My husband and I traveled with two other couples on this cruise; we are all in the 50s - 60s age range. We are all seasoned cruisers, with this trip for me and my husband being our sixth cruise.

We started our trip with a pre-cruise night at the Hampton Ft. Lauderdale Airport North, on 12th Street. They had a reasonably priced pre-cruise package that offered free shuttle from the airport to hotel, free breakfast, and free transportation to the port. The stay was great; it was enhanced by the fact that it was only a block from a strip mall that had a terrific Thai restaurant, and other restaurants that we did not sample (Latin, Chinese, fast food). What was really helpful about the strip mall was that there was a Winn Dixie supermarket, where we picked up sodas and bottled water to take with us on board. The only negative - a small one - was that the hotel was NOT listed on the automatic dialing board in the airport, so you either had to have the phone number of the Hampton with you, or you would have to call information or look it up in a phone book. A minor inconvenience, and not one for us, as we DID have the reservation sheet with us that had the phone number on it.

We met the shuttle at 11:15 a.m. for the short trip to the port. Boarding was in progress when we arrived, and the boarding took longer than we had expected or experienced at other ports - far fewer agents available (maybe due to the economy and staff cutbacks; who knows). However, within about a half an hour we were on board for lunch in the Windjammer. The usual assortment of luncheon offerings were there, with the "welcome aboard" carving station included. Everything was delicious, and after a pleasant meal, we were off to explore the ship. Read more