Let me begin with some personal background. I would consider myself an experienced cruiser. I've been cruising for about 15 years and have been on 12 cruises on various cruise lines. Mostly Celebrity, but also Princess, Carnival and RCCL. I booked this cruise 11 days before departure so I'm not sure if I paid the best rate, but it seemed fair, so we booked. I was traveling with a friend also in her mid 30's. She has some cruising history.

I'll start at the beginning.

Arrival at Orlando Airport was fantastic. Since I had no idea about getting to Port Canaveral, we purchased transfers to and from the cruise. In this case, it was the best thing we did. The transfers were $35 per person, per way. If there were more people traveling perhaps, we would have looked into a car rental or something else, but these transfers were great. We waited about 10 minutes for the coach bus to arrive then loaded up and we were on our way. the drivers both ways were fantastic. They were funny, and informative about the land we were passing. They even went far enough to tell you what to expect when you got to the terminal and reminded passengers to get bathing suits and medication they may need because it may be some time before they receive their luggage. I thought that was great for any first time cruisers. Read more