We drove to Ft. Lauderdale from Virginia and parked our car with "Air and Sea Parking" as we have done on several other cruises. They have given us excellent service with their van taking us to the ship and then picking us up too. Their location on S. Federal Hwy. is just outside the Port's gate.

We arrived at the ship around 12:30 and Holland was its usual efficient self in getting us checked in, and up into our large "SY" category cabin. We had been upgraded to this from a standard veranda cabin, and are now spoiled by the extra room. We then went up to Lido Deck to have lunch. The food was excellent, and we found this to be the case through most of the cruise. Needless to say, there were a few poor dishes served, but not many. When we returned to our cabin we found that two of our bags were there already, and the third one arrived soon after. We met "John" and he, of course, was very nice and explained that he would do anything for us that would make the cruise a pleasure. He, and his working partner did exactly that for the two weeks we were on board. We found that to be the case with almost all of the crew we came in contact with. Our service overall was excellent. We think that the cabin stewards are amazing!

At four o'clock we had our emergency drill, and that was well organized. The only problem, in spite of the Captain making it very clear that attendance was mandatory, were several people that didn't show up, and had to be hunted down. We all had to wait until they consented to honor us with their presence, and that added at least another 20 or so minutes to the drill. How stupid can some folks be! Read more