DW and I flew to Florida very early as I had a business meeting. We stayed four nights at the Embassy Suites Deerfield Beach. This is a wonderful hotel, but rather far from the port for a normal pre-cruise stay. A little about us -- two couples, mid 50's. About 15 and 30 cruises of experience. DW and I generally prefer Holland with Celebrity in close second place.

The hotel arranged a car through Coastal Car Service to take us to the port. We arrived at the port about 11:15 and it was very crowded. Three buses had just arrived and apparently the prior sailing returned a little late so there were still people waiting to be picked up.

It took about 20 minutes to clear the security line, and another 10 minutes to be checked in. We were given number 17 and waited 30 minutes for our number to be called. But that was not the end of the wait; it took another 15 minutes to clear the photographers, making it 75 minutes from curb to onboard. Read more