Our first cruise, we did everything backwards but don't regret our experience. We booked based on our availability of vacation time off from work and how exotic/different the destination would be. So over 1 day, we picked this cruise line/destination without doing any research about 7 weeks before the sail date from Ft. Lauderdale (we did plenty of research after booking). My review will cover our departure from California and the first day impressions on the ship, followed by a quick wrap up of the overall trip.

We booked flights independently through American Airlines to fly into Ft. Lauderdale the day prior. Quick review is that this was horrible through AA! We initially had a non-stop flight that landed at 5:00 p.m. local time, AA cancelled this flight 5 days prior to us leaving over what we saw on the news as seats coming apart on their own. We were now seated separately and leaving at 12:10 a.m. that morning, they offered to sit us together if we paid an additional $35 fee per person. To be fair, they offered a full refund but booking new fares would cost us $150+ from what we originally paid. So after changing our departure plans and not getting any sleep, we arrived at Ft. Lauderdale.

We stayed at the Sheraton a few minutes away from the cruise port. We called them ahead of time and asked if they offered airport pick up, the answer was no so we ended up taking a cab. Only to arrive and see that there was an airport shuttle dropping off other passengers. This was the only set back at the Sheraton, the rest was pure accommodation and I would recommend them. We were allowed to check in at 9:00 a.m. (check in is normally 3:00 p.m.) and they allowed us to check out at 2:00 p.m. the next day (normal check out is at noon). We booked a shuttle through Sheraton to the cruise port for $10 and they handled the luggage, couldn't be more than happy. Read more