Arrived in Miami the day of the cruise because non-stop airfare was less expensive than flying into Ft. Lauderdale by hundreds of dollars (kind of a last minute cruise). We investigated the supershuttle but found that renting a car in Miami and returning it to the Budget Port Everglades location and doing the reverse on the way home was a little less--plus we had an evening flight going back home so having the car was a plus.

Stopped at the CVS by Budget on 17th St. but alcohol sales don't start 'til noon---alas, no bottles of wine for us! :-( We did buy some candy to fill our small haunted house Halloween treat boxes we gave to our cabin attendants and our Cabana attendants on Halloween (along with pairs of glow in the dark glasses frames for them to wear at the crew Halloween party!)

Boarding was a cattle call but moved fairly quickly. We had booked one of those guarantee balconies up near the bow but got moved a little more towards the stern---but we still had the full metal balcony wall. We didn't care since we had a crazy great price. The deck 4 balconies are deeper by about 3 ft. so that was nice. We originally had two chairs and a small round table and a larger chair with an ottoman but one of our table chairs disappeared after the first day. It was fine since there were just 2 of us. I discovered how to be able to see over the metal balcony wall. The larger chair can sit atop the ottoman so you have a perfect height for ocean viewing! Too bad they can't put barstool height chairs on those metal wall balconies but I suppose it's not safe. Read more