Our itinerary included a red eye flight from Los Angeles, followed by the cruise and an additional 3 nights in South FL. For starters, we flew into FLL rather than Miami to save $$$. My first tip...NEVER take an overnight flight right before your cruise. I thought this was a genius way to skip a night at a hotel but we were miserable. Ended up arriving to the port at 7 am just to sit around for hours. You definitely should be well rested before you embark of your vacation. I highly recommend SAS transportation for your transfer to FLL to the port. They only charge $15pp and the service is excellent!

On Board-

Do expect to spend some time waiting in line to pass through security at the port, it's no fun but part of the process. Unfortunately, we missed most of the first afternoon on board trying to catch up on sleep. Although very, very small our stateroom was quite cozy, comfortable, and impeccably clean (5040). We had the choice of upgrading to a larger room with an obstructed view or taking a room on deck 5 with a full view. I'm glad we did. The view and natural light was well worth it. This was my first cruise in an ocean view room, it was so much better than an interior stateroom, especially when your are cruising to a beautiful port of call. Read more