We arrived early Saturday evening at Fort Lauderdale International Airport from Pittsburgh PA. I have a friend who lives in the area so we were able to stay at his place overnight and he drove us to Port Everglades Sunday afternoon at approx. 1 pm. There was a lot of traffic getting to the drop off area of the terminal, but once we were inside, Embarkation was smooth and fast. It was so fast that I don’t even remember what the inside of the terminal building looked like. Having sailed out of of Fort Lauderdale in 2009 on the Crown Princess I’m assuming it’s the same Terminal.

The ship: Stunning, beautiful, overwhelming! When we were on the Crown I thought that was beautiful, which it still is, but this ship takes the cake! There are some quirks, the lack of the mid-ship stairs was inconvenient, and also the ability to navigate from some areas to the other were also inconvenient. One area is going from the Allegro dining room (deck 6), to deck 5. You have to walk up to deck 7 first (or use elevator). Theses inconveniences were minor and definitely not too bad once you got used to them. Also, the first day, our stateroom was a little warmer than I would like, even with the a/c turned up. I did tell guest services and it was fixed the next day. The deck and pools were very nice. There was always a deck chair available. I will say this ship had the most deck space and available chairs/relaxation areas available than any other ship I have been on. I did not use the sanctuary. This ship was booked full, however, it never felt crowded (except in the theater…details later). There were so many people of different ages. I cannot even give an average age like so many others can provide on here. There however weren’t as many small children as other cruises I have been on in the past.

Stateroom: We had a standard balcony aft on Deck 14 (Rivera). It was adequate in size and the bed was extremely comfortable. The large flat screen tv was awesome. The interactive menu was a nice touch and there were many up to date movies to choose from. The bathroom was a little small but the counter had enough room and there were three shelves to place your items. The shower was not as small as I would have thought. One thing that was great was that there is a large walk in closet. This was a nice feature on the Crown as well. As far as the balcony is concerned, it is narrower that some of the other balconys but not bad at all. There is definitely enough room for the 2 chairs and small table, and room to recline the chairs as well. Read more