This was a great cruise! My husband Ed and I have been on 7 previous cruises, all with Royal Caribbean and they have all been wonderful.
We began our vacation by traveling from the Ontario airport in California to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We flew on Continental Airlines and the flight was really affordable ($135 pp.) Upon arrival to Ft. Lauderdale we had an easy transport, via free hotel shuttle, to the Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale Airport and Cruise port Hotel, again really affordable $79. The hotel was beautiful and is located directly next door to the enormous Bass-Pro Shop Complex. We walked to the restaurant from the hotel and had an excellent seafood dinner. Afterward we wondered the huge store looking at the waterfalls and fish aquariums. The next morning we went to the lobby and we were driven free to the Cruise Port Terminal at 10:30 AM by the hotel. Upon arrival to the terminal we had an easy luggage transfer to the porters, $5 tip, and entered the facility to get our cruise id cards. Because we are Celebrity Elite members we had virtually no line to wait in. From the time we entered the port, walked through security, and were issued our new room/charge cards it took a total of 11 minutes.
Once on board we were greeted with champagne and then went to lunch. We were able to enter our room (Concierge 9104) at 1:00 PM. Awaiting our arrival we found a beautiful fruit bowl, two bouquets of flowers, snacks, and champagne. Our luggage arrived to our room around 4:15 PM and we quickly stashed everything away. The room had lots of great storage space and we brought a lot of stuff!
9104 - Concierge Class Room. Nice room. Roomy storage space. Bathroom needs some revamping, especially the shower. Great Cabin Steward - Sally!! Nice roomy balcony!