Husband and I had taken this trip 5 years ago, and thought it was time to do again with friends. We live in the Northeast, so come to Ft. Lauderdale a day before embarkation. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express-Convention Center, as we did last year. There's a great restaurant across the street (Giorgio's) and breakfast buffet at the hotel, so very convenient. There is a shuttle to the cruiseport, $8/person, which we signed up for, but there was a mix-up, and we had to take a cab instead. So $16 (including tip) for the 4 of us, instead of $32 for the shuttle van.
We booked a balcony cabin on Caribe Deck, #317. We like this level, because we hear no noise from the Lido deck, and the balcony could fit 4 deck chairs, with room to spare.
We had booked this cruise for the Panama Canal, and for complete relaxation. In years past, we've booked Caribbean cruises for the various ports, but this time, the canal was the main focus. To prepare going into the canal, we spent time onboard going to some lectures by Dr. Tom Ryan, and would recommend to anyone taking this cruise. It was fascinating to learn about the history of the canal. We viewed going into the canal from Deck 10-there are 2 unmarked doors at the front of the ship, leading to a deck, where we stood, watching the locks at work. We were on the deck at 5 AM, and still did not get front-row views, so earlier would be even better.