at the hotel. They took us to the port and then picked us up after and took us to the airport for $18 per person round trip. I would use them again.
We got to the ship at 10:20am and EVERYTHING they say about the boarding process is TRUE! It took us literally 10 minutes to go from the shuttle to the waiting area upstairs. We waited till 11am when they told us we could board. They boarded us by Suite guests, Diamonds, and so on.. VERY efficient!