This was our first cruise,
Our flight to Miami was fine, we decided to take a cab rather than the Cruise Line organized van service. As it turned out the cab was fun and way cheaper, its a flat $24.99 from the airport to the sea port. Our cabbie took us to the port where we checked our luggage in early and than he took us back across the causeway to the Bayside, a collection of shops and eateries so we could hang out until the ship began embarkation.
Embarkation was crowded and busy but the cruise line did a super job keeping things moving along.