We flew into Fort Lauderdale on March 3rd and stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn. We were told that they had an early shuttle which left Saturday morning at 10:30am which would take us to the port for free. The next morning, we were told that wasn't the case and we would have to wait until 12:30 for their free shuttle. Thankfully, we kept the name of the manager we had spoken with the night before and had a heated discussion with the hotel management. They finally agreed to get us a taxi (which they would pay for) to take us to the port at 10:30am. The porters that take your luggage outside are paid salary - DO NOT tip them. We didn't see the sign until it was too late. The process of getting registered went fairly quickly. We had been told by our travel agent that if we got there early, we would probably have to wait until 3pm to go to our room. So, we went up to the Lido deck and ate some lunch.

Soda is NOT free on this cruise no matter what meal or time you are ordering it. We found that out the hard way. Either bring your own soda, or purchase a soda card (I believe it's $36 for unlimited soda during the cruise). Lunch wasn't anything to write home about. We ate at the taco bar and sat by the pool waiting to go to our rooms.

At 1pm, we were allowed to go to our rooms and start unpacking our luggage. Our steward's name was Mohammed and he was WONDERFUL! Can't say enough great things about how well he took care of us. Our stateroom was very spacious and had it's own veranda. We sat on the deck until the boat set sail. At 5pm, our ship left port for Belize. We had early dinner, so went to the Vista Dining room to eat. The boat was rocking pretty hard, and I started to feel very sick. I went back to my room to take my motion sickness pills and within 15 minutes my nauseousness passed. Read more