We all flew in the day before and spent a day at the beautiful Lago Mar Resort, enjoying a lovely dinner at the 15th Street Fisheries.

Embarkation was a breeze. After stopping at the wine store for six bottles to bring on board and enjoying breakfast together, we drove our rental car to Port Everglades around 11 a.m. You need to show photo ID to get into the port, even in a cab. We dropped off our luggage . Two of us then drove back to the airport to return the rental car and caught a cab back to Port Everglades. Our friends held a place for us in the lineup and they were almost at the front of the line with our boarding number card when we returned.

HINT: don't overpack, you won't need all of those clothes - take advantage of the laundry & irons/ironing boards on each deck!!. HINT: Put a bathing suit/shorts/medication, etc. in your carryon. We had dinner one night with newlyweds whose luggage went astray and they didn't get it until St Thomas! Princess lent them formal wear but she said the hardest part was buying a new bathing suit. Read more