There were four of us traveling together - myself and my husband (mid 50's) and our friends - another couple - 40's and 60's. All of us have traveled a lot and have about 5 or 6 cruises behind us.

We went down a day early into Fort Lauderdale because you can never count on the weather in the Northeast in January. It actually snowed two days before we left. We all stayed at the Days Inn Bahia Cabana on Fort Lauderdale Beach. It's an older hotel - but clean and comfy and their restaurant and bar are fantastic. Nightly entertainment too! And, the beach is just across the street.

Boarding (about 11:30 or so) was effortless. We were on the ship and getting lunch by noon. We dropped off our bags and walked around the ship. I kept getting a sense of dEjà vu and couldn't figure out why. Took me a good day and a half to realize this ship is laid out EXACTLY like our Costa Mediterrania we were on in 2008! We met our Cruise Critic gang at the Orpheus Bar on the back Lido Deck at 2:30. What a great gang of people! Then it was off to the upper deck to watch us pull out of port. Read more