BACKGROUND, PLANNING AND PRELIMINARIES: This was out third cruise on Celebrity, and seventh overall (the others being on Royal Caribbean and Holland America). It was originally scheduled for the week of February 15th, but we elected to move up to the January 18th sailing to be away from our Washington, DC area home during inauguration week.

Instead of flying to Fort Lauderdale, we drove down, taking two days each way. On the way down and back we used Choice Hotel points to defray these cost. The night before the cruise we stayed at the Embassy Suites in Boca Raton. Boca Raton is about 30 minutes from Port Everglades, but cost us less than half compared to the Embassy Suites in Fort Lauderdale.

Rather than parking at the port operated parking garage, we used Park 'n Go. With an Internet booking coupon, and a free day, it came to $76 for the week. The service was great, the loaded our bags in the van for us. The whole process, from arrival at the parking lot to arrival at the pier took less than 30 minutes. Read more